One thing we learned from the alternative and nu-metal revolutions is that you don't have to have long hair to rock. But if you want to headbang, it sure looks a lot cooler with at least mid-shoulder length locks. And in you're gonna windmill headbang, you've pretty much gotta have hair like a Viking. Afros ain't gonna cut it and neither will mullets.
The thing that got us thinking about windmill (or helicopter) headbanging was going to the Cannibal Corpse show in New York on Sunday night and seeing the members of opening band, Behemoth, whipping their hair around in such rapid circles it looked like they were gonna take flight. It takes skill to be able to play an instrument with speed and agility while rotating your head around like the exorcist baby. Even the band's drummer, Infernus, has mastered the art of windmill headbanging, and to watch someone play hyper-kinetic blast beats while spinning their head is a sight to behold.
Some insist that W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless invented windmill headbanging, but all we remember from early W.A.S.P. shows is that ridiculous exploding buzzsaw codpiece, fake blood and slabs of rancid raw meat being flung at the crowd. No, for our money, it was Slayer singer and bassist Tom Araya who conceived the windmill headbang back when the band was touring for 1985's Hell Awaits.
Since then, dozens of longhairs have picked up the art, most notably ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, Cannibal Corpse singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher and members of Cradle of Filth, Morbid Angel, Amon Amarth, Meshuggah and As I Lay Dying.
For a classic example of synchronized windmill headbang, here's Amon Amarth's "Runes to My Memory":
Comments