Which 1980s MTV show focused on heavy-metal music videos and was hosted by Dee Snider?

Headbangers Ball was MTV’s heavy-metal music-video show hosted by Dee Snider during the 1980s.

The program premiered in 1987 and gave metal bands a regular place on MTV at a time when the channel’s schedule was broadening beyond mainstream pop and rock. It combined music videos with interviews and artist appearances, making the host an important guide to the scene.

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider hosted the show from 1987 to 1988. Later presenters included Riki Rachtman, whose tenure became especially associated with the program’s early-1990s identity.

Headbangers Ball is distinct from 120 Minutes, which focused more heavily on alternative and underground music, and from The Week in Rock, which was a news program. The title remains one of MTV’s clearest examples of programming built around a specific music subculture.