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Pantera
 

Pantera was a popular heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas that formed in 1981. Emerging alongside influential classic thrash metal acts such as Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax, Pantera was a key formulator of the groove metal (post-thrash) subgenre of heavy metal music.

It would not be until nine years after forming that Pantera saw its first bit of commercial success in its major label debut, Cowboys from Hell. From there, Pantera became one of the most celebrated heavy metal bands of the 1990s until its dissolution in 2003. Despite the generally cold reception of the band's first four albums, critics have lauded Pantera's style thereafter; Jason Birchmeier of the All Music Guide considers Pantera to be "arguably the greatest metal band of '90s and ... one of the greatest and most influential metal bands ever." The band has received accolades such as ranking forty-fifth on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and fifth on MTV's "Top 10 Greatest Heavy Metal Bands of All-Time".

The word "pantera" means "panther" in a number of other languages, but the name itself is derived from the band's home town of Pantego, Texas.

Biography

Formation

Pantera formed in 1981 with its original line-up consisting of drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, his brother, guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott (originally referred to as Diamond Darrell), bassist Tommy Bradford, guitarist Terry Glaze, and vocalist Donnie Hart. At its conception, the members of Pantera were in 11th grade. They began performing KISS and Van Halen covers as well as original material in the glam metal vein in Texas nightclubs.

In 1982, Hart left the band and Glaze took over vocal duties. Rex Brown soon replaced Bradford on bass. While the band showed promise, it would take time before the band was able to make it farther than regional tours of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Pantera began supporting fellow heavy metal acts such as Stryper, Dokken, and Quiet Riot, who in turn promoted Pantera's debut, Metal Magic.

Studio activity

Starting in 1983, Pantera released three initial albums (Metal Magic, Projects in the Jungle, and I Am the Night) before singer Glaze departed to form his own band, Lord Tracy. After exploring several vocalists, frontman Phil Anselmo was discovered in New Orleans, Louisiana. Soon Power Metal was released after Anselmo re-recorded some songs originally sung by Glaze. Pantera's style in these first four recordings is best described as glam metal. The band members would later ignore their independent releases in favor of sculpting a new, heavier image. To this day, Pantera's website does not list the records in its discography. These albums were never re-released and have become hard-to-find collector's items.

Pantera's first commercially successful album was also its first major label release: Cowboys from Hell (1990). The band was turned down "28 times by every major label on the face of the Earth" until Atco Records representative Mark Ross saw the band perform after Hurricane Hugo stranded him in Texas. To this point, Pantera's music was still heavily influenced by "classic heavy metal", with Rob Halford-style vocals and guitarist Abbott's more complex riffs and solos.

On Cowboys, however, Pantera began showing a more extreme style, leaving behind glam metal influences in favor of an amalgamation of power metal and groove metal dubbed "power groove" by the band. The album marked a critical juncture in the band's history and most fans, along with the band itself, consider it Pantera's "official" debut. This release includes the popular tracks "Cemetery Gates", a brooding seven-minute piece that focuses on death and religion, and the thrashing title track, which gives the band members their nickname and personality.

Pantera's unique "groove" style came to fruition in its breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power (1992), which saw the replacement of the power metal falsetto vocals with a hardcore-influenced shouted delivery and heavier guitar sound. While some critics point to the rise of grunge music as the subsequent downfall of glam metal, others claim Pantera, most notably on Vulgar, as being the catalyst that overpowered popular '80s metal. Among critics and fans, it is frequently cited as the band's best effort. Songs like "Fucking Hostile", a fast, aggressive challenge of authority, the riff-driven "Walk", and "Mouth for War", remain some of the most popular songs in Pantera's catalog.

The extent to which Vulgar Display of Power grew in popularity can be assessed by the instant success of its follow-up, Far Beyond Driven (1994), which debuted at #1 in both U.S. and Australian album charts, the first metal album to do so. "I'm Broken", Driven's fourth track, was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1995 Grammys. In this release, Pantera took an even more extreme direction with its musical style.

Pantera's next album, The Great Southern Trendkill (1996), was released during grunge rock's dominance and at the onset of rap metal. It is often considered Pantera's "overlooked" album. Phil Anselmo recorded the vocals for this release in Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor's studio. In comparison to the band's previous efforts, there was a heavier emphasis on vocal overdubbing in a somewhat "demonic" fashion. Drug abuse is a popular theme in Trendkill, as exemplified by tracks such as "Suicide Note" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)". Perhaps the most popular song from Trendkill is "Drag the Waters", which advises the listener to take the motives of others with a grain of salt. "Drag the Waters" became the album's only music video, and likewise, the only track from the album to appear on the band's Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits!.

Some of the band's live performances were eventually compiled in its 1997 release, 101 Proof, which included fourteen live tracks and two new studio-quality songs: "Where You Come From" and "I Can't Hide". Some tracks have slightly different titles than their originals (e.g., "Hostile" instead of "Fucking Hostile"), while a track like "Dom/Hollow" ("Domination" and "Hollow", respectively) merged two separate songs together for a live performance.

Pantera's final album, Reinventing the Steel (2000), has several songs that deal with the topic of the band itself. Steel debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 and included "Revolution is My Name" and "Goddamn Electric", the latter of which featured a Kerry King performance recorded during Ozzfest in Dallas. "Revolution is My Name" became the band's second nomination for Best Metal Performance in the 2001 Grammys.

Personality and influences

Pantera has toured with Ozzfest as main stage acts twice; the band played at the second annual Ozzfest in 1997 and the fifth Ozzfest in 2000. Throughout the band's career, it developed into legendary status on tour. Pantera's members became known for their excessive partying and debauchery, even acquiring an official drink called the "Black Tooth Grin". The Black Tooth Grin (or "Black Tooth," alternatively), which was named after lyrics in the Megadeth song "Sweating Bullets", is a mixture of Crown Royal or Seagram 7 whisky and cola.

Pantera also adopted a self-described "take no shit" attitude, epitomized in its popular song "5 Minutes Alone" off of Far Beyond Driven. According to drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, during a show in San Diego, California, Anselmo was annoyed by a heckler and encouraged the crowd to "jump * ass and beat the shit out of him on the spot." Consequently, the band was sued; the man's father took action and called Pantera's manager, saying, "You just give me five minutes alone with that Phil Anselmo guy and I'll show him who's big daddy around here." Thus, "5 Minutes Alone" was born out of that experience.

The band members take pride in what they perceive to be an uncompromising career in which they never "sold out" or gave into trends. This is most noticeably highlighted in the themes and title of The Great Southern Trendkill. On Pantera's official Web site, Anselmo puts it in his own words:

We've survived every fucking trend. Heavy metal, grunge metal, funk metal, rap metal – and we're still here. We put everyone on notice that we don't fuck around. Our fans know we're true right down to the fucking core.

Similarly, the die-hard attitude of "We'll Grind That Axe For a Long Time" (from Reinventing the Steel) is, according to Anselmo, "in a way, our motto."

Aside from their thrash metal influences, the band members cite heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath as one of their favorite bands. As a tribute, Pantera has recorded three different covers of Black Sabbath songs (all from the Ozzy Osbourne era). The first was "Planet Caravan", a slower, quieter song planned for the first Sabbath tribute album, Nativity in Black that eventually became the final track on Far Beyond Driven. The band performed Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" on the second Nativity in Black. The 2003 compilation album, The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits!, Pantera covered the Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky". Pantera's affinity for Black Sabbath is also shown through the lyrics, "Your trust is in whiskey and weed and Black Sabbath" in "Goddamn Electric".

Criticism

Exhorder
Pantera has come under criticism within the heavy metal world in relation to New Orleans groove metal band Exhorder. Some fans have accused Pantera of stealing from Exhorder the groove metal sound for which it became famous. While Pantera's style change on Cowboys from Hell was released before Exhorder's debut, Slaughter in the Vatican, Exhorder self-released two demos in the late 1980s that a number of fans believe to be the real birth of the musical style Pantera popularized.

The All Music Guide points to several elements of Exhorder's debut that could potentially explain its lack of success in relation to Pantera. In disagreement with the opinion that Exhorder is "Pantera minus the good songs," AMG's review of Slaughter in the Vatican expresses that "perhaps a more accurate billing would be to call them Pantera without the major label backing." They also point to the fact that the title of Exhorder's debut, along with the unsubtle album cover, "certainly didn't help * cause any."

However, some fans and critics dispute any notion that Pantera "stole" Exhorder's sound. Brian Davis, a contributor to Internet radio station KNAC, addresses the issue as follows:

Exhorder's main "claim to fame" is the common opinion that they're the band that Pantera stole their sound from. That's total bullshit. There are minor similarities in guitar style, and on occasion, vocalist Kyle Thomas spits out a line or scream that will bring Pantera to mind, but to go so far as to say that Pantera is an Exhorder clone is ludicrous.

Despite originally decrying Pantera as a rip-off to their sound, former lead vocalist of Exhorder, Kyle Thomas, has recently stated that he does not care about any of the criticism and is sick of seeing Exhorder's name tied to Pantera's. He also stated that he and the members of Pantera were great friends who used to tour together, and that he mourns the loss of Dimebag Darrell.

Megadeth
Besides some claims that Pantera stole Exhorder's sound, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth told MTV in 1994:

When I got together with James *, he and I created a guitar style that everybody and their brother is playing now, everyone. I'm not gonna name anybody 'cause I'm not gonna promote them. OK, we'll say "panther" in Spanish. You're welcome guys. We might as well be cooking their dinner for them or pushing their little wheelbarrow to the bank for them.

A possible explanation for Mustaine's statement could come from the fact that Pantera's guitarist, Dimebag Darrell, auditioned for Megadeth shortly before Cowboys from Hell was released. Darrell insisted his brother, bandmate Vinnie Paul, be included, but since Megadeth already had a drummer, it backed off and recruited Marty Friedman instead.

Break-up

Around 2001, Pantera dissolved after Anselmo left the band to pursue other work with such bands as Down, though the Abbott brothers did not officially end the band until they began work on their new project New Found Power. The remaining members held out for a time, assuming Anselmo would return. However, according to Anselmo, taking a break from Pantera was a "mutual thing" between each of the band members.

Anselmo instead decided to carry on full-time with one of his side projects, Superjoint Ritual, which has, as of 2003, released two albums. Following the release of the second Superjoint Ritual album, the Abbott brothers formed New Found Power, later renamed Damageplan.

The break-up of the band was not amicable and subsequently a war between Superjoint and Damageplan was waged via the heavy metal and musical press. Among the accusations thrown were that Anselmo and the Abbott brothers had difficulties in agreeing upon the direction in which they wanted Pantera's music to go in. Vinnie Paul and Dimebag later commented that Anselmo was forcing them to make the music that Anselmo wanted to make, and that they were not allowed to experiment and take chances with their recordings. In addition, Anselmo's drug habits (for example, a rather infamous heroin overdose after a show) are known to have caused some turmoil within the band. Finally, likely as a result of the other issues Pantera faced internally, the relationship between Anselmo and the Abbott brothers was rapidly deteriorating in general. Anselmo's comment in a 2004 issue of Metal Hammer magazine saying that "Dimebag deserves to be beaten severely" typified Pantera's internal conflicts; Anselmo insists that this comment was tongue-in-cheek. Caught up in the torrent was bassist Rex Brown, who ultimately aligned himself with Anselmo, joining him on the second Down album – A Bustle in Your Hedgerow.

Murder

On December 8, 2004, crazed fan Nathan Gale, 25, jumped onstage and shot and killed Dimebag Darrell at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio as Damageplan began performing its first song. Before he was shot dead by police officer James Niggemeyer, Gale also killed fan Nathan Bray, 23; club employee Erin Halk, 29; and Pantera security official Jeff Thompson, 40. (For more on the shooting, see Dimebag Darrell.)

To date

Public comments made by Phil Anselmo following the shooting suggested that he had considered reuniting with the band prior to Dimebag Darrell's death. However, an interview with Vinnie Paul one year after Dimebag Darrell's murder stated that this reunion was never going to happen.

VH1's Behind the Music Pantera episode premiered May 11, 2006.

Audio samples

  • "Cowboys from Hell" – The title track from the band's major label debut featuring the "power groove" style.
  • "Walk" – A popular song off the critically acclaimed Vulgar Display of Power, which showcased the band's new groove style.
  • "I'm Broken" – The fourth track from the commercially successful Far Beyond Driven that was nominated for a Best Metal Performance Grammy at the 1995 Awards.
  • "Drag the Waters" – The prevailing track from 1996's The Great Southern Trendkill.
  • "Revolution is My Name" – The fifth track from Pantera's last studio album, Reinventing the Steel, that garnered the band its second Best Metal Performance nomination at the 2001 Grammys.

Members

Most recent

Former

  • Terry Glaze (Terrence Lee Glaze) – Vocals and guitar
  • David Peacock – Vocals
  • Donnie Hart – Vocals
  • Matt L'Amour – Vocals
  • Tommy Bradford – Bass

Discography

Independent/early releases

Album Cover Date of Release Title Label US sales
January 1, 1983 Metal Magic Metal Magic Records
January 1, 1984 Projects in the Jungle Metal Magic Records
January 1, 1985 I Am the Night Metal Magic Records 25,000
January 1, 1988 Power Metal Metal Magic Records

Major label releases

Reinventing Hell: The Best of Pantera (international title)
Album Cover Date of US Release Title Label Chart positions US sales
July 24, 1990 Cowboys from Hell Atlantic Records Heatseekers: #27 1,000,000+
February 25, 1992 Vulgar Display of Power Eastwest Records Billboard Top 200: #44 2,000,000+
March 15, 1994 Far Beyond Driven Eastwest Records Billboard Top 200: #1 1,000,000+
May 22, 1996 The Great Southern Trendkill Eastwest Records Billboard Top 200: #4 1,000,000+
July 29, 1997 101 Proof Eastwest Records Billboard Top 200: #15 500,000+
March 14, 2000 Reinventing the Steel Eastwest Records Billboard Top 200: #4
Top Canadian Albums: #8
Top Internet Albums: #5 		500,000+
September 23, 2003 Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! Eastwest Records Billboard Top 200: #38 1,000,000+

Charted singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK Singles Chart
1993 "Walk" - - - #35 Vulgar Display of Power
1994 "I'm Broken" - - - #19 Far Beyond Driven
1994 "Planet Caravan" - - #21 #26 Far Beyond Driven
1999 "Cat Scratch Fever" - - #40 - Detroit Rock City soundtrack
2000 "Revolution is My Name" - - #28 - Reinventing the Steel

DVD and video

(DVD re-release)
Album Cover Date of Release Title Label US sales
1985 The Hot 'n Heavy Home Video Metal Magic Records
1991 Cowboys from Hell: The Videos ATCO 50,000+
1993 Vulgar Video Elektra 100,000+
1997 3: Watch it Go Elektra 100,000+
1999, 2006 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell Elektra/Rhino 100,000+

Soundtracks

Music videos

  • "All Over Tonight" (Projects in the Jungle)
  • "Hot and Heavy" (I Am the Night)
  • "Cowboys from Hell" (Cowboys from Hell)
  • "Psycho Holiday" (Cowboys from Hell)
  • "Cemetery Gates" (Cowboys from Hell)
  • "Primal Concrete Sledge" * (recorded version on Cowboys from Hell)
  • "Domination" * (recorded version on Cowboys from Hell)
  • "Mouth for War" (Vulgar Display of Power)
  • "This Love" (Vulgar Display of Power)
  • "Walk" (Vulgar Display of Power)
  • "5 Minutes Alone" (Far Beyond Driven)
  • "I'm Broken" (Far Beyond Driven)
  • "Planet Caravan" (Far Beyond Driven)
  • "Drag the Waters" (The Great Southern Trendkill)
  • "Revolution is My Name" (Reinventing the Steel)

External links

References

Thrash metal musical groups | Pantera | Texas musical groups

Pantera | Pantera | Pantera (banda) | Pantera | Pantera (gruppo musicale) | פנטרה | Pantera (grupė) | Pantera | Pantera (band) | パンテラ | Pantera | Pantera (grupa muzyczna) | Pantera (banda) | Pantera | Pantera | Pantera

 

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