10 Replacement Hard Rock Singers That NAILED It (Or Just Didn't Fit)
5. Phil Anselmo - Pantera (Absolutely Nailed It)
Pantera transformed the metal genre in the 1990s, flying the flag for heavier music when alternative/grunge was firmly in vogue.
Featuring the guitar wizardry of Dimebag Darrell Abbott and controversial, powerful front man Phil Anselmo, the band epitomised success in the extreme music scene, but it hadn’t always been that way.
Anselmo didn’t join the band until 1986, and before that, Dimebag (then known as Diamond Darryl), his brother Vinnie Paul (drums) and bassist Rex Brown had spent years touring as a hard/glam rock band in their native Texas, with singer Terry Glaze.
They independently released their debut album Metal Magic in 1983, but as the tastes of the band started to change fuelled by a burgeoning love of thrash metal from the likes of Metallica and Slayer, they decided someone new was needed on the mic to lead from the front.
Phil Anselmo came in and helped transform the sound and style, firmly putting them on the path that would lead them in their new heavier direction.
Out went the spandex heavy stage costumes, and in came an attitude that would result in their break through album Cowboys From Hell in 1990. By the time they followed up with A Vulgar Display Of Power in 1992 they were well on the path to glory, carving out a niche for themselves and taking heavy music to a whole new commercially successful level.