Swedish glam metallers Shotgun Messiah impressed a lot of people with their trashy, sleaze sound on their self-titled debut in 1989. FREE delivery Wed, Mar 1 on $25 of items shipped by Amazon. The band forged a raw hard, bluesy hard rock sound that had a bit of a 70s rock sound mixed in. Bad Moon Rising - Comprised of the lead vocalist and guitarist form Lion and the bass player and drummer from Hericane Alice this band got off to a promising start. Break Out is currently out of print and is a sought-after collectors item by metal fans. Unfortunately, it didnt sell well on a commercial level and the band split up. However, if you like a good bar-room boogie-woogie sound mixed with hair metal, youll probably really like Sweet F.A. With more support and clean production and mix, Mark St. John might have re-established himself in the world of metal guitarists, but the album was purchased mostly by die-hard KISS fans and virtually no one else. Most of you probably know Josh Britny Fox was formed in 1985 with Dizzy Dean Davidson on vocals, former Cinderella drummer Tony Destra, former Cinderella guitarist Michael Kelly Smith and Battle Axe Burn This Town Burn this town? After the fall of Communism in the U.S.S.R., this Russian band quickly embraced the western culture of rock and metal music. 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. How about that one? Sweet Pain took their name from the KISS song, signed to Combat Records, and released their only album in 1985. Notable for featuring a then-unknown Kelly Nickels on bass, who would later go on to join L.A. Savatage was started by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva from Tarpon Springs Florida. Tytan features a then-unknown Scottish vocalist Norman Kal Swan who would later front the critically acclaimed glam metal band Lion. Iplus some fuckin hot & sweaty sexy atmosphere. The band was a staple on Sunset Strip during the glam metal years and appeared in the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2: The Metal Years. There was some great music and musicanship from those days and much of it surprisingly stands up to the test of time and is really great even to this day. They were cool. Life, Sex & Death had it all: a bunch of Cheap Trick-on-steroids songs, the muscle of a major label behind them and a homeless guy on vocals. Recently I've been getting back into cheesy 80's hair bands. The band featured former Pantera vocalist Terry Glaze, who performed with the band during their glam era before Phil Anselmo joined. Cold Sweat was poised to achieve fame and fortune. Billydvette1234, CC BY-SA 4.0. (1988). Seduce broke up in 1991. With over 100 million records sold, KISS is one of the biggest rock bands of all time. An interesting cross between pirate attire and glam, the band was known for their wild antics including lead vocalist Chainsaw Caine using a chainsaw on stage during the performance. SM blasted out a . A documentary DVD was also filmed showing the bands struggles that kept them from reaching the top of charts alongside bands like Dokken, Ratt, and Motley Crue. He proclaimed,I could shoot myself in the fing head for writing that song!, Though he later recanted and said, Im happy as a clam to have written a song that is still being played and still dug by so many people. Heavens Edge did release a second album entitled Some Other Place Some Other Time thats also a great testament to their sound, incredible songwriting ability and musicianship. Paul DiAnno was the original Iron Maiden vocalist who was replaced by Bruce Dickinson. If they were famous today, theyd be categorized as hard rock with a modern K-pop kick. Dont do drugs, kids. A new book, 'Nthin' But A Good Time,' chronicles the spectacular boom and bust of the decade's hard-rock industry from Twisted Sister to Trixter. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! The bands biggest success came when they opened 30 dates for Van Halen in 1980, but they never could make it much further in a crowded field of metal bands. They went on another hiatus and then reformed again in 2015. The band briefly reformed and released the single Im Just A Man in 2017 on Tom Morellos (Rage Against The Machine) Firebrand Records. Releasing the album, Saraya (1989), the band found success with the single Love Has Taken Its Toll and eventually released a second album in When the Blackbird Sings (1991). Signed by Capitol Records and touted as the next big band, they couldnt survive the record companies abandonment of metal for alternative rock. Vocalist Midnight died in 2009 from a stomach aneurysm. In the '80s some heavy metal became mainstream, but throughout the years it been mainly an underground phenomenon. McCarty resurfaced as Perry McCarty serving as the lead vocalist for Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys. The band did release other hit songs such as Down Boys and Heaven. Slaughter- After Mark Slaughter left his position as lead vocalist for the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, he started his own band, simply called Slaughter. 4) Smashed Gladys - Smashed Gladys' debut "Social Intercourse" came out in 87/88 along with the debuts from Guns N Roses, L.A. To me, they had a sound sort of like The Cult, but with a more boisterous, uptempo attitude respectively. Mr. Big basically existed so that wed better appreciate modestly talented bands like Tesla. Some of these you may have heard of, but hopefully there are a few here that are new to you and you'll want to check out. Motley Crue. Their lead singer, Mark Slaughter, typified an era when the male falsetto could actually be appreciated (though, no one was a match for Steelheart. Terrible, awful, no good band, but their guitarist, Reb Beach, is actually a wicked talented, classically trained musician (full disclosure: Hes also my wifes cousin). Saigon Kicks big album, The Lizard, was on constant rotation in every Trans Am in America for about three months. While the production seems a bit hollow on this album, its a rarity to even find it anywhere these days. It ushered in a new and fresher taste for sure, but by 1992 the whole Hair Metal scene had truly worn out it's welcome and was pretty ridiculous. Their style is considered power metal and they built a loyal following with each album that they released. The debut album only sold 12,000 copies and they were dropped by MCA records for lack of sales. Where Are They Now? The entire band was pretty well tatted up, and the singer had two complete sleeves and complete back piece. The song The Calling was a great anthemic metal track that propelled this album to reach new fans. The band is filled with talented musicians and this is heavy metal guitar shredders dream. Where Are They Now? $16.79 6 Used from $7.48 2 New from $16.79. This English heavy metal band hit the scene in 1982. The 1980s and early 90s saw hard rock and heavy metal go mainstream and reach a large audience worldwide. Rarely seen in rock magazines, on MTV, and with virtually no radio airplay, its a mystery what happened with their promotional team. 1. This is a great and unique album if you can find it. Funny story: Back in high school, my car was broken into one night and the thieves stole about 50 casette tapes, but they specifically left the Nelson cassette behind. The band was fronted by singer Sally Cato who definitely toughed it up as good as any of her male counterparts in the same genre. Where Are They Now? Tokyo Blade is still alive and well and making new albums as of 2020. Its all Girlschool glam bright colors and free spirited rock tunes. and Cold. Lion was probably best known for recording the Transformers Movie Theme. While theyre considered part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, the band would change their sound and image as well as lineups a little too frequently. Another band to unfortunately release their debut album at the end of the glam/hair metal era was Cats In Boots. This album barely got noticed because it was released in the "hair metal saturated" year of 1989. Fans regard all of their albums as quality releases and they are still collected heavily by metal fans. Not to be confused with the German metal band Helloween, Halloween commanded quite a cult following. The band was based in South Florida and were drawing thousands of people to their local shows. They released their debut "Shake Your Soul" in 1990, and it's great stuff. The Bar Vice Squad says: We like to include a song thats very different from our usual style on each album for example Goodnight England LIMITED TO ONLY 500 SETS SHIPPING MID-2023 You asked for it You got it. Its pretty obvious what genre they wanted to be categorized under, having put metal in their band name. Im sure it is very profound. However, the band reformed in 2010 with Warrants Jani Lane (RIP) filling in for the lead singer Russell, while Russell himself attempted to start his own band, Jack Russells Great White. Basically, neither band really worked out for legal and artistic reasons (the death by overdose of Jani Lane probably didnt help matters, either). The self-titled album featured future Danger Danger vocalist Ted Poley on drums. Kai Swans vocals were incredibly powerful. Furthermore, there's heaps of clear homages and throwbacks to bands such as Van Halen and Judas Priest in Dime (or, rather, Diamond's) and Lee's performances, making the album's overall sound. Tweet Page 1 2 3 >> ADVERTISEMENT Adrian Dodz Adrian Dodz (1988) Ampage Champagne and Caviar (1988) Annica Badly Dreaming (1988) The Bang Gang Love Sells. Ken Mary, former Alice Cooper drummer provided an incredible thunderous rhythm and James Byrd was spectacular as the guitarist. Led by Nadir DPriest and guitarist Lizzie Grey these albums are worth listening to but failed to chart commercially. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Perma-pouting Hollywood fluffballs Pretty Boy Floyd made Motley Crue sound like Napalm Death and Ratt look like, well, Napalm Death. Guitarist Mike Hall and bassist Ron Mayer were the latter members soon after. The band eventually broke up, but has reformed recently and has joined the newly re-formed Combat Records label owned by Megadeths David Ellefson. Law And Order had a loose, dangerous, bluesy and authentic vibe to them that bigger bands like Guns N' Roses and Motley Crue had, and the band had great songs to back it all up. Kiss - I Was Made For Lovin' You. The band was formed by Jeffrey Hoad and Clifford Hoad in 1986. They also received radio airplay with the singles Try to Find Me and Peace in Our Time. Their music was standard hair metal, although they were more sleazier, edgier, bluesier than most hair metal bands, they had the pop hooks, shout along gang choruses, and killer heavy guitar riffs. Essentially, a one-hit-wonder when it comes to commercial sales, the band still attracted a decent audience. This Canadian metal band released two albums in the 80s: Standing Alone (1984) and, Endangered Species (1986). Coming from New York, the band had a street-tough attitude with music to match. Canadian metal band, Kick Axe never seemed to get a fair shake. Theres almost nothing separating these guys from a boy band except their long hair, but My God, what glorious locks they were. All of the bands on this list deserve to be heard and if you havent heard some of them before, do yourself a favor and check them out. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Sadly, Guitarist Mick Zane passed away in 2016. St. John released a few solo albums independently but never to the level of his previous success. Admittedly, the mixture of sounds might not be everyones cup of tea, but it was good enough to get them signed to Island Records in 1986. The band garnered great reviews from fans and critics alike. Sword is an outstanding true metal band that just got lost in the shuffle. These five girls from California were under a major labelMercury. A lot of people are quick to dismiss this period of music as just "silly," but what it really did was bridge the gap from "classic rock" to "grunge." We all know about the 70s. Undaunted, Jetboy would go on to release the albums Damned Nation (1990), A Day in the Glamorous Life (1997), Make Some More Noise (1999), One More for Rock N Roll (2002), Off Your Rocker (2010) and their most recent release, Born to Fly (2019). The group's original focal point, singer/guitarist Dean Davidson, is still absent from the proceedings, as his replacement . Most of those glam bands were essentially boy bands with big hair putting pop harmonies to the notebook scribblings of lovesick high-schoolers. Bon Jovi, Warrant, Poison, Motley Crue and many more play all hour to get you in the mood to have a great Saturday night. Their debut EP was produced by none other than Dana Strum, who later go on to play bass in the Vinnie Vincent Invasion and Slaughter. Wildly popular in Japan, they were never able to duplicate the same success in the U.S. mostly do to changing trends in music. Sadly, Tommy McManus died in 1991 from complications from bone marrow replacement surgery. Everyone knows the big hair metal bands: Poison. The bands sound was much less heavy than the image on their album covers, which made them appear to be more of a heavy metal band. Heres Our Review Of Cocaine Bear: Oh Hell Yes! The band still does select live concert appearances. By The Time Beau Nasty released Dirty But Well Dressed in 1989, the glam/hair metal scene was glutted with bands. Most of you probably know Josh For every Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and Van Halen, There were many other bands that were really good, but somehow didnt quite make it Britny Fox was formed in 1985 with Dizzy Dean Davidson on vocals, former Cinderella drummer Tony Destra, former Cinderella guitarist Michael Kelly Smith and Battle Axe Burn This Town Burn this town? The band toured the U.S. under support for their single and video for Rock School and picked up news fans. All of the albums and E.P.s were quality releases and are sought after by collectors to this day. Vocals, Aaron Samson Bass. London has released two albums since then with the latest being in 2018. The band was interviewed and performed their song Crash Landing in the documentary The Decline Of Western Civilization Part Two: The Metal Years. 100 Greatest Glam Metal Bands and Hair Metal Bands Quiet Riot Skid Row Cinderella Warrant Firehouse Trixter Nelson Steelheart Motley Crue Poison Dokken Loudness Aerosmith Ratt Kiss Guns N' Roses In their debut album, they had an AC/DC rip-off version of Hot For Teacher with their single Girlschool. Stryper-Stryper has to be at the top of this list. The band originally started in 1986 with Kelly Keeling handling the vocals after switching from the guitar. The band is famous for having more than a few members that would go onto greater fame in other bands including Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big), Slash (Guns N' Roses), Randy Castillo (Ozzy Osbourne, Lita Ford, Motley Crue) and James Kottak (Kingdom Come, Scorpions). Warrant was the band that released the signature sex-anthem Cherry Pie. Omen was formed in L.A. in 1983 by guitarist Kenny Powell and the band signed to Metal Blade Records in 1984. Gorky Park released their last album Protivofazza in 1998. The track inexplicably defined what1980s hair metal was. 50 names. Ready To Strike was a great album and promised great things to come, but unfortunately the band never quite reached this level again. Oh, someone posted a question about Van Halen in a related thread: In 1978, hard rock was ruled by a pretty glum bunch . By 1987 the band sounded closer to the glam metal bands of Hollywood than their original sound which was closer to early Diamond Head. Big Deal would be their last album during the 1980s and it also did moderately well. Lets go twirl some drumsticks. Their songs are catchy, somewhat depressive, and overused in wild parties. The music was interesting, moody and possibly a great pre-cursor to the sound bands like Alice In Chains would invoke soon after. Quiet Riot. The 60 Best Classic Punk Bands From The U.K. Ratt - How Many Of These Ratt Facts Do You Know? Original vocalist Zinny J. Zan left the band one year after the debut album and Bassist Tim Tim (Tim Skold) took over vocal duties. Priest (Diamond Rexx), and Billy Dior on drums. Sadly, St, John died in 2007 from a brain hemorrhage. They were another band that just didnt receive enough exposure to be well known with hard rock fans. However, despite that fact, the band never found mainstream success. Here are ten Forgotten Hair Metal Bands of the 80s. These are the forgotten heroes of hair metal. [3] Albums [ edit] 1978 [ edit] Van Halen [4] 1981 [ edit] Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks [5] Some thrash bands, most notably Metallica (Enter Sandman) and Megadeth (Symphony of Destruction), successfully experimented with a streamlined and commercially palatable direction. Sweet F.A. What hidden mayhem truly lurked behind the curtain as outrageous bands such as Poison were having Nothing But a Good Time, only to find out later that Every Rose Has Its Thorn. By the end of the 80s and into the early 90s the genre was beginning to be flooded with so many bands that it was hard to tell who was the flavor of the week. Fun Fact: Reb Beachs brother, John Beach, is one of the more popular voice-over guys. (The debut album was actually released in 1989 but is included in this list because it suffered the same fate as most of the bands of this genre released after 1990). 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