Rock in Peace, Jimmy

Today is the two year anniversary of Jimmy "the Rev" Sullivan's death. In the words of Avenged Sevenfold, "all your speculation, save it for another time." Today, we as fans should remember Jimmy's life, not his death. We should remember how alive he was; how much living he crammed into his brief 28 years on this earth. We should watch all those old videos on YouTube, laugh about all those idiotic things he did (who doesn't take a shower after being maced?!), chase stallion ducks in his honor, and most importantly, listen to Avenged Sevenfold all day long.

You may have noticed that I titled this "Rock in Peace," instead of the traditional "Rest in Peace." That's because personally, I don't believe Jimmy would have wanted to rest peacefully. He didn't exactly live a peaceful life; why the hell would he want a peaceful afterlife?

I like to think he enjoyed his non-peaceful life, though. His brief time here was so full of stories that the guys of A7X have said that they spent two weeks telling those stories--without ever repeating one. How truthful that is, I'm not sure. But at any rate, Jimmy was a crazy, talented, important human being. How talented was he? He played more than just the drums, which he was really, really good at. He also played guitar, piano, and bass. He sang and wrote songs as well.

Some of the songs he wrote include Brompton Cocktail, Little Piece of Heaven, Afterlife, Almost Easy, Save Me, Fiction (according to legend, he wrote this song only a few days before his death, and had originally titled it "Death." Don't know how true that is.), and I'm sure plenty of others. He was truly a talented lyricist; stating at one point that "I can write any style that I choose. I've always been heavily influenced by Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo, Mr. Bungle, and bands like that. With all the different parts and the cinematic feel."


Here, for lack of a better thing to do at this point in time, I will include a list of my personal favorite Jimmy videos:


A Spoonful of Jimmy


Ninja Rev

Stallion Duck

Philosophy from a Drunk

Save Me

Almost Easy

Quotes

That last one isn't a video, it's a collection of the Rev's quotes. And I don't know what is happening with the text...wait it isn't doing it anymore. I'll just continue carrying on as per the usual then.

As you can tell, I'm quite the avid fan. If you missed my Avenged Sevenfold post, here it is again. That should cement your view of me as crazy. But I'm not that crazy, I promise! I don't know any of their addresses, I have never sent any fan mail (although I am seriously considering it now), I don't know any of their middle names (except for Jimmy's--it's Owen) I don't have any A7X tattoos...that reminds me.

Jimmy absolutely loved to see fans with Avenged Sevenfold tattoos. He thought it was the absolute coolest thing ever; to him, putting someone else's ink on your body was the biggest tribute you could possibly make to them. There could be no greater sacrifice than to permanently mark yourself as a fan. He said he always made sure to stop and check out people's A7X tattoos. Which is...sorry, was, nice of him. He didn't have to take the time out of his busy day to do that.

Jimmy was in another band as well; a side project he had with Synyster Gates, who plays lead guitar for Avenged Sevenfold. He was known as Rat Head in that band, which I think is an even more strange stage name than "the Rev," which is actually short for "the Reverend Tholomew Plague." But if he liked it, it's all good. Anyways...he was the singer for that band, which was called Pinkly Smooth. Syn has said that Pinkly Smooth will probably not release any new albums without Jimmy, but he would consider remastering the Unfortunate Snort album maybe at some point.

Jimmy lived, and died, in Huntington Beach, California. He was married to a probably-wonderful woman named Leana Silver. I don't know where she was on December 28th, 2009 before 1 p.m. (and frankly it's none of my business), but I bet she regrets not being at home with him...to be a widow at 27 has to be terrible, and my sympathies go out to her as well as the band, his parents, and everyone else he came into contact with; all those whose lives he touched. Which includes me, because even though I didn't know a thing about him until long after his death, I still love and miss this guy just as much as the fans who have been with the band since the beginning.

According to M Shadows, Jimmy always said that he knew two things: he was going to be a rock star, and he wouldn't live to be 30 years old. He was right on both counts, unfortunately. We can't know what he would have accomplished if he had lived longer, but we do know it would have been something great.

So, Jimmy, rock in peace. We miss you back here, but it's okay. You were ready, and one day we will be too. Save us a little piece of heaven, buddy.

--Razza Ragazza