A Tribute to Phil Anselmo of Pantera

A Tribute to Phil Anselmo of Pantera

I identified with Phil Anselmo. He had overbearing parents that were into Christian Science and I did too. Phil made Pantera. Without Phil, Pantera was nothing worth mentioning before. They played bad hair metal. Granted I listen to a lot of hair metal, but that is because it is downright fun. Phil however rebelled against that vein of music and its excess in riches. After Beavis and Butthead the crowds at Poison and Motely Crue shows shrank. They were no longer cool. Phil claimed that, “The trend is dead,” and for all intensive purposes it died. When the music was un-cool, the fans deserted it, proving most of these bands was in their promotion by major record labels that reeked of selling out to the very product they promoted, music. Advertisements could produce hits. Michael Jackson and his album, “Thriller,” is the best example of the affect pushing an album can have. It sold millions upon millions of copies. Phil hated that. Pantera was one of the first bands that made it all by themselves. Nobody would promote them, as they did not fit the image that people wanted to be popular. Times are different now, and everyone except for death metal receives promotion. I like Matt of Kalopsia for that reason. There is no trend associable with death metal. It is what it is. Either you like it or you do not. Take it or leave it. Death metal is a genre and it will not change. Phil would probably being playing death metal now, and gotten harder than ever if Pantera continued.

Phil and Pantera put out their album, “Cowboys from Hell,” and later albums when the trend was dead. Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, Cradle of Filth and several other acts where playing their first US show when Pantera ended. Nobody knew of that music then, black metal and European death metal. These bands now have t-shirts in the mall at places like Hot Topic and that would have never happened when Pantera was producing number 1 albums. Phil and Hot Topic cannot mix. There were no followers then that did such things, except Metallica, but at that time, many wondered if Metallica was going to sell out. Megadeth sold out right when Pantera was gone. Pantera had exceptionally loyal followers. Words like metalcore where not invented then. Most of his followers listened to bands like Megadeth, Testament, and Exodus and they attracted the hardcore kids. Their genre was either thrash or speed metal, but many liked to say that they were groove metal late in their career.

The sad part is Pantera cannot happen again. Hot Topic, major record labels, and smaller record labels that are now major would not let that happen. Pantera was and now it is over. A phenomenon is the proper word for their success. The same is true for Slayer. A music that spoke to downtrodden people is unable recreated in a shopping mall, as the times were different then. Bill Clinton was President, and there were not so many disillusioned back then, such that the radio played much weaker music than it does today. No, Pantera did not speak to people that came from good homes that could afford to purchase items in the mall. Those bands were Metallica and Megadeth when the black album and “Cryptic Writings” came out. Pantera spoke to people that came from broken homes. These fans spent the only $13 dollars that they had on a Pantera album because they wanted a band that they could identify with. If they could afford to go to a show, they were in the pit. They did not have health care either.