Music

Headbanger's Ball is the MTV series about all things in the world of heavy metal and hard rock music, bringing you music videos and interviews from rock heavyweights like Metallica and AC/DC. The Ball started in 1987, hosted briefly by Kevin Seal and Adam Curry, but settling on the metal-head Riki Rachtman, the most identifiable host. One of MTV's flagship shows, the show ran for nearly 8 years during the heyday of hard rock and metal, and was one of the most popular music shows ever on MTV. During the rise of heavy metal, the program showed many of the "hair metal" videos, but also delved into the aggressive heavy metal genre, which Rachtman was a fan of. When the age of metal was ushered out by alternative and grunge music, the show abruptly ended in 1995 to the outrage of metal fans. The Gods of metal wouldn't sleep long, and after nearly a decade MTV2 brought it back to life with a revived Headbanger's Ball in 2003, fueled by the new breed of metal bands like Converge, Killswitch Engage, Mastadon, and Hatebreed, as well as underground scenes like metalcore, death metal, and thrash. Headbanger's Ball has also been successful with their compilation albums like 2006's MTV2 Headbangers Ball: The Revenge, featuring acts like Trivium, Iron Maiden, Norma Jean, and Dragonforce.