Windstein played guitar for the cover band Victorian Blitz in 1985. Other members included Sid Montz, with whom Windstein would play again in Crowbar, Valüme Nob, Kevin Noonan, and bassist Danny Theriot.
Having left Victorian Blitz, Windstein joined the New Orleans' hardcore punk band Shell Shock as their guitarist and vocalist. With Windstein in the band they began to play more of a crossover thrash style rather than straightforward hardcore punk, as it better suited Windstein's vocal style and a two-guitarists line-up. After finishing the recording of a new album called No Tomorrow, the band's guitarist Mike Hatch committed suicide. Kevin Noonan replaced Hatch for the final Shell Shock show in 1988, and the band became what is now Crowbar.
After the collapse of Shell Shock in 1988 due to the suicide of Hatch, the band enlisted Kevin Noonan and carried on as Aftershock, which played a mixture of hardcore punk and doom metal. Under that name, they released a demo in mid-1989, but then renamed themselves Wrequiem when bassist Mike Savoie (who would later direct music videos for Crowbar, Down, and Pantera) left the band and was replaced by Todd Strange. In 1990, they renamed themselves The Slugs, and after a demo in mid-1990, the band collapsed. Windstein considered becoming the guitarist for Exhorder. But he and Strange reformed the band, with Craig Nunenmacher as the drummer, and Kevin Noonan on guitar. The band renamed themselves to Crowbar in mid-1991.

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