Continuing the series this episode focuses on Glam Metal. This is the 10th post in a series that began in this first post where you can find links to all of the other episodes at the very bottom. It should also be noted that another name for Glam Metal is the term Hair Metal.

It turns out dressing "nice", wearing makeup, spending a lot of time on your hair style is very appealing to women. This quickly became perhaps one of the most accessible and popular genres for females.

Let Us Begin

I chose to pursue this particular sub-genre at this time in setup for tomorrows episode. Glam metal was a dominate force at the time that MTV was still pretty much music videos all day long. That was actually a very cool thing. The acts that got the most air play were glam metal acts.

If you have been following this series you know I mentioned Glam Rock in some of the earlier posts. This could be considered a direct predecessor to Glam Metal to some degree. It should be noted that some of the Glam Metal acts also will take a little bit of the Shock Rock approach which I covered in this linked episode.

In this particular episode I will cover things the way I typically have, but I will also show some posters, album covers, etc that illustrate how this particular sub-genre markets itself.

My journey was in full swing. I was born in 1970 so I was pre-teen and in my teens during the hey day for this form of metal. All I knew is I really liked metal. I was buying albums left and right. I never really settled on a particular style as a favorite or a particular band until tomorrow's post. I kind of went from band to band and listened to many different metal bands. I actually liked quite a number of bands in this particular sub-genre at one point. It was never for their look, as I typically "heard" music way before I "saw" who performed it. MTV was a new thing and it was really only there that you HEARD and SAW at the same time, unless you went to concerts. I lived out in the remote cold parts of south western Colorado in the mountains. Metal acts did not tour anywhere near where I lived. I wouldn't get to start seeing them until 1988 when I started traveling to Denver (200 miles of mountain driving) with friends.

This does deserve a quick tale and an apology to some people in my past.

I began this journey living in Lake City, Colorado and having to ride a school bus 4 hours a day to Gunnison, Colorado for Junior High and High School. This is not an exaggeration. That is how much time I spent on a bus in good weather. I'd get up at 5 in the morning eat quickly and then run and catch the bus while it was still dark out. The bus would typically drop me off again around 5pm, I'd do my chores (splitting wood mostly) and have a few hours until I needed to go to sleep to repeat.

Well those of us in Lake City were usually the first on the bus. We tended to congregate in the back of the bus. It was not really a seniority thing on this bus, but who got on first and what our interests were. Most of us were into Hard Rock/Metal. We had our boom boxes, ghetto blasters, and whatever else you want to call them. During some years the bus itself had a decent stereo system.

We blasted a lot of metal. Blasted is not an exaggeration. Now about halfway to Gunnison is a very small remote farming/ranching community known as Powderhorn. It was primarily cowboys and people interested in Country music we picked up there. That type of person was also far more common in Gunnison itself. I would like to apologize to those people for the years I subjected them to my music without concern for their feelings. You have my sincere apology.

I guess I could apologize to people in High School as well since by the time I was a Junior and Senior I commonly walked around the hallways blasting music... including things like Slayer's Altars of Sacrifice song. Gee I wonder why some people thought I was Satanic. ;) Sorry people, though I do appreciate that you were understanding and even predominantly supportive of my music obsession.

As to these bands. They are predominantly United States based. I'll point out the exceptions when I reach them. To the rest of the world... "Sorry for all of this glam metal".

Quiet Riot

Band First Released: 1975
I discovered Quiet Riot simultaneously from riding the school bus, and from seeing "Bang Your Head" on MTV. I loved the song and of course had to go out and purchase it. It sounded quite different from other bands at the time.
Quiet Riot: Well Now You're Here, There's No Way Back - Official Trailer

Quiet Riot - Bang Your Head (Metal Health)

Quiet Riot - Come on Feel The Noize

Mötley Crüe

Band First Released: 1981
I first was exposed to Mötley Crüe by sound on my school bus. I really liked what I heard. I needed a copy of that album. The album was Shout at the Devil. I recall when I first got the album and looked at the cover I had quite a few WTF moments as I tried to decide if that was the band or a bunch of girls on the cover. I liked the albums up through Shout at the Devil. I remember Theater of Pain album with Smoking in the boys room as one of my most disappointing purchases. I learned from them that a band could change dramatically and not be so good later. Most of the rest of the world disagreed of course. They went on to great commercial success with the rise of that album.

Rise and Rise of Motley Crue (VH1 Documentary)

Shout At the Devil - this was a pretty bad ass song the year it came out. It's still pretty good.

Dr. Feelgood (Official Music Video) - I was not in to them by this point, but they were huge at this time.

Dokken

Band First Released: 1981
I first got into Dokken with their Tooth and Nail album from 1984. They were respected primarily do to their guitarist George Lynch having a pretty awesome reputation as a guitarist. Years later I would see them in Denver at Monsters of Rock in 1988.
Into the Fire (Official Music Video) - from Tooth and Nail.

Metal Mythos: Dokken

Twisted Sister

Band First Began: 1982
This band really launched by Dee Snider and the antics of their videos on MTV. Their personality and videos were larger than life at the time. They had some rocking songs, and Dee Snider has stated he frequently had his girlfriend (now wife) dressing him up in lingerie and lace, and him saying basically "if it is shocking that is good." There is another element of Dee Snider that is worthy of mention. The PMRC spearheaded by Tipper Gore (Al Gore's wife) had decided to put heavy metal in its sights to attack. Dee Snider ended up giving quite a good speech to Congress on this subject. I will include some videos of that as well.
We Are Twisted Fing Sister! Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Documentary HD**

I Wanna Rock (Official Video) - I went out and bought this album immediately when I saw it as an early teen.

Dee Snider's PMRC Senate Hearing Speech (Full) - Great speech.

Europe

Band First Released: 1983
Nationality: Sweden
This is the only band in this post that was not from the United States of America. They are primarily famous for the song "The Final Countdown". I remember having friends who liked them quite a bit. I never spent a lot of time listening to this particular band. Thanks Sweden for not making Glam totally the U.S. fault. :) Though Europe has a bit of a vibe of Progressive Metal as well. If not for the makeup and general look it might still be all our fault.

Bon Jovi

Band First Released: 1984
Bon Jovi went on to be a very successful act. They are obviously quite skilled. They were never really my thing. I did buy one of their albums earlier before they blew up big time. I respect their accomplishments, it just didn't do much for me.
When We Were Beautiful - I can relate to this title.

In And Out Of Love - The only song of theirs that early on convinced me to buy an album. It kind of has a Dokken vibe.

Livin' On A Prayer

Ratt

Band First Released: 1984
I really liked Ratt quite a lot when they came out. I listened to them a lot one summer. The same summer I listened to Wasp a lot. The music I talk about tomorrow would change most of that for me. That is another day though. Until that time, I enjoyed this band quite a bit.
Ratt - The Video 1985, part 1

Wanted Man (HD) - This was the video that sold me on Ratt, and this was my favorite song from them.

Round And Round (Official Video)

Cinderella

Band First Released: 1986
I kind of thought this phase of music was winding down some when Cinderella came out. I was wrong. They and bands I've yet to go over were quite popular. I remember hearing women from the local College talking about this band and what they would like to do to them.
Cinderella's Tom Keifer - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?

*Nobody's Fool

Don't Know What You Got(Till It's Gone)

Poison

Band First Released: 1986
By the time I saw this band I had an extreme aversion to them. This is one of those bands I could see myself skeet shooting and using the album as the target. This was largely due to the changes that came with what I'll talk about in tomorrow's post. This band Poison came onto the scene after my tastes had dramatically changed. This band is quite popular like Cinderella above, but they definitely were not my thing.
When Metal Ruled The World 80's LA Sunset Strip Story

Talk Dirty To Me

Guns N' Roses

Band First Released: 1987
Guns and Roses went heavily in that Blues based/Pentatonic metal approach. While some aspects may not have seemed glam, Axl Rose was definitely living the Glam Metal look and attitude. Slash is a respected guitarist and came from this band. I can say this is one of the only concerts I ever walked out of. I went to see Body Count, Metallica, and Guns N' Roses. They played 15 minutes of 12 bar blues(which I could do in my sleep at home) before Axl finally showed up on stage. The guy running their sound board should have been shot. This harmonica part came on and was mixed so badly it was shrill. My friends and I all decided to leave. There is an inside joke about the song "Sweet Child of Mine" a nerdy friend in High School and I were in Alamosa, Colorado at a Knowledge Bowl meet at the College there (Adams State) and my friend started plucking out Sweet Child Of Mine on a piano and all these college girls started flocking to him. I always slapped my head and made fun of that. So it was funny when I finally saw my yearbook and it had a full cover write up about me and had a caption where I was walking down the hall holding my head and it said "Deva Winblood wishes he had written Sweet Child O' Mine". Those jokers. ;)
The Story of Guns N' Roses

Welcome To The Jungle - the video that started it all for them

Sweet Child O' Mine - with over 400 million views it'd be wrong not to show this video

Winger

Band First Released: 1988
Kip Winger came out towards the end of this wave of hair. He was quite popular for a time, but it seems that would end up being rather short lived. Though it looks as though he may still be doing stuff.
Seventeen

Headed For A Heartbreak

Warrant

Band First Released: 1989
This is the last band in this particular post. It does not seem there were many NEW bands after this that carried the torch for this sub-genre. It is very possible there are some, but this is not a sub-genre I tend to pay much attention to other than when it first started and I was still casting my net pretty wide trying to find the sounds that appealed to me the most.
Heaven

Cherry Pie

Closing

If I am going to talk about hair metal I am not completely innocent. Here is a photo of me from 1989 when I was a Senior in High School and I am rocking a Mullet. Though I never did the makeup thing other than horror makeup on Halloween or when I was really young and tried to paint my face like Kiss with watercolors.

In previous posts I mention Metal Evolution by Sam Dunn and Banger Films at the beginning of the post. I did not do that this time. Sam did an episode of Metal Evolution on Glam Metal. It is of course well done. I hope you enjoy it.

Finally, I actually was very annoyed by how much airplay the following Aerosmith video got on MTV. I got to where I really hated this song. It is however, a perfect song to close out this episode on Glam Metal. Not because Aerosmith is Glam, but because of what the song is singing about. It fits very well. That may have been intentional on their part.

Steem On!