Hair Metal.
Although I was born in the later years of this music genre, there has always been something that has made me love to this genre and style. It started when I got my first Motley Crue CD (Dr. Feelgood) 7 years ago and I have created a collection and become an expect of sorts on the genre. I have a few bands that are personal favorites, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, KISS (the non-makeup years) W.A.S.P., and Poison. I have almost all of the CDs by these artists and continue to support them with their new music. Some other artists that I have strong liking towards include Ratt, L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat, Warrant, and Slaughter. There are some other bands that I enjoy that often get mis-labeled as hair bands, Def Leppard, Jackyl, and Skid Row. There are dozens of other bands out there that are as good or even better than the ones mentioned above; (Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Winger, White Lion, and Cinderella).
It is tough to defend these bands as far as musical merit goes. The songs are straight forward in every sense of the word. The look is unorthodox and the music is formulaic. But, I always enjoyed the music for the entertainment value. It is over the top, but there is certain level of showmanship that makes the music good. Watching Decline of Civilization II, recently, I tried to see if I could better understand the genre or give the genre some deeper meaning, but couldn't.
For those who have not seen it, do yourself a favor and go find it or wait for it to appear on TV. Essentially it is a documentary of heavy metal in the late 1980s, focusing on the L.A. hair bands, but also containing. The musicians interviewed in the film (the majority of the interviews were with artists from minor bands, but a few better known bands were mixed in), came across as un-educated guys who really just liked having a good time. The film did do a good deal of for shadowing, the music was becoming being over populated with too many bands, many of which had better looks than talent. With the exception of a somewhat up and coming band (a few albums had been released, but had yet to reach their peak), Megadeth. The most famous scene is probably with Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. Holmes is seen drinking vodka straight from the bottle, literally pouring it down, while sitting in his pool, with his mother of all people sitting in the side of the pool looking on in disgust. The interview consists of basic questions; why do you do this, where do you see yourself in 10 years, how does it feel to be this big star etc. Holmes says he is a full blown alcoholic and predicts he will be dead in 10 years and tries to get his mother to drink with him. Ultimately, painting these artists are really people we should feel for, not envy. Though, I think it should be noted that the director did select to interview a guy who is nicknamed "the mean-motherfucking-man" by his bandmates and had his band leader say that Holmes is only good at two things, getting drunk and playing guitar, and is generally considered one of the most outrageous and reckless people of the metal community. On a happier note, he was also married to Lita Ford for a couple of years. This interview and the film as a whole shined a new light onto the scene, one that was much grittier and darker that it appeared on the cover.
But here we are 20 years later and many of these bands that were once dismissed continue to tour and make new music. Almost all of the big bands still exist, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue both have big tours. Bon Jovi somehow managed to navigate the changing times of the 90s and still sell millions of records, every album released post 1990 has gone at least gold or platinum. Some of these bands have undergone lineup changes, but still keep charging onward. There is even an emerging market of new bands that borrow heavily upon the sound and look of the 1980s. The one people would most recognize is Steel Panther, (The Darkness and Beautiful Creatures are others of note) but in Sweeden there are many bands out there that copy the look and sound (Crash Diet, Vains of Jenna, Hardcore Superstar). A revival of sorts is going on, which is amazing to see since the music, will not go away.
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