Go ask Axl Rose, who nicked frontman Richard Blacks back-alley sneer and sideways shuffle and spun it into gold. Cinderella added an element of blues to hair metal, and they pull it off perfectly. Do NOT pass this one up. It,s not glam or hair metal. Tesla had no gimmick. Pure pop metal with long, stick thin blond hair X2. The hard rock "Thriller." Love/Hate - Blackout In The Red Room (1990) Another one from 1984 that influenced tons of bands in the 80's. In general I dont really identify with the whole good time/party angle either cause its just not my thing, but the misogynistic aspects are what gets bothersome at times. Erotic Suicide - Abusement Park & Perseverance Besides, doesn't "Love Of A Lifetime" make the perfect wedding song? Swingin Thing - Desperate Living. Also, you must be an Ozzy fan! Pure attitude from a band that actually lived it. Try Holland - Little Monsters. Sure, John Norum is tough to replace, but you could do a whole lot worse than the wonderfully talented Kee Marcello. Vinyl Writer Music's 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums: 01. Mixing metal, punk, and glam, everything on this album just clicked perfectly. Poison's first two usually get more recognition, but this is their finest moment. After even more line-up shuffling, the group finally settled into what would be known as their Mk.3 line-up, which would also come to be their most successful. It was this line-up that recorded the now dusty gem Rough Cutt for the major label, Warner Brother Records. Dont ever let anyone tell you the music you love sucks or is less than. That said, aside from the classic Smooth Up In Ya, BulletBoys has become a largely forgotten record, and the band is rarely mentioned in those generic MTV/VH1 best of the 80s lists. Sure, they were sort of late-stage Hair Metal, but these guys rock hard, so if you see this record, scoop it up. Heavy Bones formed in Hollywood circa 1990 and featured in its ranks guitarist Gary Hoey (who later scored a surprise hit with "Hocus Pocus") and drummer Frankie Banali (of Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P.). Blue Murder - Blue Murder (1990) 07. Their follow up has some of the best songwriting in Cock Rock, in my opinion. Speaking of Vixen, here they are! I mean, come on, it's impossible not to sing along to "Mackinaw Avenue" or "Change"the latter of which is practically a full-on pop song, though the quality of the writing and musicianship gives it an edge that avoids the overly pristine sheen of lesser (yet more successful) outfits like Danger Danger or Firehouse. In 1991 while Metallica and Guns 'N Roses were sliding into mediocrity, Skid Row move into legendary status, improving leaps and bounds over their debut. There's an additional layer of irony to this since Warrant's main arranger and vocalist Jani Lane admitted that he wasn't exactly fond of "Cherry Pie", and that the whole album ended up being a dollop of glam cheese (although the cheese in question must have been some gourmet shit) simply because that's what was selling at the time. The Triple-Axe Attack, as they were known by, exemplified power guitar with great riffs and a lead singer that had a raspy, yet seemingly effortless, powerful voice. Lets go twirl some drumsticks. "Surrender" is a great ballad. The album was recorded at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 home studio, and Wildside was the first band other than Van Halen to record there. Record labels, radio stations, and the mainstream audience themselves all got very tired of this approach and embraced the Seattle underground sound instead, which led to a lot of bands who were all the rage only years before disband and/or become highly irrelevant. Then others like RAZORMAID, PHANTOM BLUE, COLD SWEAT, GREAT KING RAT, 220 VOLT, SKAGARACK, TRASH, MASS, AMERICAN ANGEL etc. 09. The whole damn thing. However, make no mistake-their third record Bite Down Hard, is a rager. However, in 2019, Mick did rejoin BulletBoys. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. Britny Fox Britny Fox (1988) No, I only stumbled upon this CD in a local used bin for $5 (alongside Roxxi's Drive it to Ya Hard!, so talk about a huge score) a few years ago, and totally flipped out when I tossed it in for the first time. Winger - In The Heart Of The Young (1990), McQueen Street should be in this discussion and in your collection. Yes. Honestly, its not easy stepping into the shoes of a Guitar God, at the height of a bands fame, in the middle of a hysterical wave of Hair Metal mania, but thats exactly what Kee Marcello did. As for their debut record, massive commercial and financial failures aside, this was an excellent record. Even the ballads have balls. Black 'N Blue Nasty Nasty (1986) 03. 10. Its worth every second. 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time. I dont know; maybe it was something in the water, but what I do know is the Rock music that came out of that decade was truly memorable, catchy, and fun. And yet, "Revenge" did stand out among its predecessors in several ways. Vito Bratta is one of the really underrated guitar players, alongside Reb Beach. Stay tuned for a potential part 3! The Tear the House Down lineup briefly regrouped for a 25th anniversary reunion last summer, but Bruce Naumann is now working with yet another all-new lineup. Europe Out of This World (1988) A little more filler on this one, but "November Rain" has got to be the greatest power ballad of all time. Dangerous Toys - Dangerous Toys (1989) You couldn't go two hours without seeing a Whitesnake video on MTV back in '87. Regardless of whether you think that glam metal died because it was over-exploited or because grunge killed it, youd agree that the '90s were a very bad time to be a band with a "glam" label slapped on your behind. Vain deserves not a little more love, but a religious following. If people only listened to bands whose lyrical content was largely aligned with their own views it would be quite limiting. Recording quite a bit of material for having remained so unknown, they self-released an album called Out of the Box in 1989, followed-up with Joker the following year on Red Light Records (which has almost the same tracklist as their debut), and then came back with Cool Deal in 1992. The album that gave "hair" to the hair metal genre. Super interesting comments. * Only time will tell. 08. The album was recorded at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 home studio, and Wildside was the first band other than Van Halen to record there. Wildside did release one more album in 1995 (on an indie label), but had undergone some lineup changes and a complete shift in sound by that pointironically enough taking a stab at the grungier style that had destroyed their initial shot at success. King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew released his most successful solo album while he was playing arenas around the world as the musical director for David Bowie's . Im too afraid to reread the rest of my post to see what else I mistyped. Now, in the 80s, you basically had two types of Guitar Gods: the Neo-Classical speed shredders, such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John, and Vito Bratta, and on the other side of the spectrum were the players who were more rooted in the 70s Classic Rock and Blues, such as Slash, CC Deville, Bruce Kulick and of course, Mick Sweda. The '80s have taught us that you could expect a lot of things from Blackie Lawless, but releasing a concept album wasn't one of them. Unfortunately, the album's lack of commercial success, coupled with being called out on Beavis and Butt-head and several other factors saw Winger disband in 1994 and remain so for the rest of the decade. Get out there and listen to it. Unfortunately, in most cases, the label stuck like a nasty coffee stain, while the attempts of self-reinventing usually didn't go well. Slik Toxic - Doin the Nasty Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. The guitar tone is annoying, but When the Mirror Cracks has some KILLER songs. Also, their weren't too many other guitarists from this era that could rival Vito Bratta's playing. Stay tuned for Part 3! I loved this kind of music when I was a kid, and I still love it now. There are tons and tons of other glam/hair metal bands that never quite received their due (hell, I'd argue that bands like Lynch Mob and Vain still deserve a little more love). Thrash and hair metal made for strange bedfellows, though nobody told Two-Bit Thief. 1. Alleycat Scratch - Deadboys in Trash City Dream Unending: Tide Turns Eternal. Trixter were a bunch of teenagers when they released this, their debut,coming in at the end of the hair metal wave. Now, let's begin. One that I hoped to see on lists is Leatherwolf. Britny Fox Bite Down Hard (1991) Real Steel opened for the Bulletboys, Bang Tango, and Gorky Park in their day, and apparently had interest from several labels (almost signing with Warner Bros.). Looking back, its hard to pinpoint why this record failed, as it seemingly had all the ingredients to ascend to great heights. Tyketto - Dont Come Easy Perhaps more than any other group on this list, Wildside truly should have been "the next big thing" given the circumstances surrounding their debut album. Britny Fox were doing lines of coke off of Elton Johns piano while in the studio making Bite Down Hard. BulletBoys BulletBoys (1988) The perfect hair metal album, and one of the last ones before the glory days came to an end. I wouldnt exactly call them glam. "The Ballad of Jane" is one the best hair metal ballads ever. The vocals are really an obstacle moreso on the second album. Google, here I come! I cant explain it, but every time I listen to it, I just see scenes from that film running through my head; its not a curse, but a blessing. Thanks so much for the comment! You probably remember them for their platinum and multiplatinum albums One Bitten and its 1989 follow-up Twice Shy, and with good reason, as these albums are classic but certainly are not underrated. But the public proved resistant to the hard sell, and Vain were left sitting forlorn and alone on the sidewalk while lesser groups were whisked behind the velvet rope of fame. While the late Meat Loaf was a true showman with a near-operatic voice, Bat Out of Hell featured an . 10 years earlier, they would've been superstars. Now, this is a weird entry in many ways. All across the board, there are just too damn many to choose from: And all of this barely scratches the surface, so please include your own recommendations in the comments below! No, instead, crank the dial to max volume and tell your friend to saddle up or walk home. If he doesnt belong at the top of this list, I dont know who does. Leatherwolf circa 1987, and Street Ready circa 1989 are two overlooked (or forgotten) treasures. Every song on here is just infectious. If not, youre not alone. Sunset Strip: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal-Era Albums didnt really garner a whole lot of harsh words per se, but I did see a great many surmise that I, Must be a big KISS fan, which is true. They're kind of like Skid Row, the Bulletboys, and Faster Pussycat thrown in a blender. Ive never heard Cats in Boots or Harem Scarem so Ive got some Googling to do! A couple of other amazing and underrated glam albums that didnt make this list (but easily could have)- By 1991, most hair bands had removed the hairspray and makeup and it seems Stevie Rachelle and Co. were trying to revive it. Well, in the wake of the Hot In The Shade screw-job, the band still managed to book a nice tour of well-paying gigs and were set to depart, when Dean The Diva Davidson decided to split and make a go of it on his own. Michael Kelly Smiths guitar work was inspired, and as usual, Johnny Dee and Billy Childs were ever the capable rhythm section. picdoc 4 yr. ago. So, tease your hair, lay the eyeliner, and rouge on thick because were hitting the strip tonight. Listen to the record, and these performances, and prove me wrong. Speaking of hooks, lets kick this thing off with. To this day, George Lynch's solo in "Tooth & Nail" leaves my jaw on the floor. Easily Ratt's finest hour. Warrant's biggest seller, though not quite their best (see Dog Eat Dog), but this album is what early 90's hair metal was all about. As you stated I have always championed JOKER myself. If anyone at all loves Cock Rock, No Respect by Vain should be in their collection, and Davy Vains subsequent efforts have all been respectable. The Spandex-clad gems that turned the Sunset Strip into the boulevard of broken dreams. If you dont, I promise youll regret it later. An around pop metal romp in the early 90's, one of the last bands to come out of the genre successfully before the ship sank. lesmortsdansant 3 yr. ago. With Kiss being one of the biggest names from rock's history that continued kicking in a (more or less) healthy manner to this day, I'm not sure you could really call any Kiss album underrated. Thanks for the reminder! Tommy Paris filled some big shoes and did so with grace and ease. Songs like "Rest in Peace", "Tragic Comic", and "Warheads" had cleverly arranged harmonies, featured very diverse stylistic approaches, and all had engaging lyrics, but the album produced no hit singles and ended up a commercial disaster despite being the highlight of Extreme's career. Many bands would have given up right then and there, and no one would have blamed Britny Fox for packing it in, but after all, they had been through, I suppose that wasnt an option. Vinyl Writer Musics10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums: Bon Jovi's best selling album. There are albums by Bon Jovi which frequently pop up, such as Slippery When Wet and New Jersey, or if youre trying to be different, you may pick the bands self-titled debut, Because it started it all, or because, It has Runaway on it. I know that comes off as presumptuous, but its true, and you know it. Best Song . The 1990s started out with DS-1 distortion pedal grunge bands viciously stomping on the global spandex-wearing hair-metal movement from the decade before and ceremoniously ended with the rise. DLR's full length debut (after a 4 song EP in 1985). You can hear every instrument, all clean, all cristaline. underrated hair metal albums. The Toys could have been worthy successors to Guns N Roses, but this album pretty well fell flat in 1989. To nobody's surprise, "III Sides to Every Story" followed that labeling trend as well, but what you could hear on that album was anything but stereotypical glam. Ill be emailing you! This album defined early L.A. glam metal. IMHO opinion, there is not a single bad track on Hollands Little Monsters! Apparently they had even written a bunch of new songs and were in pre-production for their second album when they got dropped. Sure, we all know and love Cherry Pie, but Dog Eat Dog is where its at. He seems to be singing about an octave and a half lower on the first one, and the overall energy on Lettin Loose is far greater. Sure, it was cheesy, it was loud, and it was definitely colorful. Well, I am here to tell you that those people are assholes. I would KILL to reissue the Tuff Luck album too. You simply live in a cave if you have not heard at least one song from this album. Q5 had two albums that would simply destroy you. Not every spandexed hick who moved to Hollywood with a headful of dreams and a sneezer full of blow made it. That said, there is another piece to this entire feedback puzzle, and thats the comments that went something like, You forgot this album, or, How could you leave out this or that one? So, we listened, and we took a great many of your suggestions to heart, and Ive added some of them to this latest edition. "Slave to the Grind" arrived at the time when record label's realized that the audiences were beginning to get tired with over-saturation of glam metal, and received fairly little support and air time as a result. Yeah, the Chicago bands none-more-unique selling point was perma-squinting frontman Stanley who, when he wasnt spitting out genius fuck-you anthems Jawohl Asshole and Fuckin Shit-Ass, lived on the street and had the malodorous clothes and propensity for shitting in public to prove it. That Beau Nasty is kicking my ass right now! So here are the most underrated records by 20 major metal bands. Its like Dee Snider said, Were Not Gonna Take It, and for Hair-Metalheads, we wouldnt have it any other way. And while the album never saw a significant spike in the number of copies sold, "Revenge" did manage to draw enough attention to give Kiss a new lease on life, effectively saving the NYC iconic band from drifting into obscurity. "Don't Close Your Eyes" is one of the best ballads ever written. yeah, that thing is always priced so high! Cool, many thanks. Categories: Genre [List226813] | +37. This album is one that was sort of at odds with itself upon its release. As far as I can tell they only made a music video for the lead track, "Wild, Young, and Crazy," but almost every song herein is better than good, and several are fucking outstanding. That Dangerous Toys disc rules, and despite them getting so much shit back in the day those first two Winger albums are very solid. In short, Vixen kicked ass and they proved once and for all that women could rock and shred as hard as their male counterparts. Exhibit A: the debut album New York gypsy-bohos The Throbs. Britny Foxs Girlschool video (from Britny Fox album): Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes, Vinyl Writer Music names its 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums. Heavy Bones came relatively early in Hoey's professional career (having moved from Boston to Los Angeles in the late-'80s upon the recommendation of Ozzy Osbourne, after auditioning for the position that ultimately went to Zakk Wylde), and released but one self-titled album on Reprise Records in 1992. Put a smile on my face and Ill make sure he sees it. While I didnt intend for the KISS roots to run so deep within the article per se, I will admit that we are all subject to our own biases, and anyone who knows me will tell you I am not about to apologize for KISS influence. Or why not treat yourself? A little funky, a little southern rock, Rat Race is catchy as hell . had already proved what they were capable of on their previous album "The Headless Children" which saw the shock rock act depart from their usual themes of having sex, and "The Crimson Idol" was a very strong attempt at continuing along the same path. A great early 90's pop metal album. Some good and some bad, which I am OK with, as it comes with the territory of writing, especially when it comes to this topic. Warrant Dog Eat Dog (1992) England and Wales company registration number 2008885. While the era of 80s Hair Metal and Glam is mostly known as being predominantly male, several females infiltrated the scene and staked their claim as well. Other notables: The early 90s cultural zeitgeist was unkind to this record, but present day, we have a chance to flip the script. White Lion Fight To Survive (1985). 05. The second album shouldve just been the actual soundtrack to Bloodsport. On the other hand, the fact that it brought something any lingering W.A.S.P. True, I don't identify with (or in some cases approve of) elements of the lyrical content, but from a songwriting and musicianship perspective, I very seriously enjoy this stuff, and would be perfectly happy were it the majority of my day-to-day listening.