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NERD SHIT

HOW BADLY CAN HEADBANGING FUCK YOU UP?

The toll paid for being a true rocker can be steep

January 1, 2025
Luke Ottenhof

Every show that Keith Loboda performed back in his early 20s, he was, in his own words, “headbanging like a rabid maniac.” Loboda played in a metal band and he had long hair. Obviously he was gonna whip that shit back and forth. To Loboda, who now works as a sound engineer for bands like Polyphia, Animals as Leaders, and Cannibal Corpse, it was a dance ritual: You ebbed and flowed with the music, and some parts called for more aggressive, windmill-style 'banging, which is when—you guessed it—you swing your head and mop like a windmill. It’s a pretty essential part of enjoying heavy music.

Chances are that anyone who has headbanged like Loboda also knows what comes the next day: the bangover. The day after you’ve done some intense 'bangin', your neck is probably an absolute mess. Loboda’s bangovers meant that “every slight movement of the head and neck” was a struggle. After a few days the soreness would let up, but the first couple of days? Loboda calls them "hell."

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