Originally Posted by DrumEatDrum
From reading your initial post, I don't think Pantera is part of the conversation. They broke up, and were unable to sustain themselves as a band, and delved into a media war between band members.
Although they have remained very popular for their past accomplishments.
But they have stayed hugely popular even though they broke up. And they stayed hugely popular the whole time they were together. And they stayed true to their musical vision that they started from their major label album (while growing and expanding and refining their sound).
I remember hearing on a recording Phil talking in a live concert about the state of heavy metal (when grunge was really big). How people were saying that metal was dead, but yet there were a ton of people at the pantera show that night. So i do think that they are a good case study because they overcame trends and stayed on top (until they broke up). But they did not brake upt because nobody cared about them anymore or because they became irrelevant. They broke up because of Phil and his drug problems and other problems that he was causing.