Slayer made their first appearances in 1982, one of the first gigs was at their high
school on March 25th 1982. They played mostly cover tunes of Iron Maiden and Judas Preist.
On August 27th 1983 the Band performed at a club called Woodstock, where
they'd been watched by Brian Slagel the owner of Metal Blade Records. He liked Slayer's
performance so much that he offered them a track on the upcoming Metal Massacre 3
record, a metal compilation in that time. Slayer agreed but only if Brian would help them to
produce a whole album, and so Aggressive Perfector was the result for the Metal
Massacre 3.
In late 1983 Slayer entered the Studio to record their first Album Show noMercy. The Album still today is said to be a masterpiece in the Thrash Genre. The Album was released December 1983 in the US and early 1984 due to distribution problems in Europe.
The following tour was a real experience for Slayer, they thought somebody would help
them to figure out how to get to the shows but Brian Slagel just said "We've got these dates, see how YOU get there!". So they rented a Van for all their equipment, but in that Van there wasn't enough space for all Band Members so they also took Tom Araya's Camaro and hit the road. The Tour itself was very chaotic, the boys ended up sleeping at people's houses sometimes, and a lot of the time they had no money. The money they got for the shows they used for food and beer.
When they returned from the Tour, Brian Slagel asked them "Where's the money?" and
they were like "What money?". "The money you were supposed to give me from the shows!", and they replied "Oh, but that was the only money we had to survive, to buy food!". The Tour went really good for them because everybody liked that "new"music. After the Tour in 1984 they recorded three new songs namely Chemical Warfare, Captor of Sin, and Haunting the Chapel these songs ended up on the 1984 EP Haunting the Chapel.
In 1985 Slayer recorded Hell Awaits which was also produced by Brian Slagel. The Album sold more than 100.000 copies in a very short time after it's release, at that point of time major labels began to show interest in Slayer. Hell Awaits also shows that the band evolved and could also handle slower Songs like At dawn they Sleep.
In 1985 Slayer came to Europe for the first time, they played some club dates and the 1985 Dynamo Festival in Eindhoven/Holland. This was also a big step for the band, because they showed their live talent to all European fans.
Because of Slayer's success with Hell Awaits they were contacted by producer Rick Rubin from Def Jam Records, Rick produced bands like Public Enemy, Run DMC or the Beastie Boys. So when Slayer joined Def Jam Records it was Rick's first Metal band,
1986 saw the release of the best Thrash/Speed Metal Album ever. Slayer were described as Nazis because of the Lyrics to Angel of Death, which dealt with the experiments of the Auschwitz doctor Joseph Mengele on Jews. Jeff Hanneman also wore tags showing Nazi symbols, and he used to have a SS (the so called Police in that time) Sticker on his Jackson Guitar, which
could've also stand for "Slatanic Slaughter".
. Slayer fans in Europe had to wait until January 1987 to buy the Album. Because of the Nazi problem in the US it was hard to find a distributor for the Album in Europe.
Reign in Blood sold over 500.000 copies and became Slayer's first Gold Record, the Album also appeared on the US-Top 100 without big advertisements and airplay.
Tom, Jeff and Kerry are big friends as everybody knows, but Dave Lombardo was some sort of an outsider from the beginning. By the time they reached their 1986 Reign in Blood Tour the problems got so serious that Dave left the Band and had to be replaced by Tony Scaglione from Whiplash. But Tony just wasn't the right one to fill such big shoes, so luckily Dave returned. 1987 became a very busy touring year for Slayer, appearing on festivals in Europe and all over the world.
In 1988 South of Heaven was released, everybody expected the band to reach the high pace they reached on Reign in Blood. But South of Heaven was a disappointment at first for some fans, it was much slower than Reign in Blood. Jeff Hanneman and Tom Araya had done most of the songwriting, so the record became slower.
At first the fans didn't want to accept the Album but later they understood that this was also an brilliant album. The lyrics on that Album were also a little bit different than Reign in Blood. Instead of Satanism and Gore the band focused on War Scenarios and Nazism.
1990 was the release of Seasons in the Abyss, an Album which combined the old Slayer sound with some new stuff. The Album sold over 1.000.000 copies in the US and received Gold and Platinum. With this Album Tom Araya started to write lyrics about Serial Killers, the first Song was Dead Skin Mask which deals with Ed Gein.
The Album was really good was excepted by the slayer fans.After that Album one of the biggest Tours in Metal history followed, the Clash of the Titans tour. The bills for Europe and US were different and looked like this, Europe: Slayer, Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies,Testament, USA: Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Alice in Chains. Slayer got along very well with the other bands except for Megadeth, since wasnt a big fan of Megadeth.
In 1991, Slayer released a Double Live Album called Decade of Aggression. The Album featured all classic Songs in a perfect live atmosphere.
In early 1992, Dave Lombardo got kicked out of Slayer.Tom, Jeff and Kerry said that Dave spent too much time with his wife, and he also didn't practice that often because he had some back problems which really affected his drumming.
Now they had find a new Drummer, in that time Paul Bostaph just quitted the Bay Area
Thrashers Forbidden. Kerry knew that and gave him a call, so they got together and jammed. Paul was given a Number of Songs he had to play, and he even played one song that was not on the list, Silent Scream which is very hard to play on drums. So he fitted into Slayer and got along with everyone.
In early 1994 the news came around that there would be a new Slayer Album, the release date was said to be February. Then it was pushed to Summer, due to some problems with the record company the Album was released in October 1994.
The Album called Divine Intervention was very aggressive, it was described as the Reign in Blood of the 90s, and I consider it Slayer's 2nd best album. The Album sold about 800.000 copies in the US, and appeared on the US Top 100 at Position 8 after selling 100.000 in the very first week.
Once again Slayer were described as Nazis because of the Song SS-3 that Jeff wrote. It dealt with SS Hangman Reinhard Heydrich. Max Cavalera at that time Vocalist and Guitarist of Sepultura called them Nazis and stuff like that.But since Max Cavalera left Sepultura the relationship has improved. Now Max and Tom have done a song (Terrorist) on Soulflys new album (Primitive).
In late 1994 Slayer started their European Intourvention with Machine Head as the support band. As usual Slayer blew Machine Head away every show. The European Tour ended in December 1994.
In March 1995 they recorded their first home video ever called Live Intrusion. One of the best live show ever recorded.
In 1996 Slayer released Undisputed Attitude an Album of Punk Covers. Right after the recordings of Undisputed Attitude Paul Bostaph quit Slayer He said he was tired of metal and he wanted to work with a band called The Truth about Seefood. Slayer then searched for a drummer and got John Dette from Testament.
After that Album Slayer did a big tour and played a couple of Summer Festivals in Europe in 1996. After that there were problems with their drummer...again! John left the band. So they searched for a drummer once again, Paul Bostaph just left The Truth about Seafood and he was asked by Slayer if he wanted to join, Paul agreed and was back in Slayer in January 1997.
Many rumors were told about Diabolus in Musica, some people said Slayer had sold out like "Metallica", others said the Album was going to be Industrial. But Slayer showed them all and released a great album. The Album is typical Slayer, even though some songs are really slow, but they are really heavy and the speed is still there in some songs. The Album entered US Top 100 at #31 which is quite a success for Thrash Metal in the 90's.
Slayer started their world Tour in September 1998 visiting Asia, Europe, Australia, US and also Russia for the first time. The tour was very successful and Slayer brought an impressive performance to all their fans.
