Some 25 years after Headbangers Ball first provided a sanctuary for Sanctuary and other metal bands, MTV has decided to kill its heavy-metal show permanently, stabbing it with a dagger forged from the horn of Satan himself before drowning it in a pit of molten hellfire, which is a common euphemism for removing something from the Internet. The sort-of-announcement comes from current host Jose Mangin, who recently revealed during an interview with metal blog Horns Up Rocks that the show—which was originally cancelled in 1995 before being resurrected on MTV2, then reduced to first a video block in 2007 then a web-only series—has been canceled again, this time quite possibly for good.
Mangin explains that the reason isn't cost so much as MTV's general apathy toward rock music (or perhaps just music): "Right now, it doesn't really cost them anything, 'cause I do it. I host it, produce it, edit it […] all myself," Mangin says. "But I guess it's just the odd man out of their lineup… They do a lot of hip-hop, and they support that music fully. They used to support rock." Nevertheless, Mangin believes that MTV might once again, "someday" come around and do something with rock music, should "rock music" finally achieve sentience and become an actual horny teenager or person from New Jersey. [via Spin]