The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! is a compilation album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on September 23, 2003, two months before their breakup. The title of the compilation is a combination of the titles of their first four major label albums.
The compilation includes an audio CD of 15 previously released tracks and one previously unreleased track, plus a DVD with 12 music videos, two of them live. The tracks on the CD include songs from all six major label albums (two from Cowboys from Hell, three from Vulgar Display of Power, four from Far Beyond Driven, one from The Great Southern Trendkill, one from Official Live: 101 Proof, and three from Reinventing the Steel), as well as three cover songs, all in chronological order. The compilation album reached No. 38 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA in August 2004 and Platinum in January 2006.
The International version of the album, titled Reinventing Hell: The Best of Pantera (combination of the titles of their albums Reinventing the Steel and Cowboys from Hell), is almost identical. It has different artwork and a cardboard slip cover. It also has different tracks than its US counterpart and is available as a standard version or with a DVD.The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! is a compilation album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on September 23, 2003, two months before their breakup. The title of the compilation is a combination of the titles of their first four major label albums.
The compilation includes an audio CD of 15 previously released tracks and one previously unreleased track, plus a DVD with 12 music videos, two of them live. The tracks on the CD include songs from all six major label albums (two from Cowboys from Hell, three from Vulgar Display of Power, four from Far Beyond Driven, one from The Great Southern Trendkill, one from Official Live: 101 Proof, and three from Reinventing the Steel), as well as three cover songs, all in chronological order. The compilation album reached No. 38 on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA in August 2004 and Platinum in January 2006.
The International version of the album, titled Reinventing Hell: The Best of Pantera (combination of the titles of their albums Reinventing the Steel and Cowboys from Hell), is almost identical. It has different artwork and a cardboard slip cover. It also has different tracks than its US counterpart and is available as a standard version or with a DVD.false2023-07-15 14:39:36The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys’ Vulgar Hits!820032003-01-012003-01-0178Alternative MetalGroove MetalHeavy MetalMetalRock11260723983735d7f9bdc-8931-4667-8f26-508f4289d438541f16f5-ad7a-428e-af89-9fa1b16d3c9cd66ca22d-7680-33de-9891-ce683a55fce4/media/data/media5/Music/Pantera/The Best of Pantera- Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys’ Vulgar Hits! (2003)/folder.jpgPanteraAlbumArtistPanteraArtistPanteraPanteraPantera () is an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas, formed in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-known lineup consisted of the Abbott brothers along with Brown and Anselmo, who joined in 1982 and 1986 respectively. The band is credited for developing and popularizing the subgenre of groove metal in the 1990s. Regarded as one of the most successful and influential bands in heavy metal history, Pantera has sold around 20 million records worldwide and has received four Grammy nominations.
Having started as a glam metal band, Pantera released three albums in the mid-1980s with lead vocalist Terry Glaze (Metal Magic, Projects in the Jungle, and I Am the Night), with little success. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera recruited Anselmo in 1986 and released Power Metal in 1988. They secured a record deal with major label Atco the following year. Their fifth album (which the band has since declared to be their official debut album), 1990's Cowboys from Hell, popularized the groove metal genre, while its 1992 follow-up Vulgar Display of Power achieved an even heavier sound and increased their popularity. The subsequent seventh studio album Far Beyond Driven (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Tensions began to surface among the band members when Anselmo, reeling from severe back problems brought on by years of intense on-stage performances, began growing distant from his bandmates in 1995, eventually becoming addicted to heroin as a result of his pain issues (he almost died from an overdose in July 1996). These tensions resulted in the recording sessions for The Great Southern Trendkill (1996) being held separately. The ongoing tension lasted for another seven years, during which only one studio album, Reinventing the Steel (2000), was recorded. Pantera went on hiatus in 2001 but lingering disputes led to the band breaking up in 2003. The Abbott brothers went on to form Damageplan while Anselmo continued to work on several side projects, including Down, which Brown joined as well.
On December 8, 2004, Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage by a mentally unstable fan during a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio. Vinnie Paul went on to form Hellyeah after his brother's death, and died of heart failure in 2018, leaving Brown and Anselmo as the only surviving members of the band's best-known lineup. In July 2022, it was announced that Brown and Anselmo were reuniting in 2023 for Pantera's first tour in 22 years, with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante filling in for the Abbott brothers on guitar and drums, respectively. The new lineup played its first show in 21 years at the Hell and Heaven festival in Mexico on December 2, 2022, and the band's tour will continue into 2025.