S&D: Glam Metal/Hair Metal

xxxpost I mean I did think about Living Colour when I made my original post as Nuno's riff style has some similiarities to Vernon Reid, Pornograffiti has elements of sleaze, but there's a pretty well-regulated limit to how far it goes (unlike most hair metal), and the choruses are more Van Halen-esque with smooth, layered vocal harmonies, rather than the sleek,gang-style vocal harmonies of hair metal.

and yeah, III Sides pretty much leaves any connection with hair metal behind. it's not as arty per say, but Cherone leans a lot more into his Everly Brothers influences on vocals, songs are a little more stylistically varied, with orchestrations used on a few tracks.

haven't heard the debut or Waiting for the Punchline.

Suzy wants her all day sucker suzy wants her all day WHAT

i love the interview in the book w Steve Brown of Trixster. it’s so the opposite of the stories of the early scene bands, like just completely blowing mad piles of cash when the whole scene is literally over

they spent $600k on their second album that came out in ~1992~

and ***$250k*** on the video for the single “Road of a Thousand Dreams” … that MTV didn’t air

sad trombone lol

"Headed for a Heartbreak" actually does some pretty tricky things with tonality! The verses are mostly over Bb and C chords with a lot of extensions, while the melody is largely centred around C. It might lead you to expect an F major resolution in the chorus but the chorus mostly seems like G minor. Then the bridge is built over a Db pedal with Db-Eb movement in the chords and a melody that seems centred more around Bb. Then the last 3 minutes of the song are a long guitar solo.

Like, Poison wasn't doing things like that.

That makes sense, Neanderthal.

imo Winger are the Queensryche of this genre, they maybe more proficient & do better things musically but it will never ever (for me) save them from their lead singer being an unrepentant douchecanoe imo

interesting how quiet this thread was all day in the uk time zone.
also, this thread revival made me dig out a cd i picked up cheap a couple of years back, and had never listened to it.
the debut by l.a. guns.
damn, it was a lot of fun, i listened to it all the way through which i never expected to.

I went to a college with a guy who, well into the latter half of the '90s, would argue strenuously that Kip Winger was a criminally underrated musical genius.

wanted to post two minnesota hair metal era curios....and two of the more ridiculous (or ridiculously awesome) bands of that era

1) SLAVE RAIDER

Staples of the Minnesota club and ballroom scene, led by Chainsaw Caine (who now owns the traveling hair metal tribute band Hairball), they used to do kinda Alice Cooper theatrics, fire stuff and the chainsaw itself. He was really bitter about Jackyl's success; he claims they saw Slave Raider and stole the bit. Anyway, absolutely knucklehead silly shit, but catchy. Always got the sense Chainsaw was in on the joke. This video is so hilarious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuGTrTPut1w

2) MORTICIA

Ex-punks who started as a goth/deathrock type band, had more synths like Sister of Mercy or something...eventually ended up an odd mix of goth and sleaze metal...one of them I believe went on to to be a touring member of the Cult.

i think they are still around kinda, went back to the goth roots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUyrpwG9eCU

xxpost I really like that first LA guns album, i listen to it a lot.

re Slave Raider, all I ever wanted to do as a kid was film a post-apocalyptic metal video at some abandoned quarry or construction site.

Hanoi Rocks on the edges of this?

I always thought Queensryche and Crimson Glory sounded a bit glammy but more things look/sound like like glam metal to an outsider, I haven't heard much of this genre.

Imo, Hanoi Rocks yes; Queensryche definitely aspired to something comparatively more progressive.

oh, and before this revival i randomly picked up a 'best of' (2004 comp) yesterday by def leppard.
are they regarded as hair metal, or are they too produced/polished ?

I guess I would put them in a category with Van Halen, definitely influential and formative to what became "hair metal" but big enough and unique enough that they were sort of their own thing, bigger than the genre if that makes sense

And I hear that Hanoi Rocks and Wasp have a lot more critical acclaim plus credit with other types of metal fans who might not care for glam?

that makes sense.
digging around i found a white lion 2cd anthology i had forgotten about, and even a w.a.s.p cd (inside the electric circus).
both of which i am not sure i have ever listened to.
could be an interesting, unexpected weekend soundtrack here.

xpost.

W.A.S.P. are more traditional heavy metal with glam elements than pure glam. Rock 'n roll is a big part of glam and it is with W.A.S.P. as well - hence lots of their cover song choices.

they definitely dressed the part for glam, though there was a bit of a shock rock element to their wardrobe too. the sleaze was there in full force, in the lyrics, the music, the performance. the chorus harmonies are pure glam, though Blackie's voice is a bit shrill compared to other glam vocalists (other than maybe Tom Keifer). but the riffing and songs could be much more aggressive than that scene at times too. especially on like Headless Children, or the back half of the s/t.

it's actually a pretty masterful blend as they liked to savagely cave your skull in but with catchy melodies and pretty harmonies.

I love W.A.S.P.

oooh INside the Electric Circus is great! it's no s/t but you should enjoy.

WASP/Electric Circus : title track on now - and yeah, this hits the spot.
i clearly prefer the dirtier sound as opposed to the clean side of this era.

well then you'll love W.A.S.P., who basically bathe in bacon grease and KY Jelly

glad you like that first LA Guns, sleaze masterpiece

just remembered I did buy that first LA Guns during my hair metal revisitation period and I did indeed like that one.

Going back to my initial misgivings, the issue as I see it is that just about all of these bands were equally inspired by Kiss and Van Halen, but none of them were even close to as good as Van Halen and at best some of them were about as good as Kiss, which is about as meaningless a victory as you can get. The smartest or the best of the bunch were the ones the hewed closest to '70s hard rock and punk.

I do feel a little bad for a lot of these folks. They were making so much money but ultimately losing so much more, and in the end if the only reason you're making music at all is for the adulation and the booze/drugs/girls that goes with it, and those things go away, then you're not left with much. It's not like Rikki Rockett was going to start writing bestsellers, you know? That said, I'm sure all of these bands are doing fine on the nostalgia circuit, along with their equivalents from the same or other decades. And at the end of the book the aforementioned Mr. Rockett is now espousing the virtues of girls in their '30s.

Oh, and back to this dude:

I went to a college with a guy who, well into the latter half of the '90s, would argue strenuously that Kip Winger was a criminally underrated musical genius.

A few years back Winger got a Grammy nom for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L81u2K2d3To

Hanoi Rocks were fully in the middle of it imo- influenced a lot of ppl in the scene & then there’s Razzle’s death in 84 w Vince Neil
inextricably linked you could say

I feel like Hanoi Rocks were your favorite band's favorite band

I don't remember anyone actually listening to them back then

Yeah I feel like they were always kinda whispered about as being "legends" among hair metal kids back in junior high, but no one had really ever heard them because you didn't see their records around.

They never really toured America, right? Until '84 or whatever? But yeah, they're definitely in the sub-genre's sleazy DNA.

Hanoi Rocks were the only glam/hair band that had a saxophone

Obv. Johnny Thunders was the patron saint to a lot of these folks, too.

Haha, I didn't realize (or forgot) that that was the same Kip Winger!

Litterer Band was from northern Iowa and played the MN circuit some, always liked this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMia4oEwbi4

Johnny Thunders was basically the pivot point between Faster Pussycat and The Replacements, not that the latter would have liked to admit it.

Angel of course were another massive 70s-era influence on all this stuff, and also spawned both Giuffria and House of Lords. More satin and silk than scarves and bangles though, image-wise.

Starz too

Girl was the early 80s NWOBHM attempt at emulating the NY Dolls, featuring later members of LA Guns and Def Leppard. Hair metal was never likely to be done successfully by Brits though, later bands like Dogs D'Amour and the Quireboys were more sleazy rock'n'roll than shred-glam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4pWGrvt8yM

Although let's not forget Wrathchild

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT2X93BrKc

what about.... Disney After Dark (D.A.D.) from Denmark?

xpost Points for bringing out a bazooka, minus points for having it fire confetti. I think they can be safely forgotten.

Wrathchild was fantastic, imaging a universe where even the LA Strip bands loved Motorhead.

I guess there were some serious Motorhead vibes.

what about.... Disney After Dark (D.A.D.) from Denmark?

Great band!

were there two Wrathchilds? because I swear I remember Wrathchild America

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1359235-Wrathchild-America

Shannon Larkin left the band in 1994 to fill the drum seat in Ugly Kid Joe; and some time later in Godsmack as well.

Red carded for that alone

DAD are great, def on the tail-end

way @ ugly kid joe connection

VG - I always detected a hint of surfy/gothy guitar in DAD, like they might have been into some new wave stuff

Yeah, 1987 was (in my estimation) hair metal's peak year, and starting in 1988 onward everything began drying up or getting lame except for a few upstarts like D.A.D. and Bang Tango, etc.

yeah Sleeping My Day Away has that awesome low-tuned guitar that kinda pushes into a different vibe than just straight hair metal

their hair def qualifies them though, lol

were there two Wrathchilds? because I swear I remember Wrathchild America

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, May 13, 2021 5:32 PM bookmarkflaglink

Yea they were a progressive thrash band who got sued by another country's Wrathchild, which derailed their career until they rebranded as Wrathchild America.

Then some of them split off to form the groove metal band Souls at Zero.