Hey, you never got that with Warrant. Probably one of the coolest hair metal albums you've never heard. All rights reserved. Enter Lorraine Lewis, the frontwoman with an absolutely huge voice, who led the now mostly forgotten group Femme Fatale. Adrian Belew - Young Lions. April 6, 2021 Connor Shelton Features, KTRM-FM, Music, Reviews. Problem was the masses didnt want smart or classy, so they just went and bought their zillionth copy of Appetite For Destruction instead. Feelgood, Ive also learned that the devout fanbase that makes Hair Metal so special, still remains and that they too have a voice. Edit 20-04-2011: Deleted all albums with 60 ratings or higher. It did away with the bland glam-like stuff Kiss adopted during the '80s in order to get in line with the mainstream sound of the time, and with powerful tracks such as "Unholy", "Domino", and "Heart of Chrome", it reintroduced the hard rock element in Kiss' sound in a very original and appealing way. Sure, it lacked big-budget gloss, and original singer Steevi Jaimz sounded like he was ready to chin anybody who dared look at his pint wrong, but Young And Crazy bristled with the kind of attitude every pack of Sunset Strip poodles would have sold their grannies to have. Alice Cooper's pop metal album, loaded with great players and great songs. Better late than never and all, but oh how I wish I had known about Wildside when I was a kid. Early 90's pop metal at it's finest, this is a hair metal fest from start to finish. You couldn't go two hours without seeing a Whitesnake video on MTV back in '87. Bonus fact: future Wildhearts frontman Ginger was briefly a member, reputedly dying his hair black as part of the deal. SPREAD EAGLE, GREAT ALBUM = TO APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION. Another great hair metal band that has gone totally underrated. Man could Nuno shred! On the other hand, the fact that it brought something any lingering W.A.S.P. Great White was so much more than just "Once BittenTwice Shy.". The internet would suggest that they also released a 7" and a full-length cassette, but I can't find any real evidence of such. He went on to start Nitro which was a horrible band. That being said, their Facebook page indicates that they're back in action, having digitally issued their previously unreleased EP, Last Hand, sometime last year, but time will tell. Especially the song Gotta Run. Its an album that you can listen from beginning to the end, and wont find any bad song. As you might expect, it's extremely hard to find Joker's CDs, and even if you do, the prices will almost certainly be total bullshit. In retrospect, this album came out the same year as Nirvanas Nevermind, Pearl Jams Ten, and Metallicas The Black Albumit never really had a chance. The new issue of Metal Hammer features two different covers: Sabaton and Babymetal! 5 Underrated Hair Metal Albums - YouTube A response to the article on the Goldminemag website about 5 Underrated Hair Metal Albums that every record collector should. Wildside - Under The Influence ;t=2333s Totally overlooked upon release due to being a debut album of the genre released in 1992. Yeah, the Chicago bands none-more-unique selling point was perma-squinting frontman Stanley who, when he wasnt spitting out genius fuck-you anthems Jawohl Asshole and Fuckin Shit-Ass, lived on the street and had the malodorous clothes and propensity for shitting in public to prove it. An album with a nice balance of rockers and ballads. No, I only stumbled upon this CD in a local used bin for $5 (alongside Roxxi's Drive it to Ya Hard!, so talk about a huge score) a few years ago, and totally flipped out when I tossed it in for the first time. I would suggest though a few more bands that arent as well known. The one that gave birth to the entire genre. Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. Gutter-level anthems Come Down Sister, Underground and Ocean Of Love were edged with goth and psychedelia that placed them closer to The Doors and pre-arena rawk The Cult than Van Halen and Motley Crue though they could still kick up a bar-room shit-storm as the comedy-tough Its Not The End Of The World proved. While I didnt intend for the KISS roots to run so deep within the article per se, I will admit that we are all subject to our own biases, and anyone who knows me will tell you I am not about to apologize for KISS influence. Pure pop metal with long, stick thin blond hair X2. Love Ted Poley's voice. Def Leppard officially stepped into pop metal territory with this one. A little funky, a little southern rock, Rat Race is catchy as hell . True, I don't identify with (or in some cases approve of) elements of the lyrical content, but from a songwriting and musicianship perspective, I very seriously enjoy this stuff, and would be perfectly happy were it the majority of my day-to-day listening. When I was talking about the Warrant line-up, I just meant the classic line-up. It needs to be out there and readily available. 02. As far as I can tell they only made a music video for the lead track, "Wild, Young, and Crazy," but almost every song herein is better than good, and several are fucking outstanding. The record stalled at #141 on The Billboard 200 and quickly fell off the charts. Sebastian Bach is THE singer of the hair metal genre. BulletBoys BulletBoys (1988) While reviews at the time were mixed, retrospectively, it has been given high praise. Because of their look, they were thought of as a Poison copy. Man, for real??? Regardless of whether you think that glam metal died because it was over-exploited or because grunge killed it, youd agree that the '90s were a very bad time to be a band with a "glam" label slapped on your behind. It was mixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero (who also mixed. Britny Fox were doing lines of coke off of Elton Johns piano while in the studio making Bite Down Hard. They quickly rose through the ranks and paid their dues through club gigs and were noticed pretty quickly, and in relatively short order, signed with MCA Records and recorded their eponymous debut record, Femme Fatale. I can't tell if they're still active or not, but Wildside does have a Facebook page that's touting a remastered re-release of Under the Influence this year, and I'll be all over that if it becomes a reality. All bands were bred in Pennsylvania. 03. I suspect I am going to get flack for this, but despite what you might think, this all-female Hair Metal masterpiece is supremely underrated. Thanks for popping by, and stay safe! So here are the most underrated records by 20 major metal bands. Extreme is best known for their No. Legendary Guitarist David Lindley Dead at 78, Rush Announce 40th Anniversary Reissue of 'Signals', Glastonbury Organizer Addresses Lack of Female Festival Headliners: 'The Pipeline Needs to Be Developed', Unearth Release New Single 'Mother Betrayal', Rapper Binki Releases New Alt-Rock Single 'Hotel Window', Iconic Vocalist Chaka Khan Reacts to Rolling Stone's 'Greatest Singers' List: 'They Need Hearing Aids', Godsmack Cancel Spring Tour Over 'Lack of Ticket Sales', Listen: Roger Waters Shares First Snippet of Re-Recorded 'Dark Side of the Moon', Monuments Refuse to Sell Merch at Recent Show to Boycott Venue Fees: 'It Shouldn't Be on Our Fans to Pick Up the Bill', Friday Top: 20 Saddest Metal Songs of All Time, Epiphone Introduces Affordable Versions of High-End 1958 Korina Explorer and Flying V Guitars From Gibson. The glaring sin here is to leave out the godly Heavy Pettin as well as Q5. Britny Foxs record company (Columbia Records) seemed to agree and unceremoniously dropped Britny Fox, effectively leaving them for dead. Honestly, its not easy stepping into the shoes of a Guitar God, at the height of a bands fame, in the middle of a hysterical wave of Hair Metal mania, but thats exactly what Kee Marcello did. Well, in the wake of the Hot In The Shade screw-job, the band still managed to book a nice tour of well-paying gigs and were set to depart, when Dean The Diva Davidson decided to split and make a go of it on his own. If you're old enough to have been reading guitar magazines in the early-'90s, you probably at least recognize the name Gary Hoey, and may recall having seen him in a good number of advertisements, if nothing else. A lot of it's not that "metal," some of it's not that "glam," most bands' membersregardless of genrehave "hair," and so on. I loved this kind of music when I was a kid, and I still love it now. In fact, some of the bands which got jumbled in this unfortunate category released some of their best albums during this decade, and today, we'll be taking a closer look at six such examples. IMHO opinion, there is not a single bad track on Hollands Little Monsters! As we alluded to in our aforementioned first article, Hair Metal and Glam are often derided and chided as genres that are less than. Well, if the article did one thing, its drawn many fellow Hair/Glam loving brothers and sisters out of the woodwork, and for that, were thankful. Man, could Mike Matijevic hit a high note! If Tear the House Down had hit the streets just two years earlier, I bet Hericane Alice would've been at least as successful as the Bulletboys, so it's a shame they never got the chance. Those first two albums are absolutely awesome. Robert Sarzo (Hurricane guitarist and Rudy Sarzos brother) was to be Randys replacement in Blizzard Of Ozz, not Marq Torien. But their debut is way more fun: a rough-arsed glam-punk gem that came on like Poison, if Brett Michaels had grown up in Cardiff and spent every Saturday night getting in a fight down Bogiez. 05. Very slick production, the epitome of pop metal. Mixing metal, punk, and glam, everything on this album just clicked perfectly. Its an amazing Great White album. Not to mention the fact that Andrew W.K. A little more filler on this one, but "November Rain" has got to be the greatest power ballad of all time. Yes. 1 hit, "More Than Words," and the album it was released off of, "Extreme II: Pornograffitti.". I prefer Pump over this one, but this is filled with killer cuts. Be warned! Thanks for the excellent comment! The Spandex-clad gems that turned the Sunset Strip into the boulevard of broken dreams. Good lists. Great White was the would-be Blues-Rock band, that simply couldnt help but indulge in Hair Metal. Another one from 1984 that influenced tons of bands in the 80's. They had stars at every position and deviated from the traditional fun hair bands at the time. 09. Had a minor hit with "House of Pain," but never really went anywhere. Nah. Total nostalgia trip for me. If you see it, definitely pick it up and enjoy. They're kind of like Skid Row, the Bulletboys, and Faster Pussycat thrown in a blender. Hericane Alice formed in Minnesota in the mid-'80s, and released their debut self-titled EP in 1986 under the properly spelled name of Hurricane Alice. They had a couple of songwriting contributions from Jim Vallance and Kiss' Paul Stanley (the former having co-written hits such as Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" and Aerosmith's "Rag Doll"). That said, surely an album with songs co-written by Ronnie James Dio is worth at least a few spins, right? Let the bargain hunting begin, Id rec The Scream - Let it Scream, Lillian Axe - Love + War, Saigon Kick - s/t, Ratt - Reach for the Sky, Junkyard - s/t, Killer Dwarfs - Dirty Weapons, Some of my recommendations: Even the ballads have balls. KISS Asylum (1985) Also, another tidbit that makes this album pretty cool: Vivian Campbell (Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Def Leppard) joins the fun, and played guitar on Desperate. While Vivian did his thing and killed it, make no mistake, Jan matched him note for note the rest of the way. Leatherwolf circa 1987, and Street Ready circa 1989 are two overlooked (or forgotten) treasures. THE TWILIGHT OF HAIR METAL: FIVE UNDERRATED & MUST OWN ALBUMS " billy hardaway says: March 23, 2018 at 10:26 am. All of that horse crap aside, Out of This World is actually a pretty outstanding album, and while its not The Final Countdown, as I mentioned before, I tend to prefer it. Thrash and hair metal made for strange bedfellows, though nobody told Two-Bit Thief. The band itself was formed in 1982, and the original Mk.1 lineup actually featured legendary guitar hero Jake E. Lee, while Lee would leave Rough Cutt in 1983, to join Ozzy Osbourne as a replacement for the recently deceased Randy Rhodes (freak plane crash), soon to sign on were former members of Ratt in Chris Hager (guitar) and Matt Thorr (bass). fans weren't really expecting may have only hindered this otherwise amazing release, which, coupled with other unfortunate circumstances, made the supporting tour for the album arrive 15 whole years too late. Seriouslyher lead work is some of the best of the era, in my opinion. Completely badass feel, and I really think they wouldve ruled the rock world if the vocalist had made a better style choice. So, what have you got to lose? But before we go on, bands like Def. Theyre the bands were raising a large Jack Daniels and coke to here the ones who never got their time in the neon glare of fame despite making at least one killer record. Speaking of hooks, lets kick this thing off with. I would KILL to reissue the Tuff Luck album too. Though there really wasn't much substance to the music, the scene was popular to the mainstream. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. I had forgotten about that band! The former is annoying and yet also expected. Andrew, my cousin Scott Smalley is/was lead vocals/bass for Real Steel! Dont ever let anyone tell you the music you love sucks or is less than. Vain was less poppy than most cock rock bands, and they just had a serious vibe in their sound. Ah, Tigertailz: the band the Manic Street Preachers could have been. You simply live in a cave if you have not heard at least one song from this album. The guitar tone is annoying, but When the Mirror Cracks has some KILLER songs. Now, this is a weird entry in many ways. But their debut is way more fun: a rough-arsed glam-punk gem that came on like Poison, if Brett Michaels had grown up in Cardiff and spent every Saturday night getting in a fight down Bogiez.