"Walk" is a song by American heavy metal band

Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...

from their sixth album '' Vulgar Display of Power''. A live performance of "Walk" is included on '' Official Live: 101 Proof'', and the studio version is also on the band's greatest hits album, '' The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits!''.

Song information

The

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

for "Walk" is played in a

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

of .

Dimebag Darrell Darrell Lance Abbott (August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004), known professionally as Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal music, heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founde ...

played the riff at a

soundcheck A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small po ...

during the tour for ''

Cowboys from Hell ''Cowboys from Hell'' is the fifth studio album and major label debut by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on July 24, 1990, by Atco Records. It marked the first of many collaborations with producer Terry Date. This was also the alb ...

'' and the rest of the band loved it. Vocalist

Phil Anselmo Philip Hansen Anselmo (born June 30, 1968) is an American musician best known as the lead singer for groove metal band Pantera, southern metal supergroup Down (band), Down, and Hardcore punk, hardcore band Superjoint, amongst other musical proj ...

said that the message of the song was "Take your fucking attitude and take a fuckin' walk with that. Keep that shit away from me". His message was aimed at friends that treated the band differently when they arrived home after touring for ''

''. He said "they thought it had gone to our heads, like we've got this rock-star thing embroidered across our faces". The music video was shot at the

Riviera Theatre The Riviera Theatre is a concert hall, concert venue located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. About Built in 1917, it was designed by Rapp and Rapp for the Balaban & Katz theatre chain run by A. J. Balaban, his brother ...

in Chicago. In 2019, the song was prominently featured in the film ''

Triple Frontier The Triple Frontier (, ) is a tri-border area along the junction of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where the Iguazu River, Iguazú and Paraná River, Paraná rivers converge. Near the confluence are the cities of Puerto Iguazú (Argentina), ...

''. Wrestler

Rob Van Dam Robert Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD) is an American professional wrestler. Known for his unique ring style—which includes his variety of kicks, acrobatic movemen ...

used the song as his entrance music during his time in

Extreme Championship Wrestling Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was an American professional wrestling promotion that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and operated by its parent company HHG Corporation. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as Nationa ...

. "Walk" was included on the soundtrack for the 2022 film ''

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. Players control Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg. Like the fir ...

''.

Release

The song was released as the fourth and final single from Pantera's '' Vulgar Display of Power'' album in 1993. The band also released a number of

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

and remixes for the song in 1993, including: * ''

Walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

'' * '' Walk Biomechanical'' * '' Walk Live Material'' * '' Walk Cervical''

Reception and accolades

The song is considered to be one of the band's best tracks and is also one of the band's most well known songs to both Pantera fans and casual listeners. The song is the most viewed Pantera song on YouTube, with over 284 million views as of 2024. In March 2023, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked "Walk" at number 29 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list. The song ranked number 16 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's 40 Greatest Metal Songs. ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...

'' magazine voted the song's

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

the 57th greatest of all time. The song peaked at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's first UK top 40 hit.

Personnel

Pantera *

– vocals * Diamond Darrell – guitars *

Rex Brown Rex Robert Brown (born July 27, 1964) is an American musician. He is the longtime bassist for heavy metal band Pantera, having joined the band in 1982. Following the band's reunion in 2022, Brown is the longest-serving member of the band. He i ...

– bass *

Vinnie Paul Vincent Paul Abbott (March 11, 1964 – June 22, 2018) was an American musician best known for being the drummer and co-founder of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Pantera. He also co-founded Damageplan in 2003 with his younger brother, ...

– drums, engineering, mixing, production Technical * Terry Date – engineering, mixing, production *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

– mastering *

Doug Sax Doug Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six Pink Floyd's albums, including '' The Wall''; Ray Charles' multiple ...

– vinyl mastering

Notable covers

Sully Erna Salvatore Paul Erna Jr. (born February 7, 1968) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter, best known as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for rock band Godsmack. He is also a harmonica player, drummer, and percussionist, performing these ...

, singer of

Godsmack Godsmack is an American Rock music, rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is currently composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Sully Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill. Since its formation, Godsmack has released eig ...

, performed the song with Pantera members which is found on their DVD '' Smack This!''. *

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, lead gui ...

's cover of the song was released as a single to promote their live album '' Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough''. It was released as the first single on the album. However, the song was originally recorded for the band's first DVD, ''All Excess''. * American heavy metal band Kilgore covered the song for American wrestling promotion

, since one of their most popular wrestlers,

used both Pantera's and Kilgore's versions of "Walk". *

Front Line Assembly Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 in music, 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The ba ...

sampled the main riff in their 1994 single " Surface Patterns".

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1992 songs 1993 singles 2007 songs 2007 singles Pantera songs East West Records singles Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Terry Date Songs written by Dimebag Darrell Songs written by Vinnie Paul Songs written by Phil Anselmo Songs written by Rex Brown