I've heard of those two, but not the band. Friedman was not a hair metal guy, and hair metal usually or always included some ballads. Cacophony was, I suppose, early symphonic metal. I don't think anyone questions the talent behind symphonic metal.
Many, many amazing songs and artists under the "hair metal" label How about Great White "Rock Me' Skid Row "In a Darkened Room" Warrant "I Saw Red" Stryper "All For One" Kik Tracee "You're So Strange" and as a guitarist, I can tell you that a lot of those riffs sound simple but are tricky as hell - "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Motley Crue for example.
I was being somewhat sarcastic... the whole idea of "hair" metal seemed to be based on LA metal bands, playing glam metal with catchy pop melodies... and these guys fit the bill on those fronts, particularly the follow up album. I don't really classify music that way... sorry, wasn't trying to thread crap
To be honest, I wasn't big on Skid Row when I first heard them, but I thought Slave To The Grind was a really good hard rock/metal album
I wasn't a big fan of Don Dokken's vocals, but they had some stuff I liked. George Lynch got me to buy Back For The Attack because of Mr Scary though, and that's a tight groove, so I'll say they were good muso's
good capable musicians for the most part.. But the music is strictly for 14 year old boys. I guess that's cool if you're a 14 year old boy
If you want to paint with broad enough a brush, there were some quite decent bands with decent material who were lumped into the hair metal basket. Same with grunge. Some good bands, a lot of unsophisticated, unexceptional garbage. Same with disco: Some interesting, inventive stuff. A lot of four on the floor mediocrity. Same with most genres, actually.
I don't know... In some regards glam (hair) metal was somewhat lightweight, but it was fun time escape music for the most part, so lightweight suits that. I liked a lot of these bands to some degree in the eighties, and I don't dislike them now, the market just got saturated, and so less interesting.... I think it would be wrong to say that a ton of these guys weren't great players though, because there really were some great players amongst them.
I don't know mate, tons of twenty something Aussie females were pretty big on this stuff. I think that's just a bit of a put down really, but not be necessarily based in fact. I knew tons of guys that weren't teens that loved the scene, and still love many of the bands from it, so music for 14 year old boys is just an empty put down
Hair Metal is a genre I have absolutely no interest in. That being said, I used to watch pre-fame Warren DeMartini play at school dances and was dazzled by his technique. I think all genres that people enjoy have merit.
I suppose a good number of the songs are by the numbers structure wise but even some of those have great guitar arrangements. I am sure for some folks here, it is easy to learn the guitar parts to most hair metal songs, however I found it not exactly a walk in the park to learn the guitar part of the songs off Dokken and Ratt albums. From my viewpoint and experience, there were many great musicians in hair metal bands.
not the biggest Motley fan, but even I admit that the Sixx/Lee rhythm section is underrated. GGG was probably Neil's vocal peak too
"Rock Me" in particular has held up very well. Great White's "House of Broken Love" was underappreciated at the time also - quite a few twists and turns (and lengthier song running times) that may have confused the more casual hair metal listener.
Whether you dislike the genre, or you like it, or you just resent the genre's influences for taking over the publics' attention for as long as it did...songwriting is the key to appreciating any form of music. Good, empathetic lyrical content and song structures that make it easy to get on-board with whatever you're listening to, is the key to surviving a musical trend. Doesn't matter if its' a "power ballad" or a mid-tempo rocker that says something you agree with, or a straight-up rave full of bluster and attitude and swagger...the reasons one can find to like a song is most often within the song itself, not the genre.
And yet, the forum pet favorites were for 14 year old boys (or even younger) when they were in their primes. How quickly that’s forgotten.
Like every genre, once it became popular labels bled it to death and every crappy longhair Sunset Strip band with silly stage clothes was thrown a record contract and had their generic rocker and paint by numbers power ballad hyped on Headbanger’s Ball. Similar to how once grunge hit every miserable generic garage rock band with a raspy whiny vocalist was thrown out there in hopes of being Nirvana 2.0. Labels know how to kill movements in their tracks. Glam metal was well past its expiration date by the time grunge put the final nail in its coffin. Hell, by 1988 GNR had already dealt it a huge credibility blow and all the 70s has-been jumping on the bandwagon were looking pretty sad.
Very likely.... I just don't buy into that as a valid musical criticism. I still like the music I liked at 14, and lots more besides. I think I always find that kind of "14 year old boy" thing just a lazy put down
I worked at the Z Rock shop in Dallas, also known as Planet Claire's, during this era, and that genre was hot as a pistol. Girls wanted to sleep with them, and most guys wanted to look like them, and we sold a ton of their shirts. Merit or not, it was checking many of the boxes for reasons people get into the music biz.
