80s Hair Metal Bands - Retrospective

[Ack]

Let me put it this way, Luke. You calling Metallica "arena rock" or "hair metal" (especially with regard to the first three or four albums) is like people calling Django Unchained a spaghetti western.

I think I just died inside a little bit.

Okay, calling Metallica Hair Metal is outlandish, but I was trying to open things into interpretation. I still think they are "Arena Rock" 'cause as far as I know they aren't playing bar mitzvahs as of late, and they are one of the biggest commercial bands of all times.

I figured that'd get to you a little.

Honestly, if you want to call them arena rock today, I don't really have any issue with it. They've been a very different band since the early 90s. In the 80s, though, they were a thrash metal band, pure and simple.

I'd argue that they have been since ...And Justice for All, when they made it to the Top 10 on Billboard and nearly won a grammy.

[AppleQueso]

I'd argue that they have been since ...And Justice for All, when they made it to the Top 10 on Billboard and nearly won a grammy.

It's the teetering point at least, no doubt.

[aaron]

Let me put it this way, Luke. You calling Metallica "arena rock" or "hair metal" (especially with regard to the first three or four albums) is like people calling Django Unchained a spaghetti western.

I think I just died inside a little bit.

Okay, calling Metallica Hair Metal is outlandish, but I was trying to open things into interpretation. I still think they are "Arena Rock" 'cause as far as I know they aren't playing bar mitzvahs as of late, and they are one of the biggest commercial bands of all times.

I figured that'd get to you a little.

Honestly, if you want to call them arena rock today, I don't really have any issue with it. They've been a very different band since the early 90s. In the 80s, though, they were a thrash metal band, pure and simple.

yeah, this. that's all i had a problem with. they are for SURE an arena rock band today.

[Menegrothx]

"Arena rock" kinda has a certain sound too, it's got really nothing to do with what sort of theatrics a band has. Iron Maiden has tons of theatrics in their shows, and that band is undeniably definitive heavy metal.

Even many Black Metal bands have tons of theatrics in their shows, and they most certainly aren't radio friendly, hair metal, arena rock or any of that stuff

Okay, calling Metallica Hair Metal is outlandish, but I was trying to open things into interpretation. I still think they are "Arena Rock" 'cause as far as I know they aren't playing bar mitzvahs as of late, and they are one of the biggest commercial bands of all times.

Back when hair metal existed/was popular (in the 1980s), they were thrash metal band (a genre which was at the time the counterculture of the hair metal movement). After the 1990s they've been arena rock.

[Metal Jesus]

Lumping Joe Satriani into that group seems a little odd to me too, but eh, not gonna fuss about it.

He got lumped into it because he often appealed to the same music listener, like this magazine suggests.

[BurningDoom]

Back to the original subject:

What are some of you're guys' favorite hair metal bands?

I'm a HUGE hair metal band. I'm a fan most things 80, and hair metal is no exception. They were some of the first bands to influence my musical tastes. Watching them on MTV for hours on end as a kid.

Some of my favorite hair metal bands:

-Alice Cooper (Not really hair metal, but he had a hair metal phase, and that phase was a good era for Cooper)
-Bon Jovi - My guilty pleasure hair metal band. They were the band that girls went goo-goo for, but I still enjoyed as well.
-The Bullet Boys
-Cinderella
-Guns N Roses (This band transcends hair metal and is just a great rock band in general)
-Motley Crue
-Ratt
-Skid Row
-Tesla
-W.A.S.P. - Blackie Lawless is the motherfucking boss!

I do like the 80s thrash scene as well. There seems to be this animosity between the 2 where most fans like 1 but not the other. I've never had that issue. I love em both.

[indecks]

Lumping Joe Satriani into that group seems a little odd to me too, but eh, not gonna fuss about it.

He got lumped into it because he often appealed to the same music listener, like this magazine suggests.

Um, Vai is also not Hair Metal. Vai was taught by Satriani, and is very similar to him musically - though not tonally or stylistically (for the most part).

Yes, whitesnake and kiss are listed on that cover - but the COVER photo is of two hard rock instrumental guitarists that were big at the time. They had long hair, yes. But they weren't hair metal.

I used to read Electronic Gaming Monthly because they would talk about the latest fighter, or shmup in each issue. But I skipped right past the sports game sections. This is exactly the same situation. People who were into instrumentalists like Satch and Vai would buy this issue, and skip right past the Whitesnake 'articles' between the covers.

Satriani is not, was not and will not be hair metal.

[aaron]

indecks goin HAM on the definition of hair metal in this piece.

[Metal Jesus]

A band that nobody seems to talk about is Dangerous Toys. Their 1989 debut had some great songs on it like Teas'n Pleas'n & Ten Boots (Stompin).

Also... I'm going out on a limb and admitting publicly that Winger actually had some decent songs too. Yep. There, I said it. Songs like Can't Get Enuff & Easy Come Easy Go still sound great today. Also... they seemed to get better as they went along. Don't believe me? Check out album Karma (2009). You'll be surprised.

[stickem]

i miss hair metal, good times. i'm a sucker for rock ballad solos. never really thought about it but i guess the crue is lumped into that sub genre? almost sounds negative to say motley crue= glam rock.