Headbangers Ball

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Headbangers Ball is a television show about heavy metal music airing on MTV2. 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 offered (and became famous because of) a stark contrast to Top 40 music videos shown during the day.

Contents 1 Hosts 2 Popularity and influence 3 Road trips 4 Death of The Ball 5 Rebirth: Headbangers Ball redux 6 Discography 7 Trivia 8 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, before ultimately settling on Riki Rachtman, who became the most identifiable host of the show, to some viewers, although some of the shows viewers were upset that Curry was replaced by Rachtman.

[edit] Popularity and influence

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. 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 Nirvana while continuing to focus on less mainstream forms of heavy metal.

[edit] Road trips

Bands would visit the set for interviews, and in some instances, the show would follow bands on trips to assorted locations across the world. Memorable road trip episodes include Alice in Chains's trip to a water park, skydiving with Megadeth, Oktoberfest in Munich with Danzig, and Van Halen's adventure at Cabo Wabo.

[edit] Death of The Ball

The show remained on the airwaves until January 1995, when MTV abruptly cancelled the show without any prior warning to viewers, Riki Rachtman, or the production staff. The European version, hosted by Vanessa Warwick, was on the air until 1996 and axed to half an hour (from three hours in past years).

No official reason was given for the show's cancellation. Rachtman himself was informed of the cancellation days afterward when, after filming what would end up being the final episode, he was simply informed via phone call that he would not have to show up to work the following week.

Given the popularity of The Ball, many MTV fans were outraged at the show's abrupt cancellation, denying Rachtman and the production staff the chance to inform viewers that the show was going off the air, or to allow them to put together a "farewell show" for the loyal viewers of Headbangers Ball. To this day, many critics of MTV cite the cancellation of Headbangers Ball as one of the key decisions which caused the network to "jump the shark."^{[citation needed]}

Over the years, MTV attempted to fill the void left by the cancellation of Headbangers Ball with other rock-themed block programs such as the 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

After nearly a decade of the show being off the air, MTV revived the series in 2003 on MTV2, now hosted by Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta, Saturdays at 10 p.m. 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. Headbangers Ball merchandise, including a tablature book and three CD sets featuring artists such as Hatebreed, DevilDriver, Chimaira, Sevendust, Atreyu, Shadows Fall, Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, A Life Once Lost, Cradle of Filth, Deftones, and Godsmack have also been released.

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.

[edit] Discography

• MTV2 Headbangers Ball (2003)
• MTV2 Headbangers Ball Volume 2 (2004)
• MTV2 Headbangers Ball: The Revenge (2006)

[edit] Trivia

• Each album contains at least one 80's band, such as Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden.
• Each album contains at least one live song.
• Corey Taylor has appeared on all three albums with Stone Sour's Inhale and two songs by Slipknot: Duality, and Before I Forget.
• There is currently as much time devoted to commercials, advertising and pre-scripted interviews with bands during airings of MTV2's HEADBANGERS BALL as there is to actually playing music videos by Heavy Metal artists

[edit] External links

• Official blog from MTV for Headbangers Ball
• MTV2.com's official Headbangers Ball site
• Official site for albums spawned from Headbangers Ball
• Headbangers Ball at the Internet Movie Database
  • Headbangers Ball at the Internet Movie Database
• Jump The Shark - Headbangers Ball