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
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:28 (two years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:38 (two years ago) link
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.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:39 (two years ago) link
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
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:43 (two years ago) link
xxpost I really like that first LA guns album, i listen to it a lot.
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:43 (two years ago) link
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.
― peace, man, Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:46 (two years ago) link
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.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:52 (two years ago) link
Imo, Hanoi Rocks yes; Queensryche definitely aspired to something comparatively more progressive.
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:56 (two years ago) link
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 ?
― mark e, Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:56 (two years ago) link
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
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:58 (two years ago) link
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?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:59 (two years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:01 (two years ago) link
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.
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:05 (two years ago) link
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.
― mark e, Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:07 (two years ago) link
well then you'll love W.A.S.P., who basically bathe in bacon grease and KY Jelly
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:09 (two years ago) link
glad you like that first LA Guns, sleaze masterpiece
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:09 (two years ago) link
just remembered I did buy that first LA Guns during my hair metal revisitation period and I did indeed like that one.
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:10 (two years ago) link
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:
A few years back Winger got a Grammy nom for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L81u2K2d3To
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:13 (two years ago) link
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
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:37 (two years ago) link
I feel like Hanoi Rocks were your favorite band's favorite band
I don't remember anyone actually listening to them back then
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:50 (two years ago) link
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.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:51 (two years ago) link
They never really toured America, right? Until '84 or whatever? But yeah, they're definitely in the sub-genre's sleazy DNA.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:54 (two years ago) link
Hanoi Rocks were the only glam/hair band that had a saxophone
― Josefa, Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:55 (two years ago) link
Obv. Johnny Thunders was the patron saint to a lot of these folks, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:56 (two years ago) link
Haha, I didn't realize (or forgot) that that was the same Kip Winger!
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Thursday, 13 May 2021 19:59 (two years ago) link
Litterer Band was from northern Iowa and played the MN circuit some, always liked this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMia4oEwbi4
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:06 (two years ago) link
Johnny Thunders was basically the pivot point between Faster Pussycat and The Replacements, not that the latter would have liked to admit it.
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:13 (two years ago) link
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.
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:17 (two years ago) link
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
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:23 (two years ago) link
Although let's not forget Wrathchild
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT2X93BrKc
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
what about.... Disney After Dark (D.A.D.) from Denmark?
― brimstead, Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:18 (two years ago) link
xpost Points for bringing out a bazooka, minus points for having it fire confetti. I think they can be safely forgotten.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:21 (two years ago) link
Wrathchild was fantastic, imaging a universe where even the LA Strip bands loved Motorhead.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:22 (two years ago) link
I guess there were some serious Motorhead vibes.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:27 (two years ago) link
Great band!
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:29 (two years ago) link
were there two Wrathchilds? because I swear I remember Wrathchild America
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:32 (two years ago) link
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
― did you hear about the midnight ambler gambler? (Matt #2), Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:38 (two years ago) link
DAD are great, def on the tail-end
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:52 (two years ago) link
way @ ugly kid joe connectionVG - I always detected a hint of surfy/gothy guitar in DAD, like they might have been into some new wave stuff
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:54 (two years ago) link
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.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 13 May 2021 21:55 (two years ago) link
yeah Sleeping My Day Away has that awesome low-tuned guitar that kinda pushes into a different vibe than just straight hair metaltheir hair def qualifies them though, lol
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 13 May 2021 22:00 (two years ago) link
― 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.
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Thursday, 13 May 2021 22:24 (two years ago) link
oh shit one of the weirdo dudes who I used to skate with and got me into janes addiction somehow ended up with a SLAVE RAIDER t-shirt and nobody had any idea who or what they werealso huge lols at LITTERER as a threatening sounding metal band name
― joygoat, Friday, 14 May 2021 03:11 (two years ago) link
haha I love it, a Slave Raider t-shirt in the wild
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 14 May 2021 03:12 (two years ago) link
https://kcrr.com/iowa-rock-n-roll-hall-of-fame-to-induct-the-litterer-band/
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Friday, 14 May 2021 13:43 (two years ago) link
xxxxxpost -
I should defend the Litterer name a bit (though it's ridiculous to expect that anyone would know this) - it was a family band three of the four are the Litterer siblings. They were known as the Litterer Band before.
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 14 May 2021 14:31 (two years ago) link
Litterer siblings
So for a time they were ... kiddie Litterers.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 14 May 2021 14:43 (two years ago) link