Personally i think that the "Hair Metal" era, roughly '81 to '92 or so, represents the last time Heavy Metal was truly relevant.
True....a lot of the lyrical themes can be taken light-heartedly......I think it's that I know Glen Danzig does NOT take them light-heartedly, that makes me somewhat hesitant to be listening to them excessively at this point in my life. Don't get me wrong....that original Misfits output....all the way up to "Earth A.D" is among my favorite music ever made.....PERIOD! It's just a personal choice.....maybe others wouldn't be affected by what I perceive as "negativity"...maybe others wouldn't perceive that at all? I don't think we've stepped too far from "Crazy Nights" The intentions were the same. Make catchy, energetic music that is fun to listen to. The Misfits and early KISS ran neck and neck for being some of the best at doing that. By the time "Crazy Nights" hit the shelves however, KISS had lost the plot.....and The Misfits, though no longer a working band, were becoming more of a legend by the year, as people discovered just how good their music was. When they broke up in 83', they could barley sell out a club. A few years back.....they SOLD OUT Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey...in case people don't know, that's where the New Jersey Devils play, it's a 18,00-20,00 seat Hockey arena....it's where the big boys play. I'll admit it, I actually shed a tear when I found out they had sold out an ARENA! I'm so attached t0 that early Misfits output, I actually felt....PROUD of them!
I for one find their music is tremendous fun. So many great songs. It's a shame their discography is such a mess.
It took Axl Rose 12 years with a revolving door of musicians to record and release Chinese Democracy. Guns n' Roses the actual band was for all intents and purposes, non-functional. You may consider that "band" Guns n' Roses, but I don't. Axl just bought the name and used it on what was basically an Axl solo album.
that might be true but in general when did the band "and then they broke up".?GNR fans knew in 1996 there was buzz an album with the UYI lineup minus izzy seemed on the cusp on being released. thats still over 3 years after the covers album
Too Fast for Love Studio album by Mötley Crüe Released November 10, 1981 Recorded October 1981 Studio Hit City West, Los Angeles, California Shout at the Devil Studio album by Mötley Crüe Released September 26, 1983 Recorded April–July 1983 Studio Cherokee Studios, Hollywood, California These two albums doomed the Crüe. Despite that I like something from every album after Devil. If there was a yardstick to measure every hair metal album these two albums are it. My Lord the Shout is incredible it's hard to believe this Crüe dinosaur once ruled the earth.
Musically metal is pretty awesome. Many find the high pitched wailing vocals in Hair Metal to be pretty corny and dated. Honestly, the modern shouting and cookie monster grumbles is just as corny. I think Metallica was on to something with James' vocals.
Great post. I love your love for the Misfits. Whilst we CAN draw on the similarities between the Walk Among Us and Crazy Nights. the similarity you draw on making "catchy, energetic music that is fun to listen to" covers probably 75% of popular music, including hip hop, EDM and so forth. If KISS had broken up c.4 years into their career, like the Misfits, am sure their legend would have risen similarly - and complete critical rehabilitation would have been secured a long time ago. They'd be up there with the Stooges and New York Dolls as darlings.
I got into HEAVY METAL, aged 9, in 1991 because my next door neighbor who is 8 years older than me was a huge metalhead. His bedroom wall was plastered with posters. Metal's glory years were 1980-1992, I think, and there were a lot of great Bands from that era, including Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Ratt, Dokken, Megadeth, Cinderella, G n R, Skid Row, Poison, Warrant, Winger, W.A.S.P,Slaughter and, of course, Metallica. I'm a big fan of those years in Metal.
OH! I agree 100%!!!! If the hail Mary that was "Alive!" Hadn't raised KISS from the dead......and even THAT wasn't enough, "Destroyer" one of the best records ever made. (In my opinion!) Actually STALLED out of the gate.....had KISS not been rescued a SECOND time by "Beth".....Had Neil Bogart and Bill Aucoin gone broke, and KISS been abandoned as a failed experiment........KISS would absolutely be spoken of with the same reverence as The Stooges, New York Dolls, MC5 ect. It's funny, but I believe if they had failed, KISS would actually be a "Hipster band"
This forum is all of our subjective, unverifiable musings, but for me, the above is completely, utterly and unambiguously the case. Far, far lesser acts have stumbled their way into rediscovery and critical rehabilitation - KISS basically would have been the ultimate hipster act, with its mystique fully intact. It's funny how it works - a different analogy, but Queen {not my favorite band by any stretch} were immediately reassessed the minute Freddy Mercury expired, for instance - in the UK music press they went from a national embarrassment, dripping with unhip bombast, pomp and upper lip hair, to a national treasure, authors of a million now acknowledged, indelible societal anthems and pioneers of LGBT culture, in basically a single day. But then I wouldn't have Creatures of the Night, Curveboy wouldn't have Asylum and you wouldn't have Crazy Nights, right?
So do I. Hair metal evolved over the years from its beginning to the later 80s. You guys remember and band called Witness?
I agree that a lot of those bands are still going strong today, but 80's/early 90's were golden age of metal? There were a ton of good metal bands in the 80's/early 90's. Abundance of bands were releasing almost consistently awesome albums. The 80's/early 90's was the best time for metal because it was everywhere, the age was metal. Stadium tours, albums in the charts, the era of high sales, magazines, fan clubs. So many amazing underground bands were still out there. G n R, Maiden, Motley Crue, Poison, Dio and Ozzy were kings!. Even in my country North Macedonia - Wikipedia back in 1991/1992 metal was everywhere. I remember watching Cinderella/Winger/Iron Maiden/Metallica/Skid Row/Motley Crue/G n R etc videos on our Macedonian tv channels back then in early 90s. We had only three Macedonian channels, but they heavily played Metal videos. On channel 3 they played MTV europe from 08:00 pm to 10:00 am. In 1991/1992 even in 1993 hard rock and heavy metal regularly topped the charts in my country . Rock was never better then at the 80s/early 90s when Heavy Metal bands were ruling the world.
I liked pretty much everything Heavy Metal from the heavier stuff like Metallica/Megadeth to the over the top stuff with the makeup and hair like Poison/Cinderella, and the "somewhere inbetweens", as I think of them, like Guns N Roses. I think every band brought something of their own to the scene, even if they were the result of record labels getting greedy and over saturating the market. When grunge came in, I tried listening to it, but i never liked it. I still have the three Nirvana studio albums and the unplugged on bootleg audio cassettes . I never went to the alternative scene in the mid 90's with groups like the Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins etc. (dark days indeed, LOL). I hated that crap. I've never stopped enjoying Heavy Metal and Hard Rock music from the 80s and early 90s. "Hair " metal bands were technically much better musicians than most of Grunge and alternative rockers, the 80's was the peak of a guitar solo and guitar mastery in general, this contrast is striking when compared to most grunge bands, which built their songs on strumming 3 open chords.
yeah, songs had good energy and drive. Here one more of my favorites, love the vocals too. And if you like to slow things down there is "Hold On to Tonight" a mighty fine power ballad. Heaven's Edge deserved more success Heavens Edge - Skin To Skin
one of my all time favorite synthpop groups is Alphaville. So I feel like I'm kind of cheating on them when I enjoy this other song with the same title as their classic song heh heh..... but Tyketto is just that great, great melody great vocals, song makes you think of better and brighter future. And their song Wings is great too, I love it! Tyketto - Forever Young
