I totally agree with Q5 and Heavy Pettin for sure! Underrated metal albums. KISS Asylum (1985) 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. You'll find this album at at least the top five of any hair metal list, and mine is no different. A lot of it's not that "metal," some of it's not that "glam," most bands' membersregardless of genrehave "hair," and so on. Toodlum 4 yr. ago. 200+ Hard Rock And Metal Bands From The 80s That Are Worth Listening To Now, beyond that, what it also did was elicit plenty of comments and responses. 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. Britny Fox Bite Down Hard (1991) Wildside is still one of my faves simply because it was so much heavier than all the bands at that time and darker too. Im too afraid to reread the rest of my post to see what else I mistyped. Extreme: The thinking person's hair metal band. The whole damn thing. SPREAD EAGLE, GREAT ALBUM = TO APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION. As you stated I have always championed JOKER myself. Davy Vain made his name producing Bay Area thrashers Death Angel, but he had a glam metal heart. This is an album that was completely buried by the Alt-Rock and Grunge craze that was sweeping the nation in the early 90s. In 1991 while Metallica and Guns 'N Roses were sliding into mediocrity, Skid Row move into legendary status, improving leaps and bounds over their debut. 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. Youll see. If Tear the House Down had hit the streets just two years earlier, I bet Hericane Alice would've been at least as successful as the Bulletboys, so it's a shame they never got the chance. Great White Hooked (1991). Other tracks worth calling out include "4:AM T.M." Very slick production, the epitome of pop metal. If not, youre not alone. 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. Like Joker, there's not a ton of information out there regarding Real Steel. Totally different album, and utterly, completely epic and emotional awesome. 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. Its an amazing Great White album. 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! 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. So, that does itI think. Sunset Strip: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal-Era Albums didnt really garner a whole lot of harsh words per se, but I did see a great many surmise that I, Must be a big KISS fan, which is true. Heavy Bones came relatively early in Hoey's professional career (having moved from Boston to Los Angeles in the late-'80s upon the recommendation of Ozzy Osbourne, after auditioning for the position that ultimately went to Zakk Wylde), and released but one self-titled album on Reprise Records in 1992. 01. Shotgun Messiah - s/t & Second Coming Posted on March 17, 2021 by Olivier in Uncategorized // 0 Comments. As a whole, this record does have minor ups and downs. Most underrated hair metal bands? : r/hairmetal - reddit The 10 Most Underrated Hair Metal Guitarists Of The '80s | News | VH1 The 10 Most Underrated Hair Metal Guitarists Of The '80s Bang your hair to glam jam guitar gods from Kiss,. Janet Gardner was the quintessential frontwoman, and Jan Kuehnemund played her ass off on this record. Post author: Post published: junho 14, 2022 Post category: shovel knight treasure trove 3ds rom Post comments: jon snow refuses to bend the knee fanfiction jon snow refuses to bend the knee fanfiction Present-day, Ace is having one of the most fruitful and creative periods of his career. Every song on here is just infectious. 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. But they could write some damn catchy tunes. 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. 10. The most underrated albums by 20 major metal bands | Louder - loudersound The latter was gratifying and gave me a certain sense of mission accomplishment. However, make no mistake-their third record Bite Down Hard, is a rager. For me, Europes Out of this World is an AOR masterpiece. 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. Guns N' Roses was that band. They did tend to fall just a tad short with their ballads, but for each of those you've got a counterbalance such as the bluesy vibrato, nasty pinch harmonics, and big chorus of "Clock Strikes." Put together by former members of Bay Area crossover crew Attitude Adjustment who swapped their white hi-tops for cheap leather trousers and bargain-shop bandanas, their debut album plunged its needle into the same vein of bluesy cock rock as fellow greasers Circus Of Power and Little Caesar, throwing in some hardcore-esque gang vocals and nailing their were-not-White Lion cred with a punkabilly cover of Johnny Cashs Folsom Prison Blues. Sure, John Norum is tough to replace, but you could do a whole lot worse than the wonderfully talented Kee Marcello. Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by R79, Jan 27, 2022. It needs to be out there and readily available. 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. Rough Cutt Rough Cutt (1985) (Harem Scarem is sounding AMAZING so far, pretty damn sure Ill be scooping that up as soon as I can!) If the opening melody of Rock Aint Dead doesnt grab you, you wont care about the rest. Here are 20 bands from the '90s you probably forgot about So, lets flip the script, dont scramble to turn off your radio when You Give Love a Bad Name comes on, out of fear of being thought of as unworthy of your snobby friends musical respect. The album is probably best known for its controversial cover, which featured a basically naked woman straddling a giant fishing hook. 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. Edit 20-04-2011: Deleted all albums with 60 ratings or higher. Femme Fatale Femme Fatale (1988) Q5s first album is a classic but the second one was tragic. Maybe even an old T-shirt laying around! Aversionline 2000 - 2023. Listen to the record, and these performances, and prove me wrong. Good lists. Butas with every band cited abovethe story's the same: having been right around the time of the grunge takeover, it didn't happen and the end was near. Not to mention the fact that Andrew W.K. 05. I believe that they wrote songs that way because they LIKED pretty rock ballads. 02. These are the forgotten heroes of hair metal. 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. A couple of other amazing and underrated glam albums that didnt make this list (but easily could have)- It deserves love too, you know? This is another one that generally comes cheap, so for just a moment, give New Jersey a rest and give 7800 Fahrenheit some time with your turntable or CD player. In retrospect, the tone and style of the record truly are the last of what we have come to know as Glam Metal styling, as not too many albums like it came out afterward if any did at all. You couldn't go two hours without seeing a Whitesnake video on MTV back in '87. IMHO opinion, there is not a single bad track on Hollands Little Monsters! i hung around with Joker in the old days and went to High school with the guitarist.I hope they do come back. Probably one of the coolest hair metal albums you've never heard. I should really pick up some Lillian Axe sometime. A dud. Andrew, my cousin Scott Smalley is/was lead vocals/bass for Real Steel! Like Hericane Alice, one can only imagine that Wildside would have been an absolutely huge success had their debut hit the streets a few years prioreven more so considering the good fortune that was lining up in their favor prior to the album's release. It kinda sucks when your biggest hit is a cover song, although probably nobody knew that back in 1989. Buy it, you will be pleasantly surprised. Joker's high-level songwriting is at times poppier than other selections on this list, dropping some huge sing-along choruses. No Warrant album has the original 5. - In my personal opinion, two of the best damn sleaze bands nobody has ever heard of Seriouslyher lead work is some of the best of the era, in my opinion. 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. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Love it or hate it, but you cant deny that Superstitious slays and it might just be Europes greatest ever track. Q5 had two albums that would simply destroy you. 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. As grunge became all the rage during the early '90s, these albums never got the attention they really deserved. That Beau Nasty is kicking my ass right now! Wanna know the details? Both Use Your Illusion albums sold like 10 million copies in the first minute after their release. 07. Speaking of hooks, lets kick this thing off with. Enter Lorraine Lewis, the frontwoman with an absolutely huge voice, who led the now mostly forgotten group Femme Fatale. Although they werent truly a hair metal band, Leatherwolfs Street Ready album has many of those kinds of sonic qualities and is packed with killer songs. First off, Extreme wasn't all that big on the glam thing despite being labeled as such for most of their active years, and this labeling can be even more baffling nowadays when the first Extreme song that comes to your average Joe's mind ends up being "More Than Words" in the vast majority of cases. Overseas, things were slightly better, with the albums final single Never Gonna Die managing to reach number 21 on the Australian charts. 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. While I didnt intend for the KISS roots to run so deep within the article per se, I will admit that we are all subject to our own biases, and anyone who knows me will tell you I am not about to apologize for KISS influence. Legendary Guitarist David Lindley Dead at 78, Rush Announce 40th Anniversary Reissue of 'Signals', Glastonbury Organizer Addresses Lack of Female Festival Headliners: 'The Pipeline Needs to Be Developed', Unearth Release New Single 'Mother Betrayal', Rapper Binki Releases New Alt-Rock Single 'Hotel Window', Iconic Vocalist Chaka Khan Reacts to Rolling Stone's 'Greatest Singers' List: 'They Need Hearing Aids', Godsmack Cancel Spring Tour Over 'Lack of Ticket Sales', Listen: Roger Waters Shares First Snippet of Re-Recorded 'Dark Side of the Moon', Monuments Refuse to Sell Merch at Recent Show to Boycott Venue Fees: 'It Shouldn't Be on Our Fans to Pick Up the Bill', Friday Top: 20 Saddest Metal Songs of All Time, Epiphone Introduces Affordable Versions of High-End 1958 Korina Explorer and Flying V Guitars From Gibson. Coverdale & Co. best selling album. The result was a killer record that confused the shit out of thrashers and glammies alike. The list is not without some eye brow raising since at least one album achieved gold certification in the United States of America but it's a fun list nonetheless. 5 Underrated Hair Metal Albums - YouTube A response to the article on the Goldminemag website about 5 Underrated Hair Metal Albums that every record collector should. Kind of the Silverchair of hair metal, you'd be surprised at how mature these youngins sound on this, their only album. Stay tuned for Part 3! Those first two albums are absolutely awesome. 07. Most of their material follows a slower, pulsing paceat times leaning a touch more towards classic, traditional heavy metal than much of this list (notably during "On My Way," dueling leads 'n' all). They're kind of like Skid Row, the Bulletboys, and Faster Pussycat thrown in a blender. I tend to be a huge sucker for catchy songs, so some degree of commercialism probably flies past my radar, heh. lesmortsdansant 3 yr. ago. Gotta do some digging there. The vocals are really an obstacle moreso on the second album. 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. Theme: The Road to The Roxy: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal-Era Albums Part II, Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), My fingers feel possessed on the EC-1000! Tom Beaujour, Richard Bienstock, Chuck Eddy, Reed Fischer, Kory Grow, Maura Johnston, Christopher R . A subscription makes a thoughtful gift for both family and friends. Yes. They filmed a music video for the lead track, "Hang on Lucy," but the above "So Far Away" is my personal favoriteit's got a darker edge and those riffs during the chorus just kill me for some reason. For me, Aces positioning at the number one spot on this list is both hard-earned and well deserved. Robert Sarzo (Hurricane guitarist and Rudy Sarzos brother) was to be Randys replacement in Blizzard Of Ozz, not Marq Torien. You can read Dalys comments for each album at Vinyl Writer Musics website. Wait, what? Fans of Heavy Bones might also want to check out vocalist Joel Ellis previous band Cats In Boots (specifically the 1989 album Kicked And Klawed). The one that gave birth to the entire genre. Say what you will about KISS or my placement of this record, but there is no denying its greatness. Cinderella added an element of blues to hair metal, and they pull it off perfectly. Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. Vain was less poppy than most cock rock bands, and they just had a serious vibe in their sound. 08. Brighton Rock - Love Machine Ill be emailing you! Especially the song Gotta Run. Record labels, radio stations, and the mainstream audience themselves all got very tired of this approach and embraced the Seattle underground sound instead, which led to a lot of bands who were all the rage only years before disband and/or become highly irrelevant. Sebastian Bach is THE singer of the hair metal genre. It was mixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero (who also mixed. Overlooked & Underrated: The Forgotten Chapters of Rock & Metal Aside from the Ozzy connections with the Rough Cutt and Britny Fox albums, heres anotherAside from being the original guitarist in Ratt(! Regardless of whether you think that glam metal died because it was over-exploited or because grunge killed it, youd agree that the '90s were a very bad time to be a band with a "glam" label slapped on your behind. Stay tuned for Part 3! A good snotty, snarly album. Mist of the Maelstrom. 02. 10 obscure but brilliant hair metal albums | Louder - loudersound 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. [deleted] 3 yr. ago. Great White was so much more than just "Once BittenTwice Shy.". The Welsh wonders second album, 1990s Berzerk, is a stone-cold classic featuring the greatest pop-metal anthem of the era in Love Bomb Baby. On the other hand, "Dog Eat Dog" represented what the band really wanted to do with their career, which included a much heavier sound and lyrics more diverse than drooling over girls. Check out the old TKO albums also, they are basically Q5 without Floyd Rose. You can read Dalys comments for each album of his Part II at Vinyl Writer Musics website. Well, I stand by it. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Vinyl Writer Music names its '10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums' Fans yawning at this pick, who crave the genius of one John Norum, I implore you to give this one a shot, as Kee Marcello is a virtuoso in his own right. Cool, many thanks. Packed with more hits than Illusion 1, I prefer this one over that one. But their debut album was pop-metal perfection what featherweight party anthems Toast Of The Town, Rock And Roll Outlaws and shoulda-been-massive single Rock & Roll (Is Gonna Set The Night On Fire) lacked in heaviosity they made up for in pleather-trousered attitude. Dripping with attitude. 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. This, along with Slippery When Wet, epitomized pop metal, and helped bring it to the mainstream back in 1986. Fun Fact: Lorraine Lewis would revive Femme Fatale in 2013, this time with a truly all-female line-up, only to fold the band once again to join Vixen in 2019. Then again, "Heat Me Up" is a prime cut of typically structured hair metal with a raspier snarl to the vocals; while "She's Untouchable" combines crunchy rhythms, fluid melodies, and slick vocal harmonies. With a much harder edge than the previous release, the second album was produced in Los Angeles by renowned Keith Olsen. 5 Underrated Glam/Hair Metal Bands | Aversionline 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. People didnt give a shit then either. 01. 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? Connor Shelton described it as one of the few bands from the era to bring a level of depth . Do yourself a favor and go score this record. The follow-up album "Blood from Stone" was released in 1991. "The Ballad of Jane" is one the best hair metal ballads ever. It,s not glam or hair metal. It stands toe to toe and chest to chest with any Hair and Glam Metal album of the era. Perhaps, maybe no one is truly qualified in that regard. A shameless throwback or the start of a hair metal revival? I got TT on 1st end LP and it's sumptuous! Also, another tidbit that makes this album pretty cool: Vivian Campbell (Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Def Leppard) joins the fun, and played guitar on Desperate. While Vivian did his thing and killed it, make no mistake, Jan matched him note for note the rest of the way. Another decent glam band that came out of Chicago was Holland. Lyrics are a bit trite, but this is a great debut. 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. Tesla had no gimmick. Also, you must be an Ozzy fan! An album with a nice balance of rockers and ballads. The albums got better after their sales peak - Dog Eat Dog, and especially Ultraphobic. Warrant's biggest seller, though not quite their best (see Dog Eat Dog), but this album is what early 90's hair metal was all about. Some good and some bad, which I am OK with, as it comes with the territory of writing, especially when it comes to this topic. The greatest hair meatl band album on parole with GNR??? If you listen to this album, you will be singing the songs in your head for years to come. An album of pure attitude, arriving when most glam bands were changing over to pop metal. Enter Lorraine Lewis, the frontwoman with an absolutely huge voice, who led the now mostly forgotten group Femme Fatale. The 20 greatest hair metal bands of all time - MSN Powerful, but still memorable. Stay tuned for a potential part 3! During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! While there's a good handful of underrated bands of this ilk that do still get mild exposure here and there, I'm for the most part trying to stick with personal favorites that I've never even encountered on satellite radio channels such as Hair Nation, etc. Recording quite a bit of material for having remained so unknown, they self-released an album called Out of the Box in 1989, followed-up with Joker the following year on Red Light Records (which has almost the same tracklist as their debut), and then came back with Cool Deal in 1992. Kingpin were Swedens entry into the 1988 Hair Metal Olympics. If youre one of them, stop reading now and beat it. That said, aside from the classic Smooth Up In Ya, BulletBoys has become a largely forgotten record, and the band is rarely mentioned in those generic MTV/VH1 best of the 80s lists. Sure, they were sort of late-stage Hair Metal, but these guys rock hard, so if you see this record, scoop it up. #bringstadiumrockback #besteraGreat White Live Ritz 1988 - All Over Nowhttps://youtu.be/gBiAnQXuF6w1- . The band got started in Los Angeles in the late-'80s as Young Gunns; signed a seven-album (!? W.A.S.P. It's a shockingly awesome record, easily in my all-time Top 10 as far as hair metal goes. Speaking of Vixen, here they are! 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. Underrated hair metal songs. While reviews at the time were mixed, retrospectively, it has been given high praise. 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. An album that is underrated though it would be their next effort, the aptly titled Hooked. Now, this is a weird entry in many ways. Thanks for popping by, and stay safe! Been meaning to pick up the first McQueen Street CD for some time now, but havent quite found the right price yet. The best LPs from the age of Aqua Net. Erotic Suicide - Abusement Park & Perseverance I dont know; maybe it was something in the water, but what I do know is the Rock music that came out of that decade was truly memorable, catchy, and fun. It probably suffered from being dumped into the blender that was the 80s Hair Metal scene. This album was Def Leppard's bridge between being a NWOBHM band and a hair metal band. After the release of his article, Daly was invariably peppered with comments from various people suggesting other albums so Vinyl Writer Music issued a Part II titledThe Road to The Roxy: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums Part II. 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. There's a great snarl to the vocals, loads of gritty riffs (and excellent guitar playing in general), etc. What about the tactful keyboards, chorus hook, and big vocal harmonies of token power ballad "Dry Your Eyes"? Simple answer underrated yes. Their follow up has some of the best songwriting in Cock Rock, in my opinion. Queensryche is not a hair band per se, but this album bordered on pop metal and would fit right in with the genre. Perhaps more than any other group on this list, Wildside truly should have been "the next big thing" given the circumstances surrounding their debut album. So here are the most underrated records by 20 major metal bands. This, their best album contains the song "Metal Health" which is, according to Kevin DuBrow, the original FU song. Vinyl Writer Music's 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums: 01. 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. Ironically, this record is probably regarded as Warrants strongest record from a critical standpoint, whatever thats worth. Here are some trivia tidbits about their debut full-length, Under the Influence: The record was slated for release by late-1991, but ended up being delayed until May of '92, during which time Wildside lost their slot opening for Van Halen on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour. 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. SPREAD EAGLE (SELF TITLED) Start to finish is frigging beast mode appetite for destruction part 2, Hell yeahhhhhhhh cant wait for that to wake people up to the best or atleast 2nd best album of that era!!!