1983 was a pretty great year for heavy metal, and many metal bands would release albums which to this day are coveted by headbangers. Metallica had Kill 'Em All, Dio, Holy Diver, Iron Maiden unleashed Piece of Mind and Mötley Crüe put out Shout at the Devil. 1983 would also mark the year Slayer released their first record which they paid for themselves from Tom Araya's personal piggy bank and cash from guitarist Kerry King's dear old Dad for a total of $1500 bucks. The album with a shoestring budget, Show No Mercy, would become Metal Blade's biggest selling release (at the time) with little to no promotion. While all this was going on, in his spare time, Tom Araya would provide vocals for his brother John's band comprised of Dimitri Galeos (guitar), bassist Al Messi and drummer Jake Alvarado. This version of "Slayer" was fond of doing all kinds of covers at $5 dollar keg parties and high school gyms such as jams by Judas Priest, the Scorpions, Quiet Riot, Dio, AC/DC and, Mötley Crüe.
As we are recovering from the arrival of Mötley Crüe's highly anticipated biopic The Dirt, let's take a look at Tom banging out Crüe's "Looks That Kill" while mugging it up on stage. We all have guitarist Dimitri Galeos to thank for this footage which, according to folklore, was filmed using a hand-held video camera attached to a VCR. It also appears that Galeos is in possession of approximately two-hours of additional footage featuring Tom sans-Slayer singing heavy metal hits (some which you can find on YouTube), and making them his own. Still skeptical? Check out Tom killing "Looks That Kill" below and see for yourself. Lastly, at the very start of the footage, you can see Araya happily singing a copy of Show No Mercy and handing it to some lucky metalhead in the crowd. Hail SLAYER!
Tom Araya performing "Looks That Kill" in 1983.
HT: Dangerous Minds
