"Hair Metal" vs Grunge

Dave78

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Nikki Sixx once said that a lot bands playing the clubs in the early 80's (eg: Motley, Dokken and Ratt) considered bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd to be dinosaurs, and it was time for a change. Although I wouldn't have agreed with his comment had he said it in the early 80's, I can't say in retrospect he was entirely wrong either. What he was saying was that all those classic rock bands sounded tired and boring, and it was time for a new generation of fresh rock bands with high energy that didn't sound like the classic rock bands of the 60's and 70's. So depending on your age in the early 80's, he was either right-on in his assessment if you were in your teens, or you were in your early 20's and were still listening to those dinosaur rock bands from the 60's and 70's.

But be careful what you wish for as the very same thing would happen roughly a decade later. Because by the late 80's/early 90's, all the "Hair Bands" (everyone from Motley, Whitesnake and Metallica) would also begin to look the same (eh, give or take), sound the same, and oversaturate the marketplace (ie: radio and MTV).

Enter Grunge. The record companies seemed to flock to these new bands because they were new and fresh, and their market was untapped. What happened ten years earlier between the dinosaur bands and the hair bands was the very thing that was now happening to the Hair Bands.

So now that I'm older now, I just see it as the cycle of rock music. Every band has an expiration date. Some sooner, some later, but they will all eventually be passed over for newer music. Unless you're The Stones and can continue to tour as a nostalgia act (because they haven't recorded a decent album in nealry 40 years!).

So, Marla, I know in the early-to-mid 90's you were still clinging to your rock bands, but you were still young and you weren't done with them yet. Me? I was older and ready for a change, and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, LIVE and Candlebox were perfect replacements for all the "tired and boring" 80's bands. Nirvana, not so much imo, but I think you get the idea.
 

Marla 1976

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I too grew up with Hair Metal...enjoyed it very much although we didn't call it that name back then but it was great music up until around 1992. What killed hair metal was the lack of new material or lack of quality of new material from those bands. I grew up with bands like Tesla, Skid Row, Motley Crue, Kix, Warrant, Poison, Cinderella, Dokken, Ratt, Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns. I had posters of hair bands all over my walls in the mid to late 80's. Bands I enjoyed throughout my early teens but as the early 90's came around you would be hard pressed to find a decent album by any of these bands. Maybe one good song and the rest filler. Basically hair metal killed itself not grunge doing it in. Grunge helped but the time had come for something fresh and new for the next generation of fans. For me it started with bands around 1989 like Faith No More, Janes Addiction and Nine Inch Nails that sparked my interest with their energy and new sounds. Then when grunge came it blew the door right open for other styles of music to come out in the 90's...a very eclectic decade for music. I didn't even view bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains at the time as something called grunge. I heard sounds of metal and punk in their music and was drawn in by that. Grunge was good for rock music at that time. It was a much needed kick in the ass and I am so glad I was able to experience it all in person. Some of my best memories are going to concerts during those days. I still have a fondness for hair metal and still listen to it to this day but I also love grunge and all the music that followed in the 90's.
I was 16 year old in 1992 grunge broke big. Glam metal bands still had plenty of fans, but the industry embraced the whole alternative/grunge scene at that time, and milked that dry too. But i agree with you that it wasn't just grunge that killed hair metal, the 90's opened the gates for music that influenced the alternative scene and alternative rock. Then there was the electronic and hip hop scenes that exploded too, and huge solo artists like Tori Amos, Bjork, Beck. So how could hair metal or even traditional rock could compete with all that?
 

Trickster

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Hair metal, glam or hair bands as some would have it, is heavy metal lite. And, we can all thank Lester Bangs for coming up with the term heavy metal. I mean, Bangs … what a fitting name for rock and roll. You can’t make this shit up.
I'm gonna try to break this down for ya!...Glam rock (also known as glitter rock) is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter.The flamboyant costumes and visual styles of glam performers were often camp or androgynous, and have been connected with new views of gender roles.Glam rock peaked during the mid-1970s with artists including T. Rex, David Bowie, Sweet, Roxy Music and Gary Glitter in the UK and New York Dolls, Lou Reed and Jobriath in the US. It declined after 1976, but had a major influence on genres including punk, glam metal, New Romantics and gothic rock and has sporadically revived since the 1990s.

Glam metal
(also known as hair metal and often used synonymously with pop metal) is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal. It combines elements of these genres with punk rock and pop music, adding catchy hooks and guitar riffs, while borrowing from the aesthetic of 1970s glam rock.

It arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene, pioneered by bands such as Kix, Hanoi Rocks, Motley Crue and Quiet Riot. It was popular throughout the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, bringing to prominence bands including Poison, Cinderella and Bon Jovi.

Musically, glam metal uses traditional hard rock and heavy metal songs, incorporating elements of punk rock, while adding pop-influenced catchy hooks and guitar riffs.Like other heavy metal songs of the 1980s, they often feature shred guitar solos.They also include extensive use of harmonies, particularly in the characteristic power ballads, slow, emotional songs that gradually build to a strong finale.These were among the most commercially successful singles in the genre and opened it up to a wider audience that would not have been attracted to traditional heavy metal. Lyrical themes often deal with love and lust, concerns inherited from blues music, with songs often directed at a particular woman.

For me I find it far too difficult to categories, there are bands that fall into multiple categories - where would you put LA Guns? Sleaze? Glam Metal? Cock-Rock? maybe a little of all of them.

Maybe there isn't a one-size-fits-all genre and there are just bands with similar styles!

Viva Rock!
 

Marla 1976

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I'm going to shoot from the hip on my post here.. Butch Vig produced Nirvana. He was from the band Garbage and they you could say was somewhat into pop punk style music.. Lyrics that were in your face. And Nirvana wanted Butch to produce them.
Seattle was into heavy punk at the time. I don't recall the name of the girl who was murdered, but nasty ass punk bands were the big thing at the time.. Nivana got alot of credit for starting the grunge scene.
I think it was the previous few bands who never get mentioned. The media gives it all to Nirvana.

Now let me say this about the 80's LA scene rock bands.. IMO.. I feel they got their inspiration from no other than... VAN HALEN!!

Van Halen came into the music era in the late 70's and had the same formula that the 80's hair bands enjoyed when it came to raunchy rock and roll music..
You have Eddie who pretty much had huge guitar riffs that had you mesmerized through those solo's and then David with the kicks and acrobatics and stage presence.
They were a safe group to like because they were in your face with great songs about.. You got it.. Women.. Partying and everything a teenager could relate too.

So that's my cheap opinion on the matter of the evolution of a ever changing industry.. Besides.. If there's a need to blame someone.. It has to be the guys behind selling the music to the population of hungry for something new generations..

Marla.. Your lucky to be apart of this very friendly discussion group who have embraced your passion.
I can count on one hand members on this forum who have been involved in both this forum and another one, years ago.
The other forum had more or less alot of noobs who came on there to just make as much fun of hair bands and other popular bands like KISS to the point it got out of control with moderators who wanted nothing more than to park the threads about any bands they conceived as worthless. So this group is very polite about the topic. Hell your head would have spun if you had to deal with the Nirvana group on there..
Anyway's.. I'm with the opinion of the older one's in this group. I liked the stuff from the 60's and 70's who I feel sent a good message in their lyrics that had nothing to do with living it up because tomorrow we die.
Bands today to me stay away from the stuff bands from the protest day's used to sing about..
Read Black Sabbath's War Pig's lyric's sometime.. Those lyric's to this day still make more sense to me that alot of the stuff I hear being said in the newer rock music..
OK.. Just my bit..
Welcome..
And how do you feel about Rival Son's and Chickenfoot?? :rolleyes:
On other forums Kurt Cobain Fanboys/Fangirls can't take criticism for shit. I say one bad thing about Cobain fanboys/fangirls go apeshit. Its hilarious.
 

Marla 1976

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I'm going to shoot from the hip on my post here.. Butch Vig produced Nirvana. He was from the band Garbage and they you could say was somewhat into pop punk style music.. Lyrics that were in your face. And Nirvana wanted Butch to produce them.
Seattle was into heavy punk at the time. I don't recall the name of the girl who was murdered, but nasty ass punk bands were the big thing at the time.. Nivana got alot of credit for starting the grunge scene.
I think it was the previous few bands who never get mentioned. The media gives it all to Nirvana.

Now let me say this about the 80's LA scene rock bands.. IMO.. I feel they got their inspiration from no other than... VAN HALEN!!

Van Halen came into the music era in the late 70's and had the same formula that the 80's hair bands enjoyed when it came to raunchy rock and roll music..
You have Eddie who pretty much had huge guitar riffs that had you mesmerized through those solo's and then David with the kicks and acrobatics and stage presence.
They were a safe group to like because they were in your face with great songs about.. You got it.. Women.. Partying and everything a teenager could relate too.

So that's my cheap opinion on the matter of the evolution of a ever changing industry.. Besides.. If there's a need to blame someone.. It has to be the guys behind selling the music to the population of hungry for something new generations..

Marla.. Your lucky to be apart of this very friendly discussion group who have embraced your passion.
I can count on one hand members on this forum who have been involved in both this forum and another one, years ago.
The other forum had more or less alot of noobs who came on there to just make as much fun of hair bands and other popular bands like KISS to the point it got out of control with moderators who wanted nothing more than to park the threads about any bands they conceived as worthless. So this group is very polite about the topic. Hell your head would have spun if you had to deal with the Nirvana group on there..
Anyway's.. I'm with the opinion of the older one's in this group. I liked the stuff from the 60's and 70's who I feel sent a good message in their lyrics that had nothing to do with living it up because tomorrow we die.
Bands today to me stay away from the stuff bands from the protest day's used to sing about..
Read Black Sabbath's War Pig's lyric's sometime.. Those lyric's to this day still make more sense to me that alot of the stuff I hear being said in the newer rock music..
OK.. Just my bit..
Welcome..
And how do you feel about Rival Son's and Chickenfoot?? :rolleyes:
I've come to the realization that most of the people who like Nirvana are like moths flying around a streetlight at nighttime. What they see in it is anyone's guess! And when you try to engage the typical Nirvana stooge in a debate they usually stare back with a deer in the headlights look and fire back with an expletive filled rant like some spoiled brat who just got his ass spanked by his parents. I especially get a big laugh out of them when they call Cobain a "great songwriter/musician." Kurt Cobain was a no talent loser and what people saw in him is, well...anyone's guess! How he got as far as he did is a mystery and thankfully people are finally waking to the fact of how lame-ass he really was. Far as I'm concerned he was solely responsible for the downfall of great music given all the talentless shit we have today! Kurt Cobain was a construct of the music industry driven by MTV. He had very little real talent. His song writing was adolescent, his composition was nonexistent . He had a terrible singing voice and obviously made no effort to seek coaching and improve it. He was a passable guitarist and perhaps could’ve been better had his composing been more imaginative/ creative . Grunge sucked! Bad singers who don't shower and guitar players who can't play leads. Notice how when 90's grunge bands go on a reunion tour they have to bring three other one hit wonders with them just to justify coming to their lame excuse for a show. Music really did run off a cliff after Nirvana. 80s metal scene was more diverse than the 90s grunge scene. Grunge scene was basically dead by 1996. It was a quick life & death. Rock imo has never returned to prominence. Music turned to shit in the 90s. Everyone was angry, miserable and many of those bands died from dope.
 

Marla 1976

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Nikki Sixx once said that a lot bands playing the clubs in the early 80's (eg: Motley, Dokken and Ratt) considered bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd to be dinosaurs, and it was time for a change. Although I wouldn't have agreed with his comment had he said it in the early 80's, I can't say in retrospect he was entirely wrong either. What he was saying was that all those classic rock bands sounded tired and boring, and it was time for a new generation of fresh rock bands with high energy that didn't sound like the classic rock bands of the 60's and 70's. So depending on your age in the early 80's, he was either right-on in his assessment if you were in your teens, or you were in your early 20's and were still listening to those dinosaur rock bands from the 60's and 70's.

But be careful what you wish for as the very same thing would happen roughly a decade later. Because by the late 80's/early 90's, all the "Hair Bands" (everyone from Motley, Whitesnake and Metallica) would also begin to look the same (eh, give or take), sound the same, and oversaturate the marketplace (ie: radio and MTV).

Enter Grunge. The record companies seemed to flock to these new bands because they were new and fresh, and their market was untapped. What happened ten years earlier between the dinosaur bands and the hair bands was the very thing that was now happening to the Hair Bands.

So now that I'm older now, I just see it as the cycle of rock music. Every band has an expiration date. Some sooner, some later, but they will all eventually be passed over for newer music. Unless you're The Stones and can continue to tour as a nostalgia act (because they haven't recorded a decent album in nealry 40 years!).

So, Marla, I know in the early-to-mid 90's you were still clinging to your rock bands, but you were still young and you weren't done with them yet. Me? I was older and ready for a change, and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, LIVE and Candlebox were perfect replacements for all the "tired and boring" 80's bands. Nirvana, not so much imo, but I think you get the idea.
You have to admit that all of those grunge bands had a singer who sounded like his foot is caught in a bear trap and he is trying to get out. You could make fun of anybody from the 80's glam metal bands vocally speaking, you could find worst of the worst vocals and they are likely way better than anybody from the grunge bands. That whole grunge movement in the early 90's has spawned what we have today 25 years later. That grunge shit influenced a generation of people in a very negative way. Grunge killed melodic rock and then after that the combination of rap, hip-hop, dance music and R&B dominance has all but killed melodic rock. Now popular music is rhythm based instead of melody based. I''ll stick with the hooks and melodies any day! I will take my 70s 80s early 90s heavy metal, melodic rock and guitar solos over grunge crap every time.
 

Romulus

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Glam Rock was literally created (whether by accident or intent) by Mark Bolan's first wife. I think he was due to go on Top of the Pops (UK pop show) and she placed one glitter dust on his face. This sort of caught on as Marc liked it (bought more attention to him...) and started to wear more glitter each time he performed live or on media. Then this glamour spread to other bands in the 70's and his good friend David Bowie literally took this glam to another level. I met Marc when I was young, he was very charismatic, charming and friendly. He cared about his fans and although he behaved like a star loving the attention he was also an artist who forever wrote all his own songs and I heard from a very good source he was surprisingly a good guitarist more than he showed in his public work. I only learned recently from youtube that Marc started a band when he was at school (he was around 15 years old) and one of his backing singers was Helen Shapiro! Its a small world....
 

OldHippie

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On other forums Kurt Cobain Fanboys/Fangirls can't take criticism for shit. I say one bad thing about Cobain fanboys/fangirls go apeshit. Its hilarious.
My, my aren’t we the touchy one. No one is going apeshit except you. Remember two things young lady, music is subjective, no one is right and no one is wrong. If you start a thread condemning a revered musician be prepared to take some heat.
 
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Dave78

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You have to admit that all of those grunge bands had a singer who sounded like his foot is caught in a bear trap and he is trying to get out. You could make fun of anybody from the 80's glam metal bands vocally speaking, you could find worst of the worst vocals and they are likely way better than anybody from the grunge bands.
Oh, I disagree. While some Grunge vocalists may have had a reputation for brooding (namely Cobain and Vedder), I think Layne Staley and Chris Cornell were not only the two best vocalists of all the Grunge bands (although Mother Love Bone's Andrew Wood was also very good), they (Stayley and Cornell) were also the two best vocalists of the decade -- and certainly considered to be among the best of all the rock vocalists over the years (including Gillan, Plant, Coverdale, Rodgers, Ozzy and Dokken). But, hey, that's just me.

There were only two frontmen in the 80's whose voices turned my stomach; Kevin Dubrow and Dee Snider. Blech!

Well, three frontmen in the 80's if you count Hagar in The Mighty =VH=
 
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Marla 1976

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My, my aren’t we the touchy one. No one is going apeshit except you. Remember two things young lady, music is subjective, no one is right and no one is wrong. If you start a thread condemning a revered musician be prepared to take some heat.
I am a lady, but i am not that young. I am 43 year old. You are right, but you have to understand that i am emotionally hurt. I totally agree with you that music is subjective, but grunge music ruined Rock and Metal as far as i am concerned. Grunge turned the 90s into a musical wasteland. Music was great before Nirvana came along. I remember going to a party in February 1993 and they are playing " smells like teen spirit" on repeat. It was overplayed to death. You couldn't escape it. You have to admit that in 80's/early 90's metal was as bigger than any other type of popular mainstream music, like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, etc. Its hard for people to comprehend that, if you didn't grow up in it. I graduated high school in 1994. Ozzy, Metallica, Alice Cooper, Megadeth, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Poison, Slaughter etc were bigger in the 80's/early 90's than most mainstream musical acts today. That was really the heyday of metal. Lita Ford was bigger than most pop groups you hear today. I guess i am nostalgic of that era.
 

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