Cowboys From Hell

In 2021, Revolver writer Eli Enis put "Cowboys from Hell" on his list of the fifteen greatest album-opening songs in metal. The track had already become Pantera's first single, first appearing on the band's 1989 demo album before being rerecorded for their Atco Records debut, also titled Cowboys from Hell, and later included on the band's compilation album. VH1 ranked it at number 25 on its list of the 40 Greatest Metal Songs, and Metal Hammer placed it third among the band's best songs.

The song began at a 1989 house party in Fort Worth, Texas. Guitarist Dimebag Darrell arrived late, ran up to vocalist Phil Anselmo, and said he had a new riff to show him. The two went out to Darrell's car, where he played the intro, and Anselmo told him it must be an anthem. Drummer Vinnie Paul said it was the first song written for the record and described it as being about the band coming out of Texas and feeling out of place, since people thought of New York or Los Angeles rather than Texas as a home for heavy metal.

Bassist Rex Brown remembered the introduction as a loop Darrell built from a sound he heard in his head, something Brown found annoying to hear repeated for a long while. Darrell and Vinnie Paul's father, Jerry Abbott, worked as an engineer at Pantego studio, where the brothers and Brown would sneak in and listen to visiting blues players, an experience Brown believed fed into the intro's development. The music video, directed by Paul Rachman, was filmed at The Basement, a Dallas club the band frequented, and showed the group playing the song live.