Pantera is well known for being a heavy metal band with their roots in the state of Texas. Vinnie Paul and Darrel Abbott were the two brothers who created the glam rocker group. Vinnie was the drummer while Darrell was the main guitarist for the band. It would be Darrell who earned the greatest notice in future years for being one of the finest guitarists in the music world.
Between 1981-1986, there were a few little known rockers who had short careers with the Pantera group. These included Donny Hart at vocals; bassist, Tommy Bradford; Terry Glaze on rhythm guitar and vocals and Matt L’Amour also had a short turn at lead vocals. Joining the 1982 lineup was Rex Brown on bass guitar, and Phil Anselmo joined the crew in 1987 as the frontman and vocalist. These 4 men would become hugely successful and form the lineup for the Pantera band that would last for 16 years.
The group took a lot of their initial style and sound from bands like Van Halen and Kiss. Their performances included spandex, wild hairstyles and on style make-up. This style would change over the years as the band found their own unique sound. By the last of the 80s, Pantera was a key piece of what was being called Groove Metal. This musical style was actually a subgenre of thrash. The 1990, “Cowboys from Hell” release in 1990 drew critical praise and led to Pantera’s future as one of the most highly rated heavy metal groups of the 90s.During this decade is when sales of Pantera merch was also at its peak.
The Pantera band members had their problems though; and these included drug overdoses and missed concert dates. At first the sounds and styles of Pantera band members were much more popular among fans in the southern states. In fact, their early performances were only seen in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. They were commonly referred to as the White Trash Metal band, which was seen by the band members as being high praise indeed. Still they wanted to reach even higher.
Although the band had spent almost 10 years with very little musical respect from critics, the early 90s began their leap to stardom. Now many musical experts applaud them for being one of the greatest of all Heavy Metal groups. Today select Pantera merch is highly sought by avid collectors and diehard fans. VH1 has listed them at Number 45 on their list of greatest 100 Artists of Hard Rock and MTV places them among the top 5 Heavy Metal Bands.
Anselmo and Darrell Abbott both had well known substance abuse issues and in the middle of the 90s, Anselmo began to have a meltdown. Quarrels with the group began to escalate about his addiction to drugs. Heroin became one of Phil Anselmo’s mainstays and this hurt the band as well as his own reputation. No one could ever know what he might do or say during performances or rehearsals.
Finally, in 2001, the band took a break and no reunion of this Fabulous Foursome ever occurred. The official ending of Pantera as a band was in 2003 and Anselmo and Vinnie Paul Abbott had a largely publicized war of words over who and what was to blame for the collapse of the band. Darrell Abbott was killed in 2004 when a mentally unbalanced fan shot him during a performance on stage in Columbus, Ohio. Darrell was performing with his brother Vinnie and a new group they had christened, Damageplan.
Among the musical contributions by the heavy metal Pantera group were the Dallas Stars fight song and the following recordings.
– Metal Magic in 1983
– Projects in the Jungle released in1984
– I am the Night released in 1985
– Power Metal-1988
– Cowboys from Hell-1990
– Vulgar Display of Power in 1992
– The Great Southern Trendkill in 1996
– Reinventing the Steel in 2000