Crowbar is an American sludge metal band formed in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1990. The band is fronted by vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein, Crowbar's sole constant member. Through infusing a slow, low-keyed, brooding doom metal sound with the aggression of hardcore punk, they pioneered a style known as sludge metal – albeit Windstein admitted a mild dislike to the term – alongside other bands of the New Orleans heavy metal scene such as Eyehategod, Soilent Green, Acid Bath, and Down. History Origins (1988–1991) The band dates back to 1988, when Kirk Windstein joined the New Orleans hardcore punk band ShellShock. He met Jimmy Bower, who was their drummer, and they quickly became friends. The band collapsed when Mike Hatch, their guitarist, committed suicide in late 1988. The band hence replaced Hatch with Kevin Noonan and continued under the new name, Aftershock. Under that name they released a demo in mid-1989 and then renamed themselves again as Wrequiem, with their bassist Mike Savoie leaving the band and Todd Strange replacing him. They renamed themselves yet again in 1990 as The Slugs, and released a demo in mid-1990, but the band collapsed. Windstein considered becoming the bass player for New Orleans-based groove metal band Exhorder but he and Strange reformed their band, with Craig Nunenmacher as the drummer. Nunenmacher was later replaced by Tommy Buckley from Soilent Green, and Kevin Noonan returned on guitar. The band renamed themselves Crowbar in mid-1991, after their label warned them that another band called "The Slugs" already existed; the name Crowbar was borrowed from one of Windstein's side-projects. Windstein has listed Celtic Frost as one of the band's early influences in terms of sound. Career (1991–present) Crowbar's debut studio album, Obedience thru Suffering, was released in 1991, but failed to achieve significant sales or airplay. By 1993's self-titled album, personal friend Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down, and Superjoint Ritual) produced the record, which eventually led to national promotion on MTV's Headbangers Ball. In addition, the videos for "All I Had (I Gave)" and "Existence Is Punishment" were played on Beavis and Butt-Head. Following this success, the band went on to record music videos, embark on major tours with Pantera, and record more albums. Their stage antics, immortalized in Pantera's third home video and Crowbar's Like Broken Glass home video, became infamous. The band continued recording and touring. In 1994, the Pantera video for the song "I'm Broken" showed