Cowboys From Hell (Pantera fans)

Pantera formed in 1981 in Arlington, Texas, with its original line-up consisting of drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, his younger brother, guitarist Darrell Abbott (then known as "Diamond Darrell"), bassist Tommy Bradford, guitarist Terry Glaze and vocalist Donnie Hart.

At its conception, the members of Pantera were in 11th grade. The band played Kiss and Van Halen covers as well as original material in the glam metal vein in Texas nightclubs. Along with adopting the glam metal sound, the band members frequently performed in spandex and teased-up hair, a common appearance in the glam metal scene. Bassist Rex Brown would join in 1982 and in 1987 Phil Anselmo would become the group's lead vocalist, completing the band's most successful lineup that would remain together for 16 years.

The band released four cold albums between 1981 and 1999 titled in order, "Metal Magic" with Terry Glaze on guitar, Donnie Hart on vocals and bassist Tommy Bradford in the band at the time, then "Projects in The Jungle", with Hart leaving the band, Glaze taking over vocals (and having himself reffered to as "Terrence Lee") leaving Diamond Darrell as the sole guitarist and Bradford also leaving the band with the role taken by Rex Brown, known as "Rexx Rocker" at the time. The album that followed was titled "I Am The Night," and the fourth album, which saw Phil Anselmo take the role of vocals was titled "Power Metal" which was the heaviest album released so far. At the arrival of new-found singer Phil Anselmo, The band changed their look from Hair metal to "whatever the fuck they wanted".

On July 24th, 1990, the band released what has been refferred to as "the best metal album ever" which was titled "Cowboys From Hell". by this stage the band had acquired a huge fanbase all over the world and had completely changed their look from the Hair metal with teased-up hair and spandex to the signature "Dean Flying V", Camouflage pants, either no shirt or a flanalette and a great big southern flag somewhere on the stage.

The band released many more albums in the years that followed titled "Vulgar Display Of Power", "Far Beyond Driven", "The Great Southern Trendkill", "Reinventing The Steel" and a few live albums and greatest-hits albums between 1992 and 2000, until the band split up because Anselmo was addicted to Heroin and started to lash out at the other band members.

The band members all became involved in other bands or Side-projects such as "Down", Phil anselmo's side project which which was formed in 1991 while Pantera were still together and later became an official band consisting of Pepper Keenan of "Corrosion Of Conformity", Rex Brown of "Pantera", Kirk Windstein of "Crowbar",and Jimmy Bower of "Eyehategod". There was also also another Side-project from Anselmo started in 1993 called "Superjoint Ritual" which had little success.

The other band members, the Abbott brothers joined a band called "Damageplan" which formed in 2003 and released one album titled "New Found Power" which they supported on a tour until at a concert on December 8, 2004, Dimebag Darrell was murdered by an ex-marine Nathan Gale who shot darrell in the head 3 times dead along with 3 other concert-goers before being taken down by Officer James Nigemeyer, a policeman on the scene. Gale did this because he was a paranoid Schizophrenic who believed that Pantera were stealing his lyrics and that the Abbott brothers broke up Pantera, his favourite band. This caused a terrible outcry in the Heavy Metal community and many still mourn his death to this day. He was one of the most influencial guitarists and unique styled. The memory of him lives on and He will never be forgotten by his friends, family and fans.

After the death of Dimebag Darrell, all members of Pantera had been greatly affected especially his brother Vinnie Paul Abbott and Phil Anselmo, who said that "Dimebag deserves to be beaten" which was one of the last things he ever said about him before his death. There have been many tribute songs to Dimebag Darrell, such as: "In This River" by "Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society", Zakk Wylde being one of Dimebag's childhood friends, "Side of A Bullet" by "Nickelback" and "Aesthetics Of Hate" by "Machine Head".

The other ex-members are still involved in other bands to this day such as Phil Anselmo's "Down," which since 1991 have released 3 highly successful albums with Anselmo off Heroin now and Rex Brown still in the band. Vinnie Paul, Dimebag Darrell's older brother has also started a band called "Hellyeah" consisting of himself, Chad Gray of "Mudvayne" on vocals, Guitarist Greg Tribbett of "Mudvayne" also, Tom Maxwell of "Nothingface" and Bob Zilla of "Damageplan" which formed in 2007. The Abbott brothers were also involved in other projects, such as "Rebel Meets Rebel" with David Allen Coe, a country music legend, which had much success also and is still being bought at a considerable rate today.

Some parts of this article were taken from Wikipedia.org

Phil Anselmo - Vocals, Frontman

Dimebag Darrell (R.I.P) - Lead Guitar

Rex Brown - Bass

Vinnie Paul Abbot - Drums

Pantera in 1987 - Rex, Phil, Vinnie and Diamond (Dimebag)

Later days, Pantera in 2000 - Phil, Vinnie, Dimebag, Rex