Starting in 1981 in Arlington, Texas, Darrell and Vincent Abbot, Rex Brown and Terry Glaze began their big hair and fast guitar glam metal band: Panther. Panther spent six years on their glam journey but with not much success. However, five years after they formed, in 1986, Phil Anselmo would replace Terry Glaze as the front man and soon enough the glam would be over and their heavy metal career would begin.
Darrell Abbot became known as “Dimebag Darrell,” the guitarist; his brother, Vincent Abbot, mainly known as Vinnie Paul, the drummer; and Rex Brown, the bass, went from the Panthers to Pantera.
On July 24, 1990 Pantera released their debut album: “Cowboys From Hell,” which since has gone double platinum with over 2,000,000 copies sold just in the U.S.
After the success of their first album, Pantera would go on to quickly release two more albums: “Vulgar Display of Power” and “Far Beyond Driven” with the latter being more successful.
“Far Beyond Driven” reached the number one spot on billboard 200, went platinum by the RIAA, and sold over 500,000 copies within two months of its release.
While Pantera was living their high life most had separate projects. Phil was in Down and Superjoint, Dimebag was in Damageplan, Rex was in Kill Devil Hill, and Vinnie Paul was in Hellyeah and Damageplan. While Pantera was a huge success, the members did not devote their full attention to it and because of this, there was some tension in the band.
On December 8, 2004 Dimebag was playing with Damageplan at Alrosa Villa Nightclub in Columbus, Ohio when tragedy struck. Dimebag Darrell was shot multiple times and killed on stage by Nathan Gale. This of course devastated his brother, Vinnie Paul who was on stage with him, and the rest of the Pantera community was in shock. One of the best guitarists was dead and Vinnie blamed Phil. Later, Vinnie would then unfortunately die of a heart disease on June 22, 2018. Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo are now the only remaining members.
Though Pantera came to a not too pleasant end, they are still one of the top metal bands out there and are still very much loved by any metalhead. Pantera will remain a music icon and will inspire many more generations of musicians to come.
