Does anyone here listen to or like Glam Metal? Honestly, Glam Metal is some of my favorite music; especially Poison, Motley Crue, and Whitesnake. Pretty Boy Floyd's debut album is also pretty good. What are your favorite glam metal releases if you like it?

I'm not entirely sure, but I'm guessing this thread should have been posted in "The Tavern", as most glam metal is not recognized as metal by the archives.

I do really enjoy a lot of glam, however, I've found very few full albums I like. I've been listening to it for 25 years, so I've heard just about all there is to hear. There are a couple Motley albums that are close to complete albums for me (Shout At The Devil, Dr. Feelgood). Skid Row's debut is close, too, but it still has a lot of filler. Other than that, there were handfuls of "one-hit wonders", or songs that had a few good songs.

I've seen so many of these bands live at discount prices doing the casino/small club circuit since 2000, and their setlists ring true. The only songs the majority of the crowd knows are stacked at the end of their 60-75 minute set. (obviously not talking about bands that continued to play bigger venues like Def Leppard and Motley Crue).

I will also note: Fallen Angel by Poison is one of my favourite songs of all time.

I like a lot of glam metal. Poison, Ratt, Tigertailz, Diamond Rexx, Roxx Gang, Wrathchild, Pretty Boy Floyd, Sleeze Beez, some Black 'N' Blue... among more modern bands Loud 'N' Nasty definitely takes a cake. In general, many of these bands are so awesome it's easy to listen to album by album, some of them have some individual good songs, some bands are rather bland or even shit-tier. I mostly prefer sleazy mischievous glam instead of 'domesticated' AOR-influenced one.

There is even a noteworthy good glam metal song from 80's thrash metal band Necronomicon. A really a good one, I'd say it's even better then their thrash output, ironically.

I was into glam metal, before heavier music like thrash. I still enjoy it quite a bit. Some great records in my opinion are

Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged in and Open Up and Say Ah
Ratt - the first EP, Out of the Cellar, Invasion of your Privacy, Dancing Undercover
Warrant - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich
Skid Row - Skid Row, Slave to the Grind
LA Guns - LA Guns, Cocked and Loaded
Winger - Winger

^ I'm a rare example of the opposite; ever since moving from stoner rock to first-wave metal and NWOBHM, I've been listening to more glam metal than ever. Some of it's good. I typically separate "glam metal" and "hair metal," with glam metal being a more flamboyant NWOBHM (think Ozzy Osbourne, Krokus, Dokken, Scorpions, early Def Leppard, and whatnot) and hair metal being... whatever Cinderella, Tesla, Warrant, Whitesnake, Bulletboys, Poison, later Def Leppard, etc. were. However, I recently encountered an actual 80s metalhead who said that, at the time, the exact opposite was true: hair metal was more "NWOBHM + bigger hair" and glam metal was the frou-frou one. I'm guessing the misconception stems from the fact "hair metal" sounds much more frivolous. And some of it's silly anyway because so many people use the two terms interchangeably (wrongly!)

Anyway, glam metal had the same problem nü metal would later suffer from: getting the "metal" moniker attached to something that isn't metal. Glam metal at least existed much, much closer within metal's sonic tradition. There's a reason why Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, WASP, Skid Row, Quiet Riot, Nitro, and plenty more icons of 80s pop metal are on Metal Archives, but virtually no nü metal group you've ever heard of except Soulfly and Machinehead (bit players in the Douche Age) boasts the same accomplishment. You can quickly jump from Mötley Crüe and Nitro straight to Motörhead and Judas Priest without it feeling jarring. Comparatively, try going from Disturbed or Crazy Town to Iron Maiden

Even going to a groove metal artist like Pantera can be a bit of a jump because now you're dealing with actual metal riffs and any amount of technical proficiency at all. But that's just an exceptional case wrought by people thinking that any heavy music = metal.

With glam metal, it's a bit harder to tell. A lot of glam & hair metal was more or less "heavy glam rock". Think the likes of the Sweet, T. Rex, Queen, The Glitter Band Slade, or KISS but with glossier 80s production and even louder guitars. But as we've ascertained in another thread (the Blue Öyster Cult one that was derailed into a Sweet thread), 70s glam rock was already pretty much what "glam metal" would become, with some glam rockers having songs heavier and more metallic-sounding than anything we'd hear until NWOBHM. All glam metal did was play those songs exclusively,

Of course, some glam metal was actually heavy metal, just a very flamboyant metal. It was a gateway genre, arguably the first big "gateway to metal" (unless you consider 70s prog rock to be such), so obviously people are going to have fond memories of them. And if nothing else, glam metal was fun. It knew it was goofy party rock, and at least tried to play with it. That's certainly more than I can say for the angst-obsessed nü metal and the -cores that followed it. Though I can absolutely see why the later grunge and alternative scenes wanted to distance themselves from "heavy metal" even when several of those groups were metal themselves when the likes of Poison is what mainstream audiences considered "metal." But at least some of NWOBHM's spirit lived on through glam metal. You just had to find it within all the hair spray.

Ever thought Dokken was just a silly hairfarmer group? Not quite so; they had some really solid metal riffs and knew how to play them.


Remember when Def Leppard was a kickass NWOBHM band?


Ever wanted to have some rock 'n roll femboys make you question your sexuality while they're ripping some NWOBHM-style trad metal? Seduce has got you covered.


Though on that note, it's clear for another reason why the underground didn't like it, even if it's not as politically correct to say nowadays.

The 80s were simultaneously the gayest and most homophobic decade in American history. What other decade would a femboy in hot pink and cyan short shorts and a quiffed mullet call you a cocksmoking gaylord for listening to the hypermasculine manly men of metal band Poison?


This dude is probably about to call you the queen of queers for hanging up a topless picture of Stallone in your bathroom

In that environment, glam metal was doomed. There was no way less politically correct and hypermasculine fans of metal were ever going to take it seriously. What other decade— other than some hypothetical future era where RuPaul's drag race combines with some pop metal revival— will we ever see mainstream rock stars in leopard-print assless chaps, BDSM gear, chest hair flying, enough hairspray to rip the ozone layer in half, and very-much masc men publicly digging deep into their wive('s makeup and stockings)?


I don't know, I just love how bizarre the 80s were. We'll never see their likes again and I'm not entirely sure how we saw their likes in the first place.

We recently had a discussion about this. Nu metal definitely was much more alien to metal and any established music scene back then. Glam was simply a mix of heavy metal, glam rock, AOR and whatnot, anyway clearly tracable to existing traditions. It still was clearly very much a part of the family, even if unwanted, 'every family has its black sheep' kind of thing. On the contrary, I believe nu metal was called 'nu/new' in the sense of retconning existing mainstream metal tradition as obsolete and replacing it with completely different thing.

For me, early Dokken and early Motley Crue were the pinnacle of that sound. Dokken had some riffs that were solidly metal back on their first two albums, and I was always a fan of George Lynch's guitar work. As for Motley Crue, "Shout at the Devil" simply kicks ass- as both a metal album and a glam one. While the others- Ratt had some decent songs back in the day, and early (Pre-Hysteria") Def Leppard was a solid band with some great songs- that "High and Dry" album was easily their best, and it was unequivocally metal (New Wave Of British...to be specific) to the core.

But yet, I never got into anything Motley Crue did after "Shout at the Devil" and never liked anything Dokken did after "Tooth and Nail," and as for Def Leppard- by the time "Hysteria" came out, they had dropped all pretense of being metal or even hard rock anymore, and I thought that album was bland and terrible, to be honest.

And after Poison, Guns N'Roses, and all the rest of those bands came out in the late 80s though, I kind of soured on it; I just wasn't in to any of those bands. They just seemed to be more cheese than meat, so to speak, in terms of songwriting.

I've been into hair metal almost as long as I've been into "real" metal. Whether it be lighter, fluffy keyboard stuff like Autograph or heavy riff fests like Shout at the Devil, I love it all. I'm less into the sleazier side of the genre (Faster Pussycat, Tigertailz), although of course Appetite for Destruction is as classic as everyone says. Yes, GNR were "anti-glam/hair metal" or whatever, but in my mind I kind of throw them and Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Dokken, WASP, Def Leppard and Poison etc into the same box. To me it's a kind of 80's feel that can't be objectively defined, and I just instinctively know that bands like Queensrÿche or Iron Maiden are not part of the same thing.

Being a more commercial kind of music, many albums of this style tend to have maybe 2-3 good songs and then a lot of filler. However, some albums I think stand out taken as whole:

Vinnie Vincent Invasion - s/t

Absolute guitar tone madness. Forget the overly fast, kind of dumb guitar solos that wrongfully get all the attention, the riffs and pure energy of first half of this album is what makes it. Just insanity, and "No Substitute" is also a stunning up tempo ballad. One of the best produced and engineered albums of 1986, holds up so damn well today and needs to be cranked loud on a good sound system. Their second album is really good too, but definitely tamed by comparison.

Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet

Desmond Child is a genius songwriter and everyone knows the hits, but lesser knows cuts that aren't penned by him such as I'd Die for You (that fucking solo!), Let It Rock and Without Love make the album as whole a classic. For a band named after the singer, the guitars and drums sure rip pretty hard and stand out in a big way too.

Extreme - Pornograffitti

Sort of DLR-era Van Halen but with a big funky swing and a horn section. Cool as hell, big swagger to it, pushing the style creatively in many ways (there's rapping on it for one). Nuno Bettencourt is all over the place on the guitar and must have at least four hands. "More Than Words" is also on it, by far their biggest hit of course and I wonder how many people are even aware of what the band even usually sounds like.

Danger Danger - s/t

"Naughty Naughty" may be my favorite hair metal song of all time. I have several friends who make fun of me for liking it, but only because that chorus gets stuck in their head permanently and they want to get back at me for exposing it to them. The album is very much in the Bon Jovi vein, a bit cheesier but insanely fun nonetheless.

Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil

Later stuff has good songs here and there ("Wild Side" I think is their best song ever), but the early stuff is really where it's at as far as full length albums. Debut was made in the style's formative years and is a cool mixture of metal, pop, punk, and just classic rock. Shout on the other hand is pure molten steel, and the riffs just don't stop coming.

This album is amazing and I've never found anyone else that is into it! Favourite tracks are Feels Like Love and Don't Walk Away.

I saw Ted Poley live a couple years ago at a bar in Toronto that hosts almost exclusively washed-up glam bands and it was hilarious. He spent the whole set saying "just a couple more songs until I can come down and party with you guys".

That's cool! Yeah I feel Ted Poley's just can't quit doing music and will happily travel to Sweden for small bar gigs like when I saw him live in 2012. Super positive energy much like D2's music, really energized the crowd and the whole show was an awesome time.

I love me some Crue, Skid Row, Twisted Sister, Ratt, and Dokken is pretty good too. Don't consider GnR to be a hair metal band but they rock hard.

The two-pronged attack of '86 thrash and the four big hair band releases of August 1986 (debuts by VVI, Cinderella, Poison, plus Slippery) killed heavy metal. Hair bands before that were either real metal (Crue, Ratt, Twisted, etc), glam punk (Hanoi, Easy Action, Glorious Bankrobbers) or an actual glam metal amalgam (Madam X, Dedringer, TKO).
Having said all that... I still love it. I grew up with it.

Poison & Pretty Boy Floyd are pretty good(though i've only listened to mostly their debut). I do like Poison's music because they can make catchy, fun glam metal and hard rock. Ratt is another band I want to get into, Lack of Communication & Round and Round are good songs. My fav glam songs have to be on Bon Jovi's "Slippery But Wet", "Love of a Lifetime", A lot of Poison's stuff, "Gypsy Road", "Slick Black Cadillac". All are just catchy music.

I have a selection or list of Glam Metal songs ( I would say I have maybe 4 or 5 songs of each band , someones only one and the the number only it increases with Wasp ( 28 songs of wasp )

I searched in youtube the hits of bands glam metal to enjoy listening and then I pick up the songs I like after listening all albums of each band. That was my searching working .
When I was younger I guess I recorded in cassettes the audio of the radio. I did this with many styles of metal and rock and classical music.

In my hard disk I have selected songs of many bands of Wasp - Motley Crue -- Skidraw -- Guns nad roses -- Alice cooper---Deff Leppard --Doken -------Firehouse--- LA GUNS ----- POISON ----- RATT ---- SCorpions ----- Warrant -- Whitesnake ---- Wildside ----

Aerosmith : I like only ´´Walk This Way´´ song
Lenny Kravitz : I like only the song ´´Are You Gonna Go My Way´´ but he is more funky , he is not a glam musician.
Billy idol : I like 2 songs Rebell shell ´´ and ´´Speed
Faster Pussycat ----- only song ------Slip Of The Tongue
Great White - only 2 songs ---Lady Red Light ----- - 'Stick It'
Kingdom Come - one song -----------Do you like it - HQ
Vandenberg only one song ----------Fighting Against The World

I'm not exactly sure Aerosmith, Lenny, or Billy Idol can be considered hair/glam metal.

I'd say they're more hard rock and just adopted a glam style in terms of their appearance.

Glam/hair bands were great. I enjoy listening to bands that really capture that 80s decadence, and I think the album that sums it all up is Whitesnake '87. I also love all of Motley Crue's albums up until Dr Feelgood, Dokken's albums, Faster Pussycat, 80s KISS, London, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot... And of course, Steel Panther

Edit: Forgot to add in TNT and Ratt

My mom was (and is) a big glam fan and I was essentially raised listening to shit like Ratt, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, etc. It's a very formative genre for me, and even as I got into other, "real" genres of metal I've always loved glam metal. In fact, in recent years, as I've grown to understand my appreciation for tight, pop-style songwriting (focus on hooks, melodies, and song structure), my love for the genre has only grown. It's increasingly become a larger part of my everyday listening.

I really appreciate the mid-80s stuff the most. A lot of the late 80s/early 90s stuff starts to get a little too formulaic and corny, and the early-80s stuff is great, but a little too rough around the edges to be my favorite stuff. There are obviously exceptions to that; Dr. Feelgood is a killer album, Adrenalize by Def Leppard is fantastic if a step down from Hysteria, Firehouse's first two albums are absolutely killer, and Skid Row were obviously badass. I would include Tesla as well, but honestly I think they're unfairly lumped in with the other glam bands. Their music came out at the peak of hair metal and occasionally had the glam aesthetic, but they were really more hard rock than glam. There's no way any other glam bands would put out songs like Edison's Medicine, you know?

Even though it might not have been "real" metal, glam was a critical genre for me, and it helped introduce me to gradually more heavy bands, so I'm glad for it, and still look back fondly on some of those bands. That said, the majority of this genre was decidedly not metal, and at its worst it was REALLY bad.

I will say that despite all the questionable style choices, the banal lyricism and dime a dozen bands, there was an impressive amount of talent in the genre. This is especially true when you look at the lead guitarists and (some) of the singers.

These days, the only bands from the genre I'll still listen to are W.A.S.P., Dokken and occasionally Skid Row.