Hair metal/pop metal

They didnt call HAIR bands to hard rock and glam bands back in the 80s or 90s, it all started with the internet and with compilations, i think we should call it by its name and not by hair metal. I think many anti hard rock and glam bands are making fun of those bands by calling them HAIR METAL. Sounds so stupid.

Back then magazines like Circus and Hit Parader labeled the bands pop metal, and term hair metal was created by hipsters to make fun of the genre, but who cares it is the music that matters not the label.

It is weird that some of those bands have not only made some what of a come back but have younger fans.

I don't have too many glam albums. Some of the biggest classics in metal were released by 'hair' bands, so I should get more.

I have Cinderella's Night Songs, the first two Skid Row albums and three by Dokken. And Appetite for Destruction, and a few others.

manny wrote:

Back then magazines like Circus and Hit Parader labeled the bands pop metal, and term hair metal was created by hipsters to make fun of the genre, but who cares it is the music that matters not the label.

It is weird that some of those bands have not only made some what of a come back but have younger fans.

Of couse the music is what matters but i just dont like it when they call it hair metal. Anyway, yes, a lot of great comebacks like MOTLEY CRUE, RATT, KEEL, NASTY IDOLS etc..and also a lot of newer bands kickins ass, specialy from sweden like HARDCORE SUPERSTAR, CRASHDIET, CRAZY LIXX, etc...or DIRTY PENNY AND MISS CRAZY from the USA. I am waiting for TWISTED SISTER or CINDERELLA to make a new studio album, or for BABYLON AD to come back and kick ass again like they did before.

People can call it what they want. All I know is that a lot of great music came out of the genre and I can listen to it even if some foolish people don't want to. It's a hundred times better than a lot of mainstream 'metal' today and I like it, even if pretty much all of the bands came and went before I was born.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I think that bandana is cutting off circulation to his brain.

Which might explain his recent health problems.

I was in a music store recently in Portland that carries a lot of metal and the lady said kids were coming in asking for Cinderella and Skid Row a lot. At least it's two of the better ones. Strange thing is, imo, some of the better albums by these bands are the ones that weren't popular like Native Tongue by Poison or Dog Eat Dog by Warrant.

krokus wrote:

They didnt call HAIR bands to hard rock and glam bands back in the 80s or 90s, it all started with the internet and with compilations, i think we should call it by its name and not by hair metal. I think many anti hard rock and glam bands are making fun of those bands by calling them HAIR METAL. Sounds so stupid.

Another one that I have heard that gets my goat is when people started calling it "Buttrock".... I still don't know what that means...... Just another way to degrade music that you don't like, I guess.

chewie wrote:

krokus wrote:

They didnt call HAIR bands to hard rock and glam bands back in the 80s or 90s, it all started with the internet and with compilations, i think we should call it by its name and not by hair metal. I think many anti hard rock and glam bands are making fun of those bands by calling them HAIR METAL. Sounds so stupid.

Another one that I have heard that gets my goat is when people started calling it "Buttrock".... I still don't know what that means...... Just another way to degrade music that you don't like, I guess.

I never hear anybody calling hard rock buttrock but it sound ga-hey to me and of course its just another way to degrade our music.

I have always hated the term Hair Metal, for me back in the day, it was just old Hard Rock! The Hair and make-up was just a way to get the girls on board, and it worked. I went to Ratt, Crue, Poison, Cinderella etc concerts back in the 80s and the places were just crawling with chicks. I used to love all those guys in the concerts who didn't give 2 $hits about the bands, they were just there to scoop on all those chicks. Yea, and those dudes who would come in with their girlfriends following them like puppy dogs!
Those were great times. I was one of the few guys who WERE there for the bands, and I had to practically drag my girlfriend to see Motley Crue (Girls, Girls, Girls tour). She came out a big fan, and really started liking them. I remember the last time I seen her, she was playing Dr Feelgood in her car.

Now it seems like Hip Hop or Rap has grabbed the young girls thunder, and thank god I'm not age 16-22 now, because I'm not going to that stuff for the girls for sure! Instead of make-up and hair spray, it's wearing your pants down to your knees. Now everybody Knows what kind of underwear you're wearing....how quiant!

The answer is elitism, pure and simple. There has always been this small clique in the metal world who ridicule the fans of bands that are outside of their narrow definition of metal, even when that band is pretty high-quality music wise.

Hell, during thrash's golden age in the early 80s everyone thought Motley Crue was a wimpy band. I remember once watching the Behind the Music episode on Metallica and listening to how they would gang up on anyone in the audience with a blonde stripe in their hair. "Get 'em! F**kin' Motley Crue creep!"

Now, of course, this doesn't always mean that those bands outside of that clique are neccessarily good (because seriously, more than half of those hair bands really did suck).

krokus wrote:

chewie wrote:

krokus wrote:

They didnt call HAIR bands to hard rock and glam bands back in the 80s or 90s, it all started with the internet and with compilations, i think we should call it by its name and not by hair metal. I think many anti hard rock and glam bands are making fun of those bands by calling them HAIR METAL. Sounds so stupid.

Another one that I have heard that gets my goat is when people started calling it "Buttrock".... I still don't know what that means...... Just another way to degrade music that you don't like, I guess.

I never hear anybody calling hard rock buttrock but it sound ga-hey to me and of course its just another way to degrade our music.

Of the two people that I know that used the term, one was a danzig & primus fan(ex-coworker) and the other was a cannibal corpse fan(customer). So I am sure that there circle of friends used it. This was in the very late 90's to early 00's.

Whatever.... Is what I say.

I auditioned for bands way back when and if the words spandex and make up were mentioned I walked away. There were only two exceptions and both those bands had recorded or released major label album(s). Plus they had some integrity as musicians (IMHO)

The thing about the image to me wasn't what dudes were wearing onstage, cause most didn't dress like that offstage. Really ! The thing was dudes dressing the part and not even being in a band. That is the REAL definition of the term "poseur" (SP?) My preferance ran for more fast agressive stuff and that got lame to me cause it became playing for the sake of just speed itself after awhile. Looking back, the image Slayer sported was just as silly as the glam guys.

I like some of the bands, the earlier era from '82-86 but not so much the '87-90 era of hair metal. For me I like the bands that stood apart, not the run-'o-the-mill copy-cat bands who the record labels were signing left and right just to make a buck. By 1987 it was getting really overblown and hard to watch and hear.

I was pretty much full-blown thrash by 1986 and didnt really give any new hair bands after 1987 a fighting chance. Only recently have I gone back and revisited a small handfull of late 80's hair bands like Skid Row and Badlands (neither are really hair bands but definitely a cut above) and 80's Bad Company (very bubble gummy but seem to be very good at it nonetheless, and they have 70's rock pedigree).

Never liked Badlands, didn't like their singer at all.

For me, a lot of my preference was the singer of the bands,
They made most of the difference in the sound IMO

That's what I liked most about 80's hard "hair" rock, most of the singers were good IMO. They had to be, to get noticed. A lot of the music was simular, and you can't sign everybody.

other hair metal singers (thinking back) I didn't like were:

dude from the Bullet Boys, Lynch Mob, T.N.T., Mr. Big, Danger,Danger,
Enuff Z' Nuff, Vinnie Vincent, and Whitesnake.

Hair metal is a "way of getting laid".
Thrash is a "way of life".

Pretty simple really. And nothing wrong with either.

I read it started getting called buttrock because of the propensity to wear chaps by some, where their cheeks hung out.

Quote :

Saigon Kick was an amazing band. I don't see ANYTHING pop metal/hair about them. Nada.

Queensryche suffered the same fate -judged by the slightly glam look on Rage for Order, even though their music was more progressive metal.

Quote :

I think a lot of the hate also comes from the overexposure of power ballads on the radio and MTV - a lot of people's exposure to these bands was solely through these songs that often had a cookie cutter vibe about them.

Good point. Some people think this was all glam had to it, and let's face it, most ballads were pretty formulaic. Given that a large proportion of radio-based pop hits will not be well-regarded in a few years' time, this makes the distaste for glam/hair seem unfair.

manny wrote:

I was reading MetalMisfits album/collection review log and I was surprised how many pop/hair metal bands I actually liked and comparing how many of this bands recordings I own.

I think as a genre I felt it was and still is being bashed and unfairly maglined by both critics and even metal fans.

I felt for example Cinderella where a better band then given credit for, a they had a huge Stones/Aerosmith influence and wrote some great songs.

Quiet Riot and Britny Fox where just updating what Slade and The Sweet and other critics darlings where doing with giving it their own spin.

Skid Row where a great band who wrote great catchy songs with an incredible vocalist.

and there where others, not saying this is my favorite genre but I am also not ashamed to say enjoyed these and many other bands from that era. At the same time while I am a fan I felt toward the end the genre was becoming a parody of itself but I cannot deny alot of great bands came out of that era and genre.

Anyone else feel this way or am I feeling a false sense of nostalgia?

Hair metal is great. Deal with it, people.

Easily my favorite genre (hair metal/sleaze metal/glam metal), and I have thousands of discs of bands that many here have likely never heard of or had the chance to hear. There are so many great bands that never made it for whatever reason. As most know, the scene is still strong in Sweden and a lot of Europe, and there are continuously new bads putting out solid material.



Arttie