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We've decided to rank our 20 hair metal bands of all time. Shark Who? In fact, some of the bands which got jumbled in this unfortunate category released some of their best albums during this decade, and today, we'll be taking a closer look at six such examples. An album that is underrated though it would be their next effort, the aptly titled Hooked. 03. I mean, fuck, just check out those eerie acoustic arpeggios during the chorus of "Badboy Breakout"; the big, open chord progressions of "Bad to Love"; the textbook sleaze of "Crank the Heat Up"; etc. Sadly, all of this complexity and diversity of "Dog Eat Dog" went under the radar of most mainstream music fans, as the association Warrant with all the corny aspects of glam was simply too strong. All rights reserved. Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. It needs to be out there and readily available. Extreme: The thinking person's hair metal band The vocals are really an obstacle moreso on the second album. Not a year after their formation, their debut BulletBoys was climbing the charts, and by 1989, it had gone gold. This is a band that was supremely talented but simply didnt hang around long enough to really make any waves. 5 Underrated Glam/Hair Metal Bands | Aversionline Ive never heard Cats in Boots or Harem Scarem so Ive got some Googling to do! I would suggest though a few more bands that arent as well known. Put a smile on my face and Ill make sure he sees it. Britny Fox were doing lines of coke off of Elton Johns piano while in the studio making Bite Down Hard. Thanks for popping by, and stay safe! I meancome on, Space Ace Frehley basically invented Glam Metal with KISS. They quickly rose through the ranks and paid their dues through club gigs and were noticed pretty quickly, and in relatively short order, signed with MCA Records and recorded their eponymous debut record, Femme Fatale. 1 hit, "More Than Words," and the album it was released off of, "Extreme II: Pornograffitti.". If youre one of them, stop reading now and beat it. Haha! In short, Vixen kicked ass and they proved once and for all that women could rock and shred as hard as their male counterparts. For me, Europes Out of this World is an AOR masterpiece. Enter Lorraine Lewis, the frontwoman with an absolutely huge voice, who led the now mostly forgotten group Femme Fatale. Dont ever let anyone tell you the music you love sucks or is less than. I dont know; maybe it was something in the water, but what I do know is the Rock music that came out of that decade was truly memorable, catchy, and fun. The LA band had been kicking around the Sunset Strip for a decade by the time they released Law Of The Order, and lost classics like Paris Calling and slow-burning semi-ballad, Why Should I Believe were slicker, smarter and classier than any of the candy floss being churned out by most of the chinless bozos who came along in their wake. Queensryche is not a hair band per se, but this album bordered on pop metal and would fit right in with the genre. Metal albums that I like and that don't have much ratings: consists of the albums I currently rate 4.5* or 5* that have roughly 50 ratings or lower. THE TWILIGHT OF HAIR METAL: FIVE UNDERRATED & MUST OWN ALBUMS " billy hardaway says: March 23, 2018 at 10:26 am. Yes. lesmortsdansant 3 yr. ago. Or why not treat yourself? Mist of the Maelstrom. The debut album from his eponymous band deserved to be way bigger than it was: killer single Beat The Bullet and the title track imbued prime West Coast sleaze with dark San Francisco energy. Many bands would have given up right then and there, and no one would have blamed Britny Fox for packing it in, but after all, they had been through, I suppose that wasnt an option. I know I'm not alone in crossing my fingers that the band will agree to have their recordings properly reissued on CD at some point! It sent the glam cognoscenti into a tizzy, even if the rest of humanity remained heroically indifferent. They had Michael Angelo Batio on guitar. Their recordings were reissued on CD several years ago by Retrospect Records, howevergranted the disc is already out of print and fetching overly expensive prices on eBay. Heavy Bones formed in Hollywood circa 1990 and featured in its ranks guitarist Gary Hoey (who later scored a surprise hit with "Hocus Pocus") and drummer Frankie Banali (of Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P.). Exhibit A: the debut album New York gypsy-bohos The Throbs. Andrew, my cousin Scott Smalley is/was lead vocals/bass for Real Steel! Ill be emailing you! They changed their name to Shotgun Messiah, fired their singer and eventually went industrial metal. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. I just have to say that I typed their breathin instead of theyre breathin after a marathon of not sleeping. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago. Silent Rage. Very slick production, the epitome of pop metal. In truth, this record is not the first one that people think of when they consider albums that define the 80s. It deserves love too, you know? He seems to be singing about an octave and a half lower on the first one, and the overall energy on Lettin Loose is far greater. Sadly, the band is probably best remembered for their track Touch and Go, being featured on the extremely dated teen comedy, License to Drive. Heavy Bones came relatively early in Hoey's professional career (having moved from Boston to Los Angeles in the late-'80s upon the recommendation of Ozzy Osbourne, after auditioning for the position that ultimately went to Zakk Wylde), and released but one self-titled album on Reprise Records in 1992. Real Steel (well done for resisting Reel) are the pick of the bunch for me, almost hints of Manowar circa Fighting The World on there 2 thumbs up! Who ever thought that Def Leppard could make an album that would outsell Pyromania? In 1991 while Metallica and Guns 'N Roses were sliding into mediocrity, Skid Row move into legendary status, improving leaps and bounds over their debut. Q5s first album is a classic but the second one was tragic. Vain was less poppy than most cock rock bands, and they just had a serious vibe in their sound. I mean, as far as follow-up records go, this album is truly strong, and to expect the band to maintain, let alone reach the stratospheric heights of their now-signature effort, is simply unreasonable. Im sure I can get my hands on recordings for you if youd like. Wildside is still one of my faves simply because it was so much heavier than all the bands at that time and darker too. Bath - Next to Under the Influence by Wildside, this is the best debut album not called Appetite for Destruction. So "glam" and/or "hair" it is.]. I'll never understand what it is that makes some bands "click" while others that are just as good if not better simply fade away into relative obscurity. Great White was so much more than just "Once BittenTwice Shy.". I don't consider Van Halen a hair band per se, but I swear, every guitarist in the 80's wanted to be Eddie Van Halen, and their songs would fit right into the hair metal genre. Wildside did release one more album in 1995 (on an indie label), but had undergone some lineup changes and a complete shift in sound by that pointironically enough taking a stab at the grungier style that had destroyed their initial shot at success. Wake Me When It's Over (1989) Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. Had a minor hit with "House of Pain," but never really went anywhere. They hired Tommy Paris as their new lead singer, called up Zakk Wylde and Rikki Rockett to guest star, and proceeded to make a balls-to-the-wall Glam Metal album. Its no joke that their debut was produced by Paul Northfield, the inimitable force behind Moving Pictures and the song Empire by Queensryche (just a couple of my favorites in a cool career), two completely different examples of dark rock sounding fantastic. The record stalled at #141 on The Billboard 200 and quickly fell off the charts. I listen to tons of bands that I dont agree with lyrically, though (christian bands, satanic bands, krishna bands, etc.). "Slave to the Grind" arrived at the time when record label's realized that the audiences were beginning to get tired with over-saturation of glam metal, and received fairly little support and air time as a result. 05. The result was a killer record that confused the shit out of thrashers and glammies alike. Its an amazing Great White album. However, as the Grunge revolution came about in the early '90s, Kiss albums saw a significant decrease in sales numbers, and "Revenge" was no exception. Swingin Thing - Desperate Living. The best LPs from the age of Aqua Net. In retrospect, this album came out the same year as Nirvanas Nevermind, Pearl Jams Ten, and Metallicas The Black Albumit never really had a chance. East Coast glam metal was darker and weirder than its Californian cousin. Never could get into Enuff Znuff, but I do dig that one song they had on the Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer soundtrack. As "glam" or "hair metal" almost became dirty words in the early '90s music industry, a lot of bands who got labeled as such in the past (rightly or not) tried hard to disassociate themselves from the label by diversifying their sound. And while the album's lyrical content never really departed from the usual glam topics, the sheer power and utter lack of compromise found on songs such as "Monkey Busyness", "Slave to the Grind", and "Wasted Time" managed to win audiences over on their own, propelling the album to the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart. Also, you must be an Ozzy fan! First off, Extreme wasn't all that big on the glam thing despite being labeled as such for most of their active years, and this labeling can be even more baffling nowadays when the first Extreme song that comes to your average Joe's mind ends up being "More Than Words" in the vast majority of cases. [deleted] 3 yr. ago. Butas with every band cited abovethe story's the same: having been right around the time of the grunge takeover, it didn't happen and the end was near. Some GREAT tips, thanks! Excellent article. Yeah, the Chicago bands none-more-unique selling point was perma-squinting frontman Stanley who, when he wasnt spitting out genius fuck-you anthems Jawohl Asshole and Fuckin Shit-Ass, lived on the street and had the malodorous clothes and propensity for shitting in public to prove it. 2) The songwriting on this album is absolutely top-notch, which is something of a small miracle, considering Ace had quit KISS in 1982, in a drunken haze, almost died in several car wrecks, and hadnt made any music in around five or so years. Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Next > R79 Forum Resident Thread Starter. I am well aware that Bon Jovi is not underrated, but I wouldnt be doing my job with this list, if I didnt create a little controversy by stirring the pot, so welcome to Jersey, heres Jon Bon Jovi and his band of merry minstrels. Brighton Rock - Love Machine With Hooked, we see more of the bands Hair Metal stylings, but finally, their Blues Rock roots begin to soak through. And how many comparable artists had successful tracks along the lines of "Stand Up, Shout it Out" or "Say Yeah!"!? Underrated metal albums. The classic lineup released I'm A Rebel (1980), Breaker (1981), Restless And Wild (1982), Balls To The Wall (1983), Metal Heart (1985), Russian Roulette (1986) and finally Eat The Heat in 1989 which featured American vocalist David Reece and featured a more mainstream sound. That said, the album received middling reviews at the time, and Ace and the boys were forced to stick to small halls and clubs while on tour, but that has not tarnished this records legacy one bit. Blue Murder - Blue Murder (1990) I prefer Pump over this one, but this is filled with killer cuts. and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Severely underrated, and released at a time when hair metal was just about dead. Lyrics are a bit trite, but this is a great debut. It's a very solid record, though, highlighted by the superb "Dead End St." (included above)a dark, brooding power ballad complete with emotive leads and vocals. The hard rock "Thriller." If you listen to this album, you will be singing the songs in your head for years to come. had already proved what they were capable of on their previous album "The Headless Children" which saw the shock rock act depart from their usual themes of having sex, and "The Crimson Idol" was a very strong attempt at continuing along the same path. The album is probably best known for its controversial cover, which featured a basically naked woman straddling a giant fishing hook. Looking back, its hard to pinpoint why this record failed, as it seemingly had all the ingredients to ascend to great heights. Speaking of Vixen, here they are! Connor Shelton described it as one of the few bands from the era to bring a level of depth . Less popular and less keyboardy than Slippery, but much better. So, tease your hair, lay the eyeliner, and rouge on thick because were hitting the strip tonight. Guns N' Roses was that band. Guitarist Michael Angelo Batio is well known for his guitar instructional videos Speed Kills and he also played guitar in the band Nitro (The Double Headed Guitar!) (I can't help but feel like the epic power ballad, "Too Late," should've been a massive hit single.) Or the impeccable "Somewhere in Time," which honestly touches on a much more "authentic" level of metal or hard rock (akin to maybe Queensrche or something) with its prominent but not distracting keyboards and thought-out, composed leads? Try Holland - Little Monsters. (Harem Scarem is sounding AMAZING so far, pretty damn sure Ill be scooping that up as soon as I can!) In their debut album, they had an AC/DC rip-off version of "Hot For Teacher" with their single "Girlschool". Not to mention the fact that Andrew W.K. Youll see. Perhaps, maybe no one is truly qualified in that regard. A shameless throwback or the start of a hair metal revival? If anyone at all loves Cock Rock, No Respect by Vain should be in their collection, and Davy Vains subsequent efforts have all been respectable. But their debut is way more fun: a rough-arsed glam-punk gem that came on like Poison, if Brett Michaels had grown up in Cardiff and spent every Saturday night getting in a fight down Bogiez. Fun Fact: Lorraine Lewis would revive Femme Fatale in 2013, this time with a truly all-female line-up, only to fold the band once again to join Vixen in 2019. A list by TukkerPride. While she may not have been a pure speed shredder, she more than made up for it with tasteful and melodic licks, which always fit Vixens songs like a glove. Like Hericane Alice, one can only imagine that Wildside would have been an absolutely huge success had their debut hit the streets a few years prioreven more so considering the good fortune that was lining up in their favor prior to the album's release. Slik Toxic - Doin the Nasty To be honest, by rights, Warrant really had no business releasing a Hair Metal album in late 1992, but they did it anyway, and the results are perhaps their best record. I totally agree with Q5 and Heavy Pettin for sure! The hair came down, the makeup came off, and Poison actually started to write music with a message. Simply put, if you want to put your art out into the world, you better be prepared to take some heat, which is something any self-respecting hair metal artist can certainly understand. White Tiger White Tiger (1986) But their debut album was pop-metal perfection what featherweight party anthems Toast Of The Town, Rock And Roll Outlaws and shoulda-been-massive single Rock & Roll (Is Gonna Set The Night On Fire) lacked in heaviosity they made up for in pleather-trousered attitude. One of many other early 80's albums that influenced a whole generation of hair metalheads throughout the rest of the 80's. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Another 14-times platinum-selling album, and it's one of the great debut records of all time. He went on to start Nitro which was a horrible band. Sure, it was shallower than a puddle after a midnight shower on the Sunset Strip, but that was the point: what the hell else do you want from a band with a singer called Steve Sex Summers? Location: 39629. . The perfect hair metal album, and one of the last ones before the glory days came to an end. It bombed, leaving the group with a million-dollar debt to the label, and that was that. Even the ballads have balls. That being said, their Facebook page indicates that they're back in action, having digitally issued their previously unreleased EP, Last Hand, sometime last year, but time will tell. Some will say their success is attributed to the novelty of women playing Metal. Were much better - especially live. Care to elaborate? Perma-pouting Hollywood fluffballs Pretty Boy Floyd made Motley Crue sound like Napalm Death and Ratt look like, well, Napalm Death. A little more filler on this one, but "November Rain" has got to be the greatest power ballad of all time. "Don't Close Your Eyes" is one of the best ballads ever written. A demo produced by Metallicas Kirk Hammett was followed by a self-titled debut album full of dirtier-than-a-used-hypodermic tracks like Doghouse, Too Much T-Bone and semi-immortal single Half The Way Valley. The McAuley/Schenker albums don't get much love in general but, though they do indeed sound very late-80s, they're full of good songs and feature both main men in excellent form So being that I grew up on this stuff and have been doing a hair metal podcast for 20 years Ill lay on a few more underrated jems: BANG TANGO Psycho Cafe, DANGEROUS TOYS self-titled debut, LYNCH MOB Wicked Sensation, DON DOKKEN Up From the Ashes, FIREHOUSE self-titled debut, KIX Hot Wire, XYZ Hungry, ICON self-titled debut, BANYLON A.D. self-titled debut, CHILDS PLAY Rat Race, EXTREME self-titled debut, RACER X Second Heat, SLEEZE BEEZ Screwed, Blued, & Tattooed, and lastly Y&T, they have so many underrated albums it is mind blowing. The production is flawless. Doro True At Heart (1991) Do NOT pass this one up. It caused enough friction that eventually they produced alternate covers, which featured the womens body dipped into the water, covering up her cleavage and effectively de-sleazing this record. They're kind of like Skid Row, the Bulletboys, and Faster Pussycat thrown in a blender. Now, I dont know much, but I do know that if youre a band about to hit the road for a huge tour, you probably dont want to lose your frontman. On the other hand, "Dog Eat Dog" represented what the band really wanted to do with their career, which included a much heavier sound and lyrics more diverse than drooling over girls. OzzyOsbourne_ 3 yr. ago. Johnny Rock N' Roll, Mar 3, 2023 at 9:55 AM . The Tear the House Down lineup briefly regrouped for a 25th anniversary reunion last summer, but Bruce Naumann is now working with yet another all-new lineup. As expected Ive only heard of two or three of the bands you listed off there. The "Official" All Purpose Heavy Metal and Hard Rock Thread The Toys could have been worthy successors to Guns N Roses, but this album pretty well fell flat in 1989. In Winger's case, "Pull" ended up being surprisingly good and instantly became a favorite among the band's fans. Just curious regarding the comment about lyrical content: Ive been reading you long enough to know that youre no prude, so the only thing I can think of is that some of this stuff is borderline (if not outright) mysogynistic. The band's debut album spawned two respectable hits - "Waiting for the Big One" and "Falling In and Out of Love" - but went largely unnoticed otherwise, which led to Femme Fatale only releasing a. This is easily their greatest album. In hindsight, the decade of glam and glitz was most certainly writhe with bizarre and possibly regrettable fashion choices, but it was also magical. An album with a nice balance of rockers and ballads. A bit more polished and focused than their debut, which I personally prefer over this one, but this is the album that blew the door open for the entire 80's hair metal genre. The album that gave "hair" to the hair metal genre. . So, what have you got to lose? Pure pop metal with long, stick thin blond hair X2. Having seen him live several times over the years, I can attest that he still packs the house, and his fans still love these tracks. Sure, we all know and love Cherry Pie, but Dog Eat Dog is where its at. Vixen was and are as authentic as they were talented. Instead, these New Yorkers are cursed to exist in a world that doesnt give a shit about a bunch of LOreal-haired dudes playing blockbusting songs with choruses bigger than Vince Neils Spanx collection. Never heard of Oney but Im intrigued by what I hear on YouTube. should be legally required to record a cover version of "Party for Your Life" (embedded above)! Real Steel opened for the Bulletboys, Bang Tango, and Gorky Park in their day, and apparently had interest from several labels (almost signing with Warner Bros.). When your band consists of Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert, your bound for superstardom, and yet, Mr. Big never really achieved that (well in Japan, maybe). Throwback pic of Warrant was this band underrated or not? Most people will recall this as The record that came out after The Final Countdown, or The record that came out after John Norum left the band. For many reasons, this is a pretty sad state of affairs, as this record is really, honestly nearly as good as The Final Countdown, if not, dare I say itbetter. Vain deserves not a little more love, but a religious following. Only time will tell. Wait, what? Def Leppard officially stepped into pop metal territory with this one. 13 Most Underrated Hair Metal Albums Of All Time!! Thanks for popping by, and stay safe! Its worth every second. As far as I can tell they only made a music video for the lead track, "Wild, Young, and Crazy," but almost every song herein is better than good, and several are fucking outstanding. Shotgun Messiah - s/t & Second Coming In retrospect, the tone and style of the record truly are the last of what we have come to know as Glam Metal styling, as not too many albums like it came out afterward if any did at all. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. SPREAD EAGLE, GREAT ALBUM = TO APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION. That said, aside from the classic Smooth Up In Ya, BulletBoys has become a largely forgotten record, and the band is rarely mentioned in those generic MTV/VH1 best of the 80s lists. Sure, they were sort of late-stage Hair Metal, but these guys rock hard, so if you see this record, scoop it up. Roxy Blue. Appreciate the comment. Their cult-classic debut album, Welcome To Bop City ,was a Scandi-glam mini-masterpiece featuring groinally-charged anthems with titles like I Dont Care Bout Nothin and Squeezin Teazin, played by men calling themselves Zinny J Zan and Stixx Galore (yup, the drummer). But their debut is way more fun: a rough-arsed glam-punk gem that came on like Poison, if Brett Michaels had grown up in Cardiff and spent every Saturday night getting in a fight down Bogiez. If people only listened to bands whose lyrical content was largely aligned with their own views it would be quite limiting. Google, here I come! An album of pure attitude, arriving when most glam bands were changing over to pop metal. 10. Especially the song Gotta Run. However, it also proved to be not very radio-friendly in a couple of ways 1) for being a record by a "glam" band, and 2) for having rather mature lyrical content. Yes the vocals are an acquired taste, but, hell, I got used to Scott Jeffreys once, and I was able to get used to Steve Hayman after that. It was at this moment that I realized the proverbial writing was on the wall for the band. In the end, Columbia didnt bother to support the record, but that doesnt mean you shouldnt. 7800 Fahrenheit really pulls no punches, and it played a huge role in shaping the shaping of the sound that was to come for Bon Jovi. Thanks so much for the comment! The only thing louder than the clack of high heels on the pavement outside the Rainbow was the ker-ching of cash registers as Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, Ratt, Slaughter and the rest hoovered up the record sales.
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