Pantera

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Pantera was formed in 1981 by brothers - Vincent Paul Abbott (Vinnie Paul, drums) and Darrell Lance Abbott (Diamond "Dimebag" Darrell, guitar) with Terrence Lee (later Terry Glaze) (rhythm guitar), Donnie Hart (vocals), and Tommy D. Bradford (bass). According to Vinnie Paul, the band considered the names of “Eternity” and “Gemini" before settling on Pantera, which was suggested by a classmate of Vinnie's.

Donny Hart left in 1982 (for the first time), and Terry Glaze abandoned his guitar and became a full-time singer. Later in 1982, Tommy D. Bradford left as well, being replaced by Rex Brown.

With the help of Jerry Abbott, Darrell and Vinnie's father, known as "The Eld'n" or "The Elder" (who was a famous country-music producer, and owned a studio), they put out their first album, Metal Magic in 1983. The first three albums were in fact on Metal Magic and were all self-produced.

1984's Projects in the Jungle and 1985's I Am the Night followed, with Terrence taking on the name "Terry Glaze" in 1985. They also put out "The Hot 'n Heavy Home Vid" in 1985, a set of live clips and other footage.

A meeting between Darrell and Metallica's James Hetfield turned fateful in 1985. At this point, Darrell had a "wall of glam" in his room, with pictures of Bon Jovi and other similar artists. James spat on it, and Darrell, instead of getting angry, joined in. The "wall of loogies" is still there today. This marked a change in the band, as I Am the Night was far heavier and faster.

When Terry Glaze wanted to stay with the glam sound, his influence in the band diminished. Darrell took over a lot of the vocals live, especially on covers by Metallica and other thrash bands (they also had Van Halen and Keel covers, as well as Anthrax). However, the reason he left the band was due to his father objecting to The Elder having a 1/5 stake in the band (same as a full member) due to his recording and management.

In early 1986 Terry Glaze left. Jason McMaster (Watchtower, Assalant, Dangerous Toys, Happy Kitties) was offered the gig, but declined. Terry was first replaced by Matt L'Amour on vocals in winter 1986, later by Rick Mythiasin, and later by David Peacock who was the band's vocalist from late spring 1986 to October 1986.

Later, David Peacock left and was replaced again by the band's original vocalist, Donny Hart, who left in late 1986. An audition was given to Rhett Forrester (Riot V), but it turned out Phil Anselmo from Razor White was the final choice. His first gig was on January 11th, 1987.

1988 brought the album Power Metal, their fastest and heaviest yet, and at some point, Rex Rocker lost an X. Soon he would lose his last name too, and in 1989, possibly due to an encounter with Slayer's Kerry King on May 18th (a video exists of the jam session, and also a later concert where they played "Raining Blood" and some Judas Priest covers). At this point, their glam image faded away. They also phased out the old songs in the setlist and brought in new ones that would appear in the 1990s Cowboys from Hell.

In 1992, Diamond Darrell became Dimebag Darrell, and around then, the band decided to officially disavow any knowledge of their early albums.

The members were known to swap instruments onstage at times, with Dimebag playing bass and singing, Anselmo playing guitar or bass, and Brown playing guitar or singing.

Phil has dabbled in many side projects over the years, from the widely successful Down (with bassist Rex), to Superjoint Ritual. He also appears as "Anton Crowley", guitarist, in Necrophagia and Viking Crown.

Back in 1999, Phil Anselmo, Fenriz (Darkthrone), Satyr (Satyricon), Kiljoy (Necrophagia), and Maniac (Mayhem) started a "supergroup" called Eibon. They were supposed to record a full-length, but due to their heavy schedule, plans were changed. Maniac left the band, and they released one track called "Mirror Soul Jesus" in Moonfog 2000 compilation A Different Perspective. They also recorded an unnamed song. Both of them can be downloaded on Moonfog's site.

Tres Diablos was a very short-time project where members of Pantera collaborated to do covers. Specifically, this was created for the compilation ECW Extreme Music Vol. 1, covering the ZZ Top song "Heard It on the X." The project's name is a reference to the ZZ Top album Tres Hombres.

Rebel Meets Rebel was a collaborative country metal project between Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, Rex Brown, and David Allan Coe. A self titled full-length was inconsistently recorded between 1999 and 2003 for the project. The album was eventually released on May 2nd, 2006 through Big Vin Records.

"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was shot to death on stage in a nightclub shooting on December 8, 2004, while performing with his band, Damageplan.

Guitarist Mike DeLeon filled in for Zakk Wylde at the first rehearsal for the 2022 Pantera shows.