The Poser / Hair Metal thread

lurch70

Active Member
Sep 27, 2002
24,705
139
63
NYC
Well, this might not be appropriate to post here, in this tr00 black/death forum :worship: .. but .. I am going to see Vince Neil play this weekend (am a huge Motley fan) and wanted to see who would fess up to their weakenss to cheesy 80's poser metal.

There were some great bands I liked. Namely ...

KIX ... these fuckers were my favorite. Very underated band. Saw them live many times. Unbeleivable band live.
TNT ... awesome riffs and vocal harmonies.
DOKKEN .. you should know these guys.
WHITESNAKE
MOTLEY CRUE

anyway ... any gay history in your past?
 
The two big ones for me were Guns 'n Roses and Skid Row, but even by today's standards, I wouldn't call either of them cheesy poser metal. You'd see loads of old Clash and Sex Pistols fans at GnR shows, and loads of thrash fans at Skid Row.

Early Whitesnake is hard blues rock - John Sykes is legendary for that era, and of course David Coverdale had just come out of Deep Purple. Having said that, I was a big shred fan and so I always liked the underrated Slip of the Tongue with Steve Vai on his 7-string Ibanez.

80's rock metal bands spawned some of the best guitarists too - all these guys are basically shredders from the school of Van Halen:

George Lynch - Dokken
Reb Beach - Winger
Warren DeMartini - Ratt
Paul Gilbert - Mr Big
John Norum & Kee Marcello - Europe
Jason Becker - David Lee Roth
Steve Vai - Lee Roth & Whitesnake

The list goes on and on, so even though the look was getting ridiculous, the musicianship can't be denied. Funnily enough, one of the biggest bands of the period, Motley Crue, had one of the shittiest guitarists: Mick Marrs. He was ok, but he wasn't in the same league as those I listed above. Then again, Motley Crue are known for their songs, not guitar solos.

Amazing that grunge killed this all off, and when I compare the two, grunge makes me want to puke even more than the hairspray & fireworks. Overnight, grunge went from angst and rebellion to corporate radio daytime rock.

Fuck Nirvana, I'll take Motley Crue over them any day of the week.:kickass:
 
Skidrow was a good one for sure. Slave to the Grind is borderline thrash in certain parts. I know Bach is a big thrash fan ...

You should check out TNT for some awesome guitar work. They were a great Euro band that was murderously underrated ...

The fun of those bands cannot be denied ... why does today's music have to be so morbid?
 
I have to correct JayKeeley on a bit o' history in regards to WHITESNAKE, one of my faves. I wouldn't really call Sykes part of their early blues years, as he didn't join until '83 for Slide It In, and that was seven releases into their career.

It was the guitar duo of Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden, along with Jon Lord on keys and Neil Murray on bass that really reps the blues, hard rock era.
 
Papa Josh said:
I have to correct JayKeeley on a bit o' history in regards to WHITESNAKE, one of my faves. I wouldn't really call Sykes part of their early blues years, as he didn't join until '83 for Slide It In, and that was seven releases into their career.

It was the guitar duo of Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden, along with Jon Lord on keys and Neil Murray on bass that really reps the blues, hard rock era.
Yep, you're 100% correct. I am humbled. :worship:

OK so help me out here: when did Adrian Vandenburg join? I actually thought that was him on Slide it In and Whitesnake but that was all Sykes then wasn't it? And at which point was Vivian Campbell in the band (and hadn't he just come out of Dio, and then subsequently left Whitesnake to join Def Leppard?). That means Vandenburg never officially even played on a Whitesnake record...is that right?
 
JayKeeley said:
Amazing that grunge killed this all off, and when I compare the two, grunge makes me want to puke even more than the hairspray & fireworks. Overnight, grunge went from angst and rebellion to corporate radio daytime rock.

Fuck Nirvana, I'll take Motley Crue over them any day of the week.:kickass:
This is really the heart of why my musical tastes tend to be different from a lot of ya'll, when it comes to "regular" metal especially. My first CD was Nirvana - Nevermind shortly after its release, and that whole grunge movement was my awakening. Yeah, I loved Guns n' Roses, Megadeth, and Sacred Reich when I was 12, but Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, etc. was what I truly identified with. I pretty much skipped the whole hair metal thing, that shit was so cheesy to me back then, I've only begun to appreciate it over the last couple of years. Queensryche, Motley Crue, and others, that shit was for the dogs when I was growing up. :lol:

Bon Jovi always sucked serious goatballs, but I love listening to the Crue on All You Can Eat 80s on my local rock station, weekdays at noon. :headbang:
 
JayKeeley said:
Yep, you're 100% correct. I am humbled. :worship:

OK so help me out here: when did Adrian Vandenburg join? I actually thought that was him on Slide it In and Whitesnake but that was all Sykes then wasn't it? And at which point was Vivian Campbell in the band (and hadn't he just come out of Dio, and then subsequently left Whitesnake to join Def Leppard?). That means Vandenburg never officially even played on a Whitesnake record...is that right?

You are correct. Supposedly Vandenburg played a "bit"on the s/t, but hell if I know where, as Sykes permeates that record. You are correct on Campbell. Have you ever heard Vandenburg's solo band? They have a song called "Burning Heart" that is one of the best tracks from that era.
 
Never heard Vandenburgs solo stuff. I just think it's funny that I associate him only to Whitesnake, and yet he never technically played on any of their records! There was always a conspiracy that David Coverdale asked him to step down for the recording of SotT just so Vai could take the spotlight. Vai even described himself as a "hired gun".

I remember BBC Radio 1 broadcasting the Donnington Monsters of Rock festival of '89 (where both Whitesnake and Aerosmith double headlined). In any case, both Vandenburg and Vai were on stage for Whitesnake, and it was just incredible to hear them both shred back-to-back. I probably have that cassette tape recording lying about somewhere back in London.
 
Adrian Vandenburg plays the solo on the remix of Here I Go Again, and broke his wrist or something before Slip Of The Tongue was due to be recorded. Funny how the second-most longstanding Whitesnake muso is the least heard (and probably least known) one...he can be heard on a little-known acoustic live album Starkers In Tokyo though.

I absolutely love Whitesnake, but like the Scorpions you gotta differentiate their early work from the Hair Metal material. Rocks all the way though.

Other kick-ass shit:

W.A.S.P.
Twisted Sister
Skid Row
Poison

Kudos to Bon Jovi and Europe, and also Warrant for writing Cherry Pie which is a CLASS song!
 
JayKeeley said:
Heh, that just reminded me of the latest Metallica tribute album. It's all bluegrass musicians!

And the thread turning point has arrived...
This thread lasted awhile too, double digit posts on topic even! :tickled:

I have a string tribute to Tool and it's to frickin' die for. They add quite a bit of their own flair to the songs, which makes it a nearly new experience.
 
Papa Josh said:
Nice avatar, E. You on a CANDLEMASS kick, too, huh?
Yeah. I need to get more albums. Do you like stuff like "Chapter IV" and "From the 13th Sun?" Generally they might not be considered to be among their best but I really enjoy the stuff I've heard from them.
 
Erik said:
Yeah. I need to get more albums. Do you like stuff like "Chapter IV" and "From the 13th Sun?" Generally they might not be considered to be among their best but I really enjoy the stuff I've heard from them.

Yup. I enjoy 'em both.

Actually, the only one I don't have is Epicus Doomicus Metalicus.

Overall, I prefer the stuff with Messiah's vocals. And I really need to get that Documents Of Doom dvd.
 
btw ... Don Dokken's solo ... Up from the Ashes ... is one of the best freaking hair metal discs ever ... 10/10 ... no filler track in sight.
better than most Dokken discs :kickass:

Mikkey Dee ... John Norum, Peter Baltes ...