Pantera's 'Glam Metal' period

Welsh Megaman

Will they get the re-issue treatment?

Metal Magic (1983)
Projects In The Jungle (1984)
I Am The Night (1985)
Power Metal (1988)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU0wjTokz5E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amq9It9dRjs

Ruudi_Mentari

they were going like that for a while too

must admit I was never one to rock, with the pantyhoes.

baldshin

Absolutely love 'Power Metal', but never actually tried any of the others.

Hallyington

I liked their glam stuff.

Motley Crue

These albums should be released, at least in limited format, but I doubt they ever will be - partially because it is completely different from their established image and might "offend" longtime fans, partially because I read somewhere they don't own all the copyright to this material and partially because I believe if a re-release did occur then the original singer would financially benefit and the rest of the band (including the late Dimebag) apparently wouldn't want him too

Angron

Motley Crue wrote: »

These albums should be released, at least in limited format, but I doubt they ever will be - partially because it is completely different from their established image and might "offend" longtime fans, partially because I read somewhere they don't own all the copyright to this material and partially because I believe if a re-release did occur then the original singer would financially benefit and the rest of the band (including the late Dimebag) apparently wouldn't want him too

Yeah, I know a few people who are Pantera fans who either:
A) Didn't even know they had a glam metal stage, or
Just refused to acknowledge it.

lisatiffany

Wtf? ..that actually happened? O_O

Ruudi_Mentari

Do you guys think that was phils big "lesson learned from life"? I mean it was quite the turn they took. Whether they had advisors or what, because thrash had long broke and glam had since died down...

if you ask me, cock rock had to be completely tongue in cheek, and that can be difficult to discern but if they took emselves even remotely serious I'd be concerned.. I mean, ride me rocketways if that's not the funniest thing!! and that's all I ever took from it.

Nailz

Ruudi_Mentari wrote: »

Do you guys think that was phils big "lesson learned from life"? I mean it was quite the turn they took. Whether they had advisors or what, because thrash had long broke and glam had since died down...

if you ask me, cock rock had to be completely tongue in cheek, and that can be difficult to discern but if they took emselves even remotely serious I'd be concerned.. I mean, ride me rocketways if that's not the funniest thing!! and that's all I ever took from it.

Well in fairness, they grew up loving KISS and Van Halen and looking up to the sort of show they put on and the style they presented themselves with, so I think early PanterA wanted to emulate that in certain respects. But when you listen to the records they released then, they're actually pretty rocking! A hell of a lot more heavy and attitude driven than the likes of Poison and Mötley Crüe, so I always thought the label of "Glam" that era of PanterA is stuck with is somewhat unfair because of that.

Granted; their style was a tad airbrushed, to put it lightly, but that was the general style back then, somewhat inherent in that sense, it's only from the 90's-on and looking back that you think "Jesus, they were a Glam band!"

I remember Vinnie once talking about the turning point around Cowboys From Hell where he was saying that they just wanted to start fresh and do whatever they were comfortable with after finally signing to a big label.

Riddle101

Denny M wrote: »

Yeah, I know a few people who are Pantera fans who either:
A) Didn't even know they had a glam metal stage, or
Just refused to acknowledge it.

Then they're not really Pantera fans if you ask me.

Angron

Riddle101 wrote: »

Then they're not really Pantera fans if you ask me.

Not really. If they didn't really know they had a glam metal stage, it's just a bit of ignorance, but doesn't diminish them being a fan that much. Likewise, some people just don't like glam metal, and that doesn't stop them being a fan of Pantera's later work, making them (still) a Pantera fan.


You don't have to like everything a band has done to call yourself a fan.

slavetothegrind

Denny M wrote: »

You don't have to like everything a band has done to call yourself a fan.

true, ask any metallica fan

...of which i am one before ye think i'm hatin'......

Angron

slavetothegrind wrote: »

true, ask any metallica fan

...of which i am one before ye think i'm hatin'......

:pac:

That's more or less my point though, I know a lot of people who hated St. Anger, but they'd still be considered Metallica fans.

Riddle101

Denny M wrote: »

Not really. If they didn't really know they had a glam metal stage, it's just a bit of ignorance, but doesn't diminish them being a fan that much. Likewise, some people just don't like glam metal, and that doesn't stop them being a fan of Pantera's later work, making them (still) a Pantera fan.


You don't have to like everything a band has done to call yourself a fan.

Yes but to not acknowledge they had a glam metal period, or not know even. I would expect a fan to do their homework on the band.

Angron

Riddle101 wrote: »

Yes but to not acknowledge they had a glam metal period, or not know even. I would expect a fan to do their homework on the band.

Perhaps acknowledge was a poor choice of a word, it was more that they just won't listen to their glam metal stuff, which is down to them not liking the genre. And because it's only the stuff from "Cowboys from Hell" onwards that gets much attention, I can see why some people wouldn't be fully aware of the glam metal stuff, and if you learn about Pantera from someone who isn't a fan of their glam stuff, they'd probably never mention it.

Not saying your point of view is wrong though, that's just what I think.

Richy06

Cowboys From Hell has definitely got a bit of glam in it's step. Especially Phil's vocal style.

r3nu4l

A true fan of any band will always seek out their back catalogue so for any 'fan' to say that they didn't know there was a 'glam' phase is more than a little strange.

I think it's fine to be a fan of a band and to acknowledge that perhaps their earlier (or in Metallica's case, their latter) works were far from their best. Nice to see that Pantera successfully reinvented themselves though. They took a risk in alienating whatever fan base they had already established, never an easy thing to do.

Pyr0

In my opinion, Power Metal is their best album with Cowboys following second.

Ruudi_Mentari

The name actually put me off Pantera. And now I know where their heads were at in selecting it and they didn't feel like the kind of streetwise I wanted to arm myself with, which was paramount so I left that to ST and Slayer who were indomitable and unmockable far as I could tell but pantera had a distinct style, and was slickly produced but I felt there were more burning issues than "being myself, by myself" and simply walking and I just didn't need basic esteem lessons?! Not back then, anyhow

And that was my introduction to them - Anselmo is actually appreciative of music across the board, and a good guy and not the moody lowbrow thicko I got the impression of and thus steered clear of.

666irishguy

Nothing shameful about this glam period for them. In fairness I think a lot of the "real" 80's Glam and even Hair bands get a bad rap. They were serious musicians for the dumbed down care-free image they presented. The lyrics let a lot of them down but the playing is nearly always spot on. Dimebag was a big Van Halen fan and Van Halen even put the bumblebee guitar in the box with him when they buried him. So they just imitated what they knew was working and back then they were signing a ****e load of bands with that sunset strip kind of look or sound. I'd say they were finding their feet and hadn't even a notion of what they would become. They just needed to make money and get signed and that sort of look was all the rage in the early to mid eighties. I guess they just wanted to get signed and probably didn't really give a damn once they got the chance to put out a record and pay the bills and live the life.

Motley Crue

Another thing that should be said about this period is that their first four albums were produced by Dime and Vinnie's father, it was done for basic production in their own in house production studio - that they were fortunate enough to have - obviously when Phil came on board (from interviews I've read I say this) it was he who changed the bands vocal direction massively and also shifted their image

I think that change happened very naturally, even for long time local fans of the band, and as it's already been mentioned there is certainly a Glam influence still present in Cowboys from Hell, if not all the work Dimebag has ever done. Image wise they may have simply lost the perms and started wearing more denim and T Shirts instead of spandex - Glam bands like Firehouse did the same, because they were attempting to shift over to the Grunge movement and follow what's more popular in an attempt to sell records. At least Pantera were doing it for other than commercial reasons.

Actually, a great example of that is Alice in Chains, their very first video (the first production as opposed to the second) presents a very different version of the band, in terms of their image, to what they would become. When Guns N Roses released 'Welcome to the Jungle' their video made them look like a Glam band, but Duff McKagan was quick to comment that they had nothing to do with that scene and were more Punk if anything. But GNR still get lobbed in there with the Sunset Strip even today.

Pantera probably could have gone, as their Glam selves, to Sunset Strip and been signed - but they stayed in Texas and they held out, made a few records and changed it around - before they were spotted commercially

But I've always believed those early albums should be released, or at least re-released digitally - so to be made more commercially available

cournioni

I think Power Metal is a great album...

spiritcrusher

Power Metal is probably my favourite Pantera album. Verrrry Judas Priesty but I love that kinda stuff. I think Cowboys and Vulgar Display are great also but Power Metal is the one that I consistently go back and listen to. Anselmo's vocals are cracking.

Slugs

This reminds me of another band who had an embarrassing corporate shill phase

Deschain

The comments made about fans ignoring the glam phase of Pantera should also note that the band themselves ignore this era, and regard Cowboy's to be the first 'offical' album.

ConstantLove

Im glad they went to Heavy Metal.