Hard Rock in the 80's?

I realized that very little of my "Hard Rock" collection comes from the 80's. It seemed that most of the bands I grew up with either retired or went "melodic" during the 80's. Between Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet etc in the early 80's and then the emergence of the Cult, G'NR, Badlands, and Rick Rubin in general in the late 80's there doesn't seem to be much on my radar for some reason. Even Southern rock seemed to go melodic (.38 Special, ZZ Top, etc.). I know there was a lot of good Blues based hard rock being played, but it seemed to get hidden under a lot of hair and make-up. I mean Sleaze was gritty but in more of an urban way; pubby; not really pick-up truck driving music. I'm sure I'm just having a mental block here. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention or something. Help! Shiney!

Two words Sahb........The Angels!

2 more words - Who Cares? Just kidding. I think most everything got melodic in the 80's. But I still consider Bryan Adams, Bob Seger, Foreigner [early 80's], Styx [Kilroy], and some Loverboy "hard rock". Otherwise, maybe bands like the Rainmakers, Del Fuegos, Smithereens, Godfathers, Geo Thorogood?

rattpoison wrote:

Two words Sahb........The Angels!

We didn't hear a whole lot of them here unfortunately. We were told to call them "Angel City" for some reason too.
I'm still not coming up with a whole lot other than Stevie Ray Vaughan I guess. I did have a concussion sometime in there. I ran into a metal pole playing Frisbee. I wonder if that is the problem.

How about Georgia Satellites? Or Dokken?

GEORGIA SATELLITES
DEL FUEGOS
THE ZIPPERS (although their debut didn't hit until like 90)
MASTERS OF REALITY
DRIVIN' N' CRYIN'
THE BABYS
REZ


I'm sure I could think of more but those are a few of the sadly often overlooked KILLER bands from the late 80's....

Blue Oyster Cult and April Wine were both still going strong in the 80s.

Two words...The Cult!

Ummm...Freddy...

Quote :

Between Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet etc in the early 80's and then the emergence of the Cult, G'NR, Badlands, and Rick Rubin in general in the late 80's there doesn't seem to be much on my radar for some reason.

I can think of few but I am not sure if this fits your criteria but here are some:

Cinderella-Starting with Long Cold Winter they started showing a more blues based influence via the way of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones

Great White-Always had strong influence of blues at least on their earlier releases

John Hiatt-Singer/songwriter more of country influence than blues but his songs have been covered by Iggy Pop (Something Wild), Jeff Healey (Angel Eyes), Bonnie Riatt (Thing Called Love) and Eric Clapton/BB King (Riding with the King) and many others have covered his tunes

The Smithereens-Very cool band with great catchy singles

The Replacement-Another great band who had a cross current of influences from punk to pop

Big Country-Best known for "In A Big Country" but a great Scottish band unafaird to show their native roots

Dramarama-Great Great band totally underlooked and hell of a live band

Violent Femmes-A fun band with great tunes and sense of humor

Paul Rodgers, who cut a couple a solo albums in the 80's that continued in his Bad Company style

The Fabulous Thunderbirds-not one of my favorite bands but had some fun singles under their belt

The Pretenders-Chrisse Hynde just a great songwriter who has written her fair share of classics in the big 80's

Manny, ever hear John Hiatt's "Perfectly Good Guitar" album? That one is great. I like "Slow Turning" too.

tohostudios wrote:

Manny, ever hear John Hiatt's "Perfectly Good Guitar" album? That one is great. I like "Slow Turning" too.

I love that album and love the lyrics:

There out to be a law with no bail

Smash a guitar and you go to jail

With no chance for early parole

You don't get out til you get some soul

manny wrote:

With no chance for early parole

You don't get out til you get some soul

Damn, someone wrote a song about Yngwie! He'd still be behind bars if this was true.

Don't forget the song "The Wreck Of The Barbie Ferrari". Great lyrics in that one too.

tohostudios wrote:

Ummm...Freddy...

Quote :

Between Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet etc in the early 80's and then the emergence of the Cult, G'NR, Badlands, and Rick Rubin in general in the late 80's there doesn't seem to be much on my radar for some reason.

Oops. Didn't see that. I plead lack of caffeine.

Carry on then!!

How about The Four Horsemen? They were doing the bell-bottomed rock-n-roll thing during the big-haired, spandex 80's, weren't they?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKv_YYzdI2w

Never mind. Their debut was 1991. Still good stuff though.

I also thought of choosing Cry of Love who had a sort of Bad Company vibe to them but their debut was released in 1991.

Georgia Satellites
Smithereens

How about Tora Tora?They came along in the late 80's.I'd say they fit the description pretty well

manny wrote:

I also thought of choosing Cry of Love who had a sort of Bad Company vibe to them but their debut was released in 1991.

The "Brother" album rules! Also a Grand Funk Railroad vibe.

D & C and The Masters I didn't find until the very late 80's. In fact I followed most of the bands you guys have listed except for the Satellites and the Del Fuegos. So I'm realizing is that it was The Babys that got me through the 80's? As much as I like the Babys, I'm going to have to pronounce the 80's as kinda thin on Hard Rock compared to other decades. I think a lot of the Southern Rock fans defected to "New Country" music along about then (Hat Rock).

Cool seeing all these cool bands being thrown around....no one's settling for the norm of what many consider hard rock.

Here's some more "Hard Rock" bands from the 80's.......


The Hitmen



The Lime Spiders



Beasts Of Bourbon



Celibate Rifles

Great clips. You can see Hard Rock evolving there. Clearly struggling to incorporate Punk and even New Wave influences. My favorite Hard Rock album from the 80's was The Pink Fairies "comeback" album (Kill Em' And Eat 'Em) which went over like a Led balloon because those guys were once again ahead of their time. It couldn't live up to their legendary albums, but I thought they did a great job giving a punk attitude to a traditional blues rock structure. And the production wasn't really all that bad for the time either.

SAHB Healer wrote:

My favorite Hard Rock album from the 80's was The Pink Fairies "comeback" album (Kill Em' And Eat 'Em) which went over like a Led balloon because those guys were once again ahead of their time. It couldn't live up to their legendary albums, but I thought they did a great job giving a punk attitude to a traditional blues rock structure. And the production wasn't really all that bad for the time either.

I haven't heard that Pink Fairies record......but sounds good. It wouldn't be the Pink Fairies if it wasn't pushing the boundaries.

SAHB Healer wrote:

Great clips. You can see Hard Rock evolving there. Clearly struggling to incorporate Punk and even New Wave influences.

Thing is with those bands i posted Sahb is all of them are Australian and based in either Garage Rock, Punk or Post-Punk but because of the very nature of the music environment in Australia they all develop a kind of hard pub rock sound and attitude to the music. It's born out of necessity if your going to go down well in the pubs, clubs and outer surburban beer barns, cause alternative types in Australia in the 80's and to a lesser extent now are not tolerated. There was an infamous gig were a band called the Scientists (Probably the biggest unsung influence on Seattle Grunge) from Sydney supported the Angels. Their Suicide/Cramps/Gun Club hard rock style didn't go down well with your average pub rocker and heckles and cries of "Poofters" ensured. It's probably one of the reasons why Nick Cave and the Birthday Party fled to the UK and Germany in the early 80's.

So all these bands from Australia in the 80's like the Lime Spiders, X, Beasts Of Bourbon, Feedtime, Cosmic Psychos, Celibate Rifles etc while based in Garage/Punk/Post Punk all brought a pub/hard rock sensibility to their music. And by complete accident set the blueprint for Sub Pop "Hard Rock" a few years later.

SAXON1500 wrote:

2 more words - Who Cares? Just kidding.

Why kid? That's a great suggestion. The Poor - Who Cares. Awesome album!

The Poor!......aren't they like the old Airbourne or somethin'.