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Grunge music emerged as a new force in the music industry, and hair metal bands were unable to compete. Some of the biggest names in British hair metal were Def Leppard, Wrathchild, and Whitesnake. Named after its lead vocalist, the band managed to release a ton of iconic singles and albums. Their career hit its peak in the 1980s with the number one albums “1984”, “5150”, and “OU812”.
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Hair Metal Bands
While all of the great heavy metal/hair bands listed above helped to define this genre of music, we have selected the following top 80s hair bands for special recognition. 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. As a change from all the hair bands that formed in Los Angeles, Whitesnake is a band from London.
Great White
Another name that has become synonymous with 80s hair bands is the group called Ratt. You are probably familiar with their song, Round And Round, which still receives regular radio play on many stations. During the late 1980s, Great White toured with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Guns N’ Roses.
Liv Metal Headband
Their work ethic and popularity impressed Atlantic Records, who released their first full-length album in 1984. Their first and second label releases reached number seven on the Billboard charts, and several singles reached the Top 40. The band periodically reunites to perform live shows but hasn’t released a new album since 2010. 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.
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The band’s most well-known lineup consisted of Stephen Pearcy on vocals, Warren DeMartini on lead guitar, Robbin Crosby on rhythm guitar, Juan Croucier on bass, and Bobby Blotzer on drums. This would spawn a whole slew of lineup changes before the band would sign with Atlantic a few years later. It was after this that White Lion really started to find mainstream success. Pretty Boy Floyd was a Hollywood band that achieved moderate success in the late 80s.
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These hair bands used heavy guitars and pounding drums, but they stood out compared to other heavy metal bands because of the members’ appearance. Initially forming in 1978 in Los Angeles, Dokken released four albums, from their 1981 debut, Breaking the Chains, through Back For Attack in 1987, before splitting up. Earlier ’80s hits “Burning Like a Flame,” “In My Dreams” and “Alone Again” fit the glam metal stream. The band’s 1988 live album, Beast from the East, also picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. The band’s original lineup consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The hair band’s original lineup consisted of Tom Keifer (lead vocals, guitar), Eric Brittingham (bass guitar), Michael Smerick (guitar), and Tony Destra (drums).
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It’s undeniable that Bon Jovi was responsible for some of the biggest hits of the 80s. Livin’ On A Prayer, and You Give Love A Bad Name, are still songs people can’t help but sing along to. Guns N’ Roses managed to create music that transcends the actual time and space they were living in. Welcome to Pick Up The Guitar, a free online resource for guitarists and music lovers! We’ve written hundreds of articles, guides, lessons and reviews for you to explore and enjoy.
They reunited in 1993 and have played live shows off and on since then, sometimes with all the original members. Lane remained with the band through their fifth album, Belly to Belly, and later reunited with them in 2008, just three years before his death in 2011 at the age of 47. Warrant has continued on through their most recent Louder Harder Faster album, released in 2017. The music produced by these bands was energetic, and their live performances were full of theatrics, which captivated audiences worldwide. Hanoi Rocks released several albums throughout the 1980s, including Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981), Back to Mystery City (1983), and Two Steps from the Move (1984). Guns N’ Roses is a highly influential hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985.
Big (Long) Hair Metal Bands of 80s
In fact, both of these songs are regularly featured in a wide range of different commercial uses. Video games, films, and TV shows have all included these songs in their content. Others say that the excesses of glam metal – the drugs, the alcohol, the wild lifestyle – led to its downfall. Bands like Poison, Motley Crue, and Bon Jovi were at the height of their popularity. While many of these bands faded into obscurity over the years, a few have managed to remain popular to this day.
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. A quick glance may have fooled the unsuspecting eye with the band’s Bret Michaels, C.C. Deville, Bobby Dall, and Rikki Rockett made up more glamorous than most women. Formed in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania in 1983, Poison fell right into the glam and hair metal scene with ease. In any other era they might’ve just been labeled “hard rock,” but at some point somebody came up with the probably pejorative term “hair-metal,” and the name stuck. As did the music, at least through the rest of the decade — and most of it grew increasingly prettified and prefabricated, until it didn’t.
Def Leppard’s success was partly due to their innovative use of music videos, which helped them reach a wider audience and became a hallmark of the MTV era. The band continued releasing new music and tours throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. They are best known for their “To Be with You” and “Wild World” hit songs. The album became a commercial success and sold over six million copies worldwide. Van Halen is widely regarded as one of the most successful and influential acts in the history of rock music. Dokken would catapult to fame in the early 1980s, releasing a stream of hits that would sell millions of albums.
The band opened for many big touring acts during that time, such as AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Judas Priest. Over the years, continued turmoil within the band resulted in two touring versions of Ratt, one with frontman Stephen Pearcy and another with drummer Bobby Blotzer. Pearcy released two more albums under the Ratt name with original guitarist Warren DeMartini—Ratt in 1999, followed by the 2010 release, Infestation. The only female rockers on the hair metal list, the era of makeup and glam was surprisingly dominated by more male bands. In Europe, Hanoi Rocks mixed glam rock, punk and the big hair and makeup of vocalist Michael Monroe. The Finnish band got their start in the late '70s and quickly rose through the ranks.
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