Memorial for Slayer's Jeff Hanneman at Hollywood Palladium

A public memorial event for Slayer's Jeff Hanneman was held on Thursday, May 23, at the Hollywood Palladium, which has a capacity of about 4,000. Fans were invited to the free first-come, first-in event. Hanneman died May 2 of alcohol-related cirrhosis. He was 49.

Check out our gallery of fans who attended the memorial event below.

The guitarist helped shape Slayer's uncompromising thrash-metal sound as well as an entire genre of music. His riffs were heard in the songs he wrote, including "Angel of Death," "Raining Blood," "South of Heaven" and "War Ensemble." Hanneman co-founded Slayer with fellow-guitarist Kerry King, bassist Tom Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo in Huntington Park, California, in 1981.

For more than 30 years, Hanneman was the band member who stayed out of the spotlight, rarely did interviews, amassed an impressive collection of World War II memorabilia, was with his wife Kathy for nearly three decades, shut off his phone and went incommunicado when he was home from tour, did not want to be on the road too late into any December as Christmas was his favorite holiday, and, from the time he was about 12, woke up every, single day with one thing on his mind: playing the guitar.

It was once suggested to Slayer that if they would write "just one mainstream song that could get on the radio," they would likely sell millions of records and change the commercial course of their career, similar to what had happened to Metallica with 1993's "Enter Sandman."

Hanneman was the first to draw a line of integrity in the sand, replying, "We're going to make a Slayer record. If you can get it on the radio, fine, if not, then fuck it."

In tribute to the thrash metal legend, we're honoring Jeff's legacy with the following issue. Click here for more information on this special issue.

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