Pinkly Smooth was an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in the summer of 2001 in Huntington Beach, California, as a side project for Avenged Sevenfold drummer/songwriter Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan, and originally featured The Rev (under the name "Rathead") on vocals, along with fellow Avenged Sevenfold member Synyster Gates on guitars and former Ballistico members Buck Silverspur (under the name "El Diablo") on bass and Derek Eglit (under the name "Super Loop") on drums. They released only one album, Unfortunate Snort, which featured former Avenged Sevenfold bassist Justin Meacham (under his stage name "Justin Sane") as a keyboard player, and was written primarily by The Rev and Synyster Gates. The band dissolved in 2002.

Current activities[link]

Derek Eglit has since formed the heavy metal group Railroad to Alaska, in which Meacham has made several live guest appearances on keyboards. Synyster Gates is still present in Avenged Sevenfold, as was The Rev until his death in 2009.

Fiction[link]

It has been confirmed in a recent interview that the song "Fiction" from Avenged Sevenfold's 2010 album Nightmare, was initially written in Pinkly Smooth, but as the band went on indefinite hiatus after Avenged Sevenfold took off, The Rev never finished it. He revisited it and finally finished (under the title "Death") three days before he died on December 28, 2009. "Fiction" is one of only two songs on Avenged Sevenfold's new album Nightmare to feature The Rev's vocals (the other is "Save Me") as they were able to salvage a demo recording that he did of the song shortly before Sullivan's death.^[1] In a recent interview with Spanish magazine "Binaural," Synyster Gates stated that they're thinking of remixing and remastering the album (and possibly adding new parts) now that he has the opportunity as he said the album's quality was similar to a demo. Recently Synyster Gates has stated that they will release a remastered version of Unfortunate Snort.^[2]

Members[link]

• Rathead (Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan) - vocals, piano, drums (2001-2009)
• Synyster Gates - guitar (2001-2009)
• Buck Silverspur (El Diablo) - bass (2001-2002)
• Derek Eglit (Super Loop) - drums (2001-2002)
• Justin Meacham (Justin Sane) - keyboards, piano (2001)

Discography[link]

• Unfortunate Snort (2002)

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.

James "The Rev" Sullivan
James "The Rev" Sullivan in 2007
Background information
Birth name	James Owen Sullivan
Also known as	The Rev, Rat Head,The Reverend Tholomew Plague
Born	(1981-02-09)February 9, 1981 Huntington Beach, California, United States
Died	December 28, 2009(2009-12-28) (aged 28) Huntington Beach, California, United States
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, progressive metal, metalcore, avant-garde metal
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Drums, guitar, bass, piano, vocals
Years active	1999-2009
Labels	Warner Bros., Good Life, Hopeless,Bucktan
Associated acts	Avenged Sevenfold, Pinkly Smooth, Suburban Legends

James Owen Sullivan (February 9, 1981 – December 28, 2009),^[1] more commonly known by his stage name The Reverend Tholomew Plague, generally shortened to The Rev, was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold. He was also the lead vocalist/pianist in Pinkly Smooth, a side project where he was known by the name Rat Head, with fellow Avenged Sevenfold member, guitarist Synyster Gates, and the drummer for Suburban Legends from 1998 to 1999.

Career[link]

Sullivan grew up and lived in Huntington Beach California.^[2] He got his first pair of drum sticks at the age of four and received his own drum set at the age of ten.^[3] In high school, he started playing in bands. Before leaving to join Avenged Sevenfold as one of the band's founding members, Sullivan was the drummer for the third wave ska band Suburban Legends. At the age of eighteen he recorded his first album with Avenged Sevenfold titled Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. His early influences included Frank Zappa and King Crimson. The Rev said in a Modern Drummer Magazine interview that "I was raised on that stuff as much as rock and metal."^[3]

Later in life he was influenced by drummers Vinnie Paul, Mike Portnoy, Dave Lombardo, Lars Ulrich, and Terry Bozzio.^[4] He even had a "visual influence", Tommy Lee, on which he commented that "I never thought I'd have one of those."^[3] Sullivan's signature ability which he called " double-ride , just for lack of a better definition, because no one does it,"^[5]is a technique that can be heard on tracks such as "Almost Easy", "Critical Acclaim", and "Crossroads" in which Sullivan doubles up at a fast tempo between the double bass and ride cymbals.

Sullivan spoke to DRUM! Magazine about recording "Crossroads": “The second fill that goes into the verse, and the fill that goes into the chorus, just happened in the studio. We knew there’s a break right before the first verse starts and the guitar’s doing an open chord, so there obviously needed to be a fill there to keep the energy there, and I just came up with a little tom-over-double-bass fill. That was just spur of the moment. And right before the solo, there’s another fill that’s kind of similar to the intro fill, and that was written out. But everything else is pretty much spontaneous"

The Rev was also a vocalist, songwriter, and pianist for Avenged Sevenfold. His piano-playing can be heard on the tracks "Seize the Day", "Fiction" and "Save Me". His vocals are featured in Avenged Sevenfold's "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Brompton Cocktail", "Critical Acclaim", "Crossroads", "Gunslinger", "Lost", "Scream", "Afterlife", "Save Me", "Eternal Rest", "Flash Of The Blade", "Bat Country", "Almost Easy", and "Fiction". He also wrote the songs "Almost Easy", "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Afterlife", "Brompton Cocktail", "Welcome to the Family, "Save Me", "Demons", "Fiction", and more.

Avenged Sevenfold also announced that they will be releasing a demo version of "Nightmare" including The Rev on an electric drumset and his vocals.

At the second annual Revolver Golden God Awards, The Rev won the award for Best Drummer. His family members and Avenged Sevenfold received the honor on his behalf.^[6]

Death[link]

The Rev was found dead in his home on December 28, 2009. Police ruled out foul play and noted his death appeared to be from natural causes. An autopsy performed on December 30, 2009 was inconclusive, However toxicology results revealed to the public in June revealed he died from acute polydrug intoxication due to the combined effects of Oxycodone ^[1](Percocet), oxymorphone (a metabolite of oxycodone), diazepam (Valium), nordiazepam (a metabolite of diazepam) and alcohol. The coroner noted Cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) as a "significant condition" that may have played a role in Sullivan's death.^[7]

On January 6, 2010, a private funeral was held for Sullivan,^[8] and a day later he was buried in Huntington Beach, California.^[9] Shortly after his death, Good Charlotte dedicated their single, "The River", to him^{[citation needed]}, and Avenged Sevenfold dedicated their song "So Far Away" to him.

Discography[link]

With Suburban Legends[link]

• Origin Edition (1999)

With Pinkly Smooth[link]

• Unfortunate Snort (2001)

With Avenged Sevenfold[link]

• 1999 Demo (1999)
• 2000 Demo (2000)
• Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001)
• Warmness on the Soul (2001)
• Waking the Fallen (2003)
• City of Evil (2005)
• All Excess (2007)
• Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
• Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough (2008)
• Nightmare (2010) (Posthumous)
• Welcome to the Family (2010) (Posthumous)

References[link]

External links[link]