Best 80s Hair Metal Bands, Ranked

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Pastimes at 80s High. Got Kevin and Mark here with me today. Hello, boys. Hello.

Hey, AJ. Great to be here today.

Uh, we are missing our good buddy Dongo today, as he has had a construction project going on. Things got a little backed up. However, he is going to um he is going to text me a list. So at the end of the show, we'll go around and share that with you too. What we're going to do today, and I am going to start off by saying that I don't love the term, but we are going to do our top seven hair metal bands. And, you know, some people call them glam, some people call it arena rock, but hair band is, you know, a lot of a lot of the uh bands find it very disparaging. Others embrace it. You know, some of our lists here, people may or may not agree that they would be considered a hairband. But the way I look at it is if we think it is, it is to us. So good enough.

If you boys have anything to say about it before we get started, well, I believe that if you are hanging upside down with the um ultra supersized bottle of Aquanet and making your hair stand up 42 feet, then you are a hairband, whether you like the term or not. Um but certainly there is a wide swath of what could be considered. It is a bit of a derogatory term, I think, for most people, but also something from our youth that we that we can embrace.

So what I want to say about it is uh, you know, so-called hair metal back in the day pretty much spoke to debauchery, craziness, and partying 24-7. You know, a lot a lot of these bands that I'm talking about that despise the term hair metal were the ones going out and doing all the debauchery. And um that it was just a very carefree decade, the 1980s. There wasn't a lot to worry about outside of your own life. Everything was going pretty well. So anyway, yeah, it was it was a crazy time to be in a rock group.

Yes, absolutely. And a lot of it can be categorized too, uh, you know, as being absolutely shut down by Nirvana Gate when Nevermind came out, you know, September 24th, 1991. There are some that made it through, but a lot of yeah. Awesome. So we're gonna get going then on our list. And I guess I get to to lead us off today. Yeah, so I don't get yelled at this week. Well, you probably still will exactly great, looking forward to it. Faith. So my number seven, all right, are the prettiest four women I've ever seen. Uh wait a minute. They're men. And that would be poison. Okay. Um, I gotta tell you, you know, can it be considered pretty damn cheesy? It is, but it's just fun to me, you know. And one thing I will say is Brett Michaels just still to this day, the way he appreciates the fans and reac interacts with them. And I just love it, you know. I mean, I think it's so cool how how genuine he seems. And at the concerts, you know, he he's slapping everyone's hands and just their music was just fun about chicks and partying and that's pretty much the whole decade. Yeah, exactly. But just a lot of fun. And I actually, at one concert in Guilford, when they did rock and roll all night for the Encore, he invited like 40 of us up on the stage. I'll never forget it. Everyone's attacking him and the rest of the band and singing in the microphone. And I just went to the edge of the stage and I did the Gene Simmons arm moves just right out to the audience, man. Alcohol was not involved. It wasn't, actually. Well, maybe a little. Okay, well.

So I decided that I was gonna go by just the height of the hair. That's that's that's that's that's that's gonna be my qualifier as whoever had the haulest, whoever had the tallest hair.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna be shot down on many.

No, that's that's not true. Uh however, unlike AJ's first pick, uh, my number seven is actually a female band. Oh no. And that would be Vixen. Yep. Who were, I mean, just really when you when you think about it, they were a great band.

They definitely got.

And they and they rocked, and and and you think about you know, the the the partying that went on and whatever else, and totally different from a female perspective, I'm sure, but not that different. Um wonder if they're groupies. They must have. They must have. And here's the thing, they actually so they must have had a sense of humor about it because they were actually in one of my favorite schlock movies from that era, Hard Bodies. Yeah, I remember that movie. They were in that, they were the band in Hard Bodies, absolutely. The band's name in Hard Bodies was Diaper Rash. Yes, not to be confused with loaded diaper, yes, exactly. Totally different, totally different band. But yeah, just I mean, these ladies could rock. Absolutely, absolutely, and they were I mean, they had all the trappings of being a hair metal band.

Damn right. So that's my seven. Awesome. So number seven to you, brother.

All right, my number seven is a band called Warrant, Uncle Tom's Cabin. I play it all the time at home. It it it's fun.

The down boys, the down boys. I like that. That one always, yeah. I always like that one. It was a good tune.

Yeah, and then you had uh the song Cherry Pie. And I mean, this was an iconic song. And I did this a lot of people thought it hurt their career for some reason, if I remember. Cherry pie.

I feel like it was one of their biggest.

Well, so do I, but there was I just smile because it makes me think of Bobby Brown in her finest hours. She was just so she was. I mean, that was it. I mean, that was the pinnacle right there. She she woo!

Yeah, but I mean, Uncle Tom's uh cabin was just so much fun, and um David's band played it all the time. Yep, great song. All right, nice.

So we are to six, and this one, one of the biggest bands of the decade, and that would be Bon Jovi. I mean, he just took off, man. I mean, personally, I loved his album, you know, albums before the uh Slippery came out, but man, when Slippery came out and You Give Love a Bad Name and Living on a Prayer and Wanted Dead or Alive, man, just great tunes. That whole album, man. It's I just you know, I was a kid and I just played it over and over and over. And I'm Wanted Dead or Alive. What a great video, man. You know, with them on the bus and just love young Guns. No, that is Blaze of Glory, still another great song.

Okay, yep, yep, okay.

Young Guns too, Blaze of Glory, another great song I was gonna talk about. I mean, I loved them, and I mean, they were one without a doubt, one of the biggest. And I will say this is Bon Jovi was one of the smart ones, and you know, kind of eased into a different genre, really. I mean, you had his stuff like in the early 2000s, late 90s, early 2000s, and then he kind of went like contemporary, you know, pretty, pretty mellow. He's just different. He's like, I don't want to be 50 years old with black fingernail polish and long hair and blah blah blah. But you know, they they stopped like with Nirvana Gate and then came back later, and he's still doing well, he's no longer doing amazing because he lost his voice, but oh no, yeah, that would kill a career any day, you know. Yep, so getting a bunch of surgeries, I guess, and hoping to get back to it. But um, Richie Sambora has stated, you know, I'm not gonna play with him until he can sing. He is, but there's a lot of hope of them getting together again and you know, maybe playing some rock and roll like they used to, but not until he has a voice, if he ever does. But anyway, so that's number six to you, Kevin.

Number six to me is again, I mean, I don't want to concentrate too much on the hair, but this is hair metal, that's right, the finest mane of hair, and that would be Mike Tramp from White Lion, which was also a great band.

I scratched him.

Vito was was an amazing guitarist, incredible, highly underrated for for the skill that he had, because you know, like a lot of bands at that time, their ballad, their love song overshadowed the other things that they did.

Um, but it's called airplay, obviously. Exactly.

But but but an amazing, amazing guitarist. Another interesting point is that they too were in the movie Money Pit. So I mean, it's it's it's it's funny to think of you know, at some point, hard rock was on the outside, it was an outlier. It wasn't and then into the 80s it started becoming that you saw Main Street. Yeah, you saw these people in movies, you saw these, you know, Hollywood and and the mainstream were were incorporating them into into what was happening. But so anyway, yeah, definitely White Lion was had some great songs, Vito. Incredible band, incredible, pretty boy singer, yeah, and and yeah, Dutch.

Yeah, awesome no band. Nice. I scratched them too. They were on my list. Awesome. So number six to you, bro.

Okay, this is a band that also doesn't like being called a hair band, but it's called Tesla. Yes, some of the greatest songs I've ever heard from that time. Yeah, um, you have uh Heaven's Trail, No Way Out, and you have the Love Song, which is you know their official ballad, and um Little Susie, a great song. And um, I I was trying to learn it to to play it on guitar, and just cruising along, it's like it has dad gad tuning, it's kind of strange, cruising along until they want you to play Twister with your with your fingers. And I'm sorry, these people with huge hands have no idea how hard it is for people with you know like me that have average hands at best, and it's just at that point I'm like, okay, I'm out.

I mean, I guess I could go up the fretboard, but and what about that Bon Jovi song, uh Modern Day Cowboy?

Okay, AJ. You edited that out. You didn't have to now you're gonna have to edit that out again. But modern day cowboy, what a great motherfucking rocking song. Uh-huh. It is right before the end of the Cold War. It's it they're singing about uh pretty much nuclear war between the USSR, CCCP, Soviet Union, children out there that are listening that never heard of it, and of course, America. Yep. And this was just before Reagan ended the Cold War, and uh just a rock and song just goes right through your soul.

Oh, damn right. So that's six. There could be an argument there that they're not a hair band, but this is all what we're choosing. Damn right. Exactly.

I would like to say to that though, many people don't realize this. Little Susie was actually a song done by an English band called PhD. Yep. And it is I mean, you can recognize the song, but but it's very, very different from different versions from their version of it. What a what a great song.

Well, I was playing the intro, that's what I was trying to do. Oh, yeah. Well, that's yeah, that's yeah until they did that.

Because he was, you know, I mean, again, these guys are I think where they are for a reason. Um one of my favorite bands. Yeah, AJ and I saw Tesla without a doubt. AJ and I saw Tesla a couple years ago. You know, AJ and I have been around long enough to to realize when when somebody's using backing tracks and and whatever else, this this dude was belting it out. Really? Wow.

I have a video of getting better.

It's getting better every day.

At that show, and I turn it around my on myself, and I'm bawling my eyes out. That song just had so much meaning for me back in the day because I was living in Hinsdale, which I friggin' hated.

Wait a minute, I moved over while he was crying, it just felt awkward.

So I all right. So number five to me. And this is a band that kind of changed their ways pretty damn quickly, and I don't in any way think that their music would be constituted as a hair band. Now, once again, how I don't like that term, um it's because I feel like they, you know, are putting a whole genre together by their looks and not their music, and this fucking band and this one particular album, which is Night Songs by Cinderella, is just one of my favorite all-time bands, man. I mean, they just are awesome and very, you know, people say ACD-ish, but um with a little Aerosmith in there, yeah, yeah. But just their music did not, you know, fit their look at all on night songs, you know, with all the purple and all the clothing and the hair. But that is why when Long Cold Winter came out, you'll notice there is not a picture of the band on it at all. Right. And they were trying to nip that in the bud. But holy F, what a great, great man.

I saw them open for Bon Jovi. Yep, me too. And no disrespect to Bon Jovi, but Cinderella blew them off the stage. They were because they were just coming up, they were obviously the supporting hack, they had something to prove. I don't know how much longer they stayed on the tour after I saw them with Bon Jovi because they didn't want them opening. He must have noticed that that they were killing Nashua.

They were doing outdoor shows in Nashua someplace at that point. Colman Stadium? I have no idea. Was this in the 90s when they got kicked out of the scene by Nirvana Gate? No, I don't think so. I mean, yeah, it probably was, but it might have been right there.

I think it was late 80s, 87, 88 that I saw them anyway.

Okay. So number five, Kev.

All right, number five, again, arguably, I don't know how much hair band this band is. They were way, way more blues than a lot of bands that were out at that time. But I will put them in this category because they were fantastic, and also because one of their bigger hits was a remake of an ancestor of hair, which would be the old school glam going back, then that would be Once Bit and Twice Shy from Mot the Hoople. I'm talking about Gray White. Yes, and I just want to say, and there's lots of things that we could talk about negative here, but I'm gonna stay away from that. I just want to respect the fact that we lost Jack Russell last week. Last week, um, and he was an incredible dude, and he just kept just kept amazing vocals. Oh god, there's just so many great, great songs from them. A lot of fun and an amazing band.

Yeah, amazing band, an MTV staple, yes, as many of these bands are for sure. You know, something we didn't talk about, and that's MTV. I mean, that this is the height of it. Well, yeah, they played rock and roll and they played music videos. Remember that?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, MTV pretty much uh stared the music scene a lot. Oh, hell yeah. They broke you, they made you broke or they fucked you.

Look at you, Billy's choir. Yeah, exactly. They made a broke.

Well, he could have fucked himself, and uh, you know, and they had a big part of uh getting rid of hair metal when uh you know the grunge era took over. Beavis and butt head, yeah, and it was you know flip the switch. And how long did Grunge stand the test of time, by the way? Ten years. Probably not that long, though. Ten years, maybe.

Yeah, but you like we were talking about this before. You turn on classic rock radio and you're gonna hear Aerosmith, you're gonna hear these bands, you're really not gonna hear that much from sound guard and a little bit of sound guard, a little bit not much, but it's not it's it's not the staple that that music that we listen to.

And I don't hate grunge, I don't hate it at all. I hate what it did to the scene. I mean, there were a lot of amazing bands. I just didn't like the whole depression singing about frigging misery over the street.

Well, that's the thing is I mean, how hard is it to sell angst to teenagers? I mean, that's what they were already angst. I guess it's what they wanted, but we were like, hey, let's let's rip some lines and drink some beers and go find some chicks to tall hair, not to get off on a tangent, but bands like Alice and Chains started off as the glam type.

Oh, a lot of them did.

Look at Pantera. Yeah, Pantera. Pantera started. I mean, they're not there, a grunge grunge band.

By the way, Allison Chains is by far my favorite quote Seattle band.

Yeah. Okay, so number five to you, Mark.

Okay, well, I did not consider them at first, but after watching a couple of their videos, this is an album from my most influential guitar influence, Ace Freely. It's called Freely's Comet. The band is called Freely's Comet. Yes. And um, I will mention the members in this band. Anton Fig was the drummer. He he drummed right out of the style. Incredible drummer. He drummed out of the style of uh John Bonham. Um John Regan was on bass, and Todd How God rest his soul, by the way.

John Regan passed away, I think, last year.

And Todd had is it Hayworth, Howard? Hayworth or Haworth, yeah. One of them. Todd Haworth has an incredible voice. So fitting for that time, man. And they were, you know, they had the teased hair and everything, and they had the so anyway. Um, he came out in the first the first Freely's Comet. Um, he started out with Rock Soldier as just an incredible song. It was a redemption song. Yes. As we know, he was, you know, just leaving kiss a couple years earlier, and he he was drinking too much, slipping and sliding, drinking and driving, and it was bringing him closer to hell. Absolutely. And you know, I mean, if Satan wanted to play a card game, he was gonna have to play with an out an ace in his deck.

He's gonna play without an ace in his deck.

He did a cover um into the night. Um there was this great song called Breakout, which um Ace Really asked Eric Cumber to play on the record. Yes. And then unfortunately, Paul and Gene being well, I don't know if it was more Paul. I mean, I'm sure it was. But being the control freaks told him no and Eric was pretty much devastated. And um they did a I mean post what's the word after someone died.

Post mortem posthumously thank you. That too.

They did a song called Car Jam at the end of uh uh Revenge was which is basically the demo that Ace was playing.

Yep Breakout well Eric Carr did have a writing credit on Breakout which is why so car jam was basically that song just without lyrics and a little different.

Oh okay because the Clash had a song called well car jamming sorry different gotcha different type yeah but then you had a song called a song called Dolls which is a really cute song and then there they're I mean I won don't want to really call it a breakout song but a really nice uh a really nice ballad called It's Over Now it's over now all right but all right you can delete that all right but I just I love that band calling to you mark on that album calling to you is on I that is an incredible song I wrote down calling to you it's only okay I'm not gonna say Todd Hayworth was just so fitting for that era like he was perfect perfect 80s voice.

Yep he was incredible yeah and good I'm glad you picked that because I didn't and I was really struggling with it.

I just remember coming home to the Oxbow and me and Dave were roommates there. He had a little note on the table I have aces first record it's incredible and it was yes not the second one not so much because he was back into the substances at that point.

So all right anyway let that be a lesson kids yes so anyway uh number four to me and this one is one that I don't even believe should be in this category but they damn well were and that is Skid Row another one of my favorites just an incredible band. Um I always love the story about you know they had a different singer original and I I can't remember his name but I just remember Eddie Trunk talks about it a lot where you know all of a sudden they're playing a club they've always played New York or something or Jersey and there's a bunch of limos out there and Eddie's like what's going on tonight you know what's what's with all the limos and oh all the record companies are here they have this this new guy singing for them and you go in and you see like whatever he is six five Sebastian Bach with one of the greatest voices in the history in my opinion I mean he's incredible he could wail you know and he's just such a huge presence up there and just banging his head madly which he has super terrible net problems now for real I would imagine but he can still belt it out I went and saw I went to Vegas for Eddie Trunk's 40th anniversary on radio party and saw the his gig at the House of Blues which had so many different members there but Baz did a few songs and another thing just you know not to go off on a tangent but Sebastian Bach called in Eddie Trunk you know after COVID and just what a genuine fucking dude that's how life just started like literally crying his eyes out and thanking Eddie for helping get him and so many people through COVID you know listening I mean it helped me too you know two hours a day Monday through Friday Trunk Nation on uh Faction Talk now but just an incre you know it helped me through and just I thought that was very classy and cool of him to be himself you know and emotional but back to the band just that frigging first debut record and then you have slave to the grind and then you have oh god why did it just leave me uh subhuman race which you know they kind of went with that line and you know I mean as people were doing a certain thing they didn't do that they went their own direction and just got heavier I mean to come out with that debut right I'll remember you 18 in life youth gone wild and just to be an MTV friggin' staple and to not do that again I thought was so ballsy of them yeah to just get heavier and heavier.

I I remember when Slave to the grind came out I was like what the not not what you expect business was the first right first single and yeah just awesome yeah but definitely great towards went more towards that speed metal kind of absolutely yeah and then subhuman race on real what is it uh and they were kind of I always felt bad for Skid Row because it's like they showed up to the party and everybody's like yep all right there's Nirvana we're all leaving we're going home now thanks like a lot of bands right at the end of that decade yeah right yeah some of those guys got trapped into you know they they it took them so long to get a label and and get out there there's I I can't remember the exact story but I guess Rachel Bolan and and um Bon Jovi I think were were came up in some of the same places. Oh yeah they definitely promises to each other and whatever else and I don't know if it for what reason but it was kind of that Bon Jovi connection that might have slowed them down um to some degree.

I'd I'd read it well they were opening I think their first tour was opening for them.

Right but even before they got to that point that that he he Boland kind of like floundered in a lot of places and and I I don't know if it was Bon Jovi or his management kept kind of putting him off and that kind of delayed them for a little bit and maybe cost them a couple years that were you know were quickly circling the drain and in as far as industry money and and support.

Right? Yeah not an easy business to get into unless you really hit the hit the lottery and you know hit the three cherries or you know um what a uh couple of great songwriters too they were you know I mean it was usually Rachel and Snake right but anyway so where are we we are number four to you Kevin you well oh yeah Kevin sorry I didn't you guys can't see us you okay uh so now I'm I'm just continuing with big hair and Dutch for some reason seems to be all over uh my number four pick is maybe kind of off a lot of people's radar but I actually really loved the sleasbees yeah it was I saw them during my research did you oh I thought you meant you saw them oh never no what what a what a great band they were so much fun and don't have sex with them though it sounds like they're pretty uh exactly well it would be it would be stranger than paradise which was their their big hit are they girls or guys I don't know anything about them sorry people they're they're dudes um yeah but I don't have to worry about it then but a solid couple of albums uh some great great tunes like I said Stranger than Paradise was a was a big hit for them in ninety um and and just fun lyrics um screwed Blue and Tattooed was a great album screwed Blued and Rip Tattooed my dad used to always say that I never knew where it came from no idea but great tunes and and you know real thinkers like when the brains go to the balls um don't talk about roses is another great what a great song title oh absolutely but they just came out and were in your face and just rock and roll baby rock and roll awesome awesome so where are we here number uh for you mark all right I have a repeat it's Cinderella yes great I love this band I there they do kind of belie the um stereotypes of hair metal but they were they just wrote a lot of great songs you have gypsy road nobody's fool somebody save me and one of my favorite songs they've ever done is Coming Home just as it's an emotional song.

I mean it's not really too much of a ballad but you know I saw them in concert a couple times I won't get into what happened to me in one of the shows but we're not gonna get into that and um probably a good idea but you don't don't know what you got till it's gone I mean I think we've all learned that lesson in life yes you know and a lot of us are happier once we found out what was going on absolutely I was just gonna say that so that's my number four AJ spoke on it a lot yeah um at just incredible band yeah his voice man great you know I'm not a big like I love ACDC but I'm just not that type of voice lover you know that's how I mean I don't know how um like Axel Rose Brian Johnson I just but how can he say this guy kind of has like both ends of the spectrum and I love yeah we were more mo more melodic than a combination of sorry to interrupt uh Steve Tyler and uh Brian Johnson a little bit of a combo of that you know what I mean accurate depiction there well thank you very much Kevin so very welcome so we're at three correct you're a peach what a peach uh we are three yes so another repeat here and this is why I was saying you know I don't necessarily consider them in this category but undeniably I mean Tesla just fucking incredible incredible band and Mark already spoke on this a lot so I will be very brief but just mechanical resonance I can never say that word right for some reason mechanical resonance yeah but I don't know I got it but um just that is in my opinion one of the greatest debut albums ever because it's near perfect like there's yeah I don't think there might be one throwaway on there but that's it you know I mean it's fucking awesome just solid the way it kicks in and just starts kicking you know kind of lightly and then kick your ass but just to go back I already spoke about this while Mark was talking about it but just uh that album it's uh 1987 release I believe maybe 86 but that's about accurate this is when I lived in a town called Hinsdale New Hampshire after I had to leave all my friends and I was struggling a bit but music helped me through and Fraley's comet was part of that too Mark but um I mean I listened it came out a little earlier but um just that song getting better like it meant the world to me because which is why I was crying at the concert because it just I mean I was in such a a miserable place and it just you know took me out of that and got me away and meaning it's gonna get better and it did thank God and I think that's really I mean yeah I mean we were partying and we loved the anthems and and all of that but that's what really got you and made these bands important to us was those songs like that that something came from the heart and it just it hit you.

And and it's it's it's a way of you know you and I probably aren't writing great songs lyrically you know what I mean but these guys put together songs that that can universally touch people if you listen to what they're saying if you you know I mean I'm not I'm I'm not saying they're lyrical geniuses but there is a skill there there is there and and oh god and and a passion that comes through um songwriting fascinates me absolutely absolutely moon june soon glad sad all right number three do you kept all right number three well we've heard of this before recently Cinderella yes sir just just an amazing band uh you know Tom Kiefer again you were just talking about his vocals and I think Mark hit it right on the head yeah Steve Steve Tyler and and and Brian Johnson he's kind of that rasp and all of that um I mean literally it's you know they started with that glam sound but the later albums you know when they started bringing in horns and and the horn section and and all of those they were they were a little bit more progressive than a lot of bands at the time they could see the writing on the wall and they were trying to adapt and maybe open up into the blues and and some some blues is timeless it really is but I guess absolutely I mean blues is the root of all of it right absolutely man night songs cover fucked them oh god but I I I once we get our social media up I'm gonna post it but I was I was showing uh Mark and AJ my favorite Cinderella song that probably most of you aren't familiar with and that's Pat's dogs um the ad that they did for the chili dog guy in in Philly just before they hit I guess I guess the story goes that he would kind of feed them when they were done with their gigs and hook them up a little bit and so just before they took off to conquer the world they got signed and we're going on tour they did this amazing uh commercial for past chili dogs it's just great awesome all right number three to you brother okay well this is a a band that I had questions about if it qualified it's Def Leopard um you know they came from Great Britain most of the hair bands came from the states if I do believe anyway um so yeah Joe Elliott can't stand the label but um they did they had all the debauchery and all that going on all the booze and everything so I put them in but um you know they came in they did Hello America when they came over to the States David bought that record and a couple of my favorite songs a photograph and fooling um bringing on the heartbreak and um you know and then when they came out with uh hysteria I loved some of that stuff I mean that that just was bringing on the heartache on hysteria no I was no that was on pyromania yeah and then my favorite song on uh hysteria is Rocket and this is an incredible band they're still touring they're still selling out arenas um you know I really love what they did for uh Rick set I mean Rick Allen yeah the drummer that's huge yeah I was gonna speak to that that that I mean at the peak of their world they could have just discarded him and said look what you know the show must go on goodbye nowadays like Kevin said once they just grab someone out of the audience yeah again not not nothing against Z Top but literally they were playing like two nights after Dustin two or three days and nothing against him but it's like come on right exactly you know and um the the Steve Clark he's the uh he's the one that died yeah um I uh he might I'm not sure but he might be the guy that had the blood alcohol level of 0.54.

Is that all?

Shoot his priest something like that yeah brutal but you know they they definitely this documentaries uh the debauchery that they uh it's a great pick yeah and they they actually had a movie that came out and it was pretty it was not well done really I didn't know that is yeah probably because because it was terrible it was not a good movie it was really over staged it just it really it just wasn't great so I have heard cliche cliche I have heard some of the rumors about what was happening underneath when they did the hysteria tour it was in the round and and when Rick Allen did the drum solo I guess the rest of the band went below that um round stage and there were plenty of young ladies waiting for them I think I think one of the stories that your blowjobs or there was a mother daughter threesome which is kind of creepy but whatever I mean very creepy that is extremely creepy what a loving mom so but anyway just what I mean an incredible band and yeah they got put into this category probably because of hysteria but it's just that's no in no means a bad album it's just I like their stuff before that a lot more but but it's undeniable I mean you gotta wonder did their sound change because he lost his arm you know what I mean but maybe but just boy did it change perfectly for them at that time. Well it kind of reminds me of the black album from Metallica seven we'll get into that some other day.

I'm just saying that was any record for that was their black album.

To finish what I was saying is I think there were like fucking seven singles off that album.

Yeah you know what I mean like For Some Sugar on me was absolutely massive they're also one of the bands that very few bands to have two albums in a row to go diamond which is you know 10 million copies with how many years in between too because from Pyromania to hysteria four three four four yeah it was I mean that was again late 87 I think is when um but like you said it changed the whole music and they had to go back and redo everything because of the drumming and to what you said AJ that it was perfect for the time because I was when I first listened to that album I was like I could hear the rap and the hip hop creeping into the drum style that that Rick Allen was forced to come up with with the repeaters and and the and the foot pedals and all that. And it's certainly like it was it was kind of a genius melding of of of the you know the glam rock and and that drum sound that was coming out of the out of the rap scene.

I've always wondered you know I've never looked it up but do you think or do you know I should say if one foot was the bass and the other was the snare and then he did the rest with the one arm like I've always got to be tough to keep up the time with a foot on the snare drive yeah but think about it you can't have five toms on one foot pedal you know what I mean like so you would have to be the base the snare I think he had multiple pedals on that left side oh really she could keep the what you would normally do with with the right foot on the or your right hand and right and then the left foot became the left hand gotcha would hit different but they were all triggers they there wasn't oh of course yeah it would have to give the guy a break maybe all right so we are at number two and this is one of my favorite bands and they mean the world to me and it is a band called Striper and you know I just um I'll never forget my sister called me you know um and said you gotta check out this Christian band they're gonna be on TV tonight or today whatever it was and I believe they did make me want to sing and uh Soldiers under command which is off of the Soldiers Under Command album and I fell in love with the band right there I mean Michael and Robert Sweet brothers uh Robert drums he's the one who turned his drum set sideways later on so he could kind of be on display as well but Michael Sweet's voice is one of the most powerful voices in rock and roll and just fucking incredible and you know for a Christian rock band or even Christian hard rock slash metal band now we there's a song out there I'm just tangent um called Blood from above that's fairly recent like in the past few years five years whatever it's fucking metal you know and just kick ass but just you know for for them to break that christian Christian rock You know, and and go mainstream is so difficult and it's really too bad because who gives a shit, you know, what somebody believes in if they're making great music, and I feel like they really had to fight for that. Yeah, totally. The yellow and black attack, Soldiers Under Command, and To Hell with the Devil. And I think it was in God We Trust, I'm not sure, but to Hell with the Devil is really what took them off. That album, I think, honestly, was on it, and you know, the huge MTV hits they had, which they they're one of very few bands that had like two songs in the top ten at the same time for months and months, I believe.

So, AJ, I'm sorry, um unbeknownst to you, I mean, because we were come down to visit you and mom and dad, um, it would be me, brother David, and the luggage, Donnie Harpel. Sorry, Donnie.

Sorry you're not here, Dongo luggage.

But that's his nickname. Can you pick up Donnie on your way down here? Yeah. But we would always listen to that record, and we would be like, you know, doing pumping our fist and just having a great time. Really heavy rock, believe it or not. Unbelievable band. I mean, how can you not get behind the lyrics? You know what I mean? Um so yeah, I agree. I got a great band.

And you know, it's too bad they're not bigger than they they were or are, but just incredible to me. Awesome. Number two to you, Kev.

Number two for me has just always been one of my favorite bands from that era. You had a pretty solid uh rhythm section, but you had a lead singer and guitarist that really were along the same talent level, which was exceptional. And that was that was uh George Lynch and and of course Don Dawkins in Dawkins. Oh man.

That was a tough cut for me, maybe too.

Great band, um, just so many great tunes. They they might have, I guess you could accuse them later of being a little poppier with um you know, back for the attack and and whatever else. But I mean, hey, you know, everybody's got to make a living.

Who didn't change back at the end of the day?

Exactly. You gotta adapt to adapt or die. Probably after the first two albums and the first two tours, you were just so indebted to the record company that you had to do whatever you could to pay for the hotel rooms that you blew up and the paternity suits and whatever else that the record company was paying for. But um, I found it interesting that um Juan Crucier um was later with Rat, was one of the original members of Doc, and I I was not aware of that. Um and and then something that you know we talk about obviously we here are not big fans of the Seattle grunge scene. And not a big fan, I mean not a big fan, I mean some of it, but you know, we're there's some animosity because they kind of killed off what what we loved. And although I've never understood why I should really like Chris Cornell, but I just I have nothing against him, but I just never liked his voice. There was something there that me too. See, I know I know different strokes for different people. I know that I should. You don't have to like what you don't like, I know, but it's everything about it tells me I should like it, but I don't. Sure. But then I was saddened to find out uh or had forgotten and and and be reminded that um remember the whole Grammy thing with the um the first heavy metal Grammy went to Jeth Rotel. Oh my god. I absolutely love Jeth Rotel. I do I do too, but they were they were up against the heavy metal makes no sense. Just so showed how out of touch that they were.

Debauchery. Right. It's like saying the greatest baseball team in the history is the New England Patriots.

Exactly. Exactly. Um but then the following year there was another kind of controversy, and I don't I don't understand, and there's not a lot of information on it, but Chris Cornell was upset that Dawkins was considered heavy metal and in the same category as them.

Yeah, ridiculous.

And I'm like, wait a second, boy. You can't you can't hold their jock strap. These guys were slugging it out, you know, back in the day. Going up against Charlie, slugging it out with him.

Right, exactly. I mean Unchained a Night was an incredible song.

Oh unbelievable. Um so that just kind of like turned me off again from that that'll do that. I also, but I the the other part of it I don't understand is that album, it was the live album, Beast from the East, the live album that was released in late 88, and the controversy happened in 90. So I guess if there's if Cornell had an issue with it, it would have been the timing of of nominating an album for 1990 that was released in 88. Oh, maybe, but but to say that they're not metal, yeah.

I mean, come on, they're more metal than they are, you know what I mean?

Absolutely, but anyway, so they've solved that now. There's a hard rock and a heavy metal category, which makes no sense at all in the last 20 years either. So they do make sense.

Nothing they do makes sense. The Grammys sucks.

I will I will say that I've been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They send me emails all the time. It's a joke. Yes, so is the Grammys. All of those accolades are just pathetic to me. I I don't know.

I mean, it's so bad that the Grammys that the Grammys don't televise the rock and metal categories, it's done in a separate building. Oh my god. It yeah, it's a fucking joke and it infuriates me, and I'm not gonna go there. So, number two to you, my brother.

Okay, well, I'm not gonna talk about this band that long because I'm guessing it might come up again. It's Motley Crue.

Oh, wow.

Well, maybe it won't come back up again, but um No, I'm just like, wow, I can't believe I missed that. Oh, all right. Well, obviously, we want to talk about debauchery, particularly between um Nikki Six and Tommy Lee. But I mean, so many great fucking songs, just heavy, heavy killer, killer, killer. You have Wild Side, Too Young to Fall in Love, shout at the Devil! Yes, looks to kill the Devil. Kickstart My Heart is another great song. And of course, they have girls, girls, girls. They didn't sing a lot about anything other than girls, which was pretty much a staple between the you know, the the 80s bands, and they're you know, that's why I liked uh bands like Tesla and and some of these other bands that's sank about things that could still be coming up. Go on, exactly. So, yeah, Motley Crue is, you know, they came out, they were very glam. I mean, they did they kind of copied Kiss a little bit, they were trying to wear makeup and um another underrated guitar player is Mick Mars. Agreed, great guitar player, he carried that whole fucking band. He's the sound of Motley Crue. I'm sorry. Yep, I agree. So sorry. Is Mick Mars still playing guitar?

No, I didn't know. I mean, he's doing a solo album that he's been working on for years, but he can still play and back is fucked.

I mean, but he was he was he's had a degenerative disease. Oh yeah, it's his spine, right? Yes, that's your guy. John Five, I don't know if John Five is writing with them. I know he's touring with them.

Yep, he's he's in the band for sure. Yeah, and he doesn't look he looks quite you know like a decade older than the rest of the band members, but he doesn't look good. And I, you know, I'm sorry.

No, I mean that's it. When when they toured, which something I wanted to say about Def Leopard, I'll go I'll go after though, because I don't want to take anything from you, but go on. No, I've said everything I wanted to say pretty much. Well, okay, so you were talking about Def Leopard still selling out arenas. Well, right now they're on tour with Montley Crue, and prior to that was the stadium tour. So they're selling out big places, but if they were to play alone, they'd be playing a club. Right exactly. That's what they have to have to group. I mean a theater.

They have to group together and do like two to three shows.

I mean two to three bands and a but on the stadium tour, which was what now three years ago. I mean, when you watch them walking Mick Myers to the stage, he could barely walk. Oh, that's right.

You know, it sucks. But that does that is sad.

Something I wanted to say about your list that I found interesting, meaning with Motley Crue, is the fact that all the songs you named were perfect to put them in the hair metal category. Hate that word still, but anyway, um, it's about the hate, don't say it. My favorite music that they did was you know, Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil, which you know I would never put in that category. But after that, man, definitely for sure. But great pick, man.

I was thought like Too Fast for Love, I thought had a kind of a glam, and ultimately my favorite album by them. I mean, to me, their their first album was incredible, so so amazing. Um, but yeah, I I felt like there was a very glam edge to that. Very, very much.

Well, yeah, they they came out with makeup on and such, you know.

Well, just musically vocally. He was a foot, it's from playing football in high school. Do you know that's where where needs to be? Oh, yeah, they got the eye black, the eye black. He was uh, I think uh I forget running back or something, but anyway. Um, all right. So number one to me, right?

No, I'm gonna I'm gonna jump ahead and do my number one.

So anyway, and I don't give a rat's ass what anyone has to say about this, but I will find any time I can to sneak this band in, and that would be kiss.

Good snort. I'd never imagined that that would be your number one.

All right, now I'm just gonna say a few things about some videos. All right, we're gonna start at asylum, and we are gonna do Tears of Falling, Who Wants to Be Lonely, and um Sometimes I do. And ugh, all night. Ugh, all night, okay? Go watch those videos. Tell me that doesn't look like what we're talking about.

Oh, without a doubt.

All right, and then let's go to um, let's see, we'll go to Crazy Nights next. Let's watch Turn on the Night. Reason to live and crazy, crazy nights. And then let's go to Smashes, Thresh, and Hits. Oh my god. And we'll put the X in sex and rock hard. All right. So during this time, and even in the hot hot in the shade, which is 89, anyway, you know, you had Hide your heart and rise to it. Rise to it was, you know, they started it out with the makeup, but they were kind of coming out of it there. And then, of course, Revenge is when we had Gene back and just a kick-ass album. Of course, Vinny Vincent helped with that with the writing, which I also think had a lot to do with it. So, AJ, Forever.

You forgot Forever. That was I did forget Forever. That was pretty it's a great song pretty much.

Pretty much their signature acoustic solo.

I mean, they had two signature ballads, Reason to Live and uh Forever.

Well, forever, definitely. Reason to live should have been way bigger, and I've said this from the day from day one is if Bon Jovi or Def Leopard did that song, it would have been through the roof. But anyway, that's my number one, and too bad if you don't like it.

So here's the thing though, I mean, you know, in agreement with your argument, when you look at hair bands, and and and I can say this now because we're close to the edge, the end, you look at the hair bands, and where did they come from? They came from the glam bands, they came from New York dolls, they came from um David Bowie, they came from T-Rex. Yes, so you had a natural progression from sweet, the sweet was that's I can't believe that was on my list of you know, I could have done seven glam bands, right?

But there is Which is what I was gonna call this until you made that point, right?

So I mean the hair metal is still called glam, but the actual glam was those bands in some list for some reason had like Elton John in there and whatever else. I don't understand that.

Right.

But there there is a a progression that makes sense from New York dolls in the suite to KISS. Absolutely. I mean, it was the KISS was like, oh, you're doing that.

New York dolls was a huge thing with KISS. Oh, absolutely. They were coming up, you know, right after the dolls. Right, exactly.

But but KISS was like, oh, you're doing that. Well, we're gonna take it to the nth fucking Alice Cooper, too. At Alice Cooper, actually, yeah. You oh, you got a little bit of makeup on and some long hair and some women's clothing. Watch this. Watch this. Yeah, come a demon and a star child and a spaceman.

Kiss took the estrogen out of the uh New York dolls. Absolutely, and they did like, you know, maybe other than Paul, they added some testosterone.

I was gonna say, did they take the estrogen out or did they just pump it full of testosterone?

You don't know, but uh and that I mean, so many bands have talked about the New York dolls and so many sucked. Like they couldn't play their instruments, but they were still influential in a huge way. Isn't that amazing?

So but that's kind of the whole punk thing and a whole different show.

Yeah, exactly. So before I go to you, Kevin, for your number one, just want to let you guys know and you people out there that our fourth member Donald has just texted me with his seven bands. So as soon as the three of us are done, we shall fill you in with Dungo's picks. So number one, you, Kevin.

Well, that's awesome that we actually get to include Donnie, even though he's not here with us today.

Had some trouble.

Yeah, you know, it happens, it happens. Plumbing is is uh a pain in the ass.

A pain in the bar. Sure. No pun intended.

As I to as I tell my friend that is a plumbing instructor and an accomplished plumber, there's only two things you have to remember shit runs downhill and wash your hands before lunch. Having said that, I just want to hearken back a little bit here to AJ. You were talking about uh all night and let's put the X and sex. And I would never ever pick a band that was so blatantly filled with sexual innuendos. Except my number one hair metal band.

Yes.

The greatest at sexual innuendo. And if you question that, I say go get slided in and listen to White Snake. Yes. Because that album was fantastic, and every word that came out of David Coverdale's mouth was sexual innuendo. I don't even know if you could call it Innuendo because it was just like blatant, blatant right out there. Exactly. One of the interesting things about Whitesnake is one of the early albums, so he had just left Deep Purple, and they wanted him to call it David Coverdale's White Snake, and he's like, which sounds like they're talking about my penis. Yes.

Oh my god.

But so so Coverdale had left Deep Purple, and the record company wanted that name recognition as the new album came out, right? Um but it beyond the silliness of it calling it David Coverdale's White Snake, it really was. If you go through the history of the albums, I mean he literally fired the band after every album. Oh god. He just he just kicked them out and just and here's the crazy thing. One of the early guys, I can't remember who it was, made the comment, you know, we've been doing this for a while and we're in debt. How are we in debt? And then a little bit later you find out that Coverdale has all the money. Well, Coverdale, Coverdale wanted to get his songs and his name rights and everything else from the record company. So in like 70 something, he plopped down like four million to get to get all his rights back. And I'm like, Well, I guess we know where the money went.

Yeah, I know.

And then I mean, so and he and you can see a progression of of like guys that were kind of you know, like B players in in that rock scene, and he kind of brings them in. Then he gets up to the point where he's got like Adrian Vandenberg and Stevie Vi. Yeah, absolutely. And those guys were like, as soon as the money stopped coming in, they were like, Yeah, fuck you. We just we just left.

All right, Mark, bring it home with your number one. All right, well, my number one is Skid Row. Yes, um, I feel as though Sebastian Bach is the most genuine musician I've ever seen. And I absolutely love his voice. I love how he goes on all these shows. He's been on Trailer Park Boys, he's been on um Z-Rock, yep, and um and you know, of course he says to the band The masked singer. Yeah, he says, Oh, my kids love you, but he he meant his kids love them as you know, playing the wiggles kind of thing.

Exactly.

But I mean, to me, all the ballads from back in the 80s, the most heartfelt one to me is I remember you. Great song. Just an wonderful song, emotional. Um, when it comes to heavy and just you know and his voice is fucking unreal in that song. But when it comes to uh you know, hard rock monkey business, and just like a fuck you established establishment song, youth gone wild. You know, now it's more like uh late middle age gone wild, but let that go. And 18 in life, just it's a sad song about somebody that really made a huge mistake, obviously. And everyone who's heard the song knows it. He was a young boy, he had a harder stone older stone, I can't. I think it was Stone. Stone, I think. Yeah, but I mean, I just I he just seems like a great guy, and he he wasn't in the band long, as you said earlier, AJ.

Three albums, three or four, three.

I'm not sure, but uh I mean, it's just I love the band. I it's just incredible band. So yeah, that's my number one. I mean, you already talked a lot about it, so sure.

Awesome, though. Still great pick. Now, um, there are several bands that I'm shocked didn't come up, but uh we're not gonna discuss them. Yeah, I'm surprised you might be able to do that. We are gonna come at you with we are gonna come at you with Dongo's list. So hopefully you're gonna listen to this, you ISO, because we're gonna read your fugging list. Donald's number seven is Rat. Rat. I was shocked that none of us had it. Shocked and amazed. Yes, but man, um I'll start off on this one just because what an underrated band. I mean, they did, I think, for a very short time headline, but I mean, when you look at the hits, the MTV hits they had, I mean a dozen, you know, it was just friggin' incredible that they, you know, aren't rated higher than they are amongst, you know, a lot of a lot of fans, but just god, invasion. What was it? Uh Out of the Cellar and Invasion, incredible albums, great album covers. Yeah, the one with the the chick and her underwear. Oh my god. Oh, she's so hot. I used to take that in the bathroom with me. But uh a quick funny story though. Uh true story. Um, they rented five rats, and Tawny was a superhero and allowed them to hang them on her stockings. Well, then they the photographer came in and starts taking all the pictures, right? Well, there's a sixth rat hanging off her stockings, not one of the rentals, so it was pretty fucking crazy that a random rat came in. They brought friends, but uh but yeah, great album covers, great songs, you know. I mean, there was some, as Donnie would say, cheese later, but but anyway, all right. So we're gonna go to his number six, and that would be Lynch mob. George Lynch, incredible guitarist.

Um an amazing guitarist. He was incredible. He was like really beyond a lot of the people at that time. Um, I did see an interview with him recently where he was talking about funny motherfucker.

Oh, absolutely. Very sarcastic joker, jokester.

Right. But he was talking about the uh the hearing aid. Um, the you know, the where the DO put together. But he was talking about how so it was like lined up with a DMV. All the guitarists were like, Yeah, you know, everybody's standing up. But he was saying that everybody was freaked out by Ingve Malmstein because Ingve was just like hitting his stride and they were all scared. He said, So everybody, he said, himself included, were playing, trying to play faster than they should and more than they should because they were trying to do all that stuff that that Ingve was doing.

All right. So Donald's number five was Warrant. We discussed that already. Uh his number four, uh great band. Like uh you said, Mark, I don't know if this band would be in this category, but it is Night Ranger. Um incredible band. I mean, absolutely can't say enough about the talent in that band.

We discussed the band in uh the 82 uh decade series a lot, so yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't know how much to add to that, but damn Yankees um makes me think of damn Yankees. I I feel like they could fit in here. But hey, hey, Donnie thinks they fit, then they fit to him.

I would you know, I love Damn Yankees, I love them. Hell yeah.

Funny aside, um I used to go through the record stores and I would try to find different things, things that weren't being played on the radio. Um, and one day I stumbled upon this band called Rubicon, and it was started by the um Sly and the Family Stone saxophonist uh Jerry Martini, and it was a kind of a funk band, but on the front of the album cover, and this would have to have been 78, 79, the front of the album cover was Jack Blades in a satin jumpsuit with like big 70s, 80s glasses, and it was actually yellow, they weren't yellow, but they were they they actually look like women's glasses, but whatever. Um, so that was actually uh a predecessor to Night Ranger because he was in that band with Brad Gillis as well. Wow, no. So Rubicon, I doubt you can find it. I doubt you can find it anywhere, but it was a jeep. Now it's a jeep.

You know, um it's funny saying that, you know, he looked like a woman. Um I was reading a Grett Guttfeld Grett Gutfeld book, you know, a long time ago, and he came to the uh conclusion that women like men that look like women. Yeah, absolutely. And that's definitely an 80s thing. Oh my god. Damn right. Yeah.

All right. Too funny. I mean, think of the groupies. All right. Uh, where was I? Number three was an incredible band that we've uh picked, Mark and I anyway, and that was Tesla. Uh number two, Bon Jovi. We've discussed. And Donald's number one drum roll, please, is Poison. Yes. All right, Donald. Well, we are very sorry that you could not make it today and hope your toilet is operational. Anyway, awesome boys. That was fun. Uh so uh thank you, Kevin, once again for hosting, as always lately. My pleasure. We are smoking some chicken thighs, which were the best thing I've ever eaten in my life, possibly. Last time they were made. And no pressure.

Yes, Mark, thank you. No, thank you very much, AJ, and uh thank you for listening once again to Pastimes at 80s.

Absolutely. And don't don't forget out there, people, we appreciate you. Please give us an email. That is pta80H at gmail.com. And uh when you check out our episodes, remember those preachers of the night episodes. If you are a KISS fan, check those out. That's just Mark and I enjoying um our favorite band. So give it a listen. And we appreciate it so much. Thank you so much, everyone, and we are out.

Don't you give it a fit for your time?