Headbanging

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Headbangers in action, at DarkLight's club Omega in Johannesburg, South Africa

Headbanging is a type of dance which involves violently shaking the head in time with music, most commonly heavy metal music, even though similar dances have been performed along other types of music for a long time (to induce a state of trance). It is most visually effective when the person headbanging has long hair.

1 Styles
2 Origin
3 Health issues
4 See also

[edit] Styles

There are various styles of headbanging, including:

The up and down: the most common style, which involves shaking the head up and down. This style is demonstrated at the climax of the "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene in the movie Wayne's World.

The circular swing (windmill): swinging the head in a circular motion. This style is more commonly known as the Windmill or Helicopter. It was popularized by Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P. and George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher of Cannibal Corpse, and is used by members of Amon Amarth, Slipknot, Meshuggah, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, the late Dimebag Darrell, Brian Fair of Shadows Fall, Corey Beaulieu of Trivium, and many other bands.

Drunk style: a form of head banging in random directions, as if the person is drunk. Bands such as Immortal are a good example of this.

The half-circle: swinging the head repeatedly from side to side in a downward arc. This style is often used by Tom Araya of Slayer.

The figure eight: shaking the head in a figure eight.

The side to side: shaking the head from side to side, whipping the hair on each transition. This style is used by Wayne Static of Static-X, Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom, James Root of Slipknot (during the "build-up" moments of a song), Martin Mendez of Opeth, and Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo.

Image:BIPOLAR-Dave Tyo Headbang CBGB.jpg

The whiplash: an especially violent form of the traditional "up and down" style, characterized by the hair of the headbanger moving about so rapidly that it obscures their face. This style may have been pioneered by AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, and has also been used by Mick Thomson of Slipknot and former Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.

The Two up, Two down: Similar in style to the whiplash but instead of moving alternately up and down to the beat, the performer executes two beats 'down' and two beats 'up'. This is an attempt to accurately mimic the movements of Angus Young who appears to only 'go down' every other beat. When performed properly, the heel of the back leg is lifted on the 'down' strokes, and the heel of the front leg is lifted on the 'up' strokes.

The all-out: dropping on the ground, holding oneself up with the arms, and violently swinging the head between the arms. This style sometimes involves grabbing onto tables and other fixed objects, as their head movements have become so violent they seriously affect balance. Sid Wilson and Craig Jones from Slipknot often perform this style of headbanging during their live sets.

The tandem. Judas Priest guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton pioneered and perfected this form of headbanging, in which they stand side by side and headbang in unison. (See also Wolf Hoffman and Jörg Fischer of Accept.)

The thrust: an antisocial form of headbanging where the person violently swings forwards and backwards from their waist, often headbutting people in front of them, or in more extreme circumstances, behind them.

The hammer: a form of headbanging performed by Till Lindemann of Rammstein performed by semi-squating and hitting the opposite knee of the hand you're doing the hammer motion to, while moving your head side to side or up and down. The speed of the Hammer fist goes hand in hand with the drum beat.

The breakdown: When several members of a band (especially guitarists, if there are two) all headbang simultaniously in a violent "down and back" variant during a particularly intense part of a song.

The low-profile: a variation on the "up and down" where the performer's headbanging movements are short and more subtle, but still noticeable.

The full body: also known as the body bang, is a variation of the "up and down" where the performer brings the head down to almost his knees, brings it back up does a standard shake down, and then goes back down to the knees, in a swinging motion, used extensively by Jens Kidman of Meshuggah and Jason Peppiatt, the vocalist of Psycroptic. This style is also particularly popular among metalcore groups.

Various styles are often mixed together according to taste and to the tempo and aggressiveness of the music. They can also be performed with eyes closed and/or in combination with hand gestures such as devil horns, singing, yelling, and lip syncing. Headbangers' bodies usually bang with the head, reducing the strain on the neck and making the body move in a serpentine, up-and-down fashion to the music. There are a number of different stances a headbanger can stand in, which include:

Standing up straight. This is most commonly performed with the legs slightly apart, mainly to keep balance.
Standing with the legs slightly bent and the hands on the knees or thighs. This is a common stance for headbangers performing the half-circle, as it allows maximum movement and balance.
Standing with the hands behind the back.
Standing with one leg in front and one behind, with the hands held together near the lower body. This style is often used in tight spaces or to alleviate cramp and maintain balance.
Standing with legs extremely stretched to the front and back of the body, lowering the head and body as low as possible to avoid loss of balance, while shredding an Air guitar, usually with the hand holding the guitar neck placed on the according knee and the other one lowered to "pick the strings".
Standing with arms crossed and feet slightly apart.

A headbanger can also perform while seated, crowd surfing, or in a number of other positions.

The "freak out": Travis Atkins performs this in his band, Frantic. It includes windmill headbanging in different variety to the aggression of the music. You may also move around along a large area while headbanging. Used by many heavy metal, thrash metal, speed metal bands to date. Swinging the legs up and down behind the back is also used in this type of headbang. Jonathan Davis and James Shaffer of KoЯn are great examples of this style of headbang.

[edit] Origin

The term "headbanger" was coined on Led Zeppelin's first US tour in 1968. During a show at the Boston Tea Party, audience members in the first row were banging their heads against the stage in rhythm with the music. Lemmy from Motorhead 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 bands name, as in "Motorheadbanger", although this is most likely untrue.

[edit] Health issues

In practice, headbanging is considered much safer than moshing and has hardly any short-term side effects. Unsafe practice, such as headbanging while intoxicated, under the influence of narcotics, or too close to someone else, is the common cause of injury, also known as a bangover or "mosh neck". In 2002, Jason Newsted claimed his departure from Metallica was partly due to wear of the cartilage in his neck. Also, many people experience a 'pulled muscle' in the neck if no stretching is done beforehand, or if the headbang is performed improperly. In 2006, Terry Balsamo, Evanescence guitarist, received a stroke from headbanging.