S&D: Glam Metal/Hair Metal

Moreover, Eddy's writing is often needlessly dense and pompously convoluted (from his review of WHAT'S THIS FOR by Killing Joke: "The funkless 'groove' doesn't 'go' anywhere --it just is --, but these artsy Eeyores really did get a meritorious rump-bump beneath all their echoplex churn.....The most illegible Weltasnschauung is your usual end-is-near Weltschmerz, so it's shallower idea-wise that it thinks it is, but maybe that's where its humanness -- and maybe even its rock'n'roll -- comes from."

Now, this may sound like sour grapes coming from me (being a zealous Killing Joke fan) but nine-tenths of the above passage add up to nothing.

Search: Femme Fatale-"Waiting for the Big One"

God, remember Starz? Wrong era, I know, but "Pull the Plug", the Karen Ann Quinlan-inspired euthanasia power ballad--what a song! I think. I should download it first before I start making these outrageous claims.

Revive. I spent a very long time without hearing Def Leppard's Pyromania (25 years?) and I heard it this past weekend and I'm kinda feeling it. Also ISO RIYL Ratt "Round and Round".

No serenade, no fire brigade.

Steel Panther are kind of the worst

They certainly seem like it, but I've never actually heard their music. Satchel is one of my favorite stage names though.

i hate them so much lol

Chuck Eddy vs. Chuck Klosterman: some other universe.

Steel Panther made a half second of sense back in early 2000s Metal Sludge days, maybe.

I keep hoping Justin Quirk is going to get his last 3% funding on Unbound to publish.

are Diemonds glam metal?

I found the track listing for the five-CD set I made for a girl who did an '80s glam night at the High Five back when I lived in Ohio. In retrospect I might have included some of the original '70s glam bands to mix things up but still, not a bad box set if I say so myself:

DISC ONE
1. Kix - Cold Shower
2. Alice Cooper - Poison
3. Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
4. Firehouse - Love Of A Lifetime
5. Judas Priest - The Hellion
6. Judas Priest - Electric Eye
7. Warrant - Uncle Tom's Cabin
8. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
9. White Lion - Wait
10. Arcade - Nothing To Lose
11. Enuff Z'Nuff - New Thing
12. Cinderella - Shake Me
13. Killingbird - Just Like Heaven
14. Faster Pussycat - You're So Vain
15. Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
16. Great White - Once Bitten, Twice Shy
17. Bon Jovi - Runaway
18. Steelheart - I'll Never Let You Go
19. Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages

DISC TWO
1. Dirty Looks - It's Not The Way That You Rock
2. Vixen - Edge Of A Broken Heart
3. Tesla - Gettin' Better
4. The Poor - More Wine Waiter Please
5. Keel - The Right To Rock
6. Bang Tango - Dancin' On Coals
7. Buckcherry - Lit Up
8. Mötley Crüe - Shout At The Devil
9. Dokken - In My Dreams
10. Britney Fox - Long Way To Love
11. Kingdom Come - Get It On
12. Mötley Crüe - Smokin' In The Boys Room
13. Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
14. Poison - Talk Dirty To Me
15. Katmandu - The Way You Make Me Feel
16. Def Leppard - Foolin'
17. Beautiful Creatures - 1 A.M.
18. Every Mother's Nightmare - EZ Come EZ Go
19. Guns N' Roses - Paradise City

DISC THREE
1. Whitesnake - Still Of The Night
2. Mr. Big - Addicted To That Rush
3. Hanoi Rocks - Teenangels Outsiders
4. Shotgun Messiah - Babylon
5. The Cult - Fire Woman
6. Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
7. The Honey’s - Pink Velvet Cocaine
8. Mötley Crüe - Live Wire
9. Extreme - Get The Funk Out
10. Trixter - Bad Girl
11. Aerosmith - Dude (Look Like A Lady)
12. Winger - Seventeen
13. Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine
14. Killer Dwarfs = Dirty Weapons
15. Firehouse - Don't Treat Me Bad
16. Accept - Balls To The Wall
17. Nelson - (I Can’t Live Without Your) Love And Affection
18. Mötley Crüe - Girls, Girls, Girls

DISC FOUR
1. Danger Danger - Slipped Her The Big One
2. Van Halen - Hot For Teacher
3. Manda And The Marbles - Sex Object
4. Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
5. Hericane Alice - Tear The House Down
6. Loudermilk - Estrogen Oxygen
7. Krokus - Midnight Maniac
8. Drivin' N' Cryin' - Fly My Courageous
9. Warrant - Cherry Pie
10. Lita Ford - Kiss Me Deadly
11. Guns N' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle
12. Pretty Boy Floyd - Rock & Roll
13. Quiet Riot - Cum On Feel The Noize
14. AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
15. Gene Loves Jezebel - Jealous
16. Zodiac Mindwarp - Prime Mover
17. Ugly Kid Joe - Everything About You
18. Dogs D'Amour - I Don't Want You To Go
19. Poison - Every Rose Has It’s Thorn
20. Ratt - Round And Round

DISC FIVE
1. Kik Tracee - Mrs. Robinson
2. Skid Row - I Remember You
3. Dangerous Toys - Pissed
4. Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
5. Ozzy Osbourne - Shot In The Dark
6. Hardline - Hot Cherie
7. Jesse Camp - See You Around
8. Slaughter - Up All Night
9. Poison - Nothin' But A Good Time
10. Kiss - Heaven's On Fire
11. Kix - Blow My Fuse
12. Love / Hate - Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?
13. Poison - Unskinny Bop
14. Bonham - Wait For You
15. Heavy Pettin' - Love On The Run
16. Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane
17. Faster Pussycat - Bathroom Wall
18. L.A. Guns - Sex Action
19. Michael Monroe - Dead, Jail, or Rock 'n Roll

There are a couple of nods to local (at the time) Columbus bands that made the list which may explain some bands most don't know; the rest isn't very obscure, I don't think.

I love everything about this track list

People really don't have enough Krokus in their lives

otm

Oh man, just saw these posts...

Redd Kross were never a glam metal/hair metal band, though they did sometimes do shows with various mid-Eighties Sunset Strip Starz. My friend Kim has a flyer for a show they headlined at a tacky club in the Valley in 1985 with Poison as the opening act! ― Arthur, Sunday, June 16, 2002 8:00 PM

Haha I didnt know Poison once supported Redd Kross. ― Rock Bastard, Friday, March 19, 2004 11:03 PM

One of the McDonald brothers gave me a great story about what is probably that show - they said they played a gig with Poison. At the show, Poison - who was unsigned at the time - had a limo and champagne backstage and a sign on the dressing room door that said they were the "Glitter Glam Slam Kings of Rock & Roll."

I think I remember the exact quote: "We heard they were into the Dolls, but really they just liked Van Halen. And we decided then that we never, ever wanted to be associated with that again."

lol

those cds are great!

I've been reading that hair metal oral history, and tbh forgot what most of these bands sounded like. And the answer is ... they sounded like garbage. Bad songs, terrible production, everything bad but the image, which wasn't bad so much as lazy and stupid. Like, I just spent a bit listening to stuff on youtube by Faster Pussycat and Cinderella and Poison and White Lion and Warrant and Winger and it's pretty much all soooo bad, made probably more embarrassing when the guys can actually sing kinda cool (like Tom in Cinderella) or play (like the guitar solo on White Lion's "Wait," which is super cool) and yet are so beholden to a certain sound that it still sounds like shit. And then the videos ... woof. Even as a middle schooler smack dab in the middle of this particular marketing bullseye I thought this music was shit, and with few exceptions it's aged terribly. It's all so thin and shrill and treble-y, with huge marshmallow snares that take up half the mix (and try to make up for the fact that there's nothing to hide in there anyway).

Imo.

I will stan for Cinderella, wtf!!!!

mostly their later, bloosier stuff, but even the more glammy stuff.

It's gonna be a long cold lonely winter without Josh in Chicago's love.

Note: I saved some of my limited praise for Cinderella specifically.

the solo for "Wait" is really cool, like Vito Bratta figured out some way forward from EVH that was actually interesting

Tom Keifer doing his Cinderella thing solo has been *sad* from the videos I saw, though. He screeeeeeeamed his heart out for a wee bit too long

~cries, clutches aquanet~

YOURE TERRIBLE

I went on a glam/hair metal kick after seeing GNR a few years back and I discovered that I do like eaaaarly Motley Crue, and Dangerous Toys (somewhat), and Black 'n Blue, and I think Ratt, but I hate a lot of it. do not care for Dokken!

Tooth and Nail!!! Cmon

Enuff Z'nuff were the best of these bands, more like Redd Kross musically speaking (if not lyrically).

Enuff Z'nuff were the best of these bands, more like Redd Kross musically speaking (if not lyrically).

― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Wednesday, May 12, 2021 4:07 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha they were such the "best pop metal band" for people who didn't like pop metal, kinda bored me personally

Dokken rules

this is the most underrated hair metal album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSV6R9ZVFFY

I'll ride for Ratt, the first Skid Row record, early Crue.

One other unexpected record I pull out when I'm in the mood for glam metal is Whatever Gets You Off, a Nikki Sixx produced record by The Last Vegas. Their records before and after it aren't worth much at all, but they somehow managed to capture some hair metal magic in a bottle in 2009 for one record.

Dokken are great, also:
Cinderella
LA Guns
WASP
The Leathür Records release of Too Fast For Love sounds a lot better than the “official” Elektra remixed version, ie hearing vince’s voice semi-normal/not-sped-up makes it much more enjoyable

Faster Pussycat’s albums suck, their singles are the only thing you should listen to

Enuff z Nuff are awesome but so far at the end of the period, timewise as to not reallllly fall within the genre. They’re closer to the hippie pop revival than pure glam metal. But they have A+ hooks and def have a slight Cheap Trick vibe and i love that first album SO fucking much

i fucking hate Ratt but i think i’m already on the record for that

oh and Twisted Sister rule also

Enuff Z'nuff were sort of the Cheap Trick contingent, whereas a lot of these acts started and ended with Kiss.

It's amazing in this book how many times you hear some variation of "they couldn't play, but ... " The quotes from Poison producer Ric Browde alone: "And Bret, you know, is to be commended because up to Poison I think the ability to carry a note and sing in tune had been a barrier to entry." Or (again) re: the first Poison record: "It's a piece of shit, that album. It sucks. Sonically, as a producer? It's the worst record ever. And I became known as a garbage producer because of it."

Most interesting bit I've come across is that Kip Winger was more or less classically trained (and also took ballet lessons), and that his own pre-Winger demos were much closer to prog and Peter Gabriel, at least as he describes them. That's sort of what I mean. Some of these people are pretty talented, and yet they have no vision or integrity. It's just about the chicks and free beer. I mean, Kip Winger might have been classically trained, but he still signed off on Winger, and he's such a wuss that in the book he claims he always hated the band name, which may say a little about how he thinks of himself.

xpost

I doubt I could make it through an entire album by any of these choads, good singles or no. They literally hurt my ears, and iirc did back then, too.

sorry that you hate fun, lmao

starting with a high bar is kind of pointless for this genre

the lower your standards the more enjoyment you will get out of it

i mean guitar shredding is really the highlight
if you have any other sonic/lyrical requirements you will be disappointed lol

but sidebar jesus, bay area speed metal, early 80’s punk all sound like they were recorded inside aluminum garbage cans so i think you are also hampered by yr own dislike for the genre :)

Hair metal I would absolutely still listen to today, in descending order:

- the first three W.A.S.P. albums
- the first Junkyard album
- the Ratt EP and the debut album
- Mötley Crue, Shout at the Devil
- the first Skid Row album

xpost Sure! I mean, they don't need me as a fan. Still, those bay area speed metal and early 80’s punk albums may have sounded shitty, but they were shitty by necessity, not as an aesthetic trend-chasing choice.

By the way, Bon Jovi (band and man alike) come off really well in the book. Just stand up, supportive guys.

unperson otm
first three WASP albums are unfuckwithable, so great!!

the crue have some killer jams for sure

and yeah first ratt album is solid

does LA Guns count? their first album rules

I think Cinderella was pretty good

A lot of the comments read as if they were ghostwritten by Sykes…!

Was it a Bon Jovi thing that started all the glam dudes playing acoustic guitars on the back porch in their videos? I'm sure Crue and Poison never used to do that, although feel free to supply evidence to the contrary.

every cowboy sings a sad, sad song

I remember being so excited for Blue Murder. Sykes was the man back then: a wicked NWOBHM shredder with Tygers of Pan Tang, he carried Thin Lizzy's Thunder & Lightning, and he literally saved David Coverdale's career. Then Jelly Roll came out, and we were, WTF JOHN?! What a disappointment. That video died as soon as it came out.

He is horribly abusing that 12-string to be right honest.

and then there’s “Valley of the Kings” which is a hard left turn into harem pants town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfsZ4EzSn80

Every hard rock band must have their piss-poor Kashmir ripoff number

otm

speaking of Kashmir ripoffs, two recurring videos on Vevo

Robert Plant “Heaven Knows”
i always kinda dug this song but the video is like an SNL parody of 80’s music videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9Omu_QYb4Q

and then there’s this utter shite Coverdale Page “Take Me For A Little While
the song sucks so bad but the video is full of weird lols: lady who turns into a lizard! AND turns into a candle!
and Jimbo is playing some nonsensical looking harp-guitar like a stupid goblin twat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-ooOf_rih0

Five singles were released, all of which charted. The highest-charting singles were "Pride and Joy" and "Shake My Tree", which reached numbers one and three, respectively, on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart.[33] Music videos were produced for "Pride and Joy" and "Take Me for a Little While", both directed by Andy Morahan.[34][35] While "Pride and Joy" reportedly did well on MTV (also being featured on an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head[36]), "Take Me for a Little While" received minimal airplay according to Coverdale, as the video was deemed too gothic by the channel.[37]

too gothic is how he remembers it orly looool

no it received minimal airplay because it SUCKED DOGS BALLS

i wish beavis & butthead had done this video, it was RIPE for it

anyway those videos kinda stray from the purview of this thread so i’ll bring it back on topic to say Vevo introduced me to a previously overlooked late -period Y&T track i hadn’t heard from 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA7Bawrpb9Q

i’d always considered “Summertime Girls” to be the cutoff (1985) but this one is really good imo

then again Mr Veg is a big Y&T fan & he kinda hates this so ymmv lol

YOU GUYS

they’re turning the Beaujour/Birnstock oral history book Nothin But A Good Time into a docuseries on paramount+

sept 17 release date 😃

looks like it could be good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBXimZy7VL0

One red flag is the generic music in the trailer. If this series doesn't get the rights to real songs from the period, then it might be too frustrating to watch.

gee thx eeyore lol

ep1 of the Nothin But A Good Time docuseries is up and it is … fine?

theres lots of good footage & music but also truly cursed animation segments (ugh) and a lot of pretty ordinary on-camera interviews

like ye olde shoe bridge troll doc mcgee laughing about how he punched tommy & nikki so hard he threw up on tommy and it just goes over like, ok ew also sir please stop talking

but our king saint rudy sarzo gets lots of camera time, and steve riley from wasp (rip), and jack russel from great white, theres some good stuff from them

i realized the thing i hate the most is zutaut & mcgee like oh there was a lot of crazy shit swirling around us like coke and sex and debauchery ok so you two are just a couple of richie cunninghams just watching it all happen huh FUCK OFF THE PAIR OF YOU

actually all the eps are up
not just 1st ep

ep 2 is better

Michael Monroe from Hanoi Rocks still looks fucking amazing like whoa

Traci Guns is a good interview, i wish he’d write a memoir dude has good stories

RIP John Sykes, some of the best hair in the biz

Still of the Night solo still fuckin whips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swPt9HBRXuE

Sykes was the man. Tygers, Lizzy, Whitesnake...he shaped every one of those classic albums in the 80s. David Coverdale owes his career to Sykes.

https://i.imgur.com/umOjSu8.jpeg

Stones and Who a little conspicuous there

Metallica between Journey and Quiet Riot kinda out of place

Oddest one out there is surely Nirvana!

Where's Nirvana?

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.d81V9tOuYwKakkdDzx3ibAHaEK?w=293&h=180&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7

ha I thought that was part of the Bon Jovi logo, but that's this:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d1/Have_a_Nice_Day_Bon_Jovi_album.jpg

goddamn smirky eyebrow-raised badass poochie cartoons nowadays

comes with:
ticket for hard rock cruise +1 awkward solo at guitar center
divorced-dad apartment

I was saddened to learn Marcie Free died a couple weeks ago. When she was Mark Free in the 1980s she fronted Carmine Appice's glam band King Kobra, which was one of the better smaller bands in LA. Ready to Strike was a really good album, and "Hunger" remains one of the best singles of that era.

Her transition in 1993 was a brave thing to do to say the least. It essentially killed her music career in the '90s, but her band Unruly Child consistently made music in the 2010s. Sadly, she went full MAGA and fell down that cult rabbit hole for the rest of her life, but what pipes she had, and what a presence on record.

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

RIP. interesting. was not aware of her

Never Say Die, Marcie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPPEPsjxGT4

We got a Night Flight subscription & I watched the doc “Inside Metal: The L.A. Metal Scene Explodes!” (2016, dir: Bob Nalbandian)

(I think ums or someone recommended it to me a while back)

It’s pretty low budget but it’s wall to wall notable, semi-notable & hanger-on dudes from the scene (and like, 3 women) - honestly pretty good!

And they play the hits if you’re marking your bingo card: bitter Don Dokken, defensive Stryper, smoothbrain Stephen Pearcy, etc

Apparently there’s a part 2 for this (from 2017) floating around somewhere but it’s not on Night Flight

Anyway I highly recommend if you are a pilled saddo like me

(nvm i found pt 2 on Tubi — they’re all on there too fyi)

yeah it's great! there's another one about the roots of thrash metal that I think is by the same people

Oh cool, I might check that out too

Apparently the director was the editor of Headbanger zine - I was thinking he had to have legit connections to get all those interviews