C'mon Feel The Noise - 80's Hair Bands

Motley Crue

On stage, Motley Crue was the wildest and craziest band of all, reaching new levels of rock star overindulgence. Unlike most bass players who blend in with the background, Nikki Sixx was a major player in the songwriting process, producing a hefty catalog of catchy tunes like "Kickstart My Heart" and "Shout at the Devil." As one of the pioneers of glam metal, Crue helped shape the sound of this larger-than-life subgenre as early as 1981 with Too Fast for Love.

Winger

Kip Winger and company hit the music scene in 1988 with the smash hit Madelaine. His smoldering good looks were perfect for music video. Along with band mates Reb Beach, Rod Morgenstern and John Roth, they toured the world with artists like ZZ Top. and heated up the charts from 1988-1994. They had several successful reunion tours during the 1990's with a slightly changed line up, and released a new CD in November 2009 called Karma. This musical effort garnered Winger a list on the top 10 best album list of almost every rock website and magazine

Cinderella

Cinderella's glam metal fairytale got its start in Philly a world away from the Sunset Strip. Breaking through the thousand-strong army of already waging hair metal bands with Night Songs in 1986, Cinderella squashed its predecessors with edgier banshee vocals and powerful harmonies that led to a succession of hit singles. Despite its terrifyingly hackneyed hair band appearance, Cinderella was a step above other bands from that era musically.

Guns N' Roses

More glam in their early days on the Sunset Strip than on studio albums, with the amazing one-two punch combination of Slash's serious shredding and Axl's vigorously vicious vocals, Guns N' Roses, without a doubt, outmatched all other hair metal contenders. Not only did they kick the shit out of hair metal, they were a major force in general, leaving an infinitely indelible impression with the tour de force that is Appetite for Destruction one of the greatest rock albums of all time.

Bon Jovi

Despite its tepid sound and the fact that it embraced every rock cliche in the book, Bon Jovi earned a massive following and churned out a seemingly never ending string of hits starting with "Runaway" in 1984. These stadium rockers are lucky they haven't gone blind with all the girls that have flashed their boobs over the years. Global superstardom came after the release of Slippery When Wet in 1986.

Poison

Brett Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Rikki Rocket, and Bobby Dall were Poison-a glam rock band from California. They wore more makeup than most women, and they looked good in it, too! Their monster hit, Talk Dirty to Me, from their smash album Look What the Cat Dragged In, helped them rise to the top of the hair band heap in 1986. They had several hit albums and popular MTV videos. Infighting, constant touring, and DeVille's drug addiction eventually brought the band down and they never reached the same height of popularity again, even with new members.

Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot was one of the original forces in this genre with two mega hits, "Cum on Feel the Noize" and "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)." Even though Randy Rhoads was the original guitarist before leaving to work with Ozzy in 1979, Quiet Riot still gained the bragging rights of the first U.S. debut metal album, Metal Health, to reach numero uno on the charts in 1983.

Skid Row

This Jersey based band had it's start in 1986. Lead singer Sebastian Bach had an extremely powerful voice that took the band to the top of the charts in 1989 with it's self-titled platinum debut album, which contained the hits I'll Remember You and 18 and Life.

Their second album, Slave to the Grind, debuted at the number one spot in 1991, but grunge had already started to overtake the radio airwaves. In 1992 they took a break and returned in 1995 with another album that charted, but received little airplay.

The band called it quits after that and reformed in the early 2000's without Bach.

Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister had a loud, large and rebellious sound symbolized by Dee Snider's massive curly blonde locks and his teeth biting sneer, making Twisted Sister seem wilder than the other pretty boy glam metal metal bands. Twister Sister can also stake claim to the fact that it created two of the loudest and most sacred hair metal anthems of the '80s that kids shook their fists to in "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock."

Warrant

Although this act summoned an an ocean of lighters to illuminate arenas everywhere with ballads like "Heaven" and "Sometimes She Cries," Warrant's late frontman Jani Lane still wrote songs like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" that were more serious than your average glam tune. And it would be remiss not to mention the strip club staple "Cherry Pie," even though it is a song much loathed by the band as a last minute recording on the album to snag a hit single.