My thoughts on 80's hair metal bands

The 1980s were a decade of retrenchment for much of rock 'n' roll, in which the great music of the 1960s, in particular, experienced resurgence, and the concept of "Classic Rock" was invented. True big hair metal cannot really be classified by its era. Metal is timeless. Yes, bands and sounds evolve over time but the essence of what makes a band metal is the same now as it was in the 80's. So what is real big hair metal then? To start, it is dynamic songwriting and tight, harmonic, monster riffs adorned with big-haired, swaggering stage personae. It is fast, aggressive, industrial strength rhythms. Big hair metal is powerful, emotive, and sometimes blistering vocals. It is steeped in passionate, testosterone laced energy and vitality. Big hair metal is something that must be seen, and felt, you cannot just hear it! And it is always delivered, no holds barred, with authoritative, virtuoso musicianship. There are just as many metal bands these days that there were in the 80's. It's just that they don't appear the same, sound the same and are not as 'in your face' as they were in the 80's.

MTV showed music videos morning 'till night (and night 'till morning). While sitting in the student lounge or in my living room, this was the atmosphere surrounding my studies. And I even managed to graduate. There were all kinds of videos, from the concert clip to the lip sync story narrative to the silly fantasy in psychedelic colors. Even artists I didn't like did amusing videos. The breaks were always punctuated by that familiar guitar riff, with the astronaut planting the MTV flag on the moon. The friendly faces of the VJs, Martha Quinn, JJ Jackson, Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood and co. always helped move things along. Once I started watching, I never wanted to stop! Not until I went out to my favorite club that night. MTV's cultural disintegration began with "YO! MTV Raps," and "Remote Control," featuring the odious Colin Quinn.

The whole genre went down in flames in the early 90's with the advent of the alternative/grunge-music wave, which mostly originated in Seattle and relied heavily on cable's MTV channel to build its viewing audience. Just as MTV built up eighties rock, it tore it down when it started playing other bands whose dictionary didn't include words such as "fun", but did use words such as "depression", and "suicide." Many eighties-rock fans criticized the new Seattle wave of music as boring, depressive and "whiny." When record sales of eighties-rock bands plummeted, the major record labels started dropping the bands. With grunge becoming the music of choice, 80's bands found themselves at a crossroads. Many now long-forgotten groups split up. Others, such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Dokken, jumped on the alternative/grunge bandwagon, hoping that by changing their music to fit the depressed, dark, but very trendy music of the times, they could stay afloat. Invariably, these bands realized that they were mistaken. Later, they would simply get back to their roots where they belonged.

While many outsiders put most eighties-rock and metal bands into the big hair metal category, referring to the all-important big hair of those playing this type of music, there are several subgenres to consider: melodic hard rock, glam rock and heavy metal, to name but a few. Some might differentiate these by observing that pure heavy metal doesn't generally sing about love, while many big hair metal songs are focused on love or life. In some respects, one might argue that the hair metal scene of the 80s was the logical endpoint of the glitter or glam rock movement of the 70s and the visual similarities between the two makes that analysis more compelling. Glamour rock, however, was lyrically focused on sexual ambiguity, free expression and individuality, while big hair metal was unambiguously macho and heterosexual, with little room for diversity of political or social opinions. Remember the one thing that we can all thank glam for: shredded jeans. Remember the tight jogging shorts of the early '80s, the ones with the little triangular notches on each leg? Can you honestly tell me that those circulation-killing shorts are better than a pair of nicely air-conditioned jeans? Ultimately, heavy metal music would position itself at the periphery of pop culture, never quite at center, and metal followers contend that the move towards the center was a mere commercialism that compromised both the artistic integrity of the music and the opportunity for the song's messages to be taken seriously.

The big hair metal singers can really sing, the drummers can really drum, and the guitarists can really play! They play with such emotional feeling and heartfelt passion. The unique part about them is they know when their solos are. Today it seems that the bands try to play so loud all the time just for the sake of covering up the lack of meaning in the vocals. Possibly, it's the lack of musical talent. Not so in big hair metal. The instruments play loud but not too harshly; you can still hear the words. And what passionate words they are! The music is pure and the emotions are real. True love and true hate exist in almost lyric. Even the songs about pure animal desires and actions are filled with such intensity. Sure, there are certain songs that aren't really about anything and just tell an amusing story, but they are still fun songs. Every album covers such a wide range of feelings that they can be construed to be about your own personal situation. They can tell of the truest love you can imagine. Broken heart power ballads make you feel so much pain you cry. Powerhouses just make you want to scream and shout with pure primitive energy. You can't find that today. I have no clue what some of those songs are about.

With each new musical revolution it seems there is a drug culture associated with it and therefore a good excuse to target the youth and their new weird music. In the 50's it was booze, in the 60's & 70's it was pot and LSD, in the 80's it was pot, speed and cocaine. And then out comes the public view of dance music, it's all about ecstasy, that terrible drug that was invented for marriage counseling and makes everyone nice to each other. The ironic thing is that every ten years or so the same arguments come out and the results are similar every time. The drug culture is targeted and the music is the victim. But in each case the movement is so strong that no laws seem to be able to stop it from happening. So the scene gets pushed underground under a sea of laws, regulations, propaganda and ignorance. And then it becomes commercialized. The obvious trend is that when you suppress anything, people will keep doing it and go further underground if they have to. Going underground means higher risks and dangers for those who cross over into the drug culture and the irony is that when deaths result from the suppression the moral majority reacts with even more outrage. The hysteria and a mass propaganda campaign soon eventuate. After all, someone's got to be to blame. But we can't really blame the 80's big hair metal scene now can we? After all, not everyone delved into the drug scene.

For those of you, like me, who crave loud, heavy big hair metal music, but are tired of the negativity and "angst" of today's scene, you probably have fond memories of the oft-maligned 80's big hair metal scene that included bands like Cinderella, Poison, Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, and Motley Crue to rock your world. Everyone should experience the holy triumvirate of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and lather-rinse-repeat, sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll are meant to be together; they enhance each other. Whether the three were actually mixed together in reality or not was a matter of preference. The availability was there but not necessary. Perhaps it was the 'idea' that I could drive 'the Establishment' crazy was all I ever really needed in the end.