10 Biggest Band Blowups In Hard Rock
3. Phil Anselmo - Pantera
In the 90's, no band was as heavy as Pantera. While the old guard still had titans of the genre going strong like Metallica and Judas Priest, these guys brought a refined approach to their songwriting which made every track feel like a sonic bludgeoning. Though the band kept getting popular and heavier with every subsequent release, the split between the band members was starting to form.
Starting with the band's Vulgar Display of Power record, vocalist Phil Anselmo had been struggling with chronic back pain, which led him to use heroin as a painkiller. Quickly becoming dependent on his high, the band started to become more agitated about whether their frontman could perform or not. After the band's Reinventing the Steel album, Anselmo announced he was taking a break to clean up and take care of his back issues. While everything seemed to be going fine, the Abbot Brothers started to get a little wary once Anselmo started coming out with albums with acts Down and Superjoint Ritual.
Once a few months turned into years, Pantera was officially done, with Anselmo and the Abbotts bashing each other in the press. With both Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell no longer with us, it's a shame that one of the hardest metal bands of all time never resolved their issues.