10 Greatest Headbanging Metal Songs

You can't really have a list of headbanging riffs and not include Pantera somewhere. Ever since they swapped their glam look to a hard-edged sonic assault in the early '90s, the riffs of Dimebag Darrell were meant to be played in front of legions of metalheads headbanging in unison. While Dime could combine multiple different layers of shred into the span of a single song, the catchiest thing he has ever put to tape remains one of his simplest.

Written while rehearsing, Walk is one of metal's easiest riffs, with most of the tune being nothing more than a few slides and one bend. As opposed to the more lavish solo runs Dime would do later on in the tune, all of the attitude lies in how much swagger he puts into that one bend. Even though it just goes from one note to the next, the rub between the notes seems to pull your head down for you.

This song has a lot more to offer than Dime's riff though, with his brother Vinnie Paul locking in the perfect tempo for fans to jump into. While Pantera may have come from the more glammy side of rock and roll, this was a metal tinged version of Texas Swing that will leave you delightfully bloodied and bruised.