Headbangers Ball was a
music television program consisting of
heavy metal music videos airing on
MTV,
MTV2 (its sister channel),
MTV Australia,
MTV Rocks (formerly known as MTV2 Europe),
MTV Adria (the MTV subsidiary covering the former
Yugoslavia),
MTV Brand New,
MTV Portugal,
MTV Finland,
MTV Arabia,
MTV Norway,
MTV Sweden,
MTV Denmark,
MTV Greece,
MTV Türkiye,
MTV Hungary and
MTV Japan. The show began on MTV on Saturday, April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal and
hard rock music videos late at night, from both well-known and more obscure artists. The show offered (and became famous because of) a stark contrast to
Top 40 music videos shown during the day.