"Hair Metal" That Does Not Suck

This is a post that I have been thinking about doing for a long time actually.  My wife has really gotten into 1980's hard rock/metal over the last couple of years, so it is the primary thing playing in her car when we go out of town, which is fairly frequently.  Now, I was obviously very aware of the genres for a long time, having grown up in the 1980's.  And for the most part, it is not a genre I care all that much for, though I definitely prefer it to pop, rap and country.  There are definitely a few great bands mixed in there though.  A lot of bands got kind of lumped into the "hair band" category due to it being such a popular form of music at the time, and a lot of those bands did not really qualify.  Basically, if you played rock music and had long hair, you were a "hair band".

Below are some of the better 1980's metal bands that were lumped into the "hair band" genre:

DOKKEN

Dokken was a terrific band with some of the best melodic metal songs of the decade.  They were led by a great singer in Don Dokken and an incredible guitar player in George Lynch.  Unfortunately, both of them knew how great they were and that led to a lot of internal strife.  Dokken is still technically around, but Lynch has moved on and formed his own band.  Dokken is perhaps best known for the song "Dream Warriors", which was on the Nightmare on Elm Street 5 soundtrack.

LIZZY BORDEN

Lizzy Borden was an odd band.  Naming the band and the lead singer after a female serial killer from the 19th century is kind of an odd tactic, but no one ever accused this band of being normal.  Despite over-the-top makeup and clothing, this is no regular glam band.  The band is actually quite metal and released some great albums over the years.

MÖTLEY CRÜE

It is certainly true that in the mid to late 1980's, Mötley Crüe was as stereotypical a glam/hair band as you could find.  However, the early 1980's were quite a different story.  Their first couple of albums were hard-hitting and fast and featured some absolutely undeniably metal tracks like "Shout at the Devil", "Looks that Kill", and "Live Wire".  And that riff in the much later "Dr. Feelgood" is heavy as fuck.

QUIET RIOT

Yes, the band that played "Cum on Feel the Noize".  Sure, their popular songs were cheesy as all hell and the band was positively goofy at times.  But, it was their lesser-known stuff that was actually really damn good.  The band did once have Rudy Sarzo AND Randy Rhoads in it.  When they were not solely focused on selling a bunch of records, they could write some damn good stuff.

SCORPIONS

It is kind of unfair to put Scorpions into this category at all.  The band's roots go all the way back to the late 1960's and they were a well-regarded hard rock/metal band throughout the 1970's.  However, they sort of got lumped in with the hair bands in the early 1980's when they released "Rock You Like a Hurricane".  But the band has been consistently excellent for decades and are actually still going strong now.

SKID ROW

Skid Row came around toward the end of the hair band trend, but managed to make a lasting impact anyway through songs like "18 and Life" and "I Remember You".  But they flipped the script with their second album Slave to the Grind.  The colossal title track and "Monkey Business" are 100% metal and awesome.

TWISTED SISTER

Like Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister had a positively goofy image.  Dee Snider looked like a pink and purple nightmare.  And the band had some big hits with safer songs like "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock".  But a deeper look at their songs reveals some damn good truly metal classics.  In fact, other than those two songs, the album Stay Hungry is a metal masterpiece.

PANTERA

Yes, Pantera.  Most people know that Pantera started out as a glam band long before Phil Anselmo joined the band as vocalist.  Pantera has disavowed those albums.  However, the first one with Anselmo as singer and the most recent one that was disavowed is actually damn good.  There are a couple of regrettable songs, but it is an incredibly melodic and powerful METAL album.

W.A.S.P.

I saved this one for last because anyone who dismisses W.A.S.P. as just a "hair band" is missing out on a truly excellent band.  Sure, they made some radio hits and of course attracted a lot of attention with "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", but they also made one of the greatest metal albums of all time.  And I am absolutely serious.  The Headless Children is a fucking masterpiece.  I was obsessed with this band for awhile and I still absolutely love them.  They were easily the best band to come from the whole "hair band" trend.

METAL BANDS THAT FLIRTED WITH THE GENRE

There were a few undeniable metal acts that came very close to crossing over into the "hair band" genre and that includes two metal gods:

OZZY OSBOURNE

After leaving Black Sabbath, Ozzy struck out on his own with a new band and a much more melodic sound.  By the mid 1980's, he was still out there and trying to stay relevant.  It was around this time that he did the duet with Lita Ford "Close My Eyes Forever".  The Ultimate Sin is a damn good album, but it also is the most glam Ozzy has ever been.

JUDAS PRIEST

Yes, even the original Metal Gods almost went the way of the hair bands.  Priest was as metal as metal could be in the early 1980's and were almost single-handedly responsible for such metal necessities as twin guitars and leather and studs.  Yet, even they tried their hand at much more radio friendly music in the mid 1980's with the album Turbo.

So there you have it.  Not all "hair metal" was bad.  There was some damn good music that came out of this mostly regrettable era.