Hair Metal

Why is there so much dislike for the Hair Metal bands? After years of reading NLTM and being a member of HoM, I have seen and read lots of venom spewed in the direction of Poison, Warrant, White Lion, Dokken, Ratt,etc. And I really wonder why? Was it the ballads? The Image? MTV playing the videos in a constant loop? The cookie cutter approach of big label execs?
Certainly these bands had musicians with talent and the drive to make it, and imho, left us with a lot of great music. I have always been a fan of the aforementioned big name bands as well as the next level like Babylon AD, Hurricane, Lillian Axe, and a few like Salty Dog and Beau Nasty that most music fans have never heard.

What's your feelings folks?

I didn't mind so-called "hair metal" at all. Just like any genre, there were quite a few good bands and just as many bad ones. Shoot, I still listen to Cinderella, Dokken, W.A.S.P., Babylon A.D., Stryper and many others to this very day.

I think the majors over-saturated the "scene" very quickly, which led to the beginning of the backlash against Hair Metal ...but then, that's typical of any musical movement. As soon as the major labels notice that something is selling records, they all go "Hey, we need one of those too! F*ck it, we need ten of those!" and before you know it they've humped it dry by releasing a ton of crap by B-and-C-list bands who didn't deserve a record deal in the first place.

Another reason for the hate is likely the use of the term "Hair Metal." The more-tr00-mettle-than-thou types never liked the likes of Beau Nasty and Hericane Alice being lumped in with their so-called "real" stuff.

I thought people here generally like Dokken etc.

I think it's more Pantera fans etc, or younger kids who like "harder" stuff, who have a problem with hair metal.

Believe it or not, I am a big fan of the genre and I own tons of this stuff. To me, it's just the pop version of metal. There were so many bands that got major label deals that you can almost never exhaust your listening options. It's also an incredibly diverse genre with all sorts of interesting offshoots.

Back in the day there was a divide between the glam scene and the thrash scene, with most thrashers claiming they hated the stuff and glamsters saying that thrash was garbage. At least that's how it was presented in the press. My friends and I liked both equally and listened to both. Were you really going to put on a Slayer album and impress the ladies? I think not.

I don't even hate it, it's just inconsequential to my existence.

I still listen to a lot of bands that were pegged hair metal.Thats the bad thing is they all get lumped into the same category.If you had long hair and played pop metal in the 80s they call you Hair Metal!

I became aware of all things hard 'n heavy right around 1985/1986, right in the thick of hair and thrash. All the dudes I hung out with could just as easily switch the tapes from hair to thrash to traditional metal and back again and noone seemed to care. A tradition I still carry on to this day.

And yea, we attended way more hair/glam shows in the day because the higher concentration of chicks.

Unskinny Bop. That's why hair "metal" sucks.

Rex wrote:

Unskinny Bop. That's why hair "metal" sucks.

Perhaps, but getting a lap dance to 'Angel of Death' was too dangerous for those involved.

Speak for yourself

Rex wrote:

Unskinny Bop. That's why hair "metal" sucks.

Fly to the Angels
Ride the Wind
Cherry Pie
Can't Get Enough
etc.

Some of the worst crap ever.

Still better than what's on MTV today...

I like hair metal too though I admit a lot of it sounds kind of dated. But hair metal is how I ended up being the glam/sleaze fanatic I am today. I liked the harder edge of hair metal coupled with the memorable melodies. Sleaze just amps up the edge a bit and still keeps the melody.

I always liked Hair metal. Most were truly talented players and were able to deliver some good songs, both the hard stuff and ballads.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Rex wrote:

Unskinny Bop. That's why hair "metal" sucks.

Fly to the Angels
Ride the Wind
Cherry Pie
Can't Get Enough
etc.

Some of the worst crap ever.

Hey, dont lump GOOD songs like Fly to the Angels and Ride the Wind with Cherry Pie. Heck, Cherry Pie was only written under protest since the label wanted a "hit single".

Hadley wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Rex wrote:

Unskinny Bop. That's why hair "metal" sucks.

Fly to the Angels
Ride the Wind
Cherry Pie
Can't Get Enough
etc.

Some of the worst crap ever.

Hey, dont lump GOOD songs like Fly to the Angels and Ride the Wind with Cherry Pie. Heck, Cherry Pie was only written under protest since the label wanted a "hit single".

Yeah and don't condemn entire bands/albums because of crappy songs. The ALBUM "Cherry Pie" also gave us this:



This song kicks ass and I don't care what anyone says.

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah and don't condemn entire bands/albums because of crappy songs.  The ALBUM "Cherry Pie" also gave us this:



This song kicks ass and I don't care what anyone says.

That may be their best song.

007 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Yeah and don't condemn entire bands/albums because of crappy songs.  The ALBUM "Cherry Pie" also gave us this:



This song kicks ass and I don't care what anyone says.

That may be their best song.

It IS in my book. Hard to believe it's on the Cherry Pie album.

A lot of people overlook just how good of a songwriter Jani Lane was all because of one goofy song.Most of Cherry Pie and Dog Eat Dog were excellent.

BTW, I'm as guilty as anyone for permanently disliking a band because of one song. I will never, EVER like Stryper because the first song I ever heard by them was "Honestly".

Thrasher73 wrote:

A lot of people overlook just how good of a songwriter Jani Lane was all because of one goofy song.Most of Cherry Pie and Dog Eat Dog were excellent.

I totally agree.

Anyways, the 60's had their hair - Woodstack - and the 70's too -but suddenly there was that year or two - of denim / leather - and everyone knows - if you got long hair - Bob Seager Turn The Page
then to hear the wild loud sound - the power and FU attitude - wow but then MTV stepped in and new musicians showed up with permed long hair - and pampered actting - undeserving - lol - then it got wild real quick - make-up - glitter - SPANDEX -posing - I think of Nelson - as thee worst - then commercializtion soon after -' Hands off Private Property ' - ' We need no Parental Guidance ' - lol -

tohostudios wrote:

BTW, I'm as guilty as anyone for permanently disliking a band because of one song.  I will never, EVER like Stryper because the first song I ever heard by them was "Honestly".  

I disliked Saigon Kick for a long time because of that song "Love Is On The Way". Then around 2000, a friend insisted that I listen to the rest of the album. Glad I did, it damn ROCKED!

tohostudios wrote:

Hadley wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

Rex wrote:

Unskinny Bop. That's why hair "metal" sucks.

Fly to the Angels
Ride the Wind
Cherry Pie
Can't Get Enough
etc.

Some of the worst crap ever.

Hey, dont lump GOOD songs like Fly to the Angels and Ride the Wind with Cherry Pie. Heck, Cherry Pie was only written under protest since the label wanted a "hit single".

Yeah and don't condemn entire bands/albums because of crappy songs.  The ALBUM "Cherry Pie" also gave us this:



This song kicks ass and I don't care what anyone says.

That's a good song.

tohostudios wrote:

BTW, I'm as guilty as anyone for permanently disliking a band because of one song.  I will never, EVER like Stryper because the first song I ever heard by them was "Honestly".  

I quite like Honestly, it's so very cheesy that I think it has some charm.

I hated most hair metal but it was still the soundtrack to some amazing memories as it was mostly what the rock clubs were playing in those years when I was realising that girls in spandex were fun