Best Hair Metal albums of all time-25-21

Before I begin the countdown I just have a few more rules. Live albums and anthologies are not eligible for the list, just studio LPs and EPs. A band can have more than one album on the list. So here we go.


25-Poison-Look what the cat dragged in (1986)
This may be at the top of some people's lists. The playing is very basic, but this is an influential album in this style.


24-Smash Alley-Too late to say no (2007)
Chicago's Smash Alley were active back in the hair metal hey day, but this wasn't released until just a few years ago. Very solid hair metal with strong riffs. If they have left the two ballads off then I may have had the album even higher on the list.


23-Witch-The hex is on (1984)
This EP was very rough and raw. These guys had a sound somewhere between early Motley Crue and WASP.


22-LA Guns-s/t (1988)
This is short and to the point. Nothing fancy, but just slick hair metal.


21-TKO-In your face (1984)
Such an underrated band. I liked all their albums, but this was the best one.

Numbers 20-16 coming Friday.

Underrated and overrated 70's albums

I think I did one of these lists for 80's album so now maybe I'll tackle the 70's. Here are five albums that I overrated at one time and five that I underrated.




Underrated

1-Led Zeppelin-3
This one didn't click with me for years just because it was way more mellow than I was used to. It has grown on me and I glad that it is an album with it's own personality.

2-Rush-Caress of steel
Not everyone's favorite Rush album for sure. Odd around the edges and perhaps that's why it stands out for me.

3-Aerosmith-Get your wings
This one often gets left in the shadows of album like Rocks and Toys in the attic. It's more subtle, but the grooves are solid.

4-TKO-Let it roll
Known more for their 80's output, but this 1979 release was a solid Boston inspired album that didn't work for me in the mid-80's. In recent years I came around.

5-KISS-Hotter than hell
I used to skip past this one for most of their other mid-70's albums. Now I think it's one of their 4-5 best of their long career.

Overrated
1-Deep Purple-Who do we think we are
I always put this in with their fine string of early 70's albums, but really it's a mixed bag.

2-AC/DC-High Voltage (US version)
All their other 70's efforts rock and this one has some fine songs, but some snoozers too.

3-KISS-S/T
I used to like this one just as much as the five albums after it. There is some potential there, but it's clunky too.

4-Alice Cooper-From the inside
I got really into this one for a while mainly just because I liked the concept. Then I realized the songs were not quite as good as the ideas behind them.

5-Judas Priest-Rocka Rolla
Once I saw this one a small step away from Sad wings of destiny and sin after sin. Time and repeated plays has made me realize that the distance is wider than I thought it once was. Their are some sparks here, but it's a long ways from where they would go with their other 1970's efforts.

TKO-In your face

Divebomb
1984/2008 Re-issue

I have had this for years on vinyl and the release date of 1984 had me thinking that it was recorded that year. Although a good album my thoughts were that they had indeed been influenced by bands who had released albums before that. However now with this re-issue (first time "officially" released on CD by the way) the liner notes inform me that this material was actually written in 1980 and recorded in 1981 with a different line-up than the one pictured on the old record jacket. Now those three years change a lot because doing this kind of stuff in 1981 puts them ahead of a lot other hard rock bands because the real explosion was still a couple of years away. So with this new knowledge I think that knocks this album up half a peg or so in the whole scheme of things. Vocalist Brad Sinsel was the only member left from the "Let it roll" line-up and they had wisely decided to drop the keyboardist and go down to being four piece. This line-up included a rhythm section of bassist Evan Sheely, drummer Gary Thompson (both would later be in Q5) and guitarist Adam "Bomb" Brenner. Some of the new members were more into metal and the band obviously saw the tide turning so they went that way as well. What we get is some rough hard rock with gritty vocals from Sinsel. I wouldn't say they sound exactly like any one other band, but I would say that fans of Y&T, 80's KISS, Twisted Sister and Black n' Blue would like this. It's a shame for these guys that this album had to sit on the shelf before Combat records picked them up in 1984 because instead of spending those three crucial years moving ahead, Sinsel saw members come and go as the album sat on a shelf collecting dust. This re-issue also includes ten bonus tracks and the booklet has lyrics and a background on the album.

TKO-Let it roll

Divebomb
1979/2008 Re-issue



I heard TKO's efforts from the 1980's which fell very much in the category of the style of hard rock that was popular in that decade. I never heard their debut back then though largely because it just didn't seem to be easy to find. Now I get to hear the re-issue and it's quite a different sound and vocalist Brad Sinsel is the only member from this line-up who was still with them in the 80's. The sounds here is very much entrenched in 1970's hard rock sound and even what we now refer to as classic rock because I hear parts of the Who, the Stones, early Boston and maybe even some mid-70's Alice Cooper. The keyboards actually make it sound maybe slightly older than it's release year of 1979. It's a slightly stripped appraoch, but by and large most of the songs work due to some solid vocals and steady if not overwhelming approach to their music. I was shocked by this sound because it has arena rock written all over it. When I first heard it wasn't at all what I was expecting from a band whose other albums were far more along the lines of a hair metal sound. However after this release their label ran into troubles, members left and vocalist Sinsel ended up recruiting a new line-up with new ideas for the next album. Despite the obvious differences in style between this and the sophomore album "In your face" I can still honestly say that the band sounds comfortable with both sounds. I suppose was just due to the members playing off their influences and the two different line-ups followed some different bands. TKO did get to tour the Kinks, Cheap Trick and Heart back around this album came out, but their prospects were soon going to change due to label problems. "Let it roll" was a fine debut even though the band would eventually follow a different avenue. The re-issue includes nine bonus tracks recorded at a radio session in 1978 plus a booklet with lyrics and some history on the band.