Headbanging is the act of violently shaking one's head in rhythm with music. It is common in rock, punk, heavy metal music and dubstep, where headbanging is often used by musicians on stage. [1] Headbanging is also common in traditional Islamic Sufi music traditions such as Qawwali in the Indian subcontinent and Iran.
Headbanging has been common in Islamic devotional Sufi music traditions dating back centuries, such as the Indian subcontinent's 600-year-old Qawwali tradition, [2] [3] and among dervishes in Iran's Kurdistan Province. [4] 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. [5] [6] [7] 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. [3]
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. [2] 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. [8]
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. [9] 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. [10]
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. [11]
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. [12]
In the early 1970s, Status Quo was one of the first hard rock bands to headbang on stage. [13] [14]
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. [15] [ unreliable source? ]
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.
At least one parrot, a cockatoo named Snowball, developed the habit of headbanging to music, causing something of an Internet sensation. [16] Scientists were intrigued, as untrained dancing among animals is rare. [17]
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. [18] In 2005, Evanescence guitarist Terry Balsamo incurred a stroke which doctors postulated may have been caused by frequent headbanging. [19] 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. [20] 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. [21] [22] In 2011, Megadeth guitarist Dave Mustaine said that his neck and spine condition, known as spinal stenosis, was caused by many years of headbanging. [23] 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. [24] Slipknot sampler Craig Jones once suffered from whiplash after an extended case of powerful headbanging.[ citation needed ]
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, [25] [26] the carotid artery [27] and the vertebral artery [28] have been reported. Several case reports also associated headbanging with subdural hematoma, [29] [30] sometimes fatal, [31] and mediastinal emphysema similar to shaken baby syndrome. [32] 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. [33]
A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of injuries, there are many causes—including accidents, falls, physical assault, or traffic accidents—that can cause head injuries.
The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of the Mughal Empire has been identified by modern scholarship as the inventor of the sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin. Another view supported by a minority of scholars is that Khusrau Khan developed it from Veena.
Whiplash is a non-clinical term describing a range of injuries to the neck caused by or related to a sudden distortion of the neck associated with extension, although the exact injury mechanisms remain unknown. The term "whiplash" is a colloquialism. "Cervical acceleration–deceleration" (CAD) describes the mechanism of the injury, while the term "whiplash associated disorders" (WAD) describes the subsequent injuries and symptoms.
Dhol can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in Indian subcontinent primarily includes northern areas such as the Jammu, Himachal, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Kashmir, Sindh, Assam Valley, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. A related instrument is the dholak or dholki. Dhols are amongst other events used in Indian wedding ceremony processions such as Baraat or Varyatra.
The Music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple influences, a distinctive Pakistani music has emerged.
Shaken baby syndrome (SBS), also known as abusive head trauma (AHT), is a medical condition in children younger than five years old, generally caused by blunt trauma, vigorous shaking, or a combination of both. SBS is the leading cause of fatal head injuries in children under two, with a risk of death of about 25%. The most common symptoms include retinal bleeds, multiple fractures of the long bones, and subdural hematomas.
Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in South Asia. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has also gained mainstream popularity and an international audience as of the late 20th century.
In neuroanatomy, dura mater is a thick membrane made of dense irregular connective tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It is the outermost of the three layers of membrane called the meninges that protect the central nervous system. The other two meningeal layers are the arachnoid mater and the pia mater. It envelops the arachnoid mater, which is responsible for keeping in the cerebrospinal fluid. It is derived primarily from the neural crest cell population, with postnatal contributions of the paraxial mesoderm.
Data Darbar, located in the city of Lahore, is the largest Sufi shrine in South Asia. It was built to house the remains of Ali Hujwiri, commonly known as Data Ganj Baksh, a Sufi saint from Ghazni in present-day Afghanistan, who is believed to have lived on the site in the 11th century CE.
A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a type of bleeding in which a collection of blood—usually but not always associated with a traumatic brain injury—gathers between the inner layer of the dura mater and the arachnoid mater of the meninges surrounding the brain. It usually results from tears in bridging veins that cross the subdural space.
Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), also known as intracranial bleed, is bleeding within the skull. Subtypes are intracerebral bleeds, subarachnoid bleeds, epidural bleeds, and subdural bleeds.
Epidural hematoma is when bleeding occurs between the tough outer membrane covering the brain and the skull. Often there is loss of consciousness following a head injury, a brief regaining of consciousness, and then loss of consciousness again. Other symptoms may include headache, confusion, vomiting, and an inability to move parts of the body. Complications may include seizures.
Cerebral angiography is a form of angiography which provides images of blood vessels in and around the brain, thereby allowing detection of abnormalities such as arteriovenous malformations and aneurysms. It was pioneered in 1927 by the Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz at the University of Lisbon, who also helped develop thorotrast for use in the procedure.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a Pakistani singer, primarily of qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the biggest and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, son of Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan and grandson of Qawwali singer Fateh Ali Khan. In addition to Qawwali, he also performs ghazals and other light music. He is also popular as a playback singer in Hindi cinema and the Pakistan film industry.
Headbangers Ball is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obscure artists. The show offered a stark contrast to Top 40 music videos shown during the day.
Sufi music refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, inspired by the works of Sufi poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Amir Khusrow, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.
Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is a flap-like tear of the inner lining of the vertebral artery, which is located in the neck and supplies blood to the brain. After the tear, blood enters the arterial wall and forms a blood clot, thickening the artery wall and often impeding blood flow. The symptoms of vertebral artery dissection include head and neck pain and intermittent or permanent stroke symptoms such as difficulty speaking, impaired coordination, and visual loss. It is usually diagnosed with a contrast-enhanced CT or MRI scan.
Mehfil is a formal venue where indoor recreational activities such as poetry (mushaira), singing, music, and dance are entertained in parts of the Indian subcontinent. It is part of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb culture.
South Asian music comprises a range of prominent musical genres and styles that are unique to the countries in and around the Indian subcontinent. This subregion of Asia includes countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with each region one possessing its own distinct musical traditions. South Asian styles of music reflect a diverse range of local customs, regional languages and historical traditions, that have shaped the musical practices which are still seen today. Throughout history, South Asian musicians have emulated religious and spiritual beliefs into their compositions, resulting in the creation of musical styles such as Qawwali, Ghazal and Hindustani classical music. The development of forms of mass media in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to a new type of South Asian musical culture, as the rise of cinema and television resulted in the popularity of genres such as Bollywood and Lollywood. As a result of social media and modern streaming networks, folk and ritual music styles are still widely appreciated today, with many modern artists taking inspiration from the classical traditions that defined the history of South Asian music.
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