headbanging

File:Headbanging-Wrong-Kid-Died.webm

Headbanging has been common in Islamic devotional Sufi music traditions dating back centuries, such as the Indian subcontinent's 600-year-old Qawwali tradition,{{cite journal |last1=Gehr |first1=Richard |title=World Beat: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan |journal=Spin |date=October 1991 |volume=7 |issue=7 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGjqAHJs488C&pg=PT107 |publisher=SPIN Media LLC}}{{cite news |title=Lal meri pat: This is how the Red Sain puts the djinn and Sehwan in a trance |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/276991/lal-meri-pat-this-is-how-the-red-sain-puts-the-djinn-and-sehwan-in-a-trance/ |work=The Express Tribune |date=19 October 2011}} and among dervishes in Iran's Kurdistan Province.{{cite news |title=The Headbanging Dervishes of Eastern Kurdistan |url=https://www.cvltnation.com/headbanging-dervishes-eastern-kurdistan/ |work=CVLT Nation |date=19 January 2018}} Qawwali performances, particularly at Sufi shrines in the Indian subcontinent, usually in honour of Allah, Islamic prophets, or Sufi saints, often have performers and spectators induced into a trance-like state and headbanging in a manner similar to metal and rock concerts.{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Bismark |title=An Evaluation of Religious Unity in the Indian Context: Based on Indian Sufi Shrines |journal=ResearchGate |date=August 2018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326926311}}{{cite web |last1=Bukhari |first1=Kyle |title=Restraint and Transgression: Ecstatic Movement and Profane Lyricism in the Sufi Qawwali at Urs Ajmer Sharif |url=https://www.academia.edu/8413089 |website=Academia.edu |year=2014}}{{cite news |last1=Rockwell |first1=John |title=Qawwali Music Stirs Audience |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/05/archives/qawwali-music-stirs-audience-pakistanis-bring-drums-and-chants-to.html |work=The New York Times |date=5 March 1975}} A popular song often performed by Sufis and fakirs in the Indian subcontinent is the 600-year-old "Dama Dam Mast Qalandar" (in honour of 13th-century Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar), which often has performers and spectators rapidly headbanging to the beats of naukat drum sounds.

The most well-known Qawwali performer in modern times is late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whose performances often induced trance-like headbanging experiences in the late 20th century. Khan's popularity in the Indian subcontinent led to the emergence of fusion genres such as Sufi rock and techno qawwali in South Asian popular music (Pakistani pop, Indi-pop, Bollywood music and British-Asian music) in the 1990s which combine the traditional trance-like zikr headbanging of Qawwali with elements of modern rock, techno or dance music, which has occasionally been met with criticism and controversy from traditional Sufi and Qawwali circles.{{cite book |last1=Salhi |first1=Kamal |title=Music, Culture and Identity in the Muslim World: Performance, Politics and Piety |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317963103 |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dc5iAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA194}}

The origin of the term "headbanging" is contested. It is possible that the term "headbanger" was coined during Led Zeppelin's first US tour in 1969.{{Cite book |author1=Lewis, Dave |author2=Pallett, Simon | title=Led Zeppelin: Concert File | publisher=Omnibus Press | isbn=978-1-84449-659-4 |year=2005 }} During a show at the Boston Tea Party concert venue, audience members in the first row were banging their heads against the stage in rhythm with the music.

Furthermore, concert footage of Led Zeppelin performing at the Royal Albert Hall January 9, 1970, on the Led Zeppelin DVD released in 2003, the front row can be seen headbanging throughout the performance.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqF3J8DpEb4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/KqF3J8DpEb4 |archive-date=2021-12-14 |url-status=live|title=Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown - Royal Albert Hall 1970|date=15 October 2007|work=YouTube|access-date=23 February 2015}}{{cbignore}}

However, an instance of headbanging prior to the alleged coining of the term can be seen during Cream's Farewell Concert in November 1968, also at the Royal Albert Hall. Specifically during the performance of Sunshine of Your Love, front row audience members with particularly large amounts of hair are seen quickly bobbing their heads to the music in a fashion typically associated with modern headbanging.{{Cite web |date=July 13, 2011 |title=Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love (Farewell Concert - Extended Edition) (1 of 11) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwDo0JUeKqM&t=96s |access-date=May 12, 2023 |website=YouTube}}

Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath are among the first documented headbangers, as it is possible to see in footage of their gig in Paris, 1970.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clySTJtd81c |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017071215/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clySTJtd81c&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=2013-10-17 |url-status=dead|title=Black Sabbath Paris 1970 Live Full Concert|date=10 August 2013|work=YouTube|access-date=23 February 2015}}

In the early 1970s, Status Quo was one of the first hard rock bands to headbang on stage.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BViiEiHyD4|title= Status Quo - Spinning Wheel Blues (1970) |website= YouTube }}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QTp8lTzqUI|title= Paper Plane - Status Quo (1973) |website= YouTube }}

Lemmy from Motörhead, however, said in an interview on the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years, that the term "Headbanger" may have originated in the band's name, as in "Motorheadbanger".

The practice itself and its association with the rock genre was popularized by guitarist Angus Young of the band AC/DC.{{cite web|url=http://voices.yahoo.com/how-head-bang-2314352.html|title=Yahoo|access-date=23 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728202239/http://voices.yahoo.com/how-head-bang-2314352.html|archive-date=28 July 2014}}{{unreliable source?|date=October 2015}}

Early televised performances in the 1950s of Jerry Lee Lewis depict young male fans who had grown their hair in the fashion of Lewis, where his front locks would fall in front of his face. Lewis would continuously flip his hair back away from his face, prompting the fans to mimic the movement in rapid repetition in a fashion resembling headbanging.

Image:BIPOLAR-Dave Tyo Headbang CBGB.jpg

At least one parrot, a cockatoo named Snowball, developed the habit of headbanging to music, causing something of an Internet sensation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/739523240/snowball-the-dancing-cockatoo-vogues-and-body-rolls-on-beat|title=Snowball The Dancing Cockatoo Vogues And Body Rolls On Beat|website=NPR.org}} Scientists were intrigued, as untrained dancing among animals is rare.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/what-snowball-dancing-parrot-tells-us-about-dance/593428/|title=Not a Human, but a Dancer|first=Ed|last=Yong|date=July 8, 2019|website=The Atlantic}}

In the mid-1980s, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton complained repeatedly about neck pain associated with his almost constant and heavy headbanging during concerts or even rehearsals.Matt Taylor, Metallica: Back to the Front: A Fully Authorized Visual History of the Master of Puppets Album and Tour, Simon and Schuster, 2016, p.164.

In 2005, Evanescence guitarist Terry Balsamo incurred a stroke which doctors postulated may have been caused by frequent headbanging.{{Cite web|url=http://ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/evanescence_guitarist_filling_ben_moodys_shoes.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116090630/http://ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/evanescence_guitarist_filling_ben_moodys_shoes.html|url-status=dead|title=Evanescence Guitarist: Filling Ben Moody's Shoes | Interviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com|archive-date=November 16, 2006}}

In 2007, Irish singer and former Moloko vocalist Róisín Murphy suffered an eye injury during a performance of her song "Primitive" when she headbanged into a chair on stage.[http://www.iheartberlin.de/2007/10/30/roisin-murphys-head-banging-accident/ Roisin Murphy’s Head-Banging-Accident] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903103816/http://www.iheartberlin.de/2007/10/30/roisin-murphys-head-banging-accident/ |date=2014-09-03 }} iheartberlin.de. 30 October 2007. Retrieved on 24 August 2012.

In 2009, Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya began experiencing spinal problems due to his aggressive form of headbanging, and had to undergo anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. After recuperating from the surgery, he can no longer headbang.[http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=51848 Slayer Frontman Tom Araya To Undergo Back Surgery, American Carnage Tour To Be Rescheduled] metealunderground.com. 7 January 2010. Retrieved on 4 August 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/music/2012/07/no-more-headbanging-mortal-slayer-frontman|title=No more headbanging for mortal Slayer frontman|work=The San Francisco Examiner|access-date=23 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527205607/http://www.sfexaminer.com/entertainment/music/2012/07/no-more-headbanging-mortal-slayer-frontman|archive-date=27 May 2013}}

In 2011, Megadeth guitarist Dave Mustaine said that his neck and spine condition, known as spinal stenosis, was caused by many years of headbanging.{{cite web|url=http://wzlx.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/ouch-headbanging-hurts/|title=Ouch! Headbanging Hurts…|work=cbslocal.com|access-date=23 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223200338/http://wzlx.cbslocal.com/2011/11/07/ouch-headbanging-hurts/|archive-date=23 February 2015|url-status=dead}} That same year, Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga suffered a stroke as a result of his frequent headbanging while drumming. The event led to him having to re-learn how to play drums.{{cite web |title=STONE SOUR's ROY MAYORGA 'Had To Re-Learn How To Play' Drums Following His 2011 Stroke |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/stone-sours-roy-mayorga-had-to-re-learn-how-to-play-drums-following-his-2011-stroke/ |website=blabbermouth |date=February 18, 2021 |access-date=May 10, 2021}} Slipknot sampler Craig Jones once suffered from whiplash after an extended case of powerful headbanging.{{Citation needed|date = August 2014}}

Several case reports can be found in the medical literature which connect excessive headbanging to aneurysms and hematomas within the brain and damage to the arteries in the neck which supply the brain. More specifically, cases with damage to the basilar artery,{{Cite journal|title = Head banging associated with basilar artery thrombosis|last = Edvardsson|first = Bengt|date = 7 Jul 2011|journal = Neurology India|doi = 10.4103/0028-3886.82756|pmid = 21743194|volume=59|issue = 3|pages=478–9 | doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal|title = Basilar artery thrombosis due to head banging: hazard of a religious ritual|last = Rajasekharan|first = Chandrasekharan|date = 2013|journal = BMJ Case Reports|doi = 10.1136/bcr-2013-009840|pmid =23704461|volume=2013|pages=bcr2013009840|pmc =3669841}} the carotid artery{{Cite journal|title = "Headbanging" and carotid dissection|last = Jackson|first = M.A.|date = 1983|journal = British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.)|doi = 10.1136/bmj.287.6401.1262|pmid = 6416361|pmc=1549725|volume=287|issue = 6401|pages=1262}} and the vertebral artery{{Cite journal|title = Vertebral Artery Aneurysm – A Unique Hazard of Head Banging by Heavy Metal Rockers|last = Egnor|first = M.R. (1991/1992).|journal = Pediatric Neurosurgery|doi = 10.1159/000120583|pmid =1819327|volume=17|issue = 3|pages=135–138|year = 1991}} have been reported. Several case reports also associated headbanging with subdural hematoma,{{Cite journal|url = http://www.bioline.org.br/pdf?ni06109|title = 'Head banging' during rock show causing subdural hematoma|last = Neyaz|first = Z.|date = 2006|journal = Neurology India|access-date = 28 Aug 2014|doi = 10.4103/0028-3886.27172|pmid = 16936407|volume=54|issue = 3|pages=319–20 | doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal|url = http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2960923-5/fulltext|title = Chronic subdural haematoma secondary to headbanging|last = Islamian|first = Ariyan Pirayesh|date = 5 Jul 2014|journal = The Lancet|access-date = 28 Aug 2014|doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60923-5|pmid =24998813|volume=384|issue = 9937|pages=102|s2cid = 11086214}} sometimes fatal,{{Cite journal|title = "Headbanging" and fatal subdural haemorrhage|last = Mackenzie|first = J.M.|date = 7 Dec 1991|journal = The Lancet|doi = 10.1016/0140-6736(91)92757-S|pmid =1683440|volume=338|issue = 8780|pages=1457–1458|s2cid = 29284379}} and mediastinal emphysema similar to shaken baby syndrome.{{Cite journal|url = http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975%2812%2901211-8/fulltext|title = Mediastinal Emphysema After Head-Banging in a Rock Artist: Pseudo Shaken-Baby Syndrome in Adulthood|last = Matsuzaki|first = Saeko|date = Dec 2012|journal = The Annals of Thoracic Surgery|access-date = 28 Aug 2014|doi = 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2012.05.054 |pmid =23176926|volume=94|issue = 6|pages=2113–2114|doi-access = free}} An observational study comparing headbanging to non-headbanging teenagers in a dance marathon concluded that the activity is associated with pain in varying parts of the body, most notably the neck, where it manifests as whiplash.{{Cite journal|title = Head Banger's Whiplash|last = Kassirer|first = Marilyn|date = Jun 1993|journal = The Clinical Journal of Pain|volume = 9|issue = 2|pages = 138–41|doi = 10.1097/00002508-199306000-00010|pmid = 8358138|s2cid = 6326556}}

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• Headbanger (disambiguation)
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