Hair metal: The most-mocked subset of 80s heaviness. Much of it barely qualifies as metal, occupying space more accurately described as hard rock, but its best records appropriate metallic riffage and attitude enough to warrant the genre appellation. Birthed from the likes of Kiss’ sex-obsessed glam, Aerosmith’s funky sleaze, and Van Halen’s flashy party rock, hair metal often rocked hard and always looked silly, but hey, it was the 80s, and we all made bad fashion choices…
What follows is Last Rites’ ten most essential records by bands from the spandex scene, those bands whose output is forever inextricably linked with the hair metal tag, regardless of their respective metalness or lack thereof. Put your make-up on, teaze your hair up, and rock along.
[Also, despite inclusion as the photographic representation of the silliest of the silly, Nitro, pictured above, is not included. If you’ve heard them, you know why.]
DEF LEPPARD – HIGH ‘N’ DRY
Though they’re better known for spit-shined sugar-pourin’ than for the NWOBHM that spawned them, ripped-jeans poster boys Def Leppard were once a damn fine rock band that expertly blended AC/DC-esque swagger with Queen-ian harmonies. Their first two records, 1980’s On Through The Night and this one, are the hardest edges in the Leppard canon, with High ‘N’ Dry standing taller than the debut by virtue of its improved songcraft and musicianship. “Let It Go,” the title track, “You Got Me Running” – great guitar-driven rockers, snug against the epic “Lady Strange” and the original sans-keys version of “Bringing On The Heartbreak.”
[Andrew Edmunds]
Def Leppard – High ‘N’ Dry
Released: 11 July, 1981
Vertigo Records
Killing cut: “You Got Me Runnin'”
SCORPIONS – BLACKOUT
Though they were over a decade into their career by this point (including some of the greatest metal albums of the 1970s), Germany’s Scorpions didn’t break the Western hemisphere until they lost wunderkind Uli Roth and stripped their sound down to bare basics. Blackout is pure hard rock glory, with the Schenker-Meine tandem turning out fist-in-the-air greatness like the driving title track, the hit “No One Like You,” and the rollicking “Now.” Later hits were bigger (see: “Wind Of Change”), but Blackout is the band’s post-1980 peak. (Trivia: That’s not Rudolf Schenker on the cover. It’s cover artist Gottfried Helnwein.)
[Andrew Edmunds]
Scorpions – Blackout
Released: 29 March, 1982
Mercury Records
Killing cut: “Blackout”
TWISTED SISTER – UNDER THE BLADE
After slogging it out in clubs for close to a decade, Twisted Sister headed to the UK in 1982 to record their classic NWOBHM-indebted debut, Under the Blade. Loaded with formidable tracks–“What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)”, “Sin After Sin”, “Shoot ‘Em Down”, you know the ones–the original album, released on UK label Secret Records, was a grittier, greasier and heavier version than the one remixed and re-released by Atlantic Records to capitalise on Twisted Sister’s post-Stay Hungry success. You can find Under The Blade in its original form today, which is the only way it should be heard, because Twisted Sister were justly defiant and arrogant bruisers in ‘82. (Click here to watch Snider and company lay down the challenge at the band’s legendary Reading Festival performance that year.) Two million copies sold, and Under the Blade is in the history books, rightly recognised as the fucking destroyer it is.
[Craig Hayes]
Twisted Sister – Under The Blade
Released: 18 September, 1982
Secret Records
Killing cut: “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)”
MÖTLEY CRÜE – SHOUT AT THE DEVIL
For many, the debate over the validity of hair metal begins and ends with Shout At The Devil. Combined with a few live versions of cuts from Too Fast For Love (see the video for “Live Wire”, for example, with Nikki Sixx sporting an inverted cross necklace; just a great song with a killer riff), Shout At The Devil was as heavy as hair metal would ever get. A thick, bludgeoning sound anchoring Mick Mars’ killer riffing and Vince Neil’s banshee wailing, this album showed that something dark and sinister was lurking beneath the pop oriented hard rock of Kiss and Aerosmith. Too bad that Mötley Crüe couldn’t find it in within themselves to explore that darkness further, pissing it all away for sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll fame.
[Dave Schalek]
Mötley Crüe – Shout At The Devil
Released: 26 September, 1983
Elektra Records
Killing cut: “Shout At The Devil”
RATT – OUT OF THE CELLAR
Apologies for getting downright filthy straight away, but like a lot of glam, slam, thank you ma’am rockers, Ratt went for the money shot on debut. If any band skipped the idea of foreplay, and blew their wad straight away, it was Ratt — because the band’s first full-length, 1984’s Out Of The Cellar, is their best work by far. While Ratt went on to greater commercial success, everything post-Out Of The Cellar pales in comparison. Ratt never recaptured the brazen underdog spirit of tracks like “Wanted Man”, and their blockbuster MTV and radio smash, “Round and Round”, no matter how hard they tried to outdo their arena rock competitors or inspirations. Front to back, Out Of The Cellar is another, in a long line, of classics packed with long-lived tracks from 1984. It’s bawdy, ballsy, bolshie and brash; a piece of multi-platinum, hard rock perfection all round (and round).
[Craig Hayes]
Ratt – Out Of The Cellar
Released: 27 March, 1984
Atlantic Records
Killing cut: “Wanted Man”
BLACK ‘N BLUE – BLACK ‘N BLUE
There’s really two versions of Black ‘N Blue. Both were formed in Portland, Oregon in 1981 by vocalist Jamie St. James and guitarist Tommy Thayer, and both found initial success thanks to the band’s “Chains Around Heaven” track appearing on the famed Metal Massacre series. Black ‘N Blue #1 released an underrated self-titled debut in 1984, which was produced by long-time Scorpions collaborator Dieter Dierks, and included the almost-hit “Hold On to 18”. Black ‘N Blue wasn’t exactly filled with jagged metal, but it still featured sawtooth edges on tracks like “The Strong Will Rock” and “School of Hard Knocks”. However, then Black ‘N Blue #2 appeared, with the band deciding to change direction for poppier rock on Without Love, before Gene Simmons arrived to produce two more increasingly weak albums. There’s two clear versions of Black ‘N Blue to pick from, but there’s only #1 worth listening to.
[Craig Hayes]
Black ‘N Blue – Black ‘N Blue
Released: August 1984
Geffen Records
Killing cut: “Chains Around Heaven”
W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P.
The self-titled debut from these Sunset Strip shock-rockers looks glammy but hits harder than most of their sleaze ‘n’ cheese peers. Blackie Lawless’ killer scream meets the band’s arena-sized hooks on classics like “I Wanna Be Somebody,” “On Your Knees,” and “L.O.V.E. Machine,” but it’s the song that Capitol cut from the final version that rocks the hardest. Tipper Gore’s favorite tune, “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)” is simultaneously W.A.S.P.’s finest and one of 80s metal’s greatest tunes. (Subsequent reissues have corrected Capitol’s panicked mistake, adding the song back into the running order, right at the top where it belongs.)
[Andrew Edmunds]
W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P.
Released: 17 August, 1984
Capitol Records
Killing cut: “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)”
DOKKEN – TOOTH AND NAIL
Don Dokken was never the greatest singer in the world, but he was good enough to provide background vocals on the Scorpions’ Blackout album and secure a record deal via that gig. Hastily recorded, Dokken’s debut, Breakin’ The Chains, showed promise, but it was on 1984’s Tooth And Nail that guitarist George Lynch unleashed the six-string inventiveness that would define Dokken’s brief burst of stardom. Tooth And Nail provided the band with their first US hit, with the de rigueur power ballad “Alone Again”, but that track was mere fluff compared to the album’s eponymous track and Lynch-wailing tunes like “Turn on the Action”. Tooth And Nail broke Dokken in the US, then Under Lock And Key and Back For The Attack arrived, before the band dissolved in bitter recriminations. Still, it was inter-band tension that clearly fired Dokken’s engine, so, in the end, we should be thankful the band probably fought tooth and nail over Tooth And Nail, too.
[Craig Hayes]
Dokken – Tooth And Nail
Released: 13 September, 1984
Elektra Records
Killing cut: “Tooth And Nail”
GUNS N’ ROSES – APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
A mash-up of Stones / Aerosmith sleaze, punky trash, and hair-sprayed hard rock, most of Guns N’ Roses catalog doesn’t qualify as “metal.” But this was darker than anything that had come off the Strip previously – this was the downside of Hollywood’s never-ending party: Urchins living under the street, dancing with Mr. Brownstone, a tale told by three junkies, a drunk, and a madman. The band’s caged-animal ferocity was only truly evident on their debut, where Slash’s guitar heroics are underpinned by Stradlin’s songs and topped with Axl’s histrionic aggression. Appetite For Destruction is simply the greatest rock’n’roll record of a generation.
[Andrew Edmunds]
Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
Released: 21 July, 1987
Geffen Records
Killing cut: “My Michelle”
LA GUNS – LA GUNS
LA Guns’ history is forever entwined with that of Hollywood’s other, more famous Guns – lead guitarist Tracii Guns split from Axl, replaced by his childhood friend Slash. Guns re-activated his earlier band and found some success after ditching early singer Paul Black in favor of Brit ex-pat Phil Lewis, formerly of London glam-trash act Girl. Lewis’ snarling half-shout isn’t the most tuneful, but it’s got attitude for days, and when it’s coupled with Tracii’s sleazy riffs and shreddish solos, one of Sunset’s trashiest records is born. “Sex Action,” “No Mercy,” “Electric Gypsy,” the Girl holdover “Hollywood Teaze” – pure hair-metal perfection.
[Andrew Edmunds]
LA Guns – LA Guns
Released: 4 January, 1988
Vertigo Records
Killing cut: “No Mercy”
[Thanks to Erik Highter for his help in compiling this list.]
