In his autobiography White Line Fever (written with journalist Janiss Garza), Motorhead kingpin Lemmy Kilmister writes about his fondness for Ozzy Osbourne's late guitarist Randy Rhoads and how terrible he was at the videogame Asteroids. Lemmy also brings up the idea that death deified Rhoads, turning him into something greater than he once was.

"I have to say, he wasn't the guitar player he became after his death," Kilmister writes. "As with [performance artist] Bob Calvert, [who opened for Motorhead in the early days], a guy who was more or less ignored during his lifetime suddenly becomes a huge genius. Randy was a good guitar player, to be sure, but he wasn't the great innovator he was later made out to be. When you die, you become more briliant by about 58 percent. You sell more records and you become absolutely wonderful."

The argument holds water, but in the case of Rhoads, supporters argue true greatness was right around the corner -- that he'd already established himself as a smoking heavy metal guitarist and he was getting ready to apply his knowledge of rock guitar to classical music and do something virtually unprecedented. Sadly, he stepped aboard that stupid plane and his future went up in flames.

As for others who have died before their time -- who's to say? Was Dimebag Darrell the absolute genius he's made out to be? Probably. Did Kevin Dubrow deserve the accolades he got after he overdosed? Ummm. Was Cliff Burton a legend in the making or was he already a master when he died? And how come Alice in Chains' Layne Staley, who wore his demons up his sleeve and meant more to the grunge scene than, perhaps Eddie Vedder, is largely viewed today as a pathetic junkie rather than a true visionary?

Rock your comments on the above, as well as Lemmy's assertion that death equals fame. The most interesting submissions will be printed in a future post.

Now let's give Lemmy some props for beating the odds and living so long:

We recently talked with Napalm Death singer Mark "Barney Greenway" about Napalm, politics and metal for a future Headbangers Ball Blog podcast. While we were on the line, we mentioned how there aren't that many bands that have stuck it out for as long or longer than Napalm Death and still maintained their integrity, and how most great bands record their best albums in the first 10 years of their careers.

To illustrate our argument, we addressed how Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion is solid, for sure, but doesn't hold a black candle to their classic 1986 record, Reign in Blood. Greenway disagreed -- not that Reign in Blood is classic -- that Christ Illusion was solid.

"For me, Reign in Blood was the one," he began. "I think South of Heaven was a good album and maybe the one after that, but I haven't been inspired by anything they've done since then. I've tried and tried and tried, and I couldn't get to grips with it. They probably need some new ideas. I'm not directly comparing them with Napalm, but what we've tried to do is put some new stuff in while not losing sight of the core stuff that we did and to refresh it a little bit. I think they could stand to do that because I think on the new Slayer album, some of it sounds really tired. And I did actually read some comments from [singer and bassist] Tom Araya and some other members that sounded like they'd kind of had enough -- and it sounds like it on the last album. I'd be surprised if Slayer were around this time next year -- put it like that."

Clearly, Greenway is a wise, and possibly clairvoyant man, but we're sure there are other crystal ball readers out there who have their own take on the matter. So, you tell us: Was Christ Illusion the last tired gasp from a dying beast or was it an inspired blast of blowtorch-in-face metal that deserved to win the Grammy it garnered? And who else out there thinks Slayer won't live to see 2009?

Read what Slayer singer Tom Araya has to say about the band's latest Grammy nomination and more in our Slayer podcast.

Now watch Napalm Death's video for "When All is Said and Done":

We've gotta say we were a bit surprised when a tiny comment we made about Dream Theater last week was perceived as an act of character assassination and prompted a slew of nasty comments from irate fans. One thing's for sure, those Dream Theater followers sure take their role as defenders of the Dream seriously.

But actually, their sabres were drawn pretty abruptly. We didn't really insult Dream Theater. All we said was that we were surprised Headbangers Ball viewers voted the band's video for "Constant Motion" the second best metal video of the year. We were even more shocked that the number one pick was Mushroomhead's "12 Hundred," but that's another argument entirely.

In our post, we pointed out that we "begged to differ" with the viewer's decision, then we premiered Dream Theater's new video for "Forsaken" on the blog because we believed strongly that the band's sizable fanbase wanted to see the clip. Two days later, we debuted the video on Heabangers Ball on MTV2. Pardon our hubris, but we don't see Fuse, VH1 or BET giving such love to Dream Theater.

Of course, there are two sides to every coin. Dream Theater are obviously ambitious, musically gifted and versed in a variety of styles. They're tighter than Barbie's ass and adventurous enough to improvise instead of always following their songs note for note. But that doesn't mean the "Constant Motion" video was more visually breathtaking than offerings by Mastodon, Machine Head or Down. There's a clear difference between sight and sound and sometimes the best songs are accompanied by some pretty crappy videos.

Now on to more inflammatory matters. While Dream Theater's legions obviously covet their favorite band above their own families, there are others who feel the group's endless soloing is self-indulgent, and that its complex arrangements don't hold together as well as simple, well-crafted songs. Also, while Dream Theater's songs obviously contain melodies, some argue that the emphasis on musicianship detracts from the tunefulness of the material. Even some fans of progressive metal groups such as Opeth, Mars Volta, Protest the Hero and System of a Down will argue that there's a big difference between experimentation and narcissistic showmanship, and that true musical revelation comes from an emphasis on art, not virtuosity.

That said, we'll continue to support Dream Theater as a valid force in hard rock/metal, however there are certainly plenty of other artists that are just as viable and to disregard bands such as Slayer, Killswitch Engage or Behemoth simply because they may lack Dream Theater's chops is as narrowminded as writing off Dream Theater as smarty-pants show-offs.

We await your invective.

In our podcast interview with Heaven and Hell, Ronnie James Dio implied that there's no way that David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen are going to be able to stay on good terms.

Yet for now, the Van Halen train seems to be chuggin' along. On Thursday, the band launched its reunion tour in Charlotte, North Carolina, tonight the band continues with one of two shows in Philadelphia and dates are scheduled through December 30 in Las Vegas.

So, you tell us, is this reunion for real? Does David Lee Roth still have the voice and charisma to win over crowds, and is his big mouth gonna get him in trouble before long? Is Wolfgang Van Halen going to be able to fill Michael Anthony's shoes on bass? And can the band possibly stay together long enough to finish the tour and maybe even record a new album?

And while we're at it, let us know what you think of the Led Zeppelin reunion. Should it happen? Will it rock? Will there be a full tour? Should they deign to return to the studio? Inquiring minds wanna know.