Far Beyond Driven

Far Beyond Driven
Studio album by Pantera
Released	March 22, 1994 (1994-03-22)
Recorded	1993 in Nashville, Tennessee
Genre	Groove metal, thrash metal
Length	56:19
Label	EastWest
Producer	Terry Date
Pantera chronology
Vulgar Display of Power (1992) Far Beyond Driven (1994) The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
Original cover
The original cover for Far Beyond Driven.
Singles from Far Beyond Driven
"I'm Broken" Released: March 14, 1994 (1994-03-14)[1] "Planet Caravan" Released: 1994 (1994) "5 Minutes Alone" Released: 1994 (1994) "Becoming" Released: 1994 (1994)

Far Beyond Driven is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on March 22, 1994 by EastWest Records. Upon its release, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it the first extreme metal album to top the chart.^[2] It is also the first album where Darrell Abbott is credited as "Dimebag Darrell".

Album information

At the time of its release, Phil Anselmo was injured with ruptured disks in his back and was suffering from chronic pain from degenerative disk disease. Anselmo began drinking heavily, abusing painkillers, muscle relaxants and began taking heroin to numb the pain.^[3]

In an interview at Loyola University in March 2009, Anselmo said:

"Well, I think it was about the time when the record [Far Beyond Driven] came in at No. 1. I was pretty terrified. I was happy as hell; don't get me wrong, man — I was like, 'Oh, my God, yes!' At that point, I had just gotten back from the doctor — from having my second MRI done — and I realized I had two blown-out disks. Now, in order for me to be this Superman that the media had built me up to be, I had to quell that pain. So I started off with regular painkillers and muscle relaxers. Eventually, you climb up the painkiller ladder, because painkillers lie to you; they will magnify that injury. And that's all that's on your mind — the injury and painkillers."^[4]

In the liner notes of the album, all the songs' lyrics are printed apart from the cover of "Planet Caravan". The liner note reads:

"This is a Black Sabbath song off of the Paranoid album. So don't freak out on us. We did the song because we wanted to. It has nothing to do with the integrity of our direction. It's a tripped out song. We think you'll dig it. If you don't, don't fucking listen to it. Thanks. On behalf of the rest of Pantera, Phil Anselmo '94."

The Japanese and the Driven Downunder Tour '94 Souvenir Collection editions contain a bonus thirteenth track, "The Badge", a Poison Idea cover. This cover was also featured on The Crow soundtrack.^[5]

The track "Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills" is a reference to the song "Good Friends and a Bottle of Wine" on the Ted Nugent album Weekend Warriors. The album is referenced in the Machine Head song "Aesthetics of Hate", the third track from the 2007 album The Blackening.

Lyrics and style

The band tuned lower on the album than on previous efforts, with many songs going as low as C# standard. Philip Anselmo's lyrics on the album were far more personal than on the previous albums. Songs such as "Becoming" and "25 Years" appear to be about Anselmo's early life. The song "Planet Caravan" is a cover from the rock band Black Sabbath.

Cover art

The album's original artwork (a drill bit impaling an anus) was quickly replaced with a new image, depicting a human head impaled with a drill bit. The Driven Downunder Tour '94 – Souvenir Collection box set released in Australia and New Zealand contained a copy of the album with the original artwork. The LP re-pressing by Rhino Records also uses the original artwork.

Release and reception

Commercial performance

At midnight on March 22, 1994, Pantera launched the release of Far Beyond Driven with an extensive record store campaign. They travelled to 12 cities in almost five days with MTV documenting their progress. Bandmembers signed autographs, met fans, and promoted Far Beyond Driven. The band released "I'm Broken" as the album’s first single, which reached No. 19 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's highest charting single worldwide. The LP also contained the first cover song on one of their major-label releases—Black Sabbath’s "Planet Caravan" which served as the album's closing track and reached No. 21 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart. Pantera’s hard work paid off; by March the LP had sold over 185,000 copies and had reached No. 1 on the U.S Billboard 200 album charts and Australian charts upon release. It remained on the Billboard 200 for 29 weeks.^[6]

Critical

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]

Although the album had great commercial success it has received mixed reviews since its release. Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars. However, AllMusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia stated "Far Beyond Driven may have been Pantera's fastest selling album upon release, but it's hardly their best. In fact, although it shot straight to the number one spot on the Billboard sales chart in its first week (arguably the most extreme album ever to do so), this incredible feat doesn't so much reflect its own qualities as those of its predecessor, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power."^[2]

Rolling Stone (19 May 1994, p. 103) - 4 Stars - "A kind of aesthetics of thud...the real art smolders in the noise itself."

Entertainment Weekly (1 April 1994, p. 54) - "If you're burned out on raging young men spewing aggression atop jackhammering drums and grinding guitars, then pass on Pantera. But if you've still got a yen for that sort of fare, then you can't do much better than this slab of metallic mayhem." - Rating: B+

Melody Maker (2 April 1994, p. 35) - "Like great techno, it's utterly flawless music, free of any error, minimal and animal enough to make a screaming bloody mess of the head."

In November 2011, Far Beyond Driven was ranked number six on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1994.^[9] The album was also ranked at number twenty in Guitar World's "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.^[10]

Reissue

On March 24, 2014, a two-disc deluxe edition of Far Beyond Driven was released to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. Disc one is a remastered version of the original album. Disc two is a live album featuring Pantera's set at the 1994 Monsters of Rock Festival.

Tour

Pantera toured South America, and were accepted into another "Monsters of Rock" billing. At that festival on June 4, 1994, the Abbott brothers got into a scuffle with journalists from the music magazine Kerrang! over unflattering cartoon depictions of drummer Vinnie Paul. Then in late June, Anselmo was charged with assault for hitting a security guard after he prevented fans from getting on stage, Anselmo was released on $5,000 bail the next day.^[11][12] The trial was delayed three times.^[13] In May 1995, he apologized in court and pleaded guilty to attempted assault and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.^[14][15] Pantera continued their tour of the United Kingdom in 1994 and eventually ended it in the United States where the band was opened for by fellow heavy metal band Prong.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul, Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Strength Beyond Strength"	3:38
2.	"Becoming"	3:05
3.	"5 Minutes Alone"	5:47
4.	"I'm Broken"	4:24
5.	"Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills"	2:52
6.	"Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks"	7:01
7.	"Slaughtered"	3:56
8.	"25 Years"	6:05
9.	"Shedding Skin"	5:36
10.	"Use My Third Arm"	4:51
11.	"Throes of Rejection"	5:01
12.	"Planet Caravan" (Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward) (Black Sabbath cover)	4:03
Total length:		56:19

Japanese edition bonus track
No.	Title	Length
13.	"The Badge" (Jerry A., Poison Idea) (Poison Idea cover)	3:55
Total length:		60:14

Disc 2: Expanded Edition bonus CD

Live: Monsters of Rock 1994
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Use My Third Arm"	4:04
2.	"Walk"	5:15
3.	"Strength Beyond Strength"	4:01
4.	"Domination / Hollow"	6:54
5.	"Slaughtered"	3:57
6.	"Fucking Hostile"	2:57
7.	"This Love"	7:16
8.	"Mouth for War"	4:01
9.	"Cowboys from Hell"	4:49

Personnel

Pantera

• Philip Anselmo – lead vocals
• Dimebag Darrell – guitar, backing vocals
• Rex Brown – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Vinnie Paul – drums

Production

• Produced, engineered, and mixed by Terry Date
• Co-produced and arranged by Pantera
• Mastered by Ted Jensen

Chart performance

Album Chart (1994/2014) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[16] 1 Austrian Albums Chart[17] 8 Dutch Albums Chart[18] 47 German Albums Chart[19] 7 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[20] 7 New Zealand Albums Chart[21] 14 Norwegian Albums Chart[22] 14 Swedish Albums Chart[23] 2 Swiss Albums Chart[24] 21 UK Album Chart[25] 3 U.S. Billboard 200[26] 1

Singles Year Song Chart Peak position 1994 "Planet Caravan" Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 21 1994 "Planet Caravan" UK Singles Chart 26 1994 "I'm Broken" UK Singles Chart 19 1994 "Becoming" Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 12 1994 "5 Minutes Alone" Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 13

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
U.S.[27]	Gold	May 9, 1994	500,000
U.S.[27]	Platinum	November 7, 1997	1,000,000
Canada[28]	Gold	May 9, 1994	50,000
Canada[29]	Platinum	November 21, 1995	100,000
U.K.[30]	Silver	November 1, 1994	60,000
U.K.[30]	Gold	November 18, 2004	100,000

References

Preceded by The Sign by Ace of Base	Billboard 200 number-one album April 9–15, 1994	Succeeded by Longing in Their Hearts by Bonnie Raitt
Preceded by Music Box by Mariah Carey	Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album April 3–9, 1994	Succeeded by The Division Bell by Pink Floyd

Pantera Dimebag Darrell Vinnie Paul Rex Brown Phil Anselmo Terry Glaze Tommy Bradford Donnie Hart Studio albums Metal Magic Projects in the Jungle I Am the Night Power Metal Cowboys from Hell Vulgar Display of Power Far Beyond Driven The Great Southern Trendkill Reinventing the Steel Live albums Official Live: 101 Proof Extended plays Walk Alive and Hostile E.P. Hostile Moments Compilations Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits! Box sets Driven Downunder Tour '94 – Souvenir Collection Singles "Cowboys from Hell" "Cemetery Gates" "Psycho Holiday" "Mouth for War" "This Love" "Hollow" "Walk" "I'm Broken" "Planet Caravan" "5 Minutes Alone" "Becoming" "Drag the Waters" "Suicide Note Pt. I" "Floods" "Cat Scratch Fever" "Revolution Is My Name" "Goddamn Electric" "I'll Cast a Shadow" "Piss" Video albums Cowboys from Hell: The Videos For Those About to Rock Vulgar Video 3 Watch It Go 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell Related bands Arson Anthem Damageplan Down Gasoline Hellyeah Necrophagia Rebel Meets Rebel Southern Isolation Superjoint Ritual Viking Crown Eibon Related articles Discography Terry Date John "Kat" Brooks Getcha Pull: A Tribute to Dimebag Darrell