Monday, April 09, 2012

Top Hair Metal albums of all time

I have contemplating doing this list for some time and there are plenty of reasons to do it and plenty of reasons not. Ultimately I have decided to do a Top 25 all time Hair Metal albums list. I'll probably do it as a countdown in sets of five and then put the whole list together at the end.
Before I begin the lists I wanted to add come clarifications and lay down ground rules. I think the term hair metal is a big broad and some people may include bands that others would not. I have seen Ozzy and the Cult end up on Hair Metal lists. Ozzy is (or before his mind completely rotted) was metal, just metal. The Cult are more of a rock band.
Here are some clarifications from me.

Are Van Halen hair metal? I may give get plenty of people who disagree with me, but for the sake of this list I am going to say. If you ask for a reason I'll say because they started in the 70's and their sound owes more 70's hard rock than to the hair metal that was so big in the 80's. They were a major influence on hair bands, but they will not be included on this list.

You like Hanoi Rocks, Metal Mark. Are they hair metal? Yes, I love Hanoi Rocks. They along with Soho Roses, Trashcan Darlings, Queeny Blast Pop and others had a hair metal look, but their sound owed much more to 70's glam like the New York Dolls, Sweet, Slade, early Alice Cooper and others. So not Hanoi Rocks are not hair metal.

Now for others:
WASP/Lizzy Borden and others with some metal in their sound-These bands are heavier than many others in this category, but I am going to say yes to including them in hair metal although for WASP their earlier albums fall into hair metal and the later albums are more metal.

Def Leppard-I think Def Leppard went from NWOBHM to hard rock to AOR. So are they hair metal? I'll say yes except for their NWOBHM phase.

Twisted Sister-I debated long and hard on this one because they don';t sound a lot like other hair metal bands yet again they really are not metal enough or 70's glam enough to be excluded so I'll yes they are hair metal.

Now I have to start on my list. Hope to have the first batch out tonight.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Look forward to the list - so far I agree with your criteria!

11:25 AM  

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