The 80's hard rock thread AKA Hair Bands

firehouse and slaughter are great. mark slaughter back in the day is in the running for best hair band singer.
 
Racer X hard rock? Racer X hair band? :zombie: Come on, they are HEAVY METAL! :headbang:

Anyway, I love SHARK ISLAND. "Law of the order" is overwhelming. First time I watched "Paris calling" clip I had to go to the record store for buying the album. A masterpiece.

I love late 80´s hard rock/hair bands. You can find excellent stuff and, yes, awful bands (maybe Trixter or Southgang? :lol:) but overall it has been over the years a kind of action/reaction. In thge late 80´s it was cool saying that you loved that bands and nowadays just the opposite, it´s cool saying you have always hated the so called "hair bands".

For me, the term "hair band" is a shame ´cause media included tons of bands that had nothing to do with the "pop/metal" stuff.

In my opinion, a cool (and not typical) guide to start with could be:

TYKETTO: "Don´t come easy" Melodic hard rock essential.
ZODIAC MINDWARP: "Tattoed beat messiah". Hard as hell. Black leather and crazo songs. British gods.
LILLIAN AXE: "Love+War". One of my favourite bands ever.
SHARK ISLAND: "Law of the order". Just said. Smooth and original. Great singer.
JUNKYARD: "Junkyard". Sleazy punk at its best.
STEELHEART: "Steelheart". Great, great singer. Powerful songs.
VAIN: "No respect". Catchy and sleazy.
DANGER DANGER: "Danger danger". NY stuff. Melodic hard rock. Excellent.
BADLANDS: "Badlands". Much more bluesy. Amazing line up
ELECTRIC BOYS: "Funk O Metal carpet ride". From sweden. Have sleazy/half funky. Original. A lot of rhythm.
I, NAPOLEON: "I, Napoleon". Weird voice and but if you like you will love them. It was a "one off" album.
LOVE/HATE: "Wasted in America". When I bought that album I couldn´t stop listening during weeks. A lot of diversity, funny and well written stuff.
 
My take on Marcos Spain's list:

TYKETTO: "Don´t come easy" Good band, not very original though, at times too generic.

ZODIAC MINDWARP: "Tattoed beat messiah". I never go into them. I'd rather listen to The Cult, L.A. Guns or GNR...

LILLIAN AXE: "Love+War". The first two albums are the best of their body of work...that said between the two albums you can make one solid record. Love + War is a good record for it's time, didn't age well and the songs get cheesier as the years go by. I will say "Show A Little Love" and "She Likes It On Top" are fucking incredible!


SHARK ISLAND: "Law of the order". Just said. Smooth and original. Great singer. Criminally underrated...

JUNKYARD: "Junkyard". Sleazy punk at its best. Great band, great album, should have been bigger than GNR! If you can find the Tried & True E.P. get it there are some excellent acoustic tracks on there and the version of "Simple Man" surpasses the one found on the debut album.

STEELHEART: "Steelheart". Great, great singer. Powerful songs. You got that right.

VAIN: "No respect". Catchy and sleazy. Meh.

DANGER DANGER: "Danger danger". NY stuff. Melodic hard rock. Excellent. If you like this kind of stuff they do it well. I'd rather listen to them than Bon Jovi...

BADLANDS: "Badlands". Much more bluesy. Amazing line up. Right.

ELECTRIC BOYS: "Funk O Metal carpet ride". From sweden. Have sleazy/half funky. Original. A lot of rhythm. "She's All Lips & Hips" fuck me! Never liked them even if Bob Rock produced them and got them a killer sound in the studio...

I, NAPOLEON: "I, Napoleon". Weird voice and but if you like you will love them. It was a "one off" album. I used to have this, the singer's voice was unique. They did that song "Go To Pieces" I think? They were okay, kind of reminded me of Odin....

LOVE/HATE: "Wasted in America". When I bought that album I couldn´t stop listening during weeks. A lot of diversity, funny and well written stuff.
I really liked Jizzy's voice, but the lyrics were so horrible that I was turned by the band. That guy Skid must have been high at each song writing session because he came up with some stupid, fucked up and just plain lazy ass lyrics...
 
Anyone mentioned Prophet already? Of the more "commercial" bands I liked them the most. But, as in all the subgenres, there were quit a few good to very good "hair bands". Most of them were mentioned already. Some I liked were Tyketto, Shy, Steelheart, Badlands, White Lion, early Winger, Q5, Tobruk, Vinnie Vincent (Invasion) etc....

 
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love/hate should have been huge. they were like a more trashy GNR.

also i'd say mark slaughter, mike from steelheart, don dokken, sebastian bach and ron keel were the best hair band singers...at least during the 80's and early 90's
 
I always liked Lizzy Borden. I never liked their look and felt that could have held them back from being taken seriously. In fact I think quite a few bands fell victim to that in the 80s..trying to hard for a look and then that look overshadowing the music.
 
also i'd say mark slaughter, mike from steelheart, don dokken, sebastian bach and ron keel were the best hair band singers...at least during the 80's and early 90's
Click to expand...

That's a start but you forgot Tony Mills from Shy, Jeff Scott Soto, Michael Sweet - Stryper, Steve Philbrook from Brass Kitten (Class-A Skid Row sound-a-likes with an incredible singer), The guy from Leatherwolf, Klaus Mein(sp?) Scorps, Tony Harnell - TNT, and I'll toss in Coverdale for good measure.

*Note: if you listen to Brass Kitten, Listen to Can't Hold Back the Young. The First 4 songs are from their mediocre debut album with a different singer.
 
left off coverdale and klaus because they started in the 70's and then their bands found fame in the 80's. most of the other guys started in the late 70's and never released an album until the 80's. yes forgot michael sweet for sure.
 
Sinister Realm said:
I always liked Lizzy Borden. I never liked their look and felt that could have held them back from being taken seriously. In fact I think quite a few bands fell victim to that in the 80s..trying to hard for a look and then that look overshadowing the music.
Click to expand...

they were more of a straight ahead metal band
 
mdmatt4ever said:
also i'd say mark slaughter, mike from steelheart, don dokken, sebastian bach and ron keel were the best hair band singers...at least during the 80's and early 90's
Click to expand...

I have to disagree a lot. I saw them some of those guys live and :ill:

Mark Slaughter is a kind of "love him or hate him". I like it but his voice nowadays is like a "cat".

Dokken classic line up is one of my favourites bands but poor old Don is unable to hit a single note. Too much drugs, drinking and smoking.

Sebastian Bach on albums is overwhelming but playing live abuses from screaming here and there woth no sense. What a mess! He could do it much better but he´s an a** and prefers to do nonsenses.

From the hard rock singers I´ve seen the best ones live are:

KELLY HANSEN from Hurricane (now in Foreigner). If anybody could fill Lou Gramm shoes that´s Kelly. If you have the chance, please check Foreigner live :worship:

CJ SNARE: I´m not the biggest Firehouse fan but the guy is in top form.

DANNY VAUGHN from Tyketto. Emotional and powerful with Tyketto, solo stuff or Waysted songs.

JEFF KEITH from Tesla. Well, Tesla are of the best live acts in rock. Nothing more to say.
 
Marco Spain said:
I have to disagree a lot. I saw them some of those guys live and :ill:

Mark Slaughter is a kind of "love him or hate him". I like it but his voice nowadays is like a "cat".

Dokken classic line up is one of my favourites bands but poor old Don is unable to hit a single note. Too much drugs, drinking and smoking.

From the hard rock singers I´ve seen the best ones live are:

KELLY HANSEN from Hurricane (now in Foreigner). If anybody could fill Lou Gramm shoes that´s Kelly. If you have the chance, please check Foreigner live :worship:

JEFF KEITH from Tesla. Well, Tesla are of the best live acts in rock. Nothing more to say.
Click to expand...

Slaughter is an acquired taste. He sounds like a fucking cartoon charcter, wait a minute he is, he did voice over work for cartoons years back!

Dokken was a great singer, drinking, smoking, drugs, health have taken a toll on him. I really think he should give Lynch a call and get the band back together before it's too late.

Kelly Hansen does bring something to the classic Foreigner catalog. I'm not sold on the new material sounds very vanilla to me though...

Jeff Keith...I love Tesla but having seen him recently his voice is shot. Too many Marlbro Reds...
 
jeff keith sounds horrid now.


yes don dokken was a great singer 15+ years ago hence why i said in their prime.

mark slaughter had one of the biggest natural vocal ranges back in the day. his voice is shot now and he doesn't want to pay to get it fixed
 
sixxswine said:
sadly I agree....:cry::cry:
They be playing here on the 28th...
I think I'll pass and see The Cult instead...
Click to expand...

yes see the cult instead. i saw tesla around 2002 and he sounded fine but recent live clips plus that dvd he sounds like a frog croaking. he is 51 though. his voice isn't as shot as bob dylan but tesla ain't dylan in terms of writing a tune if you know what i mean
 
:zombie: In june I saw Tesla twice in 3 days and he sounded OK. After 3 "warm up" songs he did it fine, almost as usual and a couple of years ago in Madrid it was overwhelming.
 
Marco Spain said:
:zombie: In june I saw Tesla twice in 3 days and he sounded OK. After 3 "warm up" songs he did it fine, almost as usual and a couple of years ago in Madrid it was overwhelming.
Click to expand...

the thing is the songs are down tuned and he still can't hit the high notes in songs
 
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