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L57NT
A genre that is often misunderstood by metalheads themselves who tend to dismiss this music on sight. There were several types of hair (glam) metal, but a central case boils down to a certain combination of classic metal with glam and hard rock (of a Slade, Kiss, AC/DC kind) and sometimes AOR (Survivor, etc). Major-scaled metal riffs are not rare, borderline bluesy hard rock riffs aren't rare either. It can be melancholic and more 'serious' like Dokken or King Kobra, but it can also be of a partytime variety, joyful almost in a pop-punkish way, like Tigertailz or Wrathchild. Of course there were many bands in between like White Lion or Stryper, not to mention other varieties: very bluesy of Cinderella, sleazy like L.A. Guns and Vain, and so on. And glam metal wasn't always 'soft' and that radio-friendly as many believe: to some of the above can also be added Madam X, Teeze, Diamond Rexx, riff-tastic London and Keel with strong macho rock star aesthetics...
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L57NT
... also there were W.A.S.P. and Twisted Sister who had both pure heavy metal and a more commercial side; the former band eventually became a regular heavy metal band since "The Headless Children" at least, and the latter 100% hair metal one in the second half of the 80s. Actually, in the early-to-mid 80s many hair metal bands usually had a number of 'true and pure' classic metal songs in their repertoire, but things gradually changed over time. Bon Jovi, who had fitted relatively well the genre at first, finally lost their metallic edge with "Slippery When Wet" released, but some people consider this album an exemplary hair metal one. Since then bands like Vixen also became a part of "hair metal" too. Add to this Faster Pussycat and others who shifted towards pure sleazy hard rock, abandoning metal altogether, but still being associated with "hair metal", and Mötley Crüe drifting further away from metal by the end of the 80s. That's the origin of all the confusion up to this day.
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Nick-Valentine
No, this genre wasn’t "often misunderstood" — it was largely rejected because of its aesthetics. That hasn’t changed much, although certain scenes these days actively push this campy, flamboyant femboy style. Forty years ago, though, things were completely different. On top of that, hair metal simply produced a massive wave of bad bands that ended up crowding out the good ones. Record labels flooded the market with acts that all looked the same, sounded the same, and had about the same mediocre level of talent. It wasn’t until Guns N’ Roses came along that things shifted — until the grunge wave came in and buried the genre for good.
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L57NT
I am not discussing acceptance or rejection. The point is that metalheads have a vague idea of the scene in this case, precisely because they reject asthetics from the start and thus don't care to dig deeper. This is not to say people will like glam once they explore it, just to clarify the things. As of music quality, it's a matter of taste but I honestly don't share that common opinion declared by you. I'd say the very late 80s thrash metal actually scored worse: many bands failed at trying to become proggier and "smart", and/or simply lost their primal rawness and brutality over time, giving nothing in return. In glam there were more of older bands who didn't deterioate at all (like Ratt) and newcomers with awesome debuts (like Shotgun Messiah or Sleeze Beez). Also worth noting that glammers actually toned down the flamboyant looks by the end of the 80s (except for the "bubbleglam" sub-scene), apparently due to the GnR influence.
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Nick-Valentine
You're right that surface-level dismissal often leads to a distorted picture — I see it the same way. I’m not out to completely devalue the genre; I’ve been listening to this music myself for over 30 years. Of course there were talented musicians and original bands within the hair metal scene. My point is more that the heavy commercialisation, especially in the latter half of the ’80s, unleashed a flood of generic acts that were barely distinguishable from one another — visually or musically. That not only skewed public perception but also buried a lot of genuinely good bands. Sure, some metalheads never made the effort to dig deeper, and that’s part of the issue — but this impression didn’t come out of nowhere. It was the result of an oversaturated market and an aesthetic deliberately designed for mass appeal. And yes, other subgenres like thrash were also showing signs of creative fatigue at the time.
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breddie_sucks
People do be calling these fellas androgynous, I find the European country side black metal artist even more androgynous
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bobo9390
Popularity is one of the biggest factors in determining a Mallcore band. Plus the heavy emphasis on a particular aesthetic. Catchy songs with flashy music videos. A fanbase that (at the time) was predominantly teens and twenty somethings. Alt Rock really set things in motion but hair metal absolutely set the stage. Especially the super poppy bands like Poison.
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ScrobbleAddict
Aka that kind of metal that is no metal or even a real genre of music but more just a haircut. That kind of haircut most people had in the 80s lol
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SiarheiBokhan
Hey! Try this Belarusian glam rockers!!! http://www.lastfm.ru/music/Stardust+Circus
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CapricornSun33
Hair metal is NOT metal, it's pop-oriented hard rock. But to be honest, I like some of this music. Sure, it was dumb and carefree but that's part of its appeal and musically, it was not as bad as its reputation. And I'm a 30-year old guy who never actually lived the hair metal days so it's not a nostalgia thing.
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goatrance-god
QUEM QUISER TROCAR DICAS DE DOWNLOADS E FAZER AMIZADE ADD: AOR\HARD ROCK\POP METAL = DEUS
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