'80s Hair Metal That Actually Holds Up
Every couple decades there’s been an uptick of interest in hair metal—that genre of hard rock that ruled the ‘80s MTV airwaves with massive power ballads, blazing-fast guitarists, and, perhaps just as importantly, rocker dudes wearing impossibly tight spandex pants, caked-on makeup, and long hair stacked to the sky.
At the turn of the 21st century, Britain’s the Darkness took the worldwide rock music scene by storm by featuring monster guitar riffs, undeniably catchy hooks, saucy double entendre-heavy lyrics, and preposterously high falsetto vocals from frontman Justin Hawkins.
And in 2022, the HBO Max series Peacemaker, created by director and movie soundtrack genius James Gunn, featured hair metal not only in the soundtrack but peppered throughout the show’s actual storylines. The elaborately choreographed opening theme of the show is set to the music of Norwegian glam metal band Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It.”
The Darkness and Peacemaker both honor ‘80s pop-metal with tongues planted firmly in cheek. And to be sure, the hallmark of the genre during its heyday was to inject an unbridled, over-the-top attitude into every aspect of the music, concerts, and music videos. Over-the-top production, risqué lyrics, excessive pyro and light shows, wildly inappropriate backstage antics...it was all about devil-may-care fun, and the bands at the top of the hair metal heap rarely took themselves too seriously.
That said, you couldn’t have a genre dominate the music industry for a good six or seven years without being represented by a few standout songs, right?
In fact, the argument could be made that a good number of songs from that era manage to transcend the dated production and schlocky videos that helped make them hits. In the end, many of them could be played on an acoustic guitar or a keyboard and still have an impact, even without the gang vocals, cheesy keyboards, and blistering guitar solos (although the blistering guitar solos don’t hurt).
Many of the bands included on Amazon Music’s killer [Re]Discover the ‘80s: Hair Metal playlist have found a way to stick around and remain vibrant and vital through the years. Therefore, bands like Guns N’ Roses (who were never really hair metal to begin with), Bon Jovi, Van Halen, and Def Leppard that are still popular concert draws, or still constantly blast on classic rock radio, or in some other way transcended the heavy metal mania of the mid- to late-’80s, will not be covered here.
The bands we cover below? Well, let’s face it: they would have stood the test of time much better had Aqua Net not been a factor in their careers. Because when you look past the eyeliner, the gaudy duds, and yes, the roll-your-eyes hairstyles, these hair metal bands had some legitimately good, totally rad tunes!
1. Ratt
The birthplace of hair metal was, without any doubt, the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. And the two bands that defined the dawn of the L.A. glam metal scene were partners in crime Mötley Crüe and Ratt.
The Crüe still tour and had the more successful career, with drummer Tommy Lee marrying TV stars and bassist and primary songwriter Nikki Sixx’s infamous near-death O.D. (which inspired the hit “Kickstart My Heart”) commanding the headlines and adding to the group’s mystique.
But Ratt were the more consistent band in terms of stellar songwriting. Vocalist Stephen Pearcy, whose signature rasp was the band’s not-so-secret weapon, wrote more about love and the pursuit of love than the promiscuity that so infatuated his peers (not that Ratt didn’t take part in the excesses of the day, as well).
And lead guitarist Warren DeMartini wasn’t just a shredder. The riffs he and the late Robbin Crosby (Ratt’s founding rhythm guitarist) wrote for early smash albums Out of the Cellar and Invasion of Your Privacy, especially, were heavy, crisp, and intense, while being melodic at the same time.
Biggest hit: “Round and Round”
Not long after Quiet Riot broke through on radio with their Billboard Top 5 cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize” and became the first heavy metal band to top the Billboard album charts, “Round and Round” hit MTV and took off. It went to Number 12 on the Top 40 on the strength of its fist-pumping chorus and eye-popping (for the time) music video.
Best song: “Round and Round”
It’s why Ratt kicked off this list: their most popular song is also their best—and might even be the best hair metal song ever. It’s got it all: pounding drums, sneering attitude, intriguing lyrics, a heavy-but-melodic riff to open the song, an arrangement that builds excitement throughout, and that DeMartini solo, immortalized visually when he drops through the ceiling and onto the dining table in the influential video.
2. Cinderella
Around the time his eponymous band was reaching phenomenon status with chart-toppers like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Jersey’s own Jon Bon Jovi became an accidental A&R person for his record label, PolyGram, when he brought them the hottest act out of the neighboring Philadelphia scene, Cinderella.
The label likely would have signed whoever JBJ suggested due to his unprecedented popularity at the time, but Cinderella made him look like a genius. Their debut album, Night Songs, implemented what would become a familiar recipe for success for ‘80s rock bands: first, release a proper riff-rock anthem to snag the metal dudes (“Shake Me”), then drop the sizzling power ballad to woo the ladies (“Nobody’s Fool”), and then land high-profile opening slots for tours supporting hit albums (David Lee Roth’s solo debut Eat ‘Em and Smile, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet).
Cinderella’s bluesy, blue-collar hard rock sound, paired with Night Songs going down in hair metal history as having one of the glammiest glam metal covers ever, made sure posterity judged the Philly kids as unfairly as any other band of the era.
Biggest hit: “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”
1988’s Long Cold Winter album represents the height of Cinderella’s popularity and the height of hair metal’s reign as well. This emotional breakup song is the quintessential power ballad, featuring tender piano verses that bubble over into an aching chorus, made all the more heartbreaking by singer-songwriter Tom Keifer’s one-of-a-kind growl.
Best song: “Shake Me”
Truth be told, it’s really a tossup between an ample handful of incredible rip-roaring melodic rockers. The list includes the third single from their debut, “Somebody Save Me” (although any song on Night Songs could be a favorite on any given day), and sophomore album highlights “Gypsy Road” and deep cut “If You Don’t Like It.” But the song that introduced the band to a growing MTV viewer base of young pop-metal headbangers is as relentless and exciting as they come.
Plus it was pretty much the coolest thing Gen-X’ers had ever seen when the band’s three string slingers swung their guitars over their shoulders and caught them in unison in the video!
3. Warrant
As party-hearty and fun-loving as the guys in Warrant were when they were on top of the world in the late ‘80s, it’s hard not to think back on them with not a little bit of sadness.
Just as Mötley Crüe and Ratt were the kings of the early glam metal scene together in Hollywood, Poison and Warrant, together, were the rightful late-’80s heirs to that throne. And even more so than the Crüe and Ratt, “Poison and Warrant” seemed to be uttered in the same breath more often than not during debates over who ruled the hair metal roost.
Poison hit nationally first, riding high on the heels of a wild music video for what would become a Billboard Top 10 hit, “Talk Dirty to Me.” But then Warrant released their debut album and went all the way to Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the ultimate power ballad, “Heaven.” Then Poison trumped them when they returned with their second album by hitting the very top spot on the charts with their own ballad, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”
So the gauntlet had been thrown, and Warrant singer-songwriter Jani Lane ended up penning some incredible songs for his band’s second album, Cherry Pie, songs that were far more involved arrangement-wise, and (mostly) more mature than those on Warrant’s debut, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (which admittedly wasn’t much of a feat, but still).
Only problem was, the label didn’t think they had an undeniable first single. They wanted something rowdy and dangerous, like what the band had done throughout their first record. So, almost on a lark, Lane wrote the silly, sexy anthem “Cherry Pie.” The video featured Lane’s future wife, bombshell Bobbi Brown, in various states of near-undress and compromising positions—which, of course, made the song a Top 10 smash.
The big ballad on the album was the lovely but heart-wrenching “I Saw Red,” about the singer catching a lover cheating, and it also reached Billboard’s Number 10 slot. But it was too late: Jani Lane would forever be known as the “Cherry Pie guy,” and Warrant would soon be thought of as Public Enemy Number One by the coming Seattle grunge movement.
Third album Dog Eat Dog would have been as well-received as Poison’s third album, Flesh & Blood, if it had been released just a hair (no pun intended) sooner. But by mid-1992, it was all Nirvana and Alice in Chains, and the album received next to zero label support. Lane never recovered from the bad timing. He passed away in a hotel room outside Los Angeles in 2011 from alcohol poisoning.
Biggest hit: “Heaven”
The real litmus test for whether a great hair metal song can hold its own as just a great song, period, is whether the tune comes across when played with just an acoustic guitar and a vocal. “Heaven” passes that test as surely as any other hair metal hit. Each element of the song structure—the soft verse, the buildup of the pre-chorus, the humongous chorus—is all but perfect and notably distinct from one another.
Best song: “Hole in My Wall”
In terms of pure songwriting, the Cherry Pie ballad “I Saw Red” is probably the best-written Warrant song. But there are so many rockers on that ill-timed third record, Dog Eat Dog, that make it the best Warrant record, by a long shot. The typical songs about girls still made appearances, but Lane also challenged himself lyrically on songs like “Andy Warhol Was Right” and “April 2034.”
The whole first side of the album, in fact—from driving opener “Machine Gun” to the ambitious ballad “The Bitter Pill”—is a joy to listen to when you’re looking for muscular, straight-ahead, guitar-heavy rock ‘n’ roll. “Hole in My Wall,” though, features an ominous riff and some interesting arrangement and stylistic choices that expertly straddle the line between metal and melody. Unlike some of the songs on Warrant’s first two albums, “Hole in My Wall” still sounds fresh, and truly transcends the genre Lane and Warrant were doomed to exemplify.
4. Dokken
The hard rock magazines of the time, including Hit Parader, Circus, and Metal Edge, always loved to key in on the supposed rivalry between powerhouse vocalist Don Dokken and fleet-fingered axe-wielder George Lynch. The music of Dokken, the band, however, was way more noteworthy.
Dokken is perhaps the best example of a “pop-metal” band, due to their ultra-melodic tendencies and the slick record production values of albums like Under Lock and Key and Back for the Attack. They delivered their fair share of grit and grime, too, though, especially on their breakthrough Tooth and Nail album, as well as their debut, Breaking the Chains.
In looking back on those first four albums, it can be stated with relative confidence that each one was markedly better than the one that preceded it. The band evolved from a fairly one-dimensional metal band, to a group that featured challenging arrangements, richly melodic vocals, and vicious riffs and licks that were always unmistakably George Lynch.
Biggest hit: “In My Dreams”
Technically the highest-charting song for the band was the ballad “Alone Again” off of sophomore release Tooth and Nail. But Dokken were never the most radio-friendly band, and “In My Dreams” was ubiquitous on MTV for what seemed like months. There’s no other track that better represents the band’s sound. It paved the way for another well-received single and video from the album (“It’s Not Love”), as well as a between-albums single called “Dream Warriors” that made major waves as the featured track from the soundtrack of the third Freddy Krueger horror flick.
Best song: “It’s Not Love”
While the core structure of a hit hair metal song often includes a soft-ish verse that leads into a super-gigantic chorus, true dynamics can sometimes elude the genre. “It’s Not Love” incorporates those elements and more, though, making for a captivating entry into Dokken’s catalog.
The song takes its time, building from a plaintively plucked guitar line into a fierce riff that gives way to the sparse opening line again for the verse. Then the chorus hits us with the big shout-along “It’s not love!!” moment. But wait, there’s an entirely new part after the chorus that elevates the song to an even higher level, a more melodic section that, it could be argued, is probably the rightful chorus. Or call it a post-chorus. Or, you could go back and call the “It’s not love!!” shout-along a pre-chorus.
Either way, it’s an awesome, swaggering rock tune whose sing-along qualities made it an in-concert highlight when the band broke it down and extended it, giving their fans an opportunity to come together for some premium audience participation.
5. Skid Row
The Skids were another band that, in retrospect, may have hit the scene a touch too late. Their self-titled debut came out in 1989, and while second record Slave to the Grind was a great success—it was the first heavy metal album to debut at the top of the Billboard albums chart—the good looks of frontman Sebastian Bach doomed the group to be lumped in with the more superficial glam metal bands that populated the tail end of the hair metal era.
Which was a shame, because Slave to the Grind is a metal masterpiece. It was much heavier than most of the band’s peers’ albums, and it could be argued that it foreshadowed the power-groove metal of bands like Pantera and White Zombie that would soon help grunge displace the “hair bands.”
Third album Subhuman Race was an even better example of melodic-but-ferocious hard rock that didn’t skimp on songwriting chops. But like Warrant’s Dog Eat Dog, it was too late--Skid Row were going to be thought of as a hair metal band no matter how aggressive their music was, or how good their songs were.
Biggest hit: “18 and Life”
Skid Row had two Top 10 hits off their debut album. “I Remember You” feels like the bigger hit, because by the time the ballad was released, the band were bona fide superstars and the music video seemed to get airplay on MTV every fifteen minutes. But “18 and Life,” also a power ballad, inched a bit further up Billboard’s singles chart, making it all the way to Number 4 on the strength of its dramatic lyrics that chronicled an accidental shooting death.
Best song: “Monkey Business”
Slave to the Grind’s album opener and first single wasn’t the heaviest song on the album, but it sure made a statement that Skid Row were not playing around. No scantily clad models in the video, no pretty-boy posing. Just a hard rock grinder that was as ominous musically as the lyrics were (the song serving as a warning about hard drug usage). It features wailing high moments and broken down low moments, and utilizes the blowtorch vocal histrionics of Bach to maximum effect.
6. L.A. Guns
L.A. Guns’ leader, guitarist Tracii Guns, was the “Guns” to Axl Rose’s “Roses” in an early incarnation of Guns N’ Roses, and that’s often the first thing people remember when considering L.A. Guns’s place in hard rock history. Which is an injustice, because their first two albums, L.A. Guns and Cocked and Loaded, were each slam dunks from top to bottom when it comes to raunch-rock fresh off the seedy Sunset Strip.
Biggest hit: “The Ballad of Jayne”
No shame in it: if you were a glam metal band in the late-’80s, you released the hard rockin’ single you wanted your band to be known for first, and then released a sensitive power ballad like “The Ballad of Jayne” to make sure the ladies came to the shows (which, in turn, ensured that many more guys would attend). And as ballads of that persuasion go, “Jayne” was a standout. L.A. Guns’s only bona fide hit, the lyrics lamented the infamously gruesome death of 1950s starlet Jayne Mansfield.
Best song: “Never Enough”
It’s really neck-and-neck between Cocked and Loaded’s first single, “Rip and Tear,” and its second single, “Never Enough.” The former starts off with a huge meat-and-potatoes riff, breaks things down after the solo, and ends by slowly speeding up the chorus until it reaches runaway-freight-train speed before fading out.
The band reached another level with “Never Enough,” though. There’s a killer riff to begin things, and a more-killer riff that the verse is worked around. Then an airy pre-chorus ratchets up the tension even more, until the gang-vocal chorus explodes in fist-pumping exuberance.
7. Winger
Winger. Probably the most unfairly treated hair metal band of all. And that’s not to say the group’s frontman, Kip Winger, wasn’t asking for credibility trouble with his heartthrob looks, perfectly sculpted facial stubble, and tendency to employ pirouettes for his music video dance moves. (Also, he was the bass player, but rarely appeared to be actually playing his bass in said videos.)
The band, musically, was insanely talented, though, with metal maestro Reb Beach on guitar and Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstern on skins. And the songs were premium examples of melodic hard rock that melded catchy riffs with arrangements that bordered on prog rock at times.
But then Mike Judge had to make the nerd in Beavis and Butt-head wear a Winger shirt, and almost overnight it was simply not allowed for anyone who wished to be cool to like the band any longer. Fun fact, though: Kip Winger rebounded to become a widely respected classical music composer in Nashville, Tennessee.
Biggest hit: “Miles Away”
One would think the single that got the most traction for Winger would have been the ballad from their self-titled debut, “Headed for a Heartbreak,” or their breakthrough single and music video, “Seventeen.” But it was single number two from the band’s second album, In the Heart of the Young, a gorgeous ballad written by keyboardist Paul Taylor called “Miles Away; it reached Number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Best song: “Miles Away”
It’s hard to rule against the unheralded but heavy-hitting Winger album opener, and the band’s debut single, “Madalaine,” but the best Winger song is “Miles Away.” It’s not a “power” ballad per se, although the chorus is sufficiently sweeping and lush. But at its core, it’s just a wonderfully written song that might be a little sugary for some, but the melodies and the emotional impact are awfully difficult to deny.
8. Whitesnake
Along with artists like Kiss, Judas Priest, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, and Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake were a blues-based rock band of the 1970s that decided to reinvent themselves for the glossy pop-metal world of the mid-1980s. And with the exception of Aerosmith, they did it better than anyone else.
Former Deep Purple vocalist and band helmsman David Coverdale began the group’s transformation with 1984’s down-and-dirty Slide It In, but it was Whitesnake’s 1987 self-titled release that became an eight-times-platinum revelation. The LP especially soared on the strength of “Here I Go Again,” which was repurposed from an earlier album and reworked to hit Number 1 on Billboard’s pop singles chart. Whitesnake also featured the ballad “Is This Love,” which climbed to Number 2.
Biggest hit: “Here I Go Again”
Coverdale himself would probably acknowledge that his future bride, the late Tawny Kitaen’s iconic acrobatics from luxury sedan to luxury sedan in the video for this track had as much to do with its success as the song itself. It’s undoubtedly a highly catchy number, but wow, when Tawny did the splits on the hood of that Jaguar XJ...
Best song: “Still of the Night”
Whitesnake were just another British blues-rock outfit struggling to remain relevant before MTV premiered the epic video for their self-titled album’s lead single, “Still of the Night.” Coverdale had just fired his guitarist and primary co-writer on the album, former Thin Lizzy member John Sykes (who would go on to lead supergroup Blue Murder to great glam metal heights), and found himself simply rounding up the coolest-looking players he could find for the video’s filming.
It worked. The Zeppelin-on-steroids sound of the single and the flashy stage moves of guitarists Adrian Vandenberg (Tygers of Pan Tang) and Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard) and bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne) paved the way for a level of success that surpassed not only ‘70s-era Whitesnake, but Deep Purple as well.
9. White Lion
A frontman with leading-man good looks and flowing frosted locks. A virtuosic guitarist who took the licks Eddie Van Halen passed down to his instrumental heirs and ran with them. A rock-solid rhythm section that looked and played the part. And a blockbuster ballad that made every teen girl in America and around the world go, “Awwwwwww.” White Lion had all the tools to make it big in the hard-rocking hair metal ‘80s, and that’s just what happened with their second and third full-length albums, Pride and Big Game.
Biggest hit: “When the Children Cry”
The lyrics of this tearjerker reference both family difficulties singer Mike Tramp experienced as a child growing up in Copenhagen, as well as the troubling worldwide events of the day that were sure to affect future generations. A finger-picked acoustic guitar, a heartfelt vocal, a cello flourish, and a tender electric guitar solo were enough to propel this tune to Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Best song: “Wait”
As with Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night,” this first single and music video from White Lion’s breakthrough album was one of the more exciting introductory rock songs of the “MTV Rocks” era. It starts right in with Tramp singing a bit of chorus along with a quiet bed of acoustic guitar underneath, and crescendos up to a blast of vocal and a ringing power chord. Then back down to almost a whisper of a verse that trails off before sudden dramatic guitar riff stabs usher in the true beginning of the song.
And that’s just the first 45 seconds! “Wait” is easily one of the best hair metal songs ever, and features a brilliantly composed thrill-ride of a solo from Vito Bratta.
10. Enuff Z’Nuff
Regular listeners of Howard Stern know Enuff Z’Nuff as their shock-jock hero’s favorite rock band ever. But even that kind of praise from on high cannot fully cancel out the band’s status as full-fledged hair metal alumni who willingly partook in all of the genre’s flash and flamboyance.
All the makeup Poison used for the album cover of their debut, Look What the Cat Dragged In, could not compare to the next-level cosmetic prowess Enuff Z’Nuff tapped into for the videos and press shots they used to support their 1989 self-titled debut. However, while their look screamed style over substance, their sound was all substance and style—with a much stronger emphasis on the substance.
The production had a sheen to it as bright as the neon green peace sign that adorned the Enuff Z’Nuff album cover. Chip Z’Nuff’s songs, though, were more Cheap Trick power-pop than schlock rock, and featured perhaps hair metal’s most soulful voice in Donnie Vie. Vie shares far more in common with Elvis Costello’s delivery than he does with any of his singing contemporaries.
Biggest hit: “Fly High Michelle”
Sister songs in soaring melody, urgent guitar, and bombastic drumbeats, the two singles from Enuff’s debut, “New Thing” and “Fly High Michelle,” were modest rock radio hits, but spawned gigantic hit videos on MTV as the ‘80s gave way to the ‘90s. “Michelle” did slightly better on the Hot 100, though, coming in at Number 47 to “New Thing”’s Number 67.
Best song: “Mother’s Eyes”
Glam metal was already well on its way out the door when second Enuff Z’Nuff album Strength hit shelves in 1991 (a.k.a. “the Year of Nirvana”). Too bad, because it’s a far-better record from top-to-bottom than its predecessor, a fact best-illustrated by first single “Mother’s Eyes.” The lyrics are a melancholy meditation on prejudice, while the driving, passionate music operates on a more refined sonic plane than any other songs that sadly had the misfortune of being classified as “hair metal.”
Every couple decades there’s been an uptick of interest in hair metal—that genre of hard rock that ruled the ‘80s MTV airwaves with massive power ballads, blazing-fast guitarists, and, perhaps just as importantly, rocker dudes wearing impossibly tight spandex pants, caked-on makeup, and long hair stacked to the sky.
At the turn of the 21st century, Britain’s the Darkness took the worldwide rock music scene by storm by featuring monster guitar riffs, undeniably catchy hooks, saucy double entendre-heavy lyrics, and preposterously high falsetto vocals from frontman Justin Hawkins.
And in 2022, the HBO Max series Peacemaker, created by director and movie soundtrack genius James Gunn, featured hair metal not only in the soundtrack but peppered throughout the show’s actual storylines. The elaborately choreographed opening theme of the show is set to the music of Norwegian glam metal band Wig Wam’s “Do Ya Wanna Taste It.”
The Darkness and Peacemaker both honor ‘80s pop-metal with tongues planted firmly in cheek. And to be sure, the hallmark of the genre during its heyday was to inject an unbridled, over-the-top attitude into every aspect of the music, concerts, and music videos. Over-the-top production, risqué lyrics, excessive pyro and light shows, wildly inappropriate backstage antics...it was all about devil-may-care fun, and the bands at the top of the hair metal heap rarely took themselves too seriously.
That said, you couldn’t have a genre dominate the music industry for a good six or seven years without being represented by a few standout songs, right?
In fact, the argument could be made that a good number of songs from that era manage to transcend the dated production and schlocky videos that helped make them hits. In the end, many of them could be played on an acoustic guitar or a keyboard and still have an impact, even without the gang vocals, cheesy keyboards, and blistering guitar solos (although the blistering guitar solos don’t hurt).
Many of the bands included on Amazon Music’s killer [Re]Discover the ‘80s: Hair Metal playlist have found a way to stick around and remain vibrant and vital through the years. Therefore, bands like Guns N’ Roses (who were never really hair metal to begin with), Bon Jovi, Van Halen, and Def Leppard that are still popular concert draws, or still constantly blast on classic rock radio, or in some other way transcended the heavy metal mania of the mid- to late-’80s, will not be covered here.
The bands we cover below? Well, let’s face it: they would have stood the test of time much better had Aqua Net not been a factor in their careers. Because when you look past the eyeliner, the gaudy duds, and yes, the roll-your-eyes hairstyles, these hair metal bands had some legitimately good, totally rad tunes!
1. Ratt
The birthplace of hair metal was, without any doubt, the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. And the two bands that defined the dawn of the L.A. glam metal scene were partners in crime Mötley Crüe and Ratt.
The Crüe still tour and had the more successful career, with drummer Tommy Lee marrying TV stars and bassist and primary songwriter Nikki Sixx’s infamous near-death O.D. (which inspired the hit “Kickstart My Heart”) commanding the headlines and adding to the group’s mystique.
But Ratt were the more consistent band in terms of stellar songwriting. Vocalist Stephen Pearcy, whose signature rasp was the band’s not-so-secret weapon, wrote more about love and the pursuit of love than the promiscuity that so infatuated his peers (not that Ratt didn’t take part in the excesses of the day, as well).
And lead guitarist Warren DeMartini wasn’t just a shredder. The riffs he and the late Robbin Crosby (Ratt’s founding rhythm guitarist) wrote for early smash albums Out of the Cellar and Invasion of Your Privacy, especially, were heavy, crisp, and intense, while being melodic at the same time.
Biggest hit: “Round and Round”
Not long after Quiet Riot broke through on radio with their Billboard Top 5 cover of Slade’s “Cum on Feel the Noize” and became the first heavy metal band to top the Billboard album charts, “Round and Round” hit MTV and took off. It went to Number 12 on the Top 40 on the strength of its fist-pumping chorus and eye-popping (for the time) music video.
Best song: “Round and Round”
It’s why Ratt kicked off this list: their most popular song is also their best—and might even be the best hair metal song ever. It’s got it all: pounding drums, sneering attitude, intriguing lyrics, a heavy-but-melodic riff to open the song, an arrangement that builds excitement throughout, and that DeMartini solo, immortalized visually when he drops through the ceiling and onto the dining table in the influential video.
2. Cinderella
Around the time his eponymous band was reaching phenomenon status with chart-toppers like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Jersey’s own Jon Bon Jovi became an accidental A&R person for his record label, PolyGram, when he brought them the hottest act out of the neighboring Philadelphia scene, Cinderella.
The label likely would have signed whoever JBJ suggested due to his unprecedented popularity at the time, but Cinderella made him look like a genius. Their debut album, Night Songs, implemented what would become a familiar recipe for success for ‘80s rock bands: first, release a proper riff-rock anthem to snag the metal dudes (“Shake Me”), then drop the sizzling power ballad to woo the ladies (“Nobody’s Fool”), and then land high-profile opening slots for tours supporting hit albums (David Lee Roth’s solo debut Eat ‘Em and Smile, Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet).
Cinderella’s bluesy, blue-collar hard rock sound, paired with Night Songs going down in hair metal history as having one of the glammiest glam metal covers ever, made sure posterity judged the Philly kids as unfairly as any other band of the era.
Biggest hit: “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”
1988’s Long Cold Winter album represents the height of Cinderella’s popularity and the height of hair metal’s reign as well. This emotional breakup song is the quintessential power ballad, featuring tender piano verses that bubble over into an aching chorus, made all the more heartbreaking by singer-songwriter Tom Keifer’s one-of-a-kind growl.
Best song: “Shake Me”
Truth be told, it’s really a tossup between an ample handful of incredible rip-roaring melodic rockers. The list includes the third single from their debut, “Somebody Save Me” (although any song on Night Songs could be a favorite on any given day), and sophomore album highlights “Gypsy Road” and deep cut “If You Don’t Like It.” But the song that introduced the band to a growing MTV viewer base of young pop-metal headbangers is as relentless and exciting as they come.
Plus it was pretty much the coolest thing Gen-X’ers had ever seen when the band’s three string slingers swung their guitars over their shoulders and caught them in unison in the video!
3. Warrant
As party-hearty and fun-loving as the guys in Warrant were when they were on top of the world in the late ‘80s, it’s hard not to think back on them with not a little bit of sadness.
Just as Mötley Crüe and Ratt were the kings of the early glam metal scene together in Hollywood, Poison and Warrant, together, were the rightful late-’80s heirs to that throne. And even more so than the Crüe and Ratt, “Poison and Warrant” seemed to be uttered in the same breath more often than not during debates over who ruled the hair metal roost.
Poison hit nationally first, riding high on the heels of a wild music video for what would become a Billboard Top 10 hit, “Talk Dirty to Me.” But then Warrant released their debut album and went all the way to Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the ultimate power ballad, “Heaven.” Then Poison trumped them when they returned with their second album by hitting the very top spot on the charts with their own ballad, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”
So the gauntlet had been thrown, and Warrant singer-songwriter Jani Lane ended up penning some incredible songs for his band’s second album, Cherry Pie, songs that were far more involved arrangement-wise, and (mostly) more mature than those on Warrant’s debut, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (which admittedly wasn’t much of a feat, but still).
Only problem was, the label didn’t think they had an undeniable first single. They wanted something rowdy and dangerous, like what the band had done throughout their first record. So, almost on a lark, Lane wrote the silly, sexy anthem “Cherry Pie.” The video featured Lane’s future wife, bombshell Bobbi Brown, in various states of near-undress and compromising positions—which, of course, made the song a Top 10 smash.
The big ballad on the album was the lovely but heart-wrenching “I Saw Red,” about the singer catching a lover cheating, and it also reached Billboard’s Number 10 slot. But it was too late: Jani Lane would forever be known as the “Cherry Pie guy,” and Warrant would soon be thought of as Public Enemy Number One by the coming Seattle grunge movement.
Third album Dog Eat Dog would have been as well-received as Poison’s third album, Flesh & Blood, if it had been released just a hair (no pun intended) sooner. But by mid-1992, it was all Nirvana and Alice in Chains, and the album received next to zero label support. Lane never recovered from the bad timing. He passed away in a hotel room outside Los Angeles in 2011 from alcohol poisoning.
Biggest hit: “Heaven”
The real litmus test for whether a great hair metal song can hold its own as just a great song, period, is whether the tune comes across when played with just an acoustic guitar and a vocal. “Heaven” passes that test as surely as any other hair metal hit. Each element of the song structure—the soft verse, the buildup of the pre-chorus, the humongous chorus—is all but perfect and notably distinct from one another.
Best song: “Hole in My Wall”
In terms of pure songwriting, the Cherry Pie ballad “I Saw Red” is probably the best-written Warrant song. But there are so many rockers on that ill-timed third record, Dog Eat Dog, that make it the best Warrant record, by a long shot. The typical songs about girls still made appearances, but Lane also challenged himself lyrically on songs like “Andy Warhol Was Right” and “April 2034.”
The whole first side of the album, in fact—from driving opener “Machine Gun” to the ambitious ballad “The Bitter Pill”—is a joy to listen to when you’re looking for muscular, straight-ahead, guitar-heavy rock ‘n’ roll. “Hole in My Wall,” though, features an ominous riff and some interesting arrangement and stylistic choices that expertly straddle the line between metal and melody. Unlike some of the songs on Warrant’s first two albums, “Hole in My Wall” still sounds fresh, and truly transcends the genre Lane and Warrant were doomed to exemplify.
4. Dokken
The hard rock magazines of the time, including Hit Parader, Circus, and Metal Edge, always loved to key in on the supposed rivalry between powerhouse vocalist Don Dokken and fleet-fingered axe-wielder George Lynch. The music of Dokken, the band, however, was way more noteworthy.
Dokken is perhaps the best example of a “pop-metal” band, due to their ultra-melodic tendencies and the slick record production values of albums like Under Lock and Key and Back for the Attack. They delivered their fair share of grit and grime, too, though, especially on their breakthrough Tooth and Nail album, as well as their debut, Breaking the Chains.
In looking back on those first four albums, it can be stated with relative confidence that each one was markedly better than the one that preceded it. The band evolved from a fairly one-dimensional metal band, to a group that featured challenging arrangements, richly melodic vocals, and vicious riffs and licks that were always unmistakably George Lynch.
Biggest hit: “In My Dreams”
Technically the highest-charting song for the band was the ballad “Alone Again” off of sophomore release Tooth and Nail. But Dokken were never the most radio-friendly band, and “In My Dreams” was ubiquitous on MTV for what seemed like months. There’s no other track that better represents the band’s sound. It paved the way for another well-received single and video from the album (“It’s Not Love”), as well as a between-albums single called “Dream Warriors” that made major waves as the featured track from the soundtrack of the third Freddy Krueger horror flick.
Best song: “It’s Not Love”
While the core structure of a hit hair metal song often includes a soft-ish verse that leads into a super-gigantic chorus, true dynamics can sometimes elude the genre. “It’s Not Love” incorporates those elements and more, though, making for a captivating entry into Dokken’s catalog.
The song takes its time, building from a plaintively plucked guitar line into a fierce riff that gives way to the sparse opening line again for the verse. Then the chorus hits us with the big shout-along “It’s not love!!” moment. But wait, there’s an entirely new part after the chorus that elevates the song to an even higher level, a more melodic section that, it could be argued, is probably the rightful chorus. Or call it a post-chorus. Or, you could go back and call the “It’s not love!!” shout-along a pre-chorus.
Either way, it’s an awesome, swaggering rock tune whose sing-along qualities made it an in-concert highlight when the band broke it down and extended it, giving their fans an opportunity to come together for some premium audience participation.
5. Skid Row
The Skids were another band that, in retrospect, may have hit the scene a touch too late. Their self-titled debut came out in 1989, and while second record Slave to the Grind was a great success—it was the first heavy metal album to debut at the top of the Billboard albums chart—the good looks of frontman Sebastian Bach doomed the group to be lumped in with the more superficial glam metal bands that populated the tail end of the hair metal era.
Which was a shame, because Slave to the Grind is a metal masterpiece. It was much heavier than most of the band’s peers’ albums, and it could be argued that it foreshadowed the power-groove metal of bands like Pantera and White Zombie that would soon help grunge displace the “hair bands.”
Third album Subhuman Race was an even better example of melodic-but-ferocious hard rock that didn’t skimp on songwriting chops. But like Warrant’s Dog Eat Dog, it was too late--Skid Row were going to be thought of as a hair metal band no matter how aggressive their music was, or how good their songs were.
Biggest hit: “18 and Life”
Skid Row had two Top 10 hits off their debut album. “I Remember You” feels like the bigger hit, because by the time the ballad was released, the band were bona fide superstars and the music video seemed to get airplay on MTV every fifteen minutes. But “18 and Life,” also a power ballad, inched a bit further up Billboard’s singles chart, making it all the way to Number 4 on the strength of its dramatic lyrics that chronicled an accidental shooting death.
Best song: “Monkey Business”
Slave to the Grind’s album opener and first single wasn’t the heaviest song on the album, but it sure made a statement that Skid Row were not playing around. No scantily clad models in the video, no pretty-boy posing. Just a hard rock grinder that was as ominous musically as the lyrics were (the song serving as a warning about hard drug usage). It features wailing high moments and broken down low moments, and utilizes the blowtorch vocal histrionics of Bach to maximum effect.
6. L.A. Guns
L.A. Guns’ leader, guitarist Tracii Guns, was the “Guns” to Axl Rose’s “Roses” in an early incarnation of Guns N’ Roses, and that’s often the first thing people remember when considering L.A. Guns’s place in hard rock history. Which is an injustice, because their first two albums, L.A. Guns and Cocked and Loaded, were each slam dunks from top to bottom when it comes to raunch-rock fresh off the seedy Sunset Strip.
Biggest hit: “The Ballad of Jayne”
No shame in it: if you were a glam metal band in the late-’80s, you released the hard rockin’ single you wanted your band to be known for first, and then released a sensitive power ballad like “The Ballad of Jayne” to make sure the ladies came to the shows (which, in turn, ensured that many more guys would attend). And as ballads of that persuasion go, “Jayne” was a standout. L.A. Guns’s only bona fide hit, the lyrics lamented the infamously gruesome death of 1950s starlet Jayne Mansfield.
Best song: “Never Enough”
It’s really neck-and-neck between Cocked and Loaded’s first single, “Rip and Tear,” and its second single, “Never Enough.” The former starts off with a huge meat-and-potatoes riff, breaks things down after the solo, and ends by slowly speeding up the chorus until it reaches runaway-freight-train speed before fading out.
The band reached another level with “Never Enough,” though. There’s a killer riff to begin things, and a more-killer riff that the verse is worked around. Then an airy pre-chorus ratchets up the tension even more, until the gang-vocal chorus explodes in fist-pumping exuberance.
7. Winger
Winger. Probably the most unfairly treated hair metal band of all. And that’s not to say the group’s frontman, Kip Winger, wasn’t asking for credibility trouble with his heartthrob looks, perfectly sculpted facial stubble, and tendency to employ pirouettes for his music video dance moves. (Also, he was the bass player, but rarely appeared to be actually playing his bass in said videos.)
The band, musically, was insanely talented, though, with metal maestro Reb Beach on guitar and Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstern on skins. And the songs were premium examples of melodic hard rock that melded catchy riffs with arrangements that bordered on prog rock at times.
But then Mike Judge had to make the nerd in Beavis and Butt-head wear a Winger shirt, and almost overnight it was simply not allowed for anyone who wished to be cool to like the band any longer. Fun fact, though: Kip Winger rebounded to become a widely respected classical music composer in Nashville, Tennessee.
Biggest hit: “Miles Away”
One would think the single that got the most traction for Winger would have been the ballad from their self-titled debut, “Headed for a Heartbreak,” or their breakthrough single and music video, “Seventeen.” But it was single number two from the band’s second album, In the Heart of the Young, a gorgeous ballad written by keyboardist Paul Taylor called “Miles Away; it reached Number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Best song: “Miles Away”
It’s hard to rule against the unheralded but heavy-hitting Winger album opener, and the band’s debut single, “Madalaine,” but the best Winger song is “Miles Away.” It’s not a “power” ballad per se, although the chorus is sufficiently sweeping and lush. But at its core, it’s just a wonderfully written song that might be a little sugary for some, but the melodies and the emotional impact are awfully difficult to deny.
8. Whitesnake
Along with artists like Kiss, Judas Priest, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, and Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake were a blues-based rock band of the 1970s that decided to reinvent themselves for the glossy pop-metal world of the mid-1980s. And with the exception of Aerosmith, they did it better than anyone else.
Former Deep Purple vocalist and band helmsman David Coverdale began the group’s transformation with 1984’s down-and-dirty Slide It In, but it was Whitesnake’s 1987 self-titled release that became an eight-times-platinum revelation. The LP especially soared on the strength of “Here I Go Again,” which was repurposed from an earlier album and reworked to hit Number 1 on Billboard’s pop singles chart. Whitesnake also featured the ballad “Is This Love,” which climbed to Number 2.
Biggest hit: “Here I Go Again”
Coverdale himself would probably acknowledge that his future bride, the late Tawny Kitaen’s iconic acrobatics from luxury sedan to luxury sedan in the video for this track had as much to do with its success as the song itself. It’s undoubtedly a highly catchy number, but wow, when Tawny did the splits on the hood of that Jaguar XJ...
Best song: “Still of the Night”
Whitesnake were just another British blues-rock outfit struggling to remain relevant before MTV premiered the epic video for their self-titled album’s lead single, “Still of the Night.” Coverdale had just fired his guitarist and primary co-writer on the album, former Thin Lizzy member John Sykes (who would go on to lead supergroup Blue Murder to great glam metal heights), and found himself simply rounding up the coolest-looking players he could find for the video’s filming.
It worked. The Zeppelin-on-steroids sound of the single and the flashy stage moves of guitarists Adrian Vandenberg (Tygers of Pan Tang) and Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard) and bassist Rudy Sarzo (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne) paved the way for a level of success that surpassed not only ‘70s-era Whitesnake, but Deep Purple as well.
9. White Lion
A frontman with leading-man good looks and flowing frosted locks. A virtuosic guitarist who took the licks Eddie Van Halen passed down to his instrumental heirs and ran with them. A rock-solid rhythm section that looked and played the part. And a blockbuster ballad that made every teen girl in America and around the world go, “Awwwwwww.” White Lion had all the tools to make it big in the hard-rocking hair metal ‘80s, and that’s just what happened with their second and third full-length albums, Pride and Big Game.
Biggest hit: “When the Children Cry”
The lyrics of this tearjerker reference both family difficulties singer Mike Tramp experienced as a child growing up in Copenhagen, as well as the troubling worldwide events of the day that were sure to affect future generations. A finger-picked acoustic guitar, a heartfelt vocal, a cello flourish, and a tender electric guitar solo were enough to propel this tune to Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Best song: “Wait”
As with Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night,” this first single and music video from White Lion’s breakthrough album was one of the more exciting introductory rock songs of the “MTV Rocks” era. It starts right in with Tramp singing a bit of chorus along with a quiet bed of acoustic guitar underneath, and crescendos up to a blast of vocal and a ringing power chord. Then back down to almost a whisper of a verse that trails off before sudden dramatic guitar riff stabs usher in the true beginning of the song.
And that’s just the first 45 seconds! “Wait” is easily one of the best hair metal songs ever, and features a brilliantly composed thrill-ride of a solo from Vito Bratta.
10. Enuff Z’Nuff
Regular listeners of Howard Stern know Enuff Z’Nuff as their shock-jock hero’s favorite rock band ever. But even that kind of praise from on high cannot fully cancel out the band’s status as full-fledged hair metal alumni who willingly partook in all of the genre’s flash and flamboyance.
All the makeup Poison used for the album cover of their debut, Look What the Cat Dragged In, could not compare to the next-level cosmetic prowess Enuff Z’Nuff tapped into for the videos and press shots they used to support their 1989 self-titled debut. However, while their look screamed style over substance, their sound was all substance and style—with a much stronger emphasis on the substance.
The production had a sheen to it as bright as the neon green peace sign that adorned the Enuff Z’Nuff album cover. Chip Z’Nuff’s songs, though, were more Cheap Trick power-pop than schlock rock, and featured perhaps hair metal’s most soulful voice in Donnie Vie. Vie shares far more in common with Elvis Costello’s delivery than he does with any of his singing contemporaries.
Biggest hit: “Fly High Michelle”
Sister songs in soaring melody, urgent guitar, and bombastic drumbeats, the two singles from Enuff’s debut, “New Thing” and “Fly High Michelle,” were modest rock radio hits, but spawned gigantic hit videos on MTV as the ‘80s gave way to the ‘90s. “Michelle” did slightly better on the Hot 100, though, coming in at Number 47 to “New Thing”’s Number 67.
Best song: “Mother’s Eyes”
Glam metal was already well on its way out the door when second Enuff Z’Nuff album Strength hit shelves in 1991 (a.k.a. “the Year of Nirvana”). Too bad, because it’s a far-better record from top-to-bottom than its predecessor, a fact best-illustrated by first single “Mother’s Eyes.” The lyrics are a melancholy meditation on prejudice, while the driving, passionate music operates on a more refined sonic plane than any other songs that sadly had the misfortune of being classified as “hair metal.”