Hair Metal

chewie wrote:

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 insists that I listen to the rest of the album. Glad I did, it damn ROCKED!

That completely makes sense to me. I like Love Is On the Way but I had the SK debut album before that song broke big so I could appreciate that song for what it was and I knew SK was a lot more diverse and rocking than that song.

Boris2008 wrote:

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 

I guess I have the same problem with Stryper that chewie had with Saigon Kick. First impressions are awfully hard to overcome. Add to that that Michael Sweet sings in that screechy upper register that I hate and I don't think I'll ever like Stryper but you never know.

Thanks for all the excellent responses folks.

Fat Freddy wrote:

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.

Yeah, I would agree with the over saturation (both from record labels and Mtv) and the B and C list bands that watered it all down to a formula. Also, it was a good decade long run for Metal (and heavy music) in general that had kind of run it's course. I didn't know the term Jump the Shark back then but when I saw Nitro for the first time I was like "where do we go from here?" It was certainly the crest of the wave.

Btw, great call on Hericane Alice. That album smokes and saw plenty of spins this past summer when I finally scored it on CD.

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".  

Toho, I totally understand what you mean..... But being the huge fanboy I am of Stryper I wouldn't feel right unless I suggested you give them another try. I bet you would dig Against the Law and probably their last two albums.

Boris2008 wrote:

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 

That's the thing for me as well. No matter how cheesy it might have been or how badly it's aged, that era of music has such great memories attached to it. Even when I try to find some newer sleaze/glam/hair bands (like Crashdiet for example), it's not going to pack the same wallop. I can still enjoy them for what they are, but I'm in a different place now.

Thrasher73 wrote:

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".  

Toho, I totally understand what you mean..... But being the huge fanboy I am of Stryper I wouldn't feel right unless I suggested you give them another try. I bet you would dig Against the Law and probably their last two albums.

Thrashers right Toho. I'm not much of a Stryper fan either, but give Against the Law a shot. It's probably their least "Stryper-like" album.

I hate the term Hair Metal - it was POP metal back in the day (and a more accurate description of it, since it was pop songs played metal style.) The term was invented by a hipster douche bag writer to make fun of all of those bands.

I agree "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a killer song.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is not why hair metal is hated.

I don't even think that song is really hair metal. It's just hard rock.

True but Warrant is considered a "hair metal" band and are often dismissed simply because of that description.  Consequently such dismissive people don't even know the band produced a song like "Uncle Tom's Cabin". It's a good example of why it's dumb to "hate" bands based on some made-up label.

Love this kind of music...I am probably the biggest hair metal fan on this forum...I have hundreds of albums including many rare and hard to find albums and tons of independent releases..as well as books, magazines, posters, shirts and I study and read everything on the genre I can find...Even my guitars, amps and stomp boxes are original 80s stuff geared and set up for hair metal....

brokentulsa wrote:

Love this kind of music...I am probably the biggest hair metal fan on this forum...I have hundreds of albums including many rare and hard to find albums and tons of independent releases..as well as books, magazines, posters, shirts and I study and read everything on the genre I can find...Even my guitars, amps and stomp boxes are original 80s stuff geared and set up for hair metal....

Yes! Yes!

thejokeriv wrote:

I hate the term Hair Metal - it was POP metal back in the day (and a more accurate description of it, since it was pop songs played metal style.) The term was invented by a hipster douche bag writer to make fun of all of those bands.

Most of those bands didn't need a journo to poke fun at them. They made themselves look ridiculous all by themselves.

tohostudios wrote:

True but Warrant is considered a "hair metal" band and are often dismissed simply because of that description.  Consequently such dismissive people don't even know the band produced a song like "Uncle Tom's Cabin".  It's a good example of why it's dumb to "hate" bands based on some made-up label.

PREACH IT!!!!

A lot of artists get criticized during their prime before their music eventually leaves such an ingrained mark that, they eventually, in some way or another, become icons. Others who didn't have that much respectable material usually get cast by the wayside and forgotten. That's why I wait at least 10 years to catch up with the material I missed in its heyday, because time will let you know if it has become canonical, so to speak, in the music world. There is such a huge backlog and history of music to explore NOW. There are hidden gems that slip through, but in a word-of-mouth, internet driven society there is no excuse for why these things won't eventually become known among the dedicated in some way or another. I used to shun these hair bands as a young'n because some of my peers said it was poser or fake but as I've gotten older I sort of ignore that and look at things in a broader perspective. Of course, albums like Dokken's Back for the Attack, and Ratt's Out of the Cellar have always been favorites.

Excellent points there, Muckie. I agree with the slow digestion of music many years later. In my humble opine, I feel it's better to view and hear something objectively after the fact and without any preconceived notions. I am able to do this with older artists and music from the past. For example, I own nothing by Jeff Beck. If I were to purchase his back catalog and spend a month giving each album the time it deserves I would be much more likely to become a fan and love most if not all of his music. I had the benefit of doing this with both Saxon and UFO. Since I didn't "get into" either band until about a decade or so ago, I was able to take the time and hear it all objectively. I could appreciate the maturation or change in music and lyrics from one album to the next. Conversely, if I were a fan from the beginning, I might have jumped ship when something became too commercial, or synthesizers were added, or "here's where they sold out," etc.

I like synthesizers, but you can see how consistent an artist is/was when they have a wide assortment of material already made, I agree. Some bands do change their sound significantly, but then there are some who still produce really good stuff regardless. It's just not to be compared with their older stuff depending on how drastically different it is in tone, like how some bands would start off doing darker and heavier alternative stuff then change to more pop, but that doesn't mean their poppier material can't be good.

I still like a lot of bands considered hair metal such as Ratt, Dokken etc, but we called it pop metal, and I remember friends equally liking Ratt and Metallica, so never understood the divide.

I don't think if I was a kid 18 years old today, that music would resonate with me. Its a music of its era and time, and very few bands from that genre are to sound much more then that.

By the time the genre was on its death throes it had become so formulaic that it was stale, first the rock song single, then the maybe the rock anthem and finally the ballad. The ballad always came accompanied with a montage of clips of the band on the road.

Insert my favorite anecdote...

James would drive up to the Bay Area and be wearing a "Ruby Slippers" t shirt to a "Legacy" gig and then show up on the Strip with a "Laaz Rockit" jersey. Folks would wig out

Anyways... Good songs are good songs regardless of flavor.

There are a lot of great bands from that time that get overlooked in both the thrash & glam categories. I am still perplexed by this conundrum Is "hair metal" a look or a sound ? IMHO, "Hair Metal" is usually used by those who look down their nose at something they deem beneath them.

James B. wrote:

Insert my favorite anecdote...

James would drive up to the Bay Area and be wearing a "Ruby Slippers" t shirt to a "Legacy" gig and then show up on the Strip with a "Laaz Rockit" jersey.  Folks would wig out

Anyways... Good songs are good songs regardless of flavor.

There are a lot of great bands from that time that get overlooked in both the thrash & glam categories.  I am still perplexed by this conundrum  Is "hair metal" a look or a sound ?  IMHO, "Hair Metal" is usually used by those who look down their nose at something they deem beneath them.

It isn't so much that I thought it was beneath me, I just hated it, the look, the attitude, the peacock showiness of late '80s metal, the overly slick sound that took over that scene. Earlier stuff like the first couple of Motley LP's, W.A.S.P, the RATT Ep, Twisted Sister I could deal with and I loved Hanoi Rocks but it changed into something so clean and sanitised for MTV so that every song I heard sounded like f*cking Cherry Pie! That's why I liked G&R when they rolled around because at least they put a bit of dirt back under the fingernails.

What is now considered hair metal now started kinda New York Dolls glam cool and for me ended up radio friendly garbage.

Never used to hear the term "hair metal" back then,we just called them posers,guys like zebraman where what they looked like and if they showed up at any concert where they didn't belong they got bashed,I seen it happen back in 84 at a Metallica gig,one guy with his poofy hair walking around with his spandex got his ass kicked.the music was lame that's why the Motorhead and fans of bands like that never accepted it.remember the classic Mentors song "Hetrosexuals Have The Right To Rock"? well that was like an anthem against all that.

Hec_The_Wreck wrote:

Never used to hear the term "hair metal" back then,we just called them posers,guys like zebraman where what they looked like and if they showed up at any concert where they didn't belong they got bashed,I seen it happen back in 84 at a Metallica gig,one guy with his poofy hair walking around with his spandex got his ass kicked.the music was lame that's why the Motorhead and fans of bands like that never accepted it.remember the classic Mentors song "Hetrosexuals Have The Right To Rock"? well that was like an anthem against all that.

Yeah there were always the closed minded idiots in every crowd.Then you had metal heads who liked a lot of different stuff.I was a straight up Thrasher with the long hair and jean jacket with patches and tore jeans but I liked Cinderella just as much as say Nuclear Assault.

Thrasher73 wrote:

Hec_The_Wreck wrote:

Never used to hear the term "hair metal" back then,we just called them posers,guys like zebraman where what they looked like and if they showed up at any concert where they didn't belong they got bashed,I seen it happen back in 84 at a Metallica gig,one guy with his poofy hair walking around with his spandex got his ass kicked.the music was lame that's why the Motorhead and fans of bands like that never accepted it.remember the classic Mentors song "Hetrosexuals Have The Right To Rock"? well that was like an anthem against all that.

Yeah there were always the closed minded idiots in every crowd.Then you had metal heads who liked a lot of different stuff.I was a straight up Thrasher with the long hair and jean jacket with patches and tore jeans but I liked Cinderella just as much as say Nuclear Assault.

Yep.

Whats funny is that some of the thrash bands had no problem with the "hair bands". For example, in the liner notes of Overkill's Under the Influence, the "thanks" page includes White Lion along with a bunch of thrash bands (same thing with M.O.D.s Gross Misconduct). Maybe they were just friends, but still, they were endorsing them indirectly.