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Most Washed Up Hair Metal Band

hair metal truly began when this came out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BBlWxkwJtU

then EVERY band had to have a lame power ballad

Van Halen didn't help matters with Jump the year before.
 
I understand the argument that VH isn't hair metal.  They don't play exactly the right type of music.  But being a hair-metal band is more about hair and attitude than anything else, so I think they qualify.

For the record I voted for Ratt, for the exact reasons taez said.  (Edit: But I don't like Jon Bon Jovi.)
 
To me Hair Metal had a lot more make up than VH ever wore.  Also, playing instruments was secondary to poses in Hair Metal.  Maybe Dave was the Hair Metal aspect of VH, with his jumping and shirtless self, but Eddie jammed his ass off.  Eddie played guitar, Poison used them as fashion accessories.  Besides who has a been influenced by C.C. DeVille or has a C.C. sig model?
 
Now you've done it, Nathana! Insulted the favorite hair metal band! This thread was destined to turn into one of those hair-splitting (ahem) arguments about categories of rock. VH were "hair-friendly" progenitors, hair-mentors if you will, of a big chunk of 80s rock, of that there is no doubt. When you think of a big blonde feathered blowout and a bandana or three, does the mug of David Lee Roth not come to mind pretty easily? The fact that Eddie was an amazing guitarist does not make them NOT hair metal.
 
VH1 on the history of metal called VH "Teeth Metal" because they were smiling instead of grimacing. It was America's late 70s contribution to metal.  It wasn't dark or mysterious with hidden messages.  VH made metal friendly.
 
tfarny said:
The fact that Eddie was an amazing guitarist does not make them NOT hair metal.
Click to expand...

True, but that made them unique.  That's not to say that HM bands didn't have some amazing guitarists, Randy Rhodes was originally in Quiet Riot, but HM was an image filled with overly-reverbed backing vocals.  That's what killed it.  The genre turned into fashion, there wasn't enough depth.
 
BTW, I am the high school class of '89 - I grew up with all this stuff, did you guys too, or is this board love for 80s metal an ironic, trucker hat thing?
 
I'm class of 87 and I saw all of the bands on the list at their peaks - except Poison and Bon Jovi, who I never liked. I did see Bon Jovi live though, but they were opening up for Ratt. :laughing3:
 
tfarny said:
BTW, I am the high school class of '89 - I grew up with all this stuff, did you guys too, or is this board love for 80s metal an ironic, trucker hat thing?
Click to expand...

My first vinyl LP was MJ's Thriller (laughter subsides), my second was VH's 1984.  Shortly thereafter I bought Motley Crue's Theatre of Pain.  This was all in Elementary School.  My middle school and HS years were full of Warrant, Skid Row, Tesla, Poison, and later I discovered GnR, Queensryche, and Metallica.
 
What exactly about VH was metal?  I never thought of them as metal.

As far as guitar tone aggressiveness, I figure if VH is "metal", then so is KISS.  But we know that ain't right.  Hard rock?  Sure.  Metal?  Not even.

Neither VH nor KISS had an aggressive guitar tone... more vintage cranked Marshall *without* scooping the mids.

Hair Metal = Dokken, RATT, Motley Crue, Whitesnake (once they did eponymous album with "Still of the Night"), Europe, Stryper, L.A. Guns, Skid Row, etc...

Seems glam plays a role in the "hair" part of "hair metal".  I think it's safe to assume that "hair metal" = "glam metal".

So perhaps scooped mids aggressive guitar tone + teased hair = "hair metal".  That sounds about right.
 
tfarny said:
VH were "hair-friendly" progenitors, hair-mentors if you will
Click to expand...

Hair-mentors... I like that. The hair metal bands all must (and did) pay their dues to their hair-mentors, VH.
 
Speaking of hair mentors and other whimsical terms involving hair, I'm technically a hair farmer; currently.
 
How is Bon Jovi metal? If Bon Jovi counts then VH counts. Bon Jovi weren't any more glam than VH. Maybe it's power ballads that make the hair band. Like I said earlier.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZkllM8znx4

:toothy12: I learned some of that on trumpet to bug the crap out of the first chair saxophone. I'm the only brass instrument other than the baritone.

And I do enjoy the occasional VH.
 
GoDrex said:
How is Bon Jovi metal? If Bon Jovi counts then VH counts. Bon Jovi weren't any more glam than VH. Maybe it's power ballads that make the hair band. Like I said earlier.
Click to expand...

I don't consider Bon Jovi hair metal either.
 
I graduated high school in '83.  That is when I started playing guitar, after hearing "The Trooper," and then the whole "hair metal" movement was born.  Iron Maiden still rocks.
 
Superlizard said:
GoDrex said:
How is Bon Jovi metal? If Bon Jovi counts then VH counts. Bon Jovi weren't any more glam than VH. Maybe it's power ballads that make the hair band. Like I said earlier.
Click to expand...

I don't consider Bon Jovi hair metal either.
Click to expand...

Bon Jovi is more hair than metal. 
 
If HM is an image as well as a sound, Bon Jovi was most certainly HM.  If you'd never heard GnR and just saw a late 80s promo pic, you'd swear they were HM too.  It's kind of intersting thing to ponder.  There are certain elements that make a band HM, but there are bands with such elements that aren't HM and HM bands that fit the bill that aren't your textbook case.  It's like the Supreme Court's definition of obscenity.  You can't define it, but you know it when you see it.
 
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