White Lion And Other '80s Hair Metal

[Gruno]

Another band that I enjoyed: Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys. Many of you know him from Billy Idol's band. I knew of the singer, Perry McCarty as we lived about 3 miles apart when he got the gig. He was in a local band named Warrior. They had one album on MCA. I saw them tons of times playing parties and clubs. His voice has so much power. He also has a unique stage look.

As for Atomic Playboys, they have the typical 80s hair band style but with that cheesy whiz of Stevens' guitar. He does all the textbook aqua net tricks he can within the album but it's the best cheese to spread over your animalized spandex!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Playboys

Atomic Playboys is the first studio album by guitarist Steve Stevens, released in 1989 through Warner Bros. Records. It reached #119 on that year's Billboard 200 chart and remained charted for 12 weeks.The cover art was done by surrealist artist H.R. Giger, who designed the Xenomorph creature in the Alien film series. The title track was used in the closing credits of Australian television network The Nine Network's coverage of Formula One throughout the early 1990s, whilst "Power of Suggestion" featured in the 1994 film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

Here is some info on Warrior and their debut album Fighting For The Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior_(band)

Fighting For The Earth was released in 1985 and though not a huge commercial success, the album became an instant favorite among underground metal heads

Check out that wiki link and read about Warrior's band members and the people they each ended up working with. It is a pretty interesting story that Warrior have.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_for_the_Earth

skip to :44 in to avoid the dumb intro:

[JIF]

Who likes a little ratt and roll? This is my favorite Ratt song. I dedicate it to birthday boy Stephen Pearcy.

[Digital_Man]

Most hair metal is not my cup of tea. I like some bands from the era but most aren't really hair metal. I can tolerate some such as white snake but not most. I like Def Leppard quite a bit but don't really consider them hair metal.

[everythingtoexcess]

I wasn't a big fan of hair metal, but there were some amazing players in those bands. Vito Bratta was just ridiculous. Reb Beach, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai...They were all on the hair metal side at the time. Night Ranger had Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson at the same time. As cheesy a ballad as Sister Christian might be, that guitar solo is not for children. I don't know if I'd call Damn Yankees hair metal, but they were singing and playing their asses off on that first album.
I hate 99% of the songs on the radio. I always have. But I miss the days when I could at least listen to a song I didn't like and be inspired by SOME part of it and recognize that at least SOMEONE in the band was working for his money.

[JohnTG8]

Y&T is the shit. Just saw them for the third time down in Baltimore in March. They totally kicked ass for 2 hours. Great White was also very good. Nothing fancy to me, just straight ahead rock and roll. White Lion I didn't get into. Ratt I couldn' stand the vocalist. Quiet Riot, Poison and Warrant didn't do a thing for me. Dokken I thought was prett good. Good guitar work and Don could sing. Zebra I really enjoyed and as one poster said Randy Jackson could play the guitar. I even liked his one album band from the 90's called Randy Jackson's China Rain "Bed Of Nails".

[ThomasKDye]

Anyone ever hear of Virgin Steele? I heard one of their songs ("We Rule the Night") from a terrible 80s movie called "Zombie Nightmare" and it actually was kind of fun.

[JIF]

What do you all think of these?

[GuitarGeek]

Oh yeah, I liked Body Talk. That was a good song.

[JIF]

Oh yeah, I liked Body Talk. That was a good song.

I actually bought the Kix CD Cool Kids because that song was on there. To me, it kinda sounds like Pyromania, in that Kix married AC/DC-inspired hard rock with synths and keyboards. Interesting fact:Nick Gilder co-wrote Body Talk.

[Yves]

As a fan of 'real' metal back then, I loathed hair metal. Hell, even the supposed 'real' metal of the 80s was mostly cheese but some of it survived the decade. I was into the likes of Slayer, Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Megadeth... and hated 'poser metal' as we called it. I wore denim, leather, and spikes not eye liner and spandex.

[3LockBox]

other than a handful of bands pre-1985; hair metal fell out of favor with me. I liked Tesla and maybe Dokken, but I mostly followed bands that came before, like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, etc. But even some of my fave late-70s, early 80s holdovers made some real crap in the late '80s hairmetal explosion.

[JKL2000]

I recently acquired a copy Mane Attraction, which was the last album from the classic White Lion lineup.

Wow, I'll bet it was cheap, right?

I could only get into these bands if they had a LOT of eye makeup and their songs were really bland.

[Facelift]

Van Halen is as close as I can get to this stuff. If I want to hear a quality guitarist, there's a million other options. If I want to be energized, I can listen to real metal or punk. If I want to be embarrassed I can just look at pictures of myself from the '80s.

[JKL2000]

Oh, and I'm an unashamed Vixen fan. They rock and are totally hot!

Hmm, I'll have to check them out. Wait a minute, WTF is going on here? Those aren't three blonde guys in over-the-top makeup and wigs, those are real girls! WTF are you trying to foist on us, sonic? We know Hair Metal, and real girls can NOT play Hair Metal.

[sonic]

Yes, Hair Metal was somewhat cheesy, but I don't think prog fans are in a position to point fingers.

[Gruno]

Yes, Hair Metal was somewhat cheesy, but I don't think prog fans are in a position to point fingers.

Definitely. To some, hair metal is just fun. Doesn't have to be filled entirely with virtuoso guitarists/musicians. I feel some take music so seriously that they forget to have fun with it.

[JIF]

Wow, I'll bet it was cheap, right?

I could only get into these bands if they had a LOT of eye makeup and their songs were really bland.

Definitely. To some, hair metal is just fun. Doesn't have to be filled entirely with virtuoso guitarists/musicians. I feel some take music so seriously that they forget to have fun with it.

Cue Keith Emerson and his flying piano, or Rick Wakeman and his caps-a-plenty.

[GuitarGeek]

Cue Keith Emerson and his flying piano, or Rick Wakeman and his caps-a-plenty.

Or Carl Palmer removing his shirt whilst simultaneously doing 64th notes on the double bass drum, or Chris Squire and his backgammon themed Going For The One era outfit, or Peter Gabriel dressing up as Narcissus or the Slipperman, etc.

[progeezer's ghost]

Not sure if they qualify, but to this day I still own (and occasionally spin) one of my fave albums from my youth- Skid Row's 1991 release Slave to the Grind. I love Quicksand Jesus, In A Darkened Room, and especially Wasted Time.

[JIF]

Not sure if they qualify, but to this day I still own (and occasionally spin) one of my fave albums from my youth- Skid Row's 1991 release Slave to the Grind. I love Quicksand Jesus, In A Darkened Room, and especially Wasted Time.

The critics may call Skid Row a "hair band", but they really weren't. Slave To The Grind is quite thrashy.

[JJ88]

Not the most glorious period for heavy rock music, but I do think Cinderella were a band that could have held their own at any time. The name and the image is still held against them, which are admittedly as hair-metal as they come, but the music itself is great hard-rock, sort of like AC/DC meets Aerosmith. The songs I know from the 2nd album 'Long Cold Winter' move towards a blues-rock sound which is more akin to (albeit released just before) what The Black Crowes did- and that band are still a popular draw now. Just shows how image can be a real drawback sometimes.

There were a few songs here and there I find palatable by some of the other bands. But Cinderella are the only ones I'd listen to much.

[arabicadabra]

Winger - yes, they were "of their time", but listening to Rod Morgenstein ply his time-manipulating tricks on MTV felt like a blow for the musos.
Whitesnake and Blue Murder were more like 70s rock bands to me.
And I love Badlands....

[ThomasKDye]

Winger - yes, they were "of their time", but listening to Rod Morgenstein ply his time-manipulating tricks on MTV felt like a blow for the musos.
Whitesnake and Blue Murder were more like 70s rock bands to me.
And I love Badlands....

Winger, Blue Murder, Mr. Big (of course) and Whitesnake (except for David Coverdale) always struck me as frustrated prog-rockers who did what they had to to make a dime. Extreme actually ATTEMPTED their own brand of prog on "III Sides to Every Story"... which tanked in comparison to their previous album. You can see why many of them dipped into their love of "proggier" efforts only as a sideshow at the most.

[Scott Bails]

Extreme actually ATTEMPTED their own brand of prog on "III Sides to Every Story"... which tanked in comparison to their previous album. .

Probably the most under-rated album of the genre. A real gem.

[Gruno]

The songs I know from the 2nd album 'Long Cold Winter' move towards a blues-rock sound which is more akin to (albeit released just before) what The Black Crowes did- and that band are still a popular draw now.

Ever heard their 3rd album, Heartbreak Station? Another good album from Cinderella. Wikipedia entry claims:

If compared to the two previous records, this album presents some differences in its musical style, being more oriented towards blues heavy hard rock instead of glam metal and being more evidently influenced by The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.

=======

Winger - yes, they were "of their time", but listening to Rod Morgenstein ply his time-manipulating tricks on MTV felt like a blow for the musos.

Why did it feel like a blow? Rod made the choice to be in the band and appears to have embraced it:

http://www.melodicrock.com

WINGER DEBUT REACHES 25 YEARS:

This August will mark the 25th anniversary of Winger's self-titled debut album, to commemorate this milestone the band will perform & record the first Winger album live in its entirety. This full reunion concert will take place on August 30th at The San Felipe Casino in Algodones, NM with Special Guests Warrant & Head East. In addition to the current line-up of Kip Winger, Reb Beach, Rod Morgenstein & John Roth, the band will also be joined by original keyboardist Paul Taylor for this show.

A limited amount of VIP Meet & Greet passes and full line of all new commemorative merchandise are available at wingertheband.com. Winger is currently hard at work in the studio recording a new album.

WebLinks: www.wingertheband.com / www.facebook.com/Officialwinger / www.twitter.com/wingertheband.