Bands that went glam in the '80s and early '90s

- Def Leppard started out as a NWOBHM band, but eventually went down the pop metal path, Pyromania being one of the main albums that popularized the genre

- Whitesnake started out as a bluesy hard rock band that sounded like a mix of Zepp, Bad Co. and Coverdale era DP, then went for a more commercial approach on Slide it In, and finally going for Bon Jovi-style looks and melodic hard rock music in the late '80s

- Kiss were one of the most influential bands on the scene, but eventually became a hair metal band themselves after unmasking in 1983, reviving their popularity after several not-so-successful albums

- Aerosmith, another band that heavily influenced hair metal, also became a hair band of sorts in the mid-late '80s and early '90s, after reuniting with Joe Perry in 1985

- Scorpions started going into a pop-metal direction after Mathias Jabs replaced Uli Jon Roth, peaking in the mid-late '80s and early '90s

- The Cult, although never doing all-out Bon Jovi, Crue or Poison worship image- or music-wise, left the alternative/gothic rock of their early albums in favor of a more mainstream hard rock sound on their late '80s and early '90s albums

- Styx went for a Bon Jovi-esque sound on some songs on their 1990 Edge of the Century album, although none of them save the new lead singer Glen Burtnik had the hair metal look

- Foreigner had the 1991 Unusual Heat album, and were fronted by former King Kobra singer Johnny Edwards

- After experimenting with New Wave in the early '80s, Alice Cooper went for a mainstream hard rock sound on his mid-late '80s and early '90s albums, peaking with the success of his 1989 album Trash

- Bad Company's mid-late '80s and early '90s period with Brian Howe

- Celtic Frost had the 1988 Cold Lake album

- Pretty Maids started out as a Judas Priest-like band on their 1984 debut, but eventually went for hair metal looks and a more AOR-ish sound in the late '80s and early '90s, sounding like a heavier version of what Europe was doing at the time

- Europe started out as a NWOBHM-influenced hard rock/melodic metal band, but eventually became known for melodic hard rock and AOR of The Final Countdown and the two albums that followed it

- After two albums of neo-classical heavy/power metal, Yngwie Malmsteen started going for more of a melodic metal and hard rock sound, peaking with the 1988's Odyssey and the early '90s Goran Edman-fronted albums

- Although they never went all-out glam, Sabbath also had their moments with stuff like No Stranger to Love or Feels Good To Me

-Judas Priest had the 1986 Turbo album

- After firing Udo from the band, Accept also tried to go glam with the 1989 Eat the Heat album

- Heart went for a Bon Jovi-esque sound and poofy hair on their 1985 s/t and the following two albums

- TSOL were originally a hardcore punk band, but did some sleazy stuff in the late '80s

- Saxon tried to go the Def Leppard route with several albums in the mid-late '80s and early '90s, but didn't have much success; some other NWOBHM bands like Tygers of Pan Tang, Tokyo Blade and Raven tried the same, but were even more unsuccessful; Grim Reaper, although they still kept their heavy metal sound, also kinda had the hair metal looks in the late '80s

- Ted Nugent released several pop-metal albums in the mid-late '80s, before eventually joining Damn Yankees

EDIT: A few others I remembered:

- Krokus - were always kinda on the fringe of hair metal in the '80s, but went totally glam with Change of Address

- MSG - changed their image and sound to become more commercially accessible when Robin McAuley joined the band

- Crimson Glory - kinda went there with 1991's Strange and Beautiful

Can anyone think of any others?

Raven went for the full on Judas Priest/TURBO sound with their PACK IS BACK record, which failed miserably

Twisted Sister after releasing two solid heavy metal platters gained massive success with their third album Stay Hungry. After the success of that album the band started following the trends of the 80's and definitely went the route of more mainstream/pop metal with their last two albums.

Though most people would consider Stryper to always have been "glam", their first two albums weren't glam at all and were more traditional heavy metal. With the success of "To Hell With the Devil" the band took a definite turn towards a more glossy, pop sound on "In God We Trust".

Eh, it was just a sign of the times. Everyone was glammin' it up back then. The next topic will be "Bands that went grunge in the early/mid 90's."  

Yea, lot of band got infected by that plague!  

Good call on many of those listed, most wouldn't think Sabbath, but look at those photo shoots for Seventh Star!  

Great White's first lp was pretty much straight up metal, that didn't last long...

Scorps still had some sting in the tail even on "Love at First Sting", but that was the real beginning of the end for them as a serious rock act, at least as far as I'm concerned.

I think that Helloween glammed up their image a lot in the late 80's

candlemass wrote:

Great White's first lp was pretty much straight up metal, that didn't last long...

"Great" first album....

Even REO Speedwagon got in on the act!

Boris2008 wrote:

I think that Helloween glammed up their image a lot in the late 80's

Even when they were still a speed metal band, they always had those big, frizzy Uriah Heep hair-do's though.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Eh, it was just a sign of the times. Everyone was glammin' it up back then. The next topic will be "Bands that went grunge in the early/mid 90's."  

We'll see a "Bands that went nu-metal in the late 1990s/early 2000s" topic after that.

Besides some of the other bands mentioned, TNT and Fastway both come to mind, as do Black N Blue. One could argue W.A.S.P. as well. Manowar's Fighting The World, while not really glam, was still more commercial than anything else they did.

Lemmy!!!!!!



From this  




To this!!

The curse of the 80's affected everyone!!!

Even country bands were adopting the look...

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Even country bands were adopting the look...

The dude all the way to the right looks like Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth!!

Savatage had that glam look on Fight for the Rock.

Saxon
Y&T
Bride
Pat Travers
Van Halen
Helix

brokentulsa wrote:

Bride

The only Bride album that could be seen as "glam" may be Snakes in the Playground, but that sounds more like GNR-style sleazy hard rock. Of course, then they went grunge/alternative on us, but we dont like to talk about that period of Bride.

I just listened to Strange and beautiful last night actually..yeesh, who the hell told those guys that saxophones were metal?

Discharge's 3rd album was pure glam coming from one of the pioneering crust punk bands of the time.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Even country bands were adopting the look...

The dude all the way to the right looks like Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth!!

Seriously thought these guys were a metal band when I was a kid. Bought the cassette. WTF'd pretty hard.

Same with Restless Heart.

Sword Of The Heretic wrote:

Savatage had that glam look on Fight for the Rock.

Queensryche weren't immune either.

What the hell?!  

I once bought a Little Texas record based on the band photo.  Ah, the blind buys before the internet.  Fortunately it was in a dump bin.

Quote :

Discharge's 3rd album was pure glam coming from one of the pioneering crust punk bands of the time.

I loved the one that followed Massacre Divine.  

When I think of a topic like this the first thing that comes to my mind is Alice Cooper's Trash.  I still really like that record.  I never had a problem with bands going this route.  It yielded some records I still love today.

Some others that I'm a big fan of...

Tokyo Blade - Black Hearts & Jaded Spades
Girlschool - Take A Bite

Bonfire might also fit to this thread. While I personally haven't heard post Point Blank albums, they slowly evolved from straight ahead German metal sound of Cacumen to a very pleasant, sing-alongish, melodic yet powerful mix on Don't Touch The Light and especially Fireworks.