These days, Gen Z like to idolize the ’90s and early 2000s as a time of unbridled creativity and weirdness. Those of us who lived through it know better — the nu-metal era was an age of no solos, bad drugs, and of course, stupid, stupid fashion.
And during that time, no clothing item was more iconic and embarrassing than massively baggy pants like JNCOs and UFOs, which combined club-kid comfort with grunge denim with truly unthinkable results.
Apparently, one star who recognize this at the time was Pantera axeman Dimebag Darrell, who, according to a new interview, bought Cali hard rockers Incubus tight jeans on tour to save them from themselves.
The story comes from an interview with Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd, who discussed the band’s 1999 tour with Black Sabbath and Pantera with Joshua Toomey on the Talk Toomey Podcast. Apparently, the band were the butt of plenty of jokes for their fashion choices — and one night, Dimebag decided to do something about it.
“There was a moment on… that tour [Black Sabbath/Pantera,] where the guys in Pantera they used to make fun of us for wearing baggy jeans because it was the ’90s and they weren’t really the baggy jean type bands,” said Boyd, as transcribed by The PRP.
“And we celebrated our differences, I’ll say, but at one point it became like a joke and at one point he [Dimebag] and a couple other guys came into our dressing room with a platter that had brand new Wrangler Jeans on it and Jack Daniels with shot glasses.
“And they came in, I don’t remember it was either Dime…I think it was Dime who said ‘Y’all jeans fit wrong. put these on these will fit you right and take these shots.’ Who are we to say no to these guys? I remember squeezing on these like Wrangler Jeans.
And I think I still have them somewhere and took a shot and almost threw up… never been a big drinker. But yeah, they were, even if they didn’t like our band, they were supportive, which is kind of awesome.”
So there you have it, folks: if you dressed like a raver clown, Dimebag would take the piss out of you for it. This only further cements him as our savior, in our minds. To read more about Pantera and other metal mayhem, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.*** Words by Chris Krovatin
