Poll: Hair Metal during/after "Grunge" takeover - who still carried the flame?

I was at a show where Bon Jovi opened for the Scorps. Booed offstage. A little light for the crowd. Amazing to see. We just didn't dig that Runaway thing.

 

I just love it when people give an opinion as if it’s a cold hard fact. Even better when it’s an off-beat, almost-certainly-in-the-minority one.

 

The only time I would refer to most of those bands as metal was when I was trying to describe what I listened to to someone who wasn’t really into anything hard or heavy.

 

Again with revisionism! The fact of the matter is that everyone called it metal, this so-called "hair" metal thing. At my school we called it pop-metal because we felt that Maiden or Metallica were heavy metal, not pop metal. Part of the metal family, you know? We sometimes called them wimpy-metal, but that was just my buddies and I. We didn't dream, did not make it up. Man, even Paul Stanley, in the 70s, called KISS heavy metal, WHY??? Some people here probably did not consider it metal at the time but they are the minority.

Of course, today Metal has gotten heavier and more extreme, calling Bon Jovi Metal seems silly especially after the New Jersey album but you can't change history. These groups are like PG-13 horror films, still horror but more family friendly. They watered down the "heavy" aspect to go mainstream, sell more records just like the horror films lost some of the gore and nudity to get a PG rating to sell more tickets. But they are still horror films although some people will debate against that too.

 

I don't recall ever calling Bon Jovi metal.

Shot the heart, you're so lame, you give rock a bad name...

 

up until New Jersey they were after that they were not. Just because you don't like a band doesn't mean they were not considered such, just like people that lump the bands they don't like into "hair" and the ones they like into something else.

The last three Stryper albums continue the flame from the 80s, best stuff they ever did

 

Tokyo motor fist and sons of Apollo and revolution saints are good stuff too. check those bands out

 

I wish I could like this three times. Once for each side.

 

Tesla is the only band on the list making new music that I actually seek out so I went with them.

 

I think Mr Big kept the fire and momentum. Eric Martin is a great singer and can just wail. And, no knock on Gilbert, but when Richie Kotzen came on board he brought great playing and extra vocals.

 

Hmmm. Now this an interesting thought. Certainly brought the attitude in addition to the tunes.

 

I completely agree with you. I got their last CD autographed! Just saying

 

Anybody putting on Slippery When Wet in 1986, blaring out the opening licks to "Let It Rock," would and did call it metal. (For those who want to reminisce, check out the 40 sec rippin' solo)

I would also argue this was true for AC/DC's Fly on the Wall. They were viewed as metal/hard rock albums, stuff to be played alongside RATT and likely Maiden and even thrash. Other bands that straddled this metal/hard rock vibe probably include Van Halen, Kiss, Night Ranger. Back then, metal was so popular precisely because of this crossover appeal. By contrast, bands like Leppard, Crue, Europe, Poison etc. were quintessential pop metal acts.

Whatever they were, Bon Jovi and bands of that ilk were not straight hard rock, a title, image and sound that would befit a group like The Who, Boston, Deep Purple or Styx- stuff you'd have a real hard time banging your head to.

 

Sure, at the time some of those band may have been "kinda sorta" lumped in with the term "heavy metal". But these days that is most certainly not the case for most people who listen to anything even remotely close to that sort of music. To state that there is no such thing as "hair metal" and that all the bands on the list are simply heavy metal is disingenuous. And even at the time - bands such as Iron Maiden, Metallica and Anthrax were more "metal" than Bon Jovi.

If the title of the thread referred to "heavy metal" instead of "hair metal" I think the majority opinion here would be along the lines of "these bands are not really heavy metal". And I would agree. In our current, present-day world (i.e. the world in which we are having this discussion), the term "hair metal" is a much more descriptive and accurate term that describes these bands than is the term "heavy metal". Arguing otherwise is just silly.

 

Not to derail this thread, but that sounds like a good topic for a whole 'nother thread.

I mean, isn't Guns 'n' Roses near the top of almost ever Glam Metal 'best of' list you can name?

 

I voted for Tesla and Extreme, solely because I consider Psychotic Supper and Three Sides To Every Story both very good albums (or at least I did at the time).... And I was someone who was 100% "all in" with grunge/alternative. My favorites in 1992-93 were Ten.... Badmotorfinger.... Dirt.... In Utero.... but also Automatic For The People, Zooropa, and other alternative-but-not-grunge records. And I played the hell out of Extreme and Tesla too!

But in terms of commercial success, the ONLY bands who survived reasonably unscathed were Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. The former had lackluster sales for Keep The Faith, but stayed relevant because of huge ballads like "Bed Of Roses" and "Always," so it was fairly easy for them to "comeback" once grunge had run its course by embracing these more AC elements. Def Leppard sold 3 million solely to people who loved Hysteria, honestly. The singles were big enough, but "Let's Get Rocked" is no "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (or even "Armageddon It"). They crashed pretty hard when they changed direction with Slang a few years later.

Pretending that Warrant, Winger, and others were still commercial forces in 1992-93 is silly. Janie Lane even said as much, saying he knew the writing was on the wall when he visited the label and there was a giant poster of Alice In Chains' Dirt where Cherry Pie once hung. Motley Crue might've thrived, but changing lead singers was a bad move for them. The fact that most of these bands now survive on the touring circuit just speaks to the disposable income of the now-married-with-kids Generation X, as basically all of them broke up or floundered as the 90s went on, and no band (not even Bon Jovi) achieved the same commercial peaks again.

 

It's been done:

Guns N' Roses: Hair Metal or Not (Pt. 2) - now with Poll Added

 

Def Leppard also lost a key member in Steve Clark, who died in January 1991. He had co-written most of the band's music and was important to the band's guitar sound. Though Adrenalize features Clark co-writes on over half of the songs, Phil Collen and Rick Savage perform all of the guitar parts. It wasn't the same band after he died.

 

That's obviously part of it too. Plus the band parting ways with Mutt Lange.... Regardless of your personal feelings, he definitely brought out the best in the band, both commercially and critically, for me anyway. (I enjoy OTTN but I'll ride for HnD and Pyro 7 days a week.)
Losing a key member + losing your go-to producer/co-writer + your style of music falling out of fashion = It's a miracle they sold 3 million!

 

The answer to this poll is Guns n' Roses.

Hair Metal is more of a style/attitude than a genre - kind of like "grunge" as well.

 

Green River and Mother Love Bone were another bridge between hair metal and grunge: future members of Pearl Jam playing in bands with a real hair/glam element to them. Also, Stone Temple Pilots always struck as fundamentally a hair/glam/metal band who managed to hop on board the grunge train and ride it to success.

 

None is the correct answer and I like and own albums by many of the bands listed in the poll.

 

This sound pretty good.

Not like hair metal at all. Looks like they are from NYC. So maybe I should say they don't sound like the LA strip glam metal.
Kind of like D Generation who I never thought of in that sense until I heard them lumped in to a similar conversation.

 

Yeah, they were from New York. and later moved to Athens, Greece if you can believe that. The lead guitarist also played with Michael Monroe in Demolition 23.

I'd say they get a bit more glammy than D Gen did but you're right. They're not really 'hair metal' strictly speaking. They're kind of in that zone though or at least would appeal to people that like that stuff. Like LA Guns or Faster Pussycat as opposed to Warrant. And if you like D Gen (I love them) I think you'd like Star Star.