Headbangers Ball

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Headbangers Ball
"popular" logo of The Ball.
Genre	Music
Narrated by	Kevin Seal, Adam Curry (initial hosts), Riki Rachtman (host 1990-1995), Jamey Jasta (host 2003-2007)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Production
Running time	2 hours (3 hours in 1988 & 1989)
Broadcast
Original channel	MTV
Original run	April 18, 1987 – January 14, 1995 (MTV) May 10, 2003-present (MTV2)
Chronology
Preceded by	Heavy Metal Mania
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Headbangers Ball is a television show about heavy metal and hardcore music airing on MTV2, MTV Australia, MTV Two (formerly known as MTV2 Europe, however still covering the whole of Europe), MTV Adria (the MTV subsidiary covering the former Yugoslavia), MTV Brand: New Italia, MTV Portugal, MTV Finland, VH1 India, MTV Norway, MTV Sweden, MTV Denmark, MTV Turkey, MTV Hungary and MTV Japan. The show began on MTV on Saturday, April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal and hard rock music videos late at night, from both well-known and more obscure artists. The show offers (and is famous because of) a stark contrast to Top 40 music videos shown during the day.

1 Hosts
2 Popularity and influence
3 Rebirth: Headbangers Ball redux
- 3.1 Downgrading
4 International versions
5 Discography
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Hosts

"The Ball", as it is commonly called, replaced Heavy Metal Mania (which began airing monthly in 1985), helmed by Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame, expanding the format and adding more live interviews with the bands. At its premiere it was hosted briefly by Kevin Seal, then by VJ Adam Curry, and then Riki Rachtman.^[1]

[edit] Popularity and influence

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Headbangers Ball was one of the most popular music shows ever to air on MTV, on the air for nearly 8 years, and for a time, it was one of the network's flagship shows. For some time in 1988 & 1989, the show was increased to 3 hours. One hour added, plus "hard 60", a daily version of the ball that aired for an hour every weekday afternoon.

Its influence was made widespread with the rise of heavy metal in the 1980s and early 1990s. While the program primarily showed videos from the mainstream friendly "hair metal" genre, it gave an equal amount of time to the often more aggressive-sounding heavy metal music scene active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When "hair metal" faded from the limelight, the show expanded to include coverage of such alternative rock bands as Alice in Chains and Soundgarden while continuing to focus on less mainstream forms of heavy metal.

Bands would visit the set for interviews, and in some instances, the show would follow bands on trips to assorted locations across the world; one example would be a skydiving trip with Megadeth, whose footage was released on the DVD The Arsenal of Megadeth in 2006.^[2]

Other notable TV programs have emulated Headbangers Ball, such as Fuse TV's Uranium and VH1's Rock Show.

The show remained on the airwaves until January 1995, when MTV abruptly canceled the show without any prior warning to viewers, Riki Rachtman, or the production staff. The cancellation of The Ball also came in at #4 on VH1's 40 Least Metal Moments in 2005.^[3]

Over the years, MTV Europe attempted to fill the void left by the cancellation of Headbangers Ball with other rock-themed block programs such as the Julia Valet-hosted Superock, but all have failed for various reasons - including MTV's attempt to make these replacements more mainstream friendly with Top 40 and alternative rock videos added to the shows.

[edit] Rebirth: Headbangers Ball redux

Headbangers Ball volume 2 logo.

After nearly a decade of the show being off the air, MTV revived the series in the spring of 2003 on its sister channel MTV2.^[4] The revived Headbangers Ball features the same sort of "mainstream and non-mainstream" playlist format as its previous incarnation, as well as informative interviews with heavy metal artists old and new.^[1] Additionally, MTV2 sponsored national tours featuring bands that received prominent airtime on Headbangers Ball.^[5]^[6]

The debut episode on MTV2 gave hosting duties to Metallica [1]; following episodes would feature other mainstream bands hosting such as Staind and Deftones until Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta became full-time host. However, other musicians, including Phil Anselmo, Dave Mustaine, and Wayne Static, would host on various occasions as well. The show's central focus would eventually shift from aforementioned mainstream acts that were already featured on other MTV2 programming to concentrate on growing or underground scenes such as metalcore, death metal, and thrash metal.

During VH1's 40 Least Metal Moments countdown, musicians criticized the current incarnation of The Ball in comparison with the original, citing its "scripted" studio feel and lack of excitement. Indeed, the new version rarely ventures beyond airing music videos and subdued, in-studio interviews.

[edit] Downgrading

Starting with the January 13, 2007 episode, Headbangers Ball is simply a block of heavy metal music videos with no VJ segments or artist interviews, as at that time MTV2 was in the process of firing its production staff, thus removing all VJs from its music video shows.^[7] However, the June 23, 2007 episode went behind the scenes of the induction of the late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, including segments covering the event in between music videos. ^[8] Also, brief interview segments still frequently air before and after commercial breaks, typically re-airing on several consecutive episodes for a long period.

As of April 14, 2007, MTV2 has moved the show to the 11 pm-1 am ET time slot to make room for its Rock Block music video program, which is more oriented towards alternative rock and hard rock in contrast with Headbangers Ball, to air at 10:00 P.M. Headbangers Ball is replayed on MTV2 early Tuesday mornings at 4:00 A.M. ^[9] While new episodes still air, it has, on occasion, been pushed several hours into early Sunday morning or simply not aired at all.^[10]

[edit] International versions

Headbangers Ball has numerous international spinoffs, with each international version regionally tailor-made to play music videos from artists based in the regions where the international Headbangers Ball is aired.

Unlike many MTV programs, Headbangers Ball is not featured on any Canadian networks. MuchMusic does air a similar show called Loud, but it is currently only on for a half hour, features no regular host, and is frequently subject to preemptions.

There are several different versions of the show made for European viewers. For Western and Northern Europe, MTV Two airs their version of the series Tuesdays at 11:00 P.M. Western European Time. ^[11] On MTV Adria, serving most of the Balkan Peninsula, Headbangers Ball airs for 1.5 hours once a week on Monday at 11pm, without a host but usually with short interviews with different metal bands. The show uses the original logo.

MTV2 UK airs their version of the show on Tuesday at 12.00AM and lasts until 01.00AM. These shows are presented by various artists from the hard rock/metal genres. So far, Bullet For My Valentine, Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, Machine Head and Cradle of Filth have presented shows, currently presented by Megadeth. This version of the show also uses the original logo. Headbangers Ball airs for twice a week on MTV Australia on late Mondays at midnight and late Thursdays at 1:00 A.M. without a host. MTV Japan airs the series for half an hour late Tuesdays at 3:00 JST, with encore late Sundays at 2:00.^[12]

[edit] Discography

Headbangers Ball merchandise, including a tablature book and three CD sets featuring artists such as Hatebreed, Opeth, DevilDriver, God Forbid, Chimaira, Sevendust, Lacuna Coil, Atreyu, Shadows Fall, Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, A Life Once Lost, Cradle of Filth, Deftones, and Godsmack have also been released.

Each album contains at least one live song. The first Headbangers Ball compilation featured "Raining Blood" by Slayer as its live track^[13], the second compilation used an in-studio performance of "My Tortured Soul" by Probot^[14], and the latest compilation had two live tracks: "A Bid Farewell" by Killswitch Engage and "Now You've Got Something To Die For" by Lamb of God.^[15]

To date, three compilations of songs featured on the Headbangers Ball series have been released in the United States. They are all structured very similarly to the television program, with the first disc featuring well-known bands, while the second disc focuses on more obscure acts.^[16] Songs featuring Slipknot band members Corey Taylor and Joey Jordison have appeared on all three albums, with Taylor's side project Stone Sour contributing "Inhale" and Jordison's project Murderdolls featuring "Dead in Hollywood" on the first^[13] and two songs by Slipknot - Duality, and Before I Forget - appearing on the second^[14] and third compilation^[15], respectively. Other bands that have appeared on all three compilations include Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, and In Flames.^[13]^[14] ^[15]