Hard Rock in the 80's?

I think Hard Rock got sort of fragmented in the mid 80's. I think there was a view that Southern Rock and Punk and certain other styles were just incompatible; and maybe it took a look back to bands like The Pink Fairies and The MC5 and Hawkwind as examples of how to re-integrate.
Also I remember that some bands like Whitesnake and Kingdom Come got ripped by some for being Zeppelin clones in the mid-80's. But in retrospect they may have been keepers of an important part of the flame there.

SAHB Healer wrote:

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!

I hear ya as far as the '70s bands you grew up with. Heart went pretty severely pop in the '80s, along with Styx, Foreigner, and Cheap Trick. The hard rock was coming from new bands composed of guys who were still teenagers in the 70's. IMO, Yngwie, Dokken, M.S.G., Autograph, Tesla, were bands that picked up where Boston and Queen left off. I'm obviously a little biased as the eighties was my teenage decade, but I think the eighties hard rock kicked things up a notch over the seventies. I love classic Queen, Boston, Bad Company, Styx, Heart, Blackfoot, Skynyrd, etc., but I think the eighties bands kicked things up a notch over their predecessors. In M.S.G., for example, Michael Schenker definitely kicked things up several notches from his work in UFO. His stuff in UFO kicked ass, no doubt, but not like M.S.G. Without the great seventies bands, though, to lay the foundation, guys like Yngwie and Schenker would never have been so awesome. Yngwie was inspired by these bands as a teen: Deep Purple, Rainbow, Scorpions, Rush, Kansas.

You mentioned music to listen to in the pickup, eighties hard rock that picks up where Blackfoot and Skynyrd left off. Here are two eighties bands that, IMHO, have that same kind of quality to them: 1) Autograph 2) Tesla They aren't Southern rock bands, but they do have some of the same qualities. Autograph has blistering guitars and fun and humorous lyrics. You probably have heard the tune "Turn Up the Radio" before on a classic rock station. This is Autograph. Tesla also has some cool guitars, and very genuine lyrics that talk about life the way it really is. Tesla was from either Iowa or Nebraska, I believe, and has always had a following in the midwest. As far as albums, I recommend, first, Autograph's "Sign in Please", and Tesla's "The Great Radio Controversy" second.

Good call on Tesla, they fit the category perfectly.

How about Circus Of Power and Raging Slab? I know they are both late 80's, but don't seem to fall into any other category than hard/southern rock.

detuned wrote:

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.

I know this was being sarcastic but do you own any Yngwie? There are some amazing soulful solos hidden in there.

I own all of Yngwie's albums up to his 1997 album, "Facing The Animal". He's my favorite artist, bar none. Obviously, I hear tons of feeling in his playing, and copious amounts of expression. I assume feeling and expression which moves the listener would qualify as soul. Yngwie plays very fast, yes, but he is about far more than this. His tunes have tension and release. When he is not spilling notes out at high speed, he is emoting, and conveying a sense of melancholy that is beautiful.

If you want to hear just how much genuine emotion Yngwie can play with, look for a you tube clip of this song: "Like An Angel". He shreds on this song, of course, but also plays with a lot of tenderness. The lyrics are beautiful: "I've been searching for you for so long, my life's been sacrificed. I've been longing for truth, and now I have found, all that is true. Like an angel you came to me and now I see, the stranger in me is finally free to face true love". Yngwie wrote this for his wife April. If you consider the crap he had to endure with his former fiance's mother trying to get him falsely arrested and all, this song has special meaning.

MetalRob331 wrote:

I know this was being sarcastic but do you own any Yngwie? There are some amazing soulful solos hidden in there.

I was being sarcastic, I started listening to Yngwie w/Steeler & Alcatrazz...I also owned all of his solo records through about 1990. I was a fan at the time, not so much anymore. The first Rising Force record, Trilogy & Odyssey were my favorites. I'm just not a big fan of that style guitar playing anymore.

detuned wrote:

MetalRob331 wrote:

I know this was being sarcastic but do you own any Yngwie? There are some amazing soulful solos hidden in there.

I was being sarcastic, I started listening to Yngwie w/Steeler & Alcatrazz...I also owned all of his solo records through about 1990. I was a fan at the time, not so much anymore. The first Rising Force record, Trilogy & Odyssey were my favorites. I'm just not a big fan of that style guitar playing anymore.

If Yngwie learned to play like he is capable of he would be amazing. Dave Mustaine said it best when he talked about John Petrucci. "When you get so good and so technical on an instrument you lose some of that feeling."