10 Hard Rock Bands That Had To Fire Major Members

The differences between '80s Pantera and '90s Pantera are almost like night and day when you look back on it. Compared to the grizzly badasses who made one headbanging riff after another, the initial first steps of the Abbott Brothers was originally much more glam-influenced than people might expect. While albums like Metal Magic and Projects in the Jungle were fun for what they were, change was definitely in the air when they decided to switch up genres.

Going into their album Power Metal, it was clear that vocalist Terry Glaze wasn't going to cut the mustard anymore. Compared to the more thrash leaning direction Dimebag Darrell was going in, the thought of mixing that with someone doing a decent David Lee Roth impression wasn't really the best fit. Instead of taking up an offer he had to join Megadeth at the time, Darrell found a new singer in New Orleans native Phil Anselmo, who fit like a glove when it came time to throw down.

Even though there still were some glam rock tropes to go around on some songs on Power Metal, Anselmo's low baritone was what really gave them their edge, which worked wonders once they went into recording albums like Vulgar Display of Power and Cowboys From Hell. Despite the slim chances of succeeding after replacing your singer, Pantera underwent a genre reinvention and came out on the other side even stronger.