Appetite is the Citizen Kane of hair metal if you take it to mean "everyone says it's the greatest ever, but they haven't watched/listened to it in forever and are really just saying that to sound cultured within their critical peer group." You kinda have to look at hair metal from the perspective of a teenage girl between 1983 (Shout at the Devil) and 1990 (Warrant's Cherry Pie) IMO. What would she think was the greatest album in the history of life? I'd probably argue for Skid Row's debut, myself.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 30 December 2021 00:50 (two years ago) link
Actually, 1988 might actually take the cake purely in terms of box office
― Standard Liege & Lief (Master of Treacle), Thursday, 30 December 2021 00:55 (two years ago) link
RATT sucks and I hate them Appetite? Nah. GNR were forged in glam metal but (pardon stretching metaphor) as the first nail that was hammered into the coffin *of* glam metal thx for playing though
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 02:00 (two years ago) link
There was other early 80s hard rock bands whose sound and look while not being totally LA glam fits with this stuff
I'd say one band not yet mentioned in the thread is Night Ranger. I'd say Sammy Hagar's "Standing Hampton" and even some of the Canadian hard rock - not all tunes but some by April Wine, Helix and Aldo Nova (esp 'Fantasy') fits in with this music.
Helix was pretty sleazy.
― earlnash, Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:04 (two years ago) link
Cinderella rules, Ratt iz schitt
― hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:14 (two years ago) link
If the Orson Welles of a genre is someone who codified technical advances to make a new artistic grammar, here it would be Van Halen on the guitar and maybe Lange as a producer.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:15 (two years ago) link
Re: Cinderella -are there other well-known metal vocalists who sing mostly in falsetto, like Tom Keifer and King Diamond?
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:23 (two years ago) link
Slaughter
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:24 (two years ago) link
yall warren dimartini is such a sick ass guitar player and frickin don letts directed the round and round video!
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:39 (two years ago) link
Aw, I liked Ratt.
*kicks dirt despondently*
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:39 (two years ago) link
I kinda always thought 'Out of the Cellar' was pretty good and they never really wrote any other good songs. They went way more pop on everything else that followed. I think Ratt was the classic club band that played that first album over and over for years and never really had a good follow up.
Dokken also went soft after 'Tooth and Nail'.
― earlnash, Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:43 (two years ago) link
The first EP and first two albums were good.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 30 December 2021 03:50 (two years ago) link
stephen pearcy is a syphilitic goblin who could not carry a tune in a bucket and Ratt’s songs all sound like they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionarydimartini is a great guitarist but he is not enough for me to endure sitting through literally any song
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:02 (two years ago) link
thanking u
― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:13 (two years ago) link
:D
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:39 (two years ago) link
I'd argue no Ratt albums are good, but some singles are GREAT. Particularly "Slip of the Lip." That song swings better than any other hair metal song and it's not even close.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:47 (two years ago) link
*gasface*
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:57 (two years ago) link
Redirect that gasface to "Way Cool Jr." and I'll join you.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:59 (two years ago) link
VG not liking Ratt, I'm genuinely hurt.
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 December 2021 05:29 (two years ago) link
also anyone who likes hair metal listen to Vain - "No Respect", imo a lost classic of the genre
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 December 2021 05:30 (two years ago) link
xpost sorry dude, this is where i leave u
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 05:39 (two years ago) link
fare the well
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 December 2021 05:50 (two years ago) link
thee lol
fare thee lol
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 06:17 (two years ago) link
but: i will rejoin you on Vain - thx for the rec, they are p good!!
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 06:20 (two years ago) link
Pretty surprised by the anti ratt chat in here i thought they were like the “cool” hair metal group to like?
― Spottie, Thursday, 30 December 2021 06:23 (two years ago) link
everyone likes them except me and neanderthal. but the record clearly shows that they suck & everyone is wrong :D
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 07:26 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBYa2xGDAQs
I didn't realise Ratt were on the Point Break soundtrack!
The vocals actually remind me of Dave Mustaine at certain points.
― charlie rex, Thursday, 30 December 2021 10:43 (two years ago) link
Those first two Ratt albums are close to flawless! Dancin' Undercover shows some cracks but has some phenomenal, original moments. They started to sound cookie cutter after that. To be honest, "Way Cool Jr." is where they lost me.
― A. Begrand, Thursday, 30 December 2021 12:14 (two years ago) link
Way Cool Jr. was one of my favorite music videos when I was 10. Not the best song though, it's true.
― peace, man, Thursday, 30 December 2021 14:30 (two years ago) link
dimartini is a great guitarist but he is not enough for me to endure sitting through literally any song
This ties into something in the "Nothing But A Good Time" book. I think Phil Collen observes that thanks to Van Halen every one of these bands wanted a flashy guitar guy, but few could pull it off convincingly. On one (er) extreme were the guys that just weren't that good (Mick Mars, CC). On the other extreme were guys that were *really* good (Dimartini, Lynch, Vito Bratta, hell, Nuno) but were not really enough to make their bands particularly compelling. The bonehead stupid and/or party stuff just stomps all over the flash, really underscoring the lightning in a bottle qualities of Van Halen, the rare band whose frontman was as compelling as its virtuoso guitar linchpin/namesake.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 December 2021 15:40 (two years ago) link
Of course, the emptier and flashier the guitar playing, the more these guys had to stress in guitar magazine interviews that their real goals were "feel" and "musical integrity".
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 30 December 2021 16:05 (two years ago) link
Vito Bratta's solo on "Wait" is one of the best guitar solos ever recorded
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 December 2021 16:20 (two years ago) link
found this playlist, lots of off the beaten path bands/songs
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 December 2021 16:23 (two years ago) link
i do agree with vg that pearcy's lyrics are like they are written by a horny baby imitating dr suess
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 30 December 2021 20:28 (two years ago) link
Look, let's not impugn the talents of horny babies:
"You know you really want to lay it downRight now!And how!"
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 30 December 2021 20:39 (two years ago) link
Out on the streets, that's where we'll meetYou make the night, I always cross the lineTightened our belts, abused ourselvesGet in our way, we'll put you on your shelf
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 20:46 (two years ago) link
oops forgot the playlisthttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UsHZLOklMoDXgfsyofaJa?si=RoSNQWviREKbCbiunJZ2_g&utm_source=copy-linkPearcy is a moron but I dunno, judging hair metal on dumb lyrics seems like a dangerous path to go down
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 December 2021 20:49 (two years ago) link
Dr. Feelgood, heal thyself.
― ma dmac's fury road (PBKR), Thursday, 30 December 2021 21:04 (two years ago) link
silly hair metal lyrics are the best
― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Thursday, 30 December 2021 21:06 (two years ago) link
i agree and ratt were SICK (for like 2 years)
also this band my god they ruled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3TEo9tKa0o
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 30 December 2021 21:10 (two years ago) link
Agree with this. It also helps that the song is waaay more Cheap Trick than hair metal, imo.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 December 2021 23:20 (two years ago) link
hanoi rocks are great
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 December 2021 23:49 (two years ago) link
I never got to see Van Halen in person, but Vito Bratta is the greatest guitarist I have ever seen perform. I think I named "Wait" the best pop/glam metal song of the 80s for a big Stereogum piece a few years back.
― A. Begrand, Friday, 31 December 2021 01:40 (two years ago) link
Strange legacies
Rest in peace Tiffini Hale of The Party. Dug these cats a lot as a teen. And this is a killer cover of a Dokken (!!) song: https://t.co/4HPv6N5KHJ— Lil Mikey J (He/Him/His) (@tismikejoseph) December 31, 2021
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 31 December 2021 02:17 (two years ago) link
i dont want to come off like im a huge hair metal stan cuz i legit think its the worst genre of all time and life/music was the pits when i was a kid and shitty ballads were on mtv ALL DAY every day. its just a big part of my life because it was the most popular music when i started getting into music that wasnt my parents' records. there was a guy that was around the scene when I started playing in bands named Stevie Rachelle from the band Tuff and his story was that his album came out the week Nevermind came out. people would point at him and go "poor guy." lol
― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 31 December 2021 02:43 (two years ago) link
I still love how a chance memory of a couple of old LA Times pieces and a discussion online led to this piece, one of the favorites I've written
https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/rock-drummer-pepper-denny-puts-down-roots-and-still-chases-the-dream/article_b8b359d2-c469-5b68-a7d0-d77e08d853b6.html
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 31 December 2021 04:23 (two years ago) link
i was 9 or 10 when it first started, perfect age to be swept up in Bon Jovi’s handsome hairspray funtimez - that was my starter ban, and Poison’s frosted lipstick & neon, White Lion’s beautiful balladry and Def Leppard … by the time I was hitting my early teens I said goodbye to all that girly stuff and replaced all my Poison posters w Motley Crue … then less than a year later they all came down & up went the GNR postersi think that’s why i still love it. I honestly didn’t know or think it was terrible until i was much older, but by then yhd damage was long passed being done and i didnt care lmao
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 31 December 2021 04:24 (two years ago) link
I think the first metal-ly thing I ever heard as a kid was Judas Priest's "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" at the house of a family friend. I was 100% NOT supposed to be listening to that (or anything secular at all), so naturally I loved it. A year or two later, Van Halen's '1984' came out and, though that's never been categorized as hair metal for whatever reason, I'd found my vibe for the next however many years. Thank God for Stryper (pun intended), because they helped me grease the wheel of convincing my parents to let me buy metal tapes.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 31 December 2021 04:56 (two years ago) link
<3
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 31 December 2021 05:29 (two years ago) link