Slaughter were hair metal and were damn proud to be hair metal. Another decent glam band that came out of Chicago was Holland. The best sleaze metal bands as chosen by Davey Suicide Buy it, you will be pleasantly surprised. At that time their songs were a little longer and less good time/party oriented, but they ended up relocating to Los Angeles in the late-'80s, and eventually vocalist Bruce Naumann (who had been the last member to join the group) was working with an entirely new lineup. To sum the vibe surrounding this album up, I leave you with a quote from the bands vocalist, Janie Lane, who recalls, I walked into the foyer at our label (Columbia Records), I discovered a large, framed poster of Warrant had been removed from the wall and had been replaced by an even larger poster of Alice in Chains. KISS Asylum (1985) 3) This album was produced by Eddie Kramer, and it simply rocks. Dont believe me? All across the board, there are just too damn many to choose from: And all of this barely scratches the surface, so please include your own recommendations in the comments below! Britny Fox Britny Fox was in the same league as Poison and Cinderella in the hair metal band corner of rock in the '80s. ), Bulletboys singer Marq Torien was Ozzys guitarist for a brief moment after Randy Rhodes death. An album of pure attitude, arriving when most glam bands were changing over to pop metal. Def Leppard officially stepped into pop metal territory with this one. Speaking of hooks, lets kick this thing off with. You probably remember them for their platinum and multiplatinum albums One Bitten and its 1989 follow-up Twice Shy, and with good reason, as these albums are classic but certainly are not underrated. Early 90's pop metal at it's finest, this is a hair metal fest from start to finish. Thanks for popping by, and stay safe! Lyrics are a bit trite, but this is a great debut. Also, their weren't too many other guitarists from this era that could rival Vito Bratta's playing. It kinda sucks when your biggest hit is a cover song, although probably nobody knew that back in 1989. In short, Vixen kicked ass and they proved once and for all that women could rock and shred as hard as their male counterparts. with Jim Gillette! As heard above, "I Rule the Radio," from the Heavy Artillery compilation, is a perfect example of Real Steel at their anthemic, fist-pumping best. 01. Wildside did release one more album in 1995 (on an indie label), but had undergone some lineup changes and a complete shift in sound by that pointironically enough taking a stab at the grungier style that had destroyed their initial shot at success. Vinyl Writer Musics principal Andrew Daly has released his list for the 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums. Better late than never and all, but oh how I wish I had known about Wildside when I was a kid. Brighton Rock - Love Machine Winger epitomized late 80's pop metal, and seemed to be the pinup boys for all the hatred towards hair metal with the dawning of grunge. Youll see. Their take on nu metal at the time brought the machine gun precision of a band like Fear Factory, but also a . 09. Bonus fact: future Wildhearts frontman Ginger was briefly a member, reputedly dying his hair black as part of the deal. Extreme: The thinking person's hair metal band The only thing louder than the clack of high heels on the pavement outside the Rainbow was the ker-ching of cash registers as Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, Ratt, Slaughter and the rest hoovered up the record sales. I also noticed that not too many loved my placement of Asylum, and I am good with all of that. Love it or hate it, but you cant deny that Superstitious slays and it might just be Europes greatest ever track. All of that horse crap aside, Out of This World is actually a pretty outstanding album, and while its not The Final Countdown, as I mentioned before, I tend to prefer it. With Kiss being one of the biggest names from rock's history that continued kicking in a (more or less) healthy manner to this day, I'm not sure you could really call any Kiss album underrated. Metal albums that I like and that don't have much ratings: consists of the albums I currently rate 4.5* or 5* that have roughly 50 ratings or lower. http://. An around pop metal romp in the early 90's, one of the last bands to come out of the genre successfully before the ship sank. Well, they did. (Harem Scarem is sounding AMAZING so far, pretty damn sure Ill be scooping that up as soon as I can!) Maybe even an old T-shirt laying around! W.A.S.P. Roxy Blue. Many bands would have given up right then and there, and no one would have blamed Britny Fox for packing it in, but after all, they had been through, I suppose that wasnt an option. Less than two years later, they had already been dropped by Capitol before the end of 1993, in large part due to the fact that grunge was taking over. Nah. 07. The result? To this day, George Lynch's solo in "Tooth & Nail" leaves my jaw on the floor. Contraband - s/t Yeah, the Chicago bands none-more-unique selling point was perma-squinting frontman Stanley who, when he wasnt spitting out genius fuck-you anthems Jawohl Asshole and Fuckin Shit-Ass, lived on the street and had the malodorous clothes and propensity for shitting in public to prove it. The Best Underrated Albums of 2021, According to Pitchfork Staff Unfortunately, the album's lack of commercial success, coupled with being called out on Beavis and Butt-head and several other factors saw Winger disband in 1994 and remain so for the rest of the decade. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. Now, let's begin. The guitar tone is annoying, but When the Mirror Cracks has some KILLER songs. However, make no mistake-their third record Bite Down Hard, is a rager. Now, I dont know much, but I do know that if youre a band about to hit the road for a huge tour, you probably dont want to lose your frontman. All of that aside, this is an album where Great White was truly able to allow their undisputed talent to shine, and if you didnt know any better, you might actually think it was Robert Plant singing in place of Jack Russel on some of these tracks. Unsurprisingly, at some point they were going to get sued by the not-terribly-dissimilar band Hurricane, so they changed the spelling of their name to Hericane Alice (which is actually kind of awesome) prior to releasing their lone full-length, Tear the House Down, on Atlantic Records in 1990. Here are 20 bands from the '90s you probably forgot about The new issue of Metal Hammer features two different covers: Sabaton and Babymetal! Tracks like "Let Go," "Dead Inside," and "Painting The White To Grey" absolutely crush. 13 Most Underrated Hair Metal Albums Of All Time!! - YouTube Rounding out this powerhouse line-up was Share Ross on bass and the thunderous Roxy Petrucci on drums, who is as hard a hitting drummer as youll ever hear. When it comes down to it, the 1980s was an interesting time in general. You remember Great White, right? Who ever thought that Def Leppard could make an album that would outsell Pyromania? 13 Most Underrated Hair Metal Albums Of All Time!! White Lion are actually my second favorite hair band, but I know they won't rank high on any all time list simply because they were considered wimpy, mainly because they loaded their albums with love songs. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Heavy Bones formed in Hollywood circa 1990 and featured in its ranks guitarist Gary Hoey (who later scored a surprise hit with "Hocus Pocus") and drummer Frankie Banali (of Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P.). While reviews at the time were mixed, retrospectively, it has been given high praise. Thanks! If you dont, I promise youll regret it later. Queensryche is not a hair band per se, but this album bordered on pop metal and would fit right in with the genre. Guns N' Roses. One of many other early 80's albums that influenced a whole generation of hair metalheads throughout the rest of the 80's. Heres how it works. Gutter-level anthems Come Down Sister, Underground and Ocean Of Love were edged with goth and psychedelia that placed them closer to The Doors and pre-arena rawk The Cult than Van Halen and Motley Crue though they could still kick up a bar-room shit-storm as the comedy-tough Its Not The End Of The World proved. Bon Jovi's best selling album. If you listen to this album, you will be singing the songs in your head for years to come. The Nelson brothers could write a hell of a song, because every one on this album is catchy and loaded with hooks. The list is not without some eye brow raising since at least one album achieved gold certification in the United States of America but its a fun list nonetheless. If the opening melody of Rock Aint Dead doesnt grab you, you wont care about the rest. From there, Warner Brothers gave Rough Cutt one last shot, and the group recorded their next record in 1986, called Want You!, which also completely stalled. Life, Sex & Death had it all: a bunch of Cheap Trick-on-steroids songs, the muscle of a major label behind them and a homeless guy on vocals. I believe that they wrote songs that way because they LIKED pretty rock ballads. This is a band that was supremely talented but simply didnt hang around long enough to really make any waves. Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. While the era of 80s Hair Metal and Glam is mostly known as being predominantly male, several females infiltrated the scene and staked their claim as well. Stay tuned for a potential part 3! Thanks. Love Ted Poley's voice. Kickstart your hearts and shout at the devil because en route are more huge hooks, mighty guitar licks, and most importantly, more sleaze coming your way, faster and harder than ever. Easily Ratt's finest hour. Their first album Steel the Light borders on metal in an 80s Judas Priest-ish kind of way, and has one of the best pre-choruses ever written on the albums eponymous song. The band got moving in late-'80s Cleveland, OH and appeared on a couple of compilations (among them the excellent Heavy Artillery, which was my first exposure to the group). "Every great trend has top tier bands that define an era and become larger than the scene that blasted them off. Stay tuned for Part 3! The hair came down, the makeup came off, and Poison actually started to write music with a message. 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time - Rolling Stone Q5s first album is a classic but the second one was tragic. Not every spandexed hick who moved to Hollywood with a headful of dreams and a sneezer full of blow made it. Britny Fox is the only band to return from part one, and while they may have been the big winners last time around, not so much this time. If you see it, definitely pick it up and enjoy. Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! After even more line-up shuffling, the group finally settled into what would be known as their Mk.3 line-up, which would also come to be their most successful. It was this line-up that recorded the now dusty gem Rough Cutt for the major label, Warner Brother Records. Appreciate the comment. - Next to Under the Influence by Wildside, this is the best debut album not called Appetite for Destruction. 5 Underrated Glam/Hair Metal Bands | Aversionline This album kicks so much ass I had a really hard time selecting which track to highlight above, but the fast-paced energy and raging, bluesy riffing of the album's title track brought it home in the end. As we alluded to in our aforementioned first article, Hair Metal and Glam are often derided and chided as genres that are less than. Well, if the article did one thing, its drawn many fellow Hair/Glam loving brothers and sisters out of the woodwork, and for that, were thankful. The McAuley/Schenker albums don't get much love in general but, though they do indeed sound very late-80s, they're full of good songs and feature both main men in excellent form Their recordings were reissued on CD several years ago by Retrospect Records, howevergranted the disc is already out of print and fetching overly expensive prices on eBay. Speaking of late-stage Hair Metal, this record is about as late as it gets in that regard. The greatest hair meatl band album on parole with GNR??? The album is probably best known for its controversial cover, which featured a basically naked woman straddling a giant fishing hook. The Road to The Roxy: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal-Era Albums Part II Powerful, but still memorable. I suspect I am going to get flack for this, but despite what you might think, this all-female Hair Metal masterpiece is supremely underrated. A great early 90's pop metal album. I mean, as far as follow-up records go, this album is truly strong, and to expect the band to maintain, let alone reach the stratospheric heights of their now-signature effort, is simply unreasonable. Winger - In The Heart Of The Young (1990), McQueen Street should be in this discussion and in your collection. Kix had kind of an AC/DC vibe, but this album is pure hair metal. Google, here I come! Only time will tell. Good lists. Europe Out of This World (1988) If I was going to put a Great White album on this list it would be Psycho City, not Hooked. Less than two years later, Femme Fatale broke up in 1990, ending what could have been a promising career. That said, the album received middling reviews at the time, and Ace and the boys were forced to stick to small halls and clubs while on tour, but that has not tarnished this records legacy one bit. I would KILL to reissue the Tuff Luck album too. But the public proved resistant to the hard sell, and Vain were left sitting forlorn and alone on the sidewalk while lesser groups were whisked behind the velvet rope of fame. That said, there is another piece to this entire feedback puzzle, and thats the comments that went something like, You forgot this album, or, How could you leave out this or that one? So, we listened, and we took a great many of your suggestions to heart, and Ive added some of them to this latest edition. 10 Best Forgotten Hair Metal Bands - Rock Pasta 04. Instead, these New Yorkers are cursed to exist in a world that doesnt give a shit about a bunch of LOreal-haired dudes playing blockbusting songs with choruses bigger than Vince Neils Spanx collection. 02. This album defined early L.A. glam metal. I know I'm not alone in crossing my fingers that the band will agree to have their recordings properly reissued on CD at some point! Now, how about DMolls & Shotgun Messiah!?! However, it also proved to be not very radio-friendly in a couple of ways 1) for being a record by a "glam" band, and 2) for having rather mature lyrical content. Blackout in the Red Room has a couple of classics, too, though some of the lyrics get questionable for sure. A dud. Warrant has had the unfortunate fate of being arguably one of the best hair metal bands out there and arrive at the scene too late for what it wanted to do. Saigon Kick was a band that knew how to write one hell of a hook. I wasnt a fan at all. They quickly rose through the ranks and paid their dues through club gigs and were noticed pretty quickly, and in relatively short order, signed with MCA Records and recorded their eponymous debut record, Femme Fatale. Beau Nasty - Dirty But Well Dressed Completely badass feel, and I really think they wouldve ruled the rock world if the vocalist had made a better style choice. Stand by Me, I Cant Wait, Let Go, etc. While she may not have been a pure speed shredder, she more than made up for it with tasteful and melodic licks, which always fit Vixens songs like a glove. The Spandex-clad gems that turned the Sunset Strip into the boulevard of broken dreams. It was on the LA rockers' sophomore studio album where Warrant began showing what it was capable of, and while "Cherry Pie" definitely got the attention it deserved, you couldn't say the same for its follow-up, 1992's "Dog Eat Dog", despite it being a much better album. Let the bargain hunting begin, Id rec The Scream - Let it Scream, Lillian Axe - Love + War, Saigon Kick - s/t, Ratt - Reach for the Sky, Junkyard - s/t, Killer Dwarfs - Dirty Weapons, Some of my recommendations: Hey, you never got that with Warrant. But Stained Glass is A-grade arena rock like they used to make before Nirvana came along and curled out a turd in the punchbowl. So, what did they do? White Tiger White Tiger (1986) 03. Lets go twirl some drumsticks. IMHO opinion, there is not a single bad track on Hollands Little Monsters! That's a long time. The follow-up album "Blood from Stone" was released in 1991. Im too afraid to reread the rest of my post to see what else I mistyped. The album was well-received critically, but sadly, the band was unable to reward Warners confidence in them, and the album never made a dent in the US charts. Thrash and hair metal made for strange bedfellows, though nobody told Two-Bit Thief. No Warrant album has the original 5. 1. Surprised to see this at Number One? A bit more polished and focused than their debut, which I personally prefer over this one, but this is the album that blew the door open for the entire 80's hair metal genre. Packed with more hits than Illusion 1, I prefer this one over that one. Blackie Friggin Lawless. Its like Dee Snider said, Were Not Gonna Take It, and for Hair-Metalheads, we wouldnt have it any other way. No filler and great guitar playing. An album that is underrated though it would be their next effort, the aptly titled Hooked. On the other hand, the fact that it brought something any lingering W.A.S.P. Just great guitar shredding all over this album. underrated hair metal albums - cursooficiaal.com Bath Wake Me When It's Over (1989) Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. Had a minor hit with "House of Pain," but never really went anywhere. Had a minor hit with "House of Pain," but never really went anywhere. And how many comparable artists had successful tracks along the lines of "Stand Up, Shout it Out" or "Say Yeah!"!? But their debut is way more fun: a rough-arsed glam-punk gem that came on like Poison, if Brett Michaels had grown up in Cardiff and spent every Saturday night getting in a fight down Bogiez. More straight hard rock, than pop metal. When I wrote Return to the Sunset Strip: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal-Era Albums, I didnt really know what to expect. This, their best album contains the song "Metal Health" which is, according to Kevin DuBrow, the original FU song. Femme Fatale Femme Fatale (1988) As "glam" or "hair metal" almost became dirty words in the early '90s music industry, a lot of bands who got labeled as such in the past (rightly or not) tried hard to disassociate themselves from the label by diversifying their sound. I got TT on 1st end LP and it's sumptuous! Other tracks worth calling out include "4:AM T.M." Aversionline 2000 - 2023. There are tons and tons of other glam/hair metal bands that never quite received their due (hell, I'd argue that bands like Lynch Mob and Vain still deserve a little more love). Blending the best of 80's AOR rock with just the right amount of hair metal, the album features some of the era's best rock songs and two of the best power ballads of the late 80's/early 90's. . Wildside - Under The Influence ;t=2333s Totally overlooked upon release due to being a debut album of the genre released in 1992. Man, could Mike Matijevic hit a high note! Ironically, this record is probably regarded as Warrants strongest record from a critical standpoint, whatever thats worth. Sebastian Bach is THE singer of the hair metal genre. A couple of other amazing and underrated glam albums that didnt make this list (but easily could have)- So, that does itI think. If anyone at all loves Cock Rock, No Respect by Vain should be in their collection, and Davy Vains subsequent efforts have all been respectable. I am well aware that Bon Jovi is not underrated, but I wouldnt be doing my job with this list, if I didnt create a little controversy by stirring the pot, so welcome to Jersey, heres Jon Bon Jovi and his band of merry minstrels. It was formed by the same dude who invented the most popular and inherently-flawed-leaving-endless-bullshit-marketing-for-upgrades-rather-than-just-make-a-great-product-in-the-first-place piece of guitar technology, Mr. Floyd Rose, who, although he did an acceptable job of producing and engineering both Q5 albums overall, did an unacceptable job of engineering the guitar sounds for both albums, and did not have enough finesse as a lead player to make his solos sound pleasing (although he wasnt awkward like Steve Howe, he was no George Lynch). In retrospect, this album came out the same year as Nirvanas Nevermind, Pearl Jams Ten, and Metallicas The Black Albumit never really had a chance. Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. When it comes to underrated hair metal, I always sing the praises of Kik Tracee. Speaking of Vixen, here they are! Femme Fatale - Femme Fatale (1988) While the era of 80s Hair Metal and Glam is mostly known as being predominantly male, several females infiltrated the scene and staked their claim as well. Vinyl Writer Music names its '10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums' 04. Unfortunately, in most cases, the label stuck like a nasty coffee stain, while the attempts of self-reinventing usually didn't go well. They had a couple of songwriting contributions from Jim Vallance and Kiss' Paul Stanley (the former having co-written hits such as Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" and Aerosmith's "Rag Doll"). 10 obscure but brilliant hair metal albums | Louder - loudersound Best Song . Though there really wasn't much substance to the music, the scene was popular to the mainstream. I quipped about hipsters sitting in cafs and dredging Hair Metal the first time around. Read Part 1 of this series here: https://vwmusicrocks.com/return-to-the-sunset-strip-10-underrated-glam-hair-metal-era-albums/, Read part 3 of this series here: https://vwmusicrocks.com/the-headbangers-ball-reaches-its-edge-10-underrated-glam-hair-metal-era-albums-part-iii/, Andrew Daly (@vwmusicrocks) is the Editor-in-Chief for www.vwmusicrocks.com and may be reached at andrew@vinylwriter.com. It's also worth noting that their early tracks as Young Gunns were equally awesome, and the B-sides from Under the Influence are pretty incredible (to the point of being significantly better than some of the album tracks, not that it would've made a difference in the end, sadly). Doro True At Heart (1991) Mick parlayed the cache he had built up into a major label deal, with Warner Brothers Records, and with Marq Torien (vocals), Lonnie Vincent (bass), and Jimmy DAnda (drums), the BulletBoys were born. Like Joker, there's not a ton of information out there regarding Real Steel. Another great hair metal band that has gone totally underrated. As for the comments, they ranged from things like, This album sucks all the way to, This is awesome! I think Hooked was still a success, but Psycho City never got the attention it deserved. So being that I grew up on this stuff and have been doing a hair metal podcast for 20 years Ill lay on a few more underrated jems: BANG TANGO Psycho Cafe, DANGEROUS TOYS self-titled debut, LYNCH MOB Wicked Sensation, DON DOKKEN Up From the Ashes, FIREHOUSE self-titled debut, KIX Hot Wire, XYZ Hungry, ICON self-titled debut, BANYLON A.D. self-titled debut, CHILDS PLAY Rat Race, EXTREME self-titled debut, RACER X Second Heat, SLEEZE BEEZ Screwed, Blued, & Tattooed, and lastly Y&T, they have so many underrated albums it is mind blowing. Also, weve added in a few that we feel could have, or maybe even should have, been on the first list as well. Tesla had no gimmick. Whereas Skid Row got marketed as your run-of-the-mill pretty boy glam metal outfit from the get-go, their self-titled debut showed that they were capable of much more than providing quick and cheap amusement for the masses, and their sophomore album "Slave to the Grind" made the most of the band's prodigious potential. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The Tear the House Down lineup briefly regrouped for a 25th anniversary reunion last summer, but Bruce Naumann is now working with yet another all-new lineup. Q5 had two albums that would simply destroy you. Or the impeccable "Somewhere in Time," which honestly touches on a much more "authentic" level of metal or hard rock (akin to maybe Queensrche or something) with its prominent but not distracting keyboards and thought-out, composed leads? Some of the artists below released albums on major labels and may have done alright in their day, but they certainly don't get spoken of in the same regard as biggies like Mtley Cre, Skid Row, etc. 5 Underrated Hair Metal Albums - YouTube underrated hair metal albums. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). I tend to be a huge sucker for catchy songs, so some degree of commercialism probably flies past my radar, heh. Vixen Vixen (1988) A demo produced by Metallicas Kirk Hammett was followed by a self-titled debut album full of dirtier-than-a-used-hypodermic tracks like Doghouse, Too Much T-Bone and semi-immortal single Half The Way Valley. This album should be the focal point for Jani Lane's legacy, NOT Cherry Pie. Three junkies and alcoholic,is how Sea Hags own manager described them, to which sandpaper-throated frontman Ron Yocom responded: Nah, it was two junkies and two alcoholics. Either way, it goes a long way to explaining why these Bay Area sleazebags failed to set anything other than their own trousers on fire. Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. ConflictAddict 4 yr. ago. 05. It was mixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero (who also mixed Appetite for Destruction and .And Justice for All, to name but a few). People didnt give a shit then either. #bringstadiumrockback #besteraGreat White Live Ritz 1988 - All Over Nowhttps://youtu.be/gBiAnQXuF6w1- . Vain deserves not a little more love, but a religious following. They changed their name to Shotgun Messiah, fired their singer and eventually went industrial metal. You can read Dalys comments for each album of his Part II at Vinyl Writer Musics website. Connor Shelton described it as one of the few bands from the era to bring a level of depth . By. These are the forgotten heroes of hair metal. Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Next > R79 Forum Resident Thread Starter. The band got started in Los Angeles in the late-'80s as Young Gunns; signed a seven-album (!? And while the album never saw a significant spike in the number of copies sold, "Revenge" did manage to draw enough attention to give Kiss a new lease on life, effectively saving the NYC iconic band from drifting into obscurity. And yeah, anyone unfamiliar, Divebomb has reissued some GOLD in this realm, so pick them up while you still can: For every Axl Rose or Nikki Sixx, there were hundreds of also-rans, buffoons and no-hopers who crashed and burned before they had a chance to leave any lasting mark. To nobody's surprise, "III Sides to Every Story" followed that labeling trend as well, but what you could hear on that album was anything but stereotypical glam. The album was recorded at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 home studio, and Wildside was the first band other than Van Halen to record there.