The Last Great Hair Metal Album

Tough choice. Some I haven't heard but out of the ones I did, I think I'd go with Skid Row.

Regarding "I Remember You" as being a formula, let's call Savatage "hair metal" or perhaps even Judas Priest(among others)? Why does a ballad constitute a formula when the remainder of the release is "metal"?I recall "hair metal" being full blown spandex, make-up, and a pop orientated sound for the most part, oh well...it is just my opinion.

James B. wrote:

Regarding "I Remember You" as being a formula, let's call Savatage "hair metal" or perhaps even Judas Priest(among others)? Why does a ballad constitute a formula when the remainder of the release is "metal"?I recall "hair metal" being full blown spandex, make-up, and a pop orientated sound for the most part, oh well...it is just my opinion.

Yeah... it’s your opinion. And it’s a discussion site.

RATT is considered “hair” or pop metal by most people, yet Robin Crosby’s rhythm guitar tone (on the early stuff) is more metal than some so called “real” metal bands. I guess some bands blur the lines a bit.

And as far as Skid Row’s image...
They weren’t overly glam looking like say Cinderella, Britny Fox or Poison (who were basically the epitome of the look)! But at the same time, they had the teased hair and Sebastian definitely played up his girly look when posing for mags like Hit Parader.

That Skid Row record came out in 1989. I still don't get it how people can vote for it?

Are you seriously saying NOT A SINGLE great hair metal album cam after 1989. You guys are seriously wrong about that.

Like I said, people are voting for their favorite on the list.

So is "hair metal" defined by an image, by the sound, or a conglomeration of the two? Take Icon for example... The 1984 debut had them full blown glam visually. Yet musically, it was heavy metal. Then forward to the next release (Night Of The Crime! they were jeans n t-shirts with a total pop sound. Like I already have stated, regardless of a ballad, a member having teased hair, or being in magazines... A band that was as aggressive as Skid Row was and wasn't per day "thrash" it is absurd to lump them in with the likes of Poison & Bon Jovi when those bands neither looked or sounded anything like them. Of course, (IMHDO)

I think we're going with the generic meaning, they get lumped in the genre even if they don't really fit. Kind of like Tesla.

James B. wrote:

So is "hair metal" defined by an image, by the sound, or a conglomeration of the two? Take Icon for example... The 1984 debut had them full blown glam visually. Yet musically, it was heavy metal. Then forward to the next release (Night Of The Crime! they were jeans n t-shirts with a total pop sound.  Like I already have stated, regardless of a ballad, a member having teased hair, or being in magazines... A band that was as aggressive as Skid Row was and wasn't per day "thrash" it is absurd to lump them in with the likes of Poison & Bon Jovi when those bands neither looked or sounded anything like them. Of course, (IMHDO)

At that moment in time, and for that album, I think of them as so-called “hair metal”. It’s just my opinion and the way I view it. I’m mainly emphasizing on their image because as we know the term “hair metal” still is a form of metal.

Lari wrote:

That Skid Row record came out in 1989. I still don't get it how people can vote for it?

Are you seriously saying NOT A SINGLE great hair metal album cam after 1989. You guys are seriously wrong about that.

You must’ve missed this whole discussion earlier in the thread.

I own every one of these records and love them all... for the poll I went with shotgun messiah. A really good solid album...

Thrasher73 wrote:

Lari wrote:

That Skid Row record came out in 1989. I still don't get it how people can vote for it?

Are you seriously saying NOT A SINGLE great hair metal album cam after 1989. You guys are seriously wrong about that.

You must’ve missed this whole discussion earlier in the thread.

But it's not right and I will not stand it!

If it makes you feel better I didn’t vote for Skid Row! Lol!

Skid Row were a hard rock band, kinda like G n R.Nobody calls Axel's outfit glam, because their music didn't sound like traditional glam. My vote still goes to Winger's "in the Heart of the Young". Some real burners on there.

Also- No love for the Bullet Boys ??!

Wait... I call GnR glam. They seem to fit the bill just fine. Sleazy, loud showboats. Axl with his rasp and and Slash with his hair and flashy guitar solos.

TLDR: the summation of what we're discussing is 80's commercial metal in general.

So I've been extremely busy and haven't been able to tend to this in a while, but reading through here has made me realize we really need to get these genre terms cleared up, guys. I understand we typically just boil it down to subjective perspective--which it is--but LOL does it cause confusion.

Here's my take. Since I was a kid I've used the term "pop metal" to describe POPular metal music, or commercial for that matter. You know, radio-friendly hits with big drums and wicked guitar gain that found POPularity on the radio, MTV, etc even if it was for a short time. Big label stuff. Obviously there are some under-the-radar artists that didn't hit that chance (Wildside, to my knowledge) though it can be argued that's what the push was for.

This topic went...a little funky in the last thread I posted (which was basically a non-poll version of the same question). People got confused. I was confused that they were confused. Toho was insanely confused haha. ZombieHavoc (where are you dude we need yooooou) made good mention that the term "hair metal" could be more appropriate even though we generally hate that term because it's ever-so-slightly derogatory. I agreed and thought I'd use that title here with the intent of a more universal understanding.

And now we're even more confused haha.

Maybe I could say commercial metal? Or 80's metal, even though some of these great albums were released in the 90's and even a few of the artists didn't make their big label emergence until the 90's? In any case, when I think of hair metal I don't think of the look. Glam might evoke that, but all heavy metal music involves miles of hair, poofy or flat. Does that make sense? Skid Row only slightly looked like a hair metal band (sorry but Baz's hair was just crazy awesome), but they functioned more as a hard rock band with a poppy undercurrent in that they were meant to reach the same demographic that Bon Jovi and Poison shot for. Maybe not on their sophomore (see below) but certainly on the debut. And let's not forget these bands, no matter how different they sounded, toured and hung out together. Moscow Peace Festival, anyone? It's all part of a packaged deal, really.

Ironically enough, there was an article recently published by Loudness about Skid Row's debut being "Glam Metal's Last Big Hurrah." Not kidding, that was the headline! And I, like many of you here, would never call Skid Row a glam metal band. It just goes to show how no one is certain of what that record was in terms of flavor. But it was pushed, marketed, produced, and packaged in a way that was similar to other bands of the era. I mean, Wagener recorded Rob's drums in a convention center, for god's sake!

It's kind of the same argument that Scott used to make around here back in the day, how Aerosmith and Van Halen were heavy metal even though they're not pinned as that today. These 80's metal artists, even though they exist on a broad spectrum of tone, aggression, and style, still fit the same mold to some degree.

John Madden, you are correct sir about Bullet Boys being in here. In fact I think they were mentioned in the previous thread. I'll see about adding them here to the list.

Also, and again, the reason I don't include Slave to the Grind here is because it's a different beast altogether. Is the exclusion debatable? Absolutely! But I think it stands just outside of that spectrum I mentioned, even if just by a slim margin. Same with Tesla's Psychotic Supper (which I ADORE and almost included here).

Sorry about the confusion, fellas. But thanks for the input.

Labels,Genres, gotta love it! Lol!

I know when talking about those bands to friends who aren’t music freaks I just refer to them as 80’s metal.

Dammit now I'm thinking about renaming the thread title from hair to 80s. What a friggin mess lol.

Still curious about the opinions of other veteran members. Unc, Witchy, FF, Toho if he can make sense of it all haha, ZH, exact (where the hell is he?), etc etc...