Glam Metal in the 1980s

Not all of the 1980s metal scene was of a tightly permed hair and polished singles and albums. However, a fair number of groups and artistes did rise to prominence with a combination of glam inspired excess, 1970s rocks riffs and plenty of air punching choruses!

Among those who came to prominence were Motley Crue, Poison and Bon Jovi who owed there inspirations to T Rex, New York Dolls, Kiss, Aerosmith and the legendary Alice Cooper. Glam Metal in the 1980s was pure Hollywood sleaze at its finest, groups like Motley Crue emerged from the Sunset Strip clubs to chart success instantly and the release of the Dr Feelgood album in 1989, ironically, there success came after the band cleaned up there personal habits that the feelgood factor arrived.

Another band that moved based to LA was Poison, they moved from philadelphia and that move helped them earn enormous success with the 1988 album Open up and say Ahh!, this was due to the big chart topping hit Every Rose has it's Thorn in America and the UK.

Not to be outdone on the perm fronts, 2 bands emerged in the mid 1980s with great energy and masses of hair. From New Jersey Bon Jovi arrived with the huge iconic hit Livin' on a Prayer and the release of Slippery when wet album saw the emergence of more great hits such as Wanted Dead or Alive and you give love a bad name.

On the strength of this the Power Ballads were born and one of the most significant ones in the 1980s arrived from a Swedish Group called Europe. They had a huge international hit with The Final Countdown in 1986 although this was there peak commercially it did encourage many others to continue in this vain.

Alice Cooper made a brief appearance towards the end of the eighties when he released Poison to help cement his position as the glam king of metal. As with most genre of music it has a start, a peak and a decline and with the disparaging remarks to HAIR METAL mainly from the grunge brigade, the era of glam metal was wound down as most changed styles and other genre's took over.

Although the bands were colourful on and off the stage nothing should be taken away from the music they produced and this led to a revival of sorts in 2003 when Darkness revived the genre with Permission to Land, but sadly it didn't last long. Keep the faith!

Recommended listening from the Glam boys