Maps of Music

Vulgar Display of Power (1992)

Where the lyrics of Vulgar Display of Power take you, and where it was really made.

The cover looks like a real punch, but the hired model was never actually hit.

Key places

Pantego Sound Studio, Texas (1992)

Recording site Pantego Sound — The band returned to this Texas studio in 1991 to record the album, and the record was also mixed here. The credits list the studio name with (R.I.P.) after it. The location is given only at city level. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Vulgar Display of Power: sixth studio album by American groove metal band Pantera
• Released February 24, 1992 through Atco Records
• Second collaboration with producer Terry Date, after Cowboys from Hell (1990)
• Pantera's highest-selling album to date
• Certified 2× Platinum; peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard 200

Background

• Band wanted a heavier record than Cowboys from Hell
• Metallica's self-titled album, released during recording, adopted a more commercial sound
• Pantera saw this as a gap to fill and aimed to make the heaviest record of all time
• Cowboys from Hell had shifted their style from hard rock and glam metal toward Slayer, Metallica and Black Sabbath
• Opened for Metallica and AC/DC at the 1991 Monsters of Rock free concert at Moscow's Tushino airfield, September 28, 1991

Recording

• Recorded at Pantego Sound Studio in Pantego, Texas, in 1991
• Terry Date produced; the band had demoed three tracks before he arrived
• Remaining songs were written in the studio with little preproduction
• Mastered at Masterdisk in New York City
• During recording, Darrell dropped the nickname 'Diamond Darrell' for 'Dimebag Darrell'

Cover

• Photographed by Brad Guice, who also shot the Cowboys from Hell cover
• Shows a man being punched in the face
• The band wanted something vulgar, like a dude getting punched
• The label's first version, with a boxer wearing a glove, was rejected by the band
• Guice confirmed that the hired model, Sean Cross, was never actually hit

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Pantera is an American heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas, in 1981 by the Abbott brothers, guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul.
• The band started as a glam metal act and was originally named Gemini, then Eternity, before settling on Pantera.
• Rex Brown joined on bass in 1982 and Phil Anselmo became vocalist in 1986, forming the best-known lineup.

Members

• The best-known lineup was the Abbott brothers with Rex Brown and Phil Anselmo.
• Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage in December 2004; Vinnie Paul died of heart failure in June 2018.
• Currently the band features Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante.

Career

• The band pioneered and popularized groove metal in the 1990s with Cowboys from Hell (1990) and Vulgar Display of Power (1992).
• Far Beyond Driven (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Pantera disbanded in 2003 and reunited with a new lineup in 2022, touring the world since.
• The band has sold around 20 million records worldwide and received four Grammy nominations.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Kerrang! and Sputnikmusic each gave the album 4 out of 5
• Steve Huey of AllMusic rated the album 4.5 out of 5 stars and called it one of the most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s
• Huey said the riffs and sonic textures were more consistently interesting than those on Cowboys from Hell
• Janiss Garza of Entertainment Weekly called it one of the most satisfying heavy metal records since Metallica's early-80s cult days
• Critics praised Darrell's guitar work and the heavy riffs that set the album's tone
• Reviewers also noted Phil Anselmo's deeper growls and more powerful vocals

Reappraisal

• Often considered one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of the 1990s
• Listed among the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
• Rolling Stone ranked it 10th on its 2017 list of The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time
• Loudwire ranked it number one on its Top 11 Metal Albums of the 1990s
• IGN named it the eleventh most influential heavy metal album ever
• Guitar World ranked it number one on its 2022 list of The 30 greatest rock guitar albums of 1992

Records

• Debuted at number 44 on the Billboard 200
• Longest-charting album in the band's discography at that time, with 78 consecutive weeks
• Certified gold by the RIAA on February 9, 1993, platinum on November 7, 1997, and double platinum on July 7, 2004
• Initially charted at number 64 in the UK, 69 in Germany and 56 in Australia
• Later peaked at number 54 in Japan and number 196 in Belgium
• Single 'Walk' reached number 35 on the UK chart, the band's first UK top 40 hit
• Platinum in Australia and Japan; gold in Canada, Argentina, New Zealand and the UK

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title comes from a line in the 1973 film The Exorcist, and a 2007 book also used it as its title
• Darrell first played the riff for 'Walk' during a soundcheck while the band was touring for Cowboys from Hell
• 'By Demons Be Driven' appears in the 2015 film The Big Short, where actor Christian Bale is seen playing drums along to it
• In the 1990s, MTV's Headbangers Ball used excerpts from the album's songs for its opening theme, bumpers and closing theme
• 'Mouth for War' was the band's first song to chart, debuting on the UK Singles Chart on October 10, 1992

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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