Top 10 Hair Metal Bands of the 1980s
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However, despite the criticism, many of these bands enjoyed tremendous commercial success and had a significant impact on the music industry during the 80s and beyond. At the tail end of the 1980s, Warrant somehow entered the “hair metal” craze, but anyone listening to their more moving tracks on the 1990 album Cherry Pie would never conceive of any glam beginnings. Their 1989 debut Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich was chockfull of power ballads (“Heaven,” “Sometimes She Cries”) and anthemic rockers (“Down Boys”).
Def Leppard
Their album, Pride, is what really put the band on the map, with multiple charting singles. Plus, White Lion was touring with some of the biggest names in the industry at the time. Pretty Boy Floyd was a Hollywood band that achieved moderate success in the late 80s. Their debut album was their most substantial release in terms of critical review. That very story is what happened to guitarist Michael Kelly Smith with the band, Cinderella.
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The group went sober in 1989 and released its most successful album, "Dr. Feelgood." Finally, hair metal bands often featured members who were more interested in their own image than in making good music. This can lead to sloppy performances and an overall lack of quality control.
Top Hair Metal Bands of the ’80s
And completely bare by the time they entered the ’90s with their more soulful Flesh & Blood, there was a point when Poison basked in the lights of hair metal. On the east coast, the hair was also high in bands like Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Kix, and Twisted Sister by the mid-’80s, marking them all “hair metal” at one point or another. She had a massive hit (Close My Eyes Forever) with Ozzy Osbourne that remains a pinnacle track of the era. Their debut album, Night Songs, actually ranked within the top 5 chart placements in the pop charts. The band formed in the late 1970s and released its first record in 1980.
Despite being nicknamed “The Most Dangerous Band in the World,” the group sold over 100 million albums throughout their career. Guns N’ Roses entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and is still actively touring. Dokken would catapult to fame in the early 1980s, releasing a stream of hits that would sell millions of albums. Danger Danger was a fairly popular group during the late 80s and enjoyed frequent air time on MTV. It wouldn’t be a rare sight to see the group on the famed show, Headbanger’s Ball. In fact, the band seemed as if they were at war with parents, releasing music to purposely upset them.
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In 1992 before taking a long hiatus and returning with The Power and the Glory Hole, featuring singer Taime Downe as the only original member. So there are our picks for the most epic 80s hair bands, did your favorite make the list? Regardless any of the above bands are definitely worth a revisit as their music will forever be timeless classics. Poison had a unique blend of ballads and hard rock that people seemed unable to get enough of. Part of the group’s success is, no doubt, due to singer Bret Michaels and guitarist C.C. Out of any of these bands, Poison ranks as one of the most popular, even to this day.
The band released its debut album in 1983 and went on to produce a total of four albums during the 80s. They’ve released eight more albums since the 80s, but their popularity reached its biggest heights along with their hair. The only female rockers on the hair metal list, the era of makeup and glam was surprisingly dominated by more male bands. One look at the cover of Poison’s 1986 debut, Look What the Cat Dragged In, shows a portrait of four stunning women—three blondes and a brunette.
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This cult band gained commercial success and was critically acclaimed worldwide. It broke up in 1985 after the death of the drummer Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley. List of the famous and best hair bands of the ’80s gives you a fair idea of the number of hair metal bands that were formed, despite the dispute that some of them cannot be counted as one among them. Rikki, Bobby, and Bret were furious, and tossed Kotzen out of the band. He was replaced by Blues Saraceno, who would go on to record “Crack A Smile” with the band.
The band released several more albums, including Slave to the Grind (1991) and Subhuman Race (1995). They are known for their hard rock sound and energetic live performances. Whitesnake’s most successful period was in the late 1980s and early 1990s when they released a string of hit albums such as Whitesnake, Slip of the Tongue, and Restless Heart. The all-female hard rock band was formed in St. Paul, Minnesota, in the 1980s.
Headbangers Ball was hosted by a number of different people over the years, including Riki Rachtman, Adam Curry, and Vanessa Warwick. The show was eventually cancelled in 1995 due to declining ratings, but it remains a cultural touchstone for metal fans of a certain age, and its impact on the genre cannot be overstated. Big (long) hair, mullets, and tight pants were all the rage in the 1980s thanks to the big hair metal bands. These groups brought glam metal music to the mainstream and helped make it one of the most popular genres of the decade. Despite their religious lyrics, the band had mainstream success, toured extensively, and enjoyed radio airplay. The band was popular in the mid-80s after their 1986 album, To Hell with the Devil, went platinum.
If you want to hear them play your favorite 80s hits, that’s what you’ll hear during a live show. The 80s included diverse musical offerings such as electronic music, dance-pop, and a new wave of rock. But perhaps one of the most stand-out trends 80s music brought was the rise of the ‘hair bands’; musicians, often male, who had long hair. The list of the 30 best hair bands of the 80s is a testament to the impact that these bands had on the music scene. From the long hair to the spandex pants, the hair bands of the 80s left an indelible mark on the music industry and pop culture.
Both of these guitarists were frequently mentioned in many of the guitar magazines at the time. Kiss went on tour with Aerosmith in 2003 and headlined the Rock the Nation Tour alongside Poison. After a few years of sporadic shows, they returned to world touring and have more or less kept it up ever since. Their latest rendition of a farewell tour was supposed to play over 180 shows and gross some $200 million, Simmons told The Wall Street Journal, but it was delayed due to the pandemic. Dates have been announced for 2022, in what they are calling their "final tour ever."
With ten solo albums, three Grammy Awards, and a record-breaking 30 American Country Music Awards, Miranda Lambert is an immensely successful and influential country singer. Though it is not as popular today as in other eras, Southern rock blends elements of folk, Americana, and rock music to create something unique to the American South. Def Leppard is another English hair band, formed in 1976 but not finding significant success until the 1983 release of Pyromania.
BulletBoys’ music was a fusion of hard rock, glam metal, and funk, and they became known for their high-energy live performances. The album’s unique blend of hard rock, funk, and glam metal helped set Bang Tango apart from its contemporaries. Their lead singer, Ian Astbury, often sported long hair and wore leather clothing and jewelry, which were typical fashion choices for hair bands of the era. By 1989 the band had broken up due to differences between singer Don Dokken and guitarist George Lynch. Still fronted by Don Dokken, the band released their 12th album, Broken Bones, in 2012.
While frontman Dee Snider doesn't think Twister Sister is hair metal, we're going to include them in this list because, well, they are. Only Snider remained in the public eye by joining a couple of lesser-known metal bands and then becoming a radio and TV personality. Later, in 2001, bassist Mark Mendoza even went so far as to say on an episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" that he wanted Snider dead. DeVille and lead singer Bret Michaels got into a fight backstage, according to Tone Deaf.
In fact, their debut album from the same year actually remains the best-selling of their massive catalog. The group has been consistently releasing new albums on a regular basis. You might not know it, but Lita played in the band The Runaways, where she held down lead guitar duties. This band was notable for being an all-female group, including Joan Jett and Cherie Currie.
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