Hair Metal

I always called it just simply Metal. I know that the umbrella is big and has a lot of styles and degrees under it. This probably belongs in the musical journeys thread, but the older I got ( and the more I became disgruntled with the world/ teen angst/ etc.) the heavier the music got (up to a point) until I ended up just liking everything from Rock to Thrash. I remember going on long road trips with the parents and my collection (like a lot of you all) was eclectic (and Dokken, Ratt, and Motley were loved just as much as Priest, Maiden, and Savatage and the same for Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax) and if I really wanted a change, my sister had U2, REM and Ramones cassettes in the backseat as well.
I think I first heard the term "Hair Metal" about 20 or so years ago when the local rock radio station had a noontime segment called "Hair in Your Lunch" or something like that. It was cool to hear the tapes from my car on the radio and not the same Classic Rock over and over again. The media and critics always have to give everything a name to compartmentalize and categorize everything.

I cut my metal teeth on pop metal....uh I mean "hair metal." When I discovered thrash at age 13, I denounced the "soft" stuff.
But now I love most all metal. Hell; a good hair band Playlist on an afternoon drive is hard to beat!

I hate the image of most rock bands aside from the simpler, conservative look of classic pop-rock like The Beatles, Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc. or the basic leather jacket/shades image of people like Bono or Eric Clapton.

Hair metal was dreadful image-wise except when you had bands that could do it with a sense of irony like The New York Dolls. Even modern metal, the dark, heavy, angsty trash, has this buffoonish image which is mostly gruffy bald men with beards or gotees trying to look like Anton LaVey and be 'scary'.

Oh yeah some of the guys were definitely over the top image wise. Like Poison for example or Motley Crue Theatre of Pain era.Their looks didn't really matter to me. It was about the songs. As far as the looks go I was more a fan of the stripped down rocker look like Tesla or Tora Tora or the like.

I was 10 in '88, so like...I don't have the ability to view this stuff from an older, more discerning view point (because 19-year-olds in 1988 were discerning, right? Probably not but you know what I mean).

The image is a huge part of what attracted me to GNR, Poison, etc., before I really absorbed the music. Looking at Hit Parader, Circus and Rip was as big of an influence on me as listening to the albums.

In my late 30s, it's not hard to see how juvenile a lot of it was, and some of it has gotten hard to listen to (Motley Crue, for example). But at the same time, I love finding the really good nobody bands in the internet age---certainly, very few, if any of these C and D list bands deserved to be any bigger/more famous than they were (as almost every review on Amazon of every lesser known band/album from 88 to 92 would like you to believe), but that doesn't mean a lot of it is not quality and fun as hell to listen to.

One of my favorite internet discoveries form the past few years is Noize Toys. One album in 1988. It's killer and fun as hell to listen to...though I'd never make the claim that they shoulda been as huge as Poison.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

though I'd never make the claim that they shoulda been as huge as Poison.

Poison should never have been as huge as Poison!! 

Boris2008 wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

though I'd never make the claim that they shoulda been as huge as Poison.

Poison should never have been as huge as Poison!! 

Ha, I agree to some extent. While they were one of the first bands I discovered (accessibility, obviously), it didn't take long for them to be among the lesser tiered in my personal faves hierarchy.

But they had an appeal to such a larger audience than most bands. I don't really like calling them a boy band of glam metal, because I do think the dudes were/are talented players, but they were kinda like that. In a world where pop metal is blowing up across audiences and genders and such, there's no way Poison wasn't going to be leading the pack, in terms of success and hits and stuff. Them and Bon Jovi. So accessible, the both of them.

Re-reading this thread, I'm noticing a bit of a trend.

Look at the ages of most of the responders. Most of us that fall in the 40 to 50 year age range generally have no issue with hair metal. I think it was just part of the scene at the time and we didn't think much of it. Sure it wasn't as heavy as some stuff, but it rocked harder than the other radio pop of the era. We just accepted it for what it was, looks and all. It really wasn't till it was over and the grunge era hit that we could step back and look at how ridiculous, but wholly enjoyable, it all was.

Hair bands were one of my first experiences with hard rock/metal and I've pretty much always liked them, even during seasons where I didn't listen to much. I think a lot of them were not only talented but could also write a hook: something harder than is sometimes believed. 

While I don't listen to as much of it anymore due to the lyrics oftentimes being a bit too much for my taste, I still toss on some fairly regularly and always enjoy it.

Grunge is considered pretentious by many who look back on it, too. It tried to be legitimate but many of the angsty bands of the 90s were either responsible for their own misery because of immature, stupid decisions or had undiagnosed clinical depression that would've benefited from prescribed antidepressants. This was, of course, an age where people were not as conscious about the subject as they were today, so a lot of the 'honesty' in their anguish was artificial. Punk was also immature in many ways in that it tried to do rally against political and corporate corruption and oppression by being irrationally savage. I don't think the Sex Pistols with punk ever accomplished politically what more mature and reasonable people like Pete Seeger and the Weavers did in folk, at least not in a tasteful way. Both of them often taught pacifism but most of the folksters actually practiced it and moved people in rallies. Of course, not all punk was like that as the Ramones were very down to earth and tame in comparison. It's just that every genre that has some philosophy behind it has garnered legit pioneers and also fakers who put a stain not on their culture but pop culture as a whole. Rap/hip-hop is especially guilty of this and has perpetrated cultural and racial stereotypes in some of the most disgusting ways. Compared to the buffoonery spawned by these genres, the idea of a man dressing like a hussy is among the least of these evils.

Good points again, muckie. I certainly agree that each Genre has its own levels of maturity and immaturity as it's probably inherent in all our human nature. I don't think any of us here (or any other forum for that matter) look to music as a guide to how we live our lives. I know some bands/ artists/ songs resonate more with some than others. And, for a lot of people music gets them thru some really tough times.But, it is after all, arts and entertainment. For me, it's always been an escape. A medium that is a mean of fantasy and reality. On a sunny summer day we drop the top or roll the windows down and blast a song loud wishing we were the title character or maybe long for halcyon days when we were that guy.

In 1987, in the midst of Metal ruling the world, I was 13. One of the main things that drew me in was the image. The glam look, the power chords and guys shredding fretboards, and the hot chicks and pyrotechnics, and the tongue in cheek middle finger to polite society was the proverbial icing on the cake. Like I said, I was a 13 year old outcast, there was no way I was not going to immerse myself in this. LOL.

Like MG said, those of us of a certain age, have a different view (or threshold of tolerance) of Hair Metal. Some (like me) immersed themselves in it and some just hated it. And then there were those who didn't care either way. ZombieHavoc had a great point about using the internet to discover the long forgotten bands of the genre. I love the search for an artist, of any genre I like, of yesteryear. That's one of my fave things about this forum (besides the great convos and posts) is learning of new "old" music that becomes a "gem" to these old ears. In the last week alone, Witchfinder has told me of Tytan, chewie turned me on to Al DiMeola, and Zombie just told us all about Noize Toys.

As far as forgotten artists go, does anyone here remember/like Bang Tango?

muckie wrote:

As far as forgotten artists go, does anyone here remember/like Bang Tango?

Yeah, dude, I was obsessed with Psycho Cafe when it came out. It was so different than everything else at the time, in the genre. I saw them back in, I think 2006, and Joe Leste doesn't sound that great any more, but it was a fun show. They played with Adler's Appetite, which Leste was also doing the vocals for. About halfway through the set, Steven got up from behind the drums, threw his hands up and smiled, in a "Thank you, good night, you guys ruled!" kinda way, like he thought the set was over. Leste just said something like "ok, I think Steven wants to let [such-and-such guy] play the rest of the songs." It was kinda weird.

But I was listening to Cats In Boots on the way to work and thinking about this thread. I think a big problem with people's perception of..."hair metal" (ugh, I hate that diminutive term), is that it's based on a very small amount of what makes up the genre. In the way that "Cherry Pie" (though I like the song) is not representative of the Cherry Pie album as a whole, Poison, 1987's Whitesnake, Hysteria and The Final Countdown are not really representative of the entire sleazy, Sunset Strip sub-genre from 1981 through 1992 or whatever years you want to use.

As said, Cherry Pie and Dog Eat Dog are great Warrant albums, and have more going on than "Think about baseball, swing all night!" Of the A list bands, Cinderella and White Lion had more going on. In my opinion, it's just good rock n' roll. Dokken and Great White too. And even albums like Love is For Suckers or Detonator, good bands at their most polished/commercial, those albums are still not "Cry Tough" or "Pour Some Sugar On Me".

And then there's the whole group of B, C and D list bands that kept it nice and sleazy, gritty, raw, bluesy, southern or rowdy, like Cats In Boots, Dangerous Toys, Junkyard, Roxy Blue, Wildside, Babylon AD, Dogs D'Amour...none of those bands to me are like "I Want Action Tonight".

And then the aforementioned Bang Tango. Bands doing stuff that wasn't much like others were doing, but still within the genre. Electric Boys and their Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride. Enuff Z' Nuff and Joey C. Jones, still with a glossy sheen, but different enough with their extreme Beatles/Cheap Trick worship.

Or the Hollywood by way of Seattle bands like Sea Hags and Vain. There were even still some good bands that popped up way to late to the party with really good albums like Bangalore Choir's On Target and Star Star's Love Drag Years.

I just sometimes think the genre has way more to offer than people give it credit for. Especially when the stuff that gets latched on to and derided are just the glossiest of the biggest hits from the second half of the 80s. Even then, I think Bon Jovi doesn't always get some of the credit he deserves. Within his first five releases are some seriously awesome rockers.

But, man, take all of what I say with a grain of salt, because my all-time favorite album is Pretty Boy Floyd's Leather Boyz with Electric Toyz...probably the quintessential in late 80s glammy pompous poppy cock rock you can think of.

muckie wrote:

As far as forgotten artists go, does anyone here remember/like Bang Tango?

Psycho Cafe and Dancin' on Coals are awesome. After those 2 though, they kinda fell off the map for me.

Dogs D'Amour were a great band, they had more of a Stones/Faces kinda thing going on. I went off them pretty rapidly when a girl I was seeing ditched me so she could date their drummer but I doubt that's a common problem 

Zombie, I'm glad to hear you mentioning Star Star. I found a sealed long-box version of The Love Drag Years at a dollar store some years ago when they had old stock of unsold CDs. Found some gems like Chris Mars (from The Replacement's) solo albums. Of course, a lot of what they sold sounded either terribly mediocre or foreign to me, but as I said, some real gems, including a cassette copy of Arcade's first album, which led me to listen to Ratt due to Pearcy's involvement. Speaking of which, I didn't know there were other hair bands with albums called Detonator besides Ratt.

love that era. best for me. for now Steel Patnher and Reckless Love are in always in course. glam metal rock pop hair cocky whatever you name it it's good. golden age. i wish it was today again.

The European side of the scene had some great bands too, Bonfire, Treat (more AOR, but they do qualify), FM, etc.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

muckie wrote:

As far as forgotten artists go, does anyone here remember/like Bang Tango?

Psycho Cafe and Dancin' on Coals are awesome. After those 2 though, they kinda fell off the map for me.

Have you ever checked out the Beautiful Creatures S/T?  That's the band members of Bang Tango formed after BT.  They put out two albums I think; the second one is pretty bad but the first one is golden in my book.

Boris2008 wrote:

Dogs D'Amour were a great band, they had more of a Stones/Faces kinda thing going on. I went off them pretty rapidly when a girl I was seeing ditched me so she could date their drummer but I doubt that's a common problem 

I love Dogs D'Amour! I got into them through a similar band, The Quireboys. Neither are hair metal IMO. Those are the bands that got me started on the glam/sleaze road I still tread to this day.

Hadley wrote:

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.

I was really surprised when the death metal band Suffocation thanked C.C. DeVille and Poison in the booklet for their 1991 album Effigy of the Forgotten.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

muckie wrote:

As far as forgotten artists go, does anyone here remember/like Bang Tango?

Psycho Cafe and Dancin' on Coals are awesome. After those 2 though, they kinda fell off the map for me.

Yeah. I am in that boat too.

ZombieHavok wrote:

But, man, take all of what I say with a grain of salt, because my all-time favorite album is Pretty Boy Floyd's Leather Boyz with Electric Toyz...probably the quintessential in late 80s glammy pompous poppy cock rock you can think of.

Oh my Lord, I love that album!

The genre was definitely deeper than the mainstream stations and Mtv let on. We all know they played the same 5 or 6 bands over and over again. One of them is Jetboy. I know it's debatable whether or not they belong in the genre ( though Micky Finn's Mohawk "hair" cut says otherwise) but they are from that era and locale. I passed on them back in the day for not fitting the mold of the glam rock/ metal band and sound. And now I freaking love the crap out of their first 2 albums. Another example is a band that Toho mentioned above, The (London) Quireboys. In 1989/90, I wasn't digging the scarves and pirate shirts and the Aerosmith meets the Stones vibe of some of the bands (Quireboys, Electric Boys). Or, the bands that mixed in a little Southern Rock vibe (Saraya, Tangier). I wanted everyone to look like Hericane Alice and Babylon A.D. My mistake and foolish close mindedness as I know like a lot of those bands and the music they created.

Required Fields wrote:

Hadley wrote:

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.

I was really surprised when the death metal band Suffocation thanked C.C. DeVille and Poison in the booklet for their 1991 album Effigy of the Forgotten.

Cry Tough was the single biggest influence on Suffocation's style. I don't want to say that they ripped it off but..........





I'd say this speaks for itself 

I am old enough  to say that I have been with glam from the very beginning..I was listening to motley crue and other first wave bands before they were even national acts...we had a store in the town I grew up in and when they got new bands the manager always gave me a free copy..I got a free copy of crues too fast for love on the Leathür label and alot of other cool stuff as well...sometimes I am surprised at some of the bands mentioned here because I really didn't think anyone else knew them..except maybe their hometown fans..I love that all these labels like demon doll records & Eonian records and Perris records are releasing all kinds of stuff that has never been released before...It used to be pretty amazing at the cool stuff I used to find in dollar bins that everyone had written off as no-names...I got interested in the genre when I was a kid in the 70s ...some of my first records were by The Sweet, T-Rex, Slade, Mud, The runaways, queen, The New York Dolls and of course KISS....