In an interview with Inside With Paulo Baron, singer Phil Anselmo talked about the time he joined Pantera back in 1987 when the band formed as a glam metal band.

Phil also explained why Pantera gave up on glam metal later, switching to groove metal, born from the album “Cowboys From Hell” released in 1990.

Asked about the bands that influenced him, Phil answered:

“I think that I was influenced by the greatest frontmen in the world. David Lee Roth, Rob Halford, Dee Snider – Dee Snider is great – Ronnie Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, I can keep going on and on…

“But I think that I was also influenced by Roger Miret, Agnostic Front, Henry Rollins, Black Flag, stuff like that.

“And what I did was, I knew very well that Pantera was a heavy metal band, that’s what we were, but what I did was – I kept it simple.

“When we realized that we had our audience, we had our hardcore audience, especially in the local area in Dallas, TX, I said to the guys, ‘We don’t need the same image as David Lee Roth or Dee Snider or any of them, we don’t need any of that. We just need to show up and play the music.’

“That’s when I shaved my head, from the mohawk, I was like, ‘No more f**king long hair, none of that s*it.’ I should’ve just shaved my head altogether, but I think I brought the hardcore attitude and the stripped-down image.

“I also had all the great influence under my belt from playing shows since I was 15, controlling a crowd, talking to the crowd, and being down to earth with the audience, because I didn’t want to be the guy that was a thousand miles away every show, ‘Let me see you raise your hands…’

“You know, I never wanted to be that guy. I’d rather say, ‘Who’s smoking pot? Who’s getting laid?’, s*it like that, be real with them, so I think people saw that – they saw the element of hardcore and heavy metal, dare I say perfectly joined together, and they loved it, man.