In your opinion, what was the last GREAT pop metal album of its era?

I have to mull over this some more but I think I'll have to give it to Skid Row. As I said in another thread, it's pretty timeless and every song has rather equal footing, not a bad song in the bunch. Plus it sound HUGE with that Michael Wagener touch. Haven't heard anything close to it since. Imitators abound, but they always miss the mark.

Warrant's, Dog Eat Dog and Slaughter's, The Wild Life were both great and came out later.

To me, the best pop metal was from 1984 to ‘89. So I would have to say the Skid Row s/t has my vote as the last great album from that genre. Not to say there hasn’t been some good songs after that...

A lot of great stuff fell under the radar during that time. Some of my faves...

Jetboy, Damned Nation
Shotgun Messiah, Second Coming
Babylon AD, s/t
Steve Jones, Fire & Gasoline
Love/Hate, Blackout in the Red Room

Those albums by Babylon AD and Love/Hate are classics in the Toho library.  I'd also add Child's Play's S/T.

I'm not sure I'd classify any of those as "pop-metal" though.

tohostudios wrote:

Those albums by Babylon AD and Love/Hate are classics in the Toho library.  I'd also add Child's Play's S/T.

I'm not sure I'd classify any of those as "pop-metal" though.  

The hardest part of starting this thread was figuring out which subgenre to indicate. Pop metal seems to be a pretty wide umbrella for some, albeit not without controversy. I think what I'm looking for is commercial heavy metal? Maybe?

Hair metal, glam/sleaze metal, whatevs...

I wasn't trying to start a genre-war controversy. Just trying to get at what types of music we're discussing here.

OK, I get Skid Row and totally see that. The S/T is basically metal but with a slightly commercial bent. But that's an extremely narrow style in my experience and I have an extensive 80's-90s "hair metal" collection.

Who else fits this category?

corplhicks wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Those albums by Babylon AD and Love/Hate are classics in the Toho library.  I'd also add Child's Play's S/T.

I'm not sure I'd classify any of those as "pop-metal" though.  

The hardest part of starting this thread was figuring out which subgenre to indicate. Pop metal seems to be a pretty wide umbrella for some, albeit not without controversy. I think what I'm looking for is commercial heavy metal? Maybe?

I think of pop metal as melodic rock with beefed up guitars and mandatory hooky ballads. Early Warrant was a prime example.

I could easily agree with you on Skid Rows self titled being the greatest.....but there’s some others that I think touch greatness as well;

Dangerous Toys-S/T
Tora Tora- Surprise Attack
Cinderella- Long Cold Winter
Spread Eagle-S/T

Extreme's Pornograffitti came out August 1990, and I think it's great. "More than Words" was a big hit as well.

Good call with that Cinderella album.

How about Def Leppard's "High 'n' Dry"?

tohostudios wrote:

Good call with that Cinderella album.

How about Def Leppard's "High 'n' Dry"?

Wouldn't that be one of the FIRST pop metal albums?

But it's one of the last GREAT ones.

LOL Okay, so to explain further, I'm thinking of the tail end of what I some call pop metal, some call hair metal, in its last dying days of, I dunno, '89-'94 maybe? On its way out because grunge or it killed itself or x happened etc. What's interesting is there are few great albums from this period from these bands. I'm beginning to wonder if Skid Row's debut defined the pinnacle of the genre's success, partially because nothing else that came after could measure up.

I like some of the mentions here, and would throw in Steelheart's Tangled in Reins (too often overlooked, needs more exposure) and Holy Soldier's Last Train as possibilities. But I wonder if the majority would consider Skid Row as THE great one.

EDIT: Just realized there were a couple damn good releases from Banshee and Pink Cream '69 to consider. The Babylon AD suggestion is truly a close second to Skid Row.

EDIT: Wildside's UTI!!!

Googling for when Pornograffitti came out meant the next time Youtube recommended this pretty cool live video:

If this is allowed to be included, I would say Don Dokken Up From the Ashes, which came out in October of 1990. It was an album which had just preceded grunge by a year. It was a huge year for thrash metal, yet it was a great album. It had a wonderful all-star lineup of Mikkey Dee (drums), Peter Baltes (bass) and John Norum (guitar). Sometimes that all star lineup approach works and sometimes it doesn't. It definitely did here. Great record! I would state it's  good as any Dokken record from a consistency standpoint.

metalinmyveins wrote:

If this is allowed to be included, I would say Don Dokken Up From the Ashes, which came out in October of 1990. It was an album which had just preceded grunge by a year. It was a huge year for thrash metal, yet it was a great album. It had a wonderful all-star lineup of Mikkey Dee (drums), Peter Baltes (bass) and John Norum (guitar). Sometimes that all star lineup approach works and sometimes it doesn't. It definitely did here. Great record! I would state it's  good as any Dokken record from a consistency standpoint.

Dude, solid choice! I always get stuck thinking that album dropped in 88. Forgot it was that much later.

The only issue for me personally that keeps me from nominating that album is that it runs out of steam prematurely. There's a lot to say there, but in short I don't feel the band had enough solid material to fill the runtime. But the songs that are great one there are absolutely great.

corplhicks wrote:

metalinmyveins wrote:

If this is allowed to be included, I would say Don Dokken Up From the Ashes, which came out in October of 1990. It was an album which had just preceded grunge by a year. It was a huge year for thrash metal, yet it was a great album. It had a wonderful all-star lineup of Mikkey Dee (drums), Peter Baltes (bass) and John Norum (guitar). Sometimes that all star lineup approach works and sometimes it doesn't. It definitely did here. Great record! I would state it's  good as any Dokken record from a consistency standpoint.

Dude, solid choice! I always get stuck thinking that album dropped in 88. Forgot it was that much later.

The only issue for me personally that keeps me from nominating that album is that it runs out of steam prematurely. There's a lot to say there, but in short I don't feel the band had enough solid material to fill the runtime. But the songs that are great one there are absolutely great.

Interesting, because outside of "The Hunger"(last track), which is not a good song, I think "Down In Flames" is the best track on the album and "Mirror, Mirror" and "Give It Up" are great tracks on side two.

So you don't include Slave To The Grind? Not poppy enough or what?

Dark Horseman wrote:

So you don't include Slave To The Grind? Not poppy enough or what?

LOL Now there be some controversy.

Dark Horseman wrote:

So you don't include Slave To The Grind? Not poppy enough or what?

It was more harsh because suddenly you weren't allowed to be fun anymore. Definitely a different sounding record. Skid Row were a band that could dance that fine line of being pop metal at one point and the next moment being edgy "classic style" metal.

I agree on the no fun part, letting depressed guys in constantly rainy Seattle set the tone was terrible.

I give up trying to figure out the point of this thread.

You guys have at it.

Another great “pop metal” album is RATT’s Invasion of Your Privacy. Such a great guitar sound!