Deborah Evans Price of Billboard reports:
When hair metal bands reigned supreme in the ’80s, Poison definitely did their share…Before his band took off, frontman Bret Michaels admits to making some of the same questionable fashion choices that many fell prey to in the decade. “I have a lot of great memories of that era. I have a lot of memories of me wearing the powder blue tux that I thought looked good. That’s all I’m going to say,” he tells Billboard.
In addition to his work with Poison, the singer has proven to be a Renaissance man with a successful resume that includes solo albums and tours, reality TV shows, a line of pet products — Pets Rock by Bret Michaels — and winning Celebrity Apprentice in 2010. Here Michaels serves up his list of favorite hair metal bands:
1. Guns N’ Roses
“To me, one of the best Rock N’ Roll records ever is Appetite For Destruction. It’s still part of my party bus iPod.”
2. Def Leppard
“Because I’ve toured with them, I love them as people. They still have two of the best-produced records in history — Hysteria and Pyromania. Mutt Lange did them and Mutt Lange is a production guru.”
3. Bon Jovi
“Because he just writes damn good songs.”
4. Mötley Crüe
“I’ve toured with Mötley Crüe. I just think in the end they’ve got great rock songs.”
5. Poison
“And of course Poison!”
10 Responses
Isn’t “hair metal” supposed to be a derogatory term?
Here’s my five:
1. This guy is a douche.
2. Cowboy hat/bandana = Lame
3. You’re bald! It’s cool, we know.
4. Nothing wrong with hair loss.
5. This guy is still a douche.
I take it all back. I was wrong. I have all 10 fingers and my hands look wonderful.
🙂
D 🙂
What about how this statement affects me emotionally?
Oh boys. JBJs not gonna like this…
Let’s list our 5 favorite hair metal bands, no? Here’s mine:
First, I have to say this: Hanoi Rocks were not hair metal, but they deserve t be ahead of number one on the list. They influenced Poison, GNR, etc. To quote bassist Sami Yaffa: “We were hat band, not a hair band!” : )
5. Poison (First 2 records, if that)
4. Motley Crue (First 2 records only)
3. WASP (Blackie’s original voice cannot be ignored)
2. Black N’ Blue (Very underrated band and singer has pipes)
1. Stryper (The most talented of them all. Really.)
Honorable mentions:
Tuff (Good guys wear black!)
X Japan (That hair!)
Wrathchild (U.K.): (Complete camp but loads of fun)
Cinderella (Not metal, but good songs)
I applaud you, I think it would be way too arduous a task for me to narrow that list down to only five bands.
I am not ashamed to say that even though Priest is my favorite band, I loved most of the hair bands. Especially since, a lot of talented groups, such as Dokken and Mr. Big, got lumped into that very BROAD category.
D 🙂
It is a broad category and, unfortunately, since the tag “Hair Metal” was meant as a put down by some, it had a negative impact in later years on some very good, talented hard rock bands that didn’t deserve to be ridiculed just because of the name of the sub-genre of metal they were put into. That wasn’t fair.
I totally agree.
D 🙂