For people of my age who grew up during the 80s, Hair metal was basically it. For whatever reason hair Metal was very much the mainstream during the years 1984 ish to about 1989, when it imploded horribly. We should all be thankful. It is something that is looked back upon now as very strange and is a large source of mirth. But at the time, bands like Maiden , Slayer, Anthrax etc were considered to be a long way out there. Punk had died a death and the new Wave was never quite upto much. There was Snyth pop, whoever laughs at hair metal also laughs at this, at least the metal guys didn't cry at a nice sunset chaps. Pop music was dreadful, it was the age of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, think early Kylie and Rick Astley.
With hindsight there was obviously a lot of great music being produced, but it was not like now when you could get access to almost everything. Then if it was played on the radio and the record store had it , then you could get it. Otherwise you had to borrow and tape other peoples copies. We didn't really have alternative radio in Adelaide, country Australia, and so what you heard was what you got.
So hair metal being the mainstream meant that was what we got. Within the somewhat ridiculous posing and guys saying how tough they were and how many chicks they were sleeping with whilst wearing mascara, lace and having more time spent on their hair than teenage girls , there was the hair Metal Ballad. Every single band from this time produced at least one Ballad.
Name the bands and you can name the ballad
Poison - every Rose has it's thorn
Skid Row - I remember you
Whitesnake - Here I go again (ok only just a ballad) , Is this Love
Warrant - Heaven
Pursuit of Happiness - Pressing Lips
Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home
Extreme - More than Words
Bon Jovi - well almost every song - but let's go with Wanted Dead or Alive
Def Leppard - Love Bites
Even Guns and Roses who aren't really considered hair metal - although look at Axl in Welcome to the Jungle - released Sweet Child of mine , which is a ballad, sorry but it is.
Interestingly, this somewhat strange musical trend was started by Motley Crue, with Home Sweet Home. Now, I was a Crue fan, i still am to a certain extent, in so far as i like the pantomime aspect to them. When I was 13 ,14 though, i thought these guys were cool. The fact they had anything to do with a music trend is something not many people would actually expect. Home sweet home, was actually written by Tommy lee, who actually comes across as a pretty interesting type of guy.
Here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBiETZFOrFc&feature=related
It isn't bad song, and is quite poignant in many respects. it is the song that started it all.
Now i am going to talk about a couple of the less well known songs, i mean if you haven't heard Sweet Child of Mine, then please stop reading and go and listen to every song and album I have mentioned then come back and we will start from the beginning. I think love Bites is pretty poor and haven't ever had much time from Whitesnake.
So you may have noticed i put The pursuit of happiness into the list. Now , the more observant of you will have noticed that these guys don't really belong on the list. They weren't really Hair metal, and I am sure that if they found out they were on the same list as Motely Crue they would be pretty upset. They were a band from Ontario Canada who actually released a few albums , their most famous song was I am and adult now. Anyway, they also released a song called pressing lips.
here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVvQmYHWJd8
So as you can see they are much more slacker rock than hair Metal. But this song came out around this time. It is a beautiful song, and as you can see from the you tube clip only 13, 000 people have viewed it. That is just criminal . To give you a comparison, 9 million have viewed Wouldn't it be nice!
I love the sentiment of this song, the whole, well this is me, take it or leave it. i will do my best but you know what you are signing up for.
Any way back to the fun.
Poison - every Rose has its thorn.
That is what Hair Metal looked like. That is a really weird video as well. It seems to cut from shots of the band having a great time, to a sort of a video story about a couple breaking up , and the band looking a little despondent. Anyway, the lyrics are actually pretty good. it is a massive cliche, not helped by Bill and Ted in their bogus journey. But actually, and I know i open myself to much ridicule here, the lyrics, chorus aside are pretty strong.
Here is a copy from Warrant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR-hkBGMrG8
I feel a bit for Warrant. That is not a bad song. Seriously, if that was sung by Garth Brooks it would have been an American classic. I saw an interview with the lead singer about Warrants career, Jani Lane. Jani said he was aksed to write a catchy song for their second album. So he came up with Cherry Pie. Suddenly the album became Cherry pie, the tour became the Cherry Pie tour, he was entered into Cherry pie eating contests , warrant became the Cherry Pie band and he became the Cherry Pie guy. he then said 'I want to shoot myself in the face for writning that song'
That's not so good. So here is a salute to one of the other great songs you wrote Jani. heaven is a good song and deserves a mention in my little hall of fame here.
You know you anted it and so it it is Extreme's More than words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrIiLvg58SY
That clip has more than 11 million hits on you tube. Compare that to Pressing Lips. Where oh where is the justice in that I ask you? More than words is not a great song , really, it isn't. What is it about? That there is something more to a relationship than just talking? And you just can't fix things by saying words. Well there you go, big news flash. I am getting wound up thinking about this , so am going to leave it.
There are a lot more Ballads, seriously there are so many that you forget. That said, there aren't a lot of good ones. Most are sentimental pieces of potted emotion designed to capture your mind with a catchy chorus and not much else. it was however a great time for these songs, one that was replaced by the earnestness of grunge , where everything was so serious and real, man.
Hair metal has a place, it doesn't belong in the greatest songs of all time lists. But it deserves more than a giggle and a footnote in the annals of music history.
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