top 10 hair bands of the 80's on AOL's homepage...

[misterID]

I do think they were the beginning of the end of hair metal though. Any music journalist or historian will agree. And its pretty much said at the end of most documentaries and specials about hair metal that GNR making it big was a sure sign that fad was dying off.   

I disagree..

Poison, Warrant, Skid Row, Motley Crue all had major chart success as far into 1990 - a full 2+ years after GNR had made it big.

I've always thought GNR raised the bar of the Sunset Strip scene, no doubt about it.

But make no mistake, the didn't put anyone from that scene out of business.

Disco still went strong for a few years after it was considered dead.

Poison and Motley Crue are still successful today because of their fans. Nirvana didn't cause everyone to drop hair metal over night, they changed the way the casual fan looked at music and changed the relevance of pop music, and basically showed how uncool hair metal was. But GNR had a lot to do with that as well, not just on image but because of their music.

[LunsJail]

Hair Metal

 





Not Hair Metal

    

  I think that's all we needed to clear up this debate.  Thanks!!

[C0ma]

Unskinny Bob by Poison peaked on the charts at #3 in 1990
Love of a Life Time by Firehouse peaked at #5 in 1991
To Be With You by Mr. Big peaked at #1 in 1991

All of this after 1.5 albums by GnR. I think "Grunge" is a larger reason for the demise of "Hair Metal"... and even that is a stretch. Guns and Grunge may have taken "some" of the fan base. But Hair metal did have a huge female/pop following that didn't translate to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

[pilferk]

Unskinny Bob by Poison peaked on the charts at #3 in 1990
Love of a Life Time by Firehouse peaked at #5 in 1991
To Be With You by Mr. Big peaked at #1 in 1991

All of this after 1.5 albums by GnR. I think "Grunge" is a larger reason for the demise of "Hair Metal"... and even that is a stretch. Guns and Grunge may have taken "some" of the fan base. But Hair metal did have a huge female/pop following that didn't translate to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Not really what I'm looking for...because they're snapshots of 3 songs rather than a trending of music sales and charting songs (rock and top 40) over the late 80's and into the early to mid 90's.

Again, I don't think GnR "put a bullet" in hair band music.  But there's no denying that hair band music faded away....and that's what fads/"trends"/pop culture elements tend to do.   They don't just disappear.  Their popularity just gradually lessens.  By the time '92 rolled around, and GnR was basically one of the (if not the) biggest acts on the planet.....the hair band music was CERTAINLY not at it's height in terms of popularity/sales/and charting songs goes.

 I think GnR was the harbinger of that "fading".....the begining of the evolution of music AWAY from "hair bands".....and Grunge just furthered that trend.  Eventually, hair band music pretty much faded into non-existence...or at least became a non-factor in the industry.

[Falcon]

But make no mistake, the didn't put anyone from that scene out of business.

Just like Sex Pistols didn't put Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones out of business.

I would characterize it more as though The Stones didn't put the Beatles out of business.

The Pistols impact was much different than GNR's - socialogical/political/scene forerunner etc. 

Most of that can be attributed to the atmosphere in England at the time, artistic expression reflecting a disenchanted social atmosphere. 

Same thing that spawned out of Seattle here in US in Oct of '91, more
of philisophical cultural shift - a movement, than the legitimization/elevation of a particular scene.

[jarmo]

I would characterize it more as though The Stones didn't put the Beatles out of business.

The Pistols impact was much different than GNR's - socialogical/political/scene forerunner etc. 

Most of that can be attributed to the atmosphere in England at the time, artistic expression reflecting a disenchanted social atmosphere. 

Same thing that spawned out of Seattle here in US in Oct of '91, more
of philisophical cultural shift - a movement, than the legitimization/elevation of a particular scene.

Sure, it was about music, fashion, attitudes etc.

But the fact remains, punk didn't kill off the old bands just like the whole grunge scene didn't kill off GN'R or other big bands.




As soon as GN'R became the biggest band on the planet, some elitists started trying to make it seem "uncool" to listen to them.

The same kind of people who think a band is cool before it has even formed and as soon as they get fans, they've "sold out". 


GN'R didn't get the recognition they deserve until a few years ago. Until then it was all about Nirvana and how cool they were.




/jarmo

[Ines_rocks!]

I would characterize it more as though The Stones didn't put the Beatles out of business.

The Pistols impact was much different than GNR's - socialogical/political/scene forerunner etc. 

Most of that can be attributed to the atmosphere in England at the time, artistic expression reflecting a disenchanted social atmosphere. 

Same thing that spawned out of Seattle here in US in Oct of '91, more
of philisophical cultural shift - a movement, than the legitimization/elevation of a particular scene.

GN'R didn't get the recognition they deserve until a few years ago. Until then it was all about Nirvana and how cool they were.



/jarmo

I agree. Nirvana still to this day are way too overated. But that?s another debate. 

[Falcon]

GN'R didn't get the recognition they deserve until a few years ago. Until then it was all about Nirvana and how cool they were.

/jarmo

They'll get more too as time goes on, and deservedly so.

I don't think they'll ever reach the mythical  "cultural changing" status
of Nirvana (here in the US) but will always be remembered as one of the best American rock bands of all time with AFD as proof positive.

[Ali]

GN'R didn't get the recognition they deserve until a few years ago. Until then it was all about Nirvana and how cool they were.

/jarmo

They'll get more too as time goes on, and deservedly so.

I don't think they'll ever reach the mythical  "cultural changing" status
of Nirvana (here in the US) but will always be remembered as one of the best American rock bands of all time with AFD as proof positive.

I agree that GN'R has and will continue to get more of their deserved recognition and respect as time goes on.  I also agree that they'll never reach cultural changing status.  But, and I know this is another debate, the more and more time passes, the less and less I think of Nirvana as being the pinnacle of the culture changing grunge movement.  I think of Pearl Jam.

Ali

[Neemo]

oh for crying out loud, its not the end of the world, so they hit the tail end of that scene, big deal

they played with bands like faster pussy cat, poison, motley crue, jet boy, ezo, the cult, david lee roth, kiss.

On the flipside, anyone who thinks GNR had anything to do with "killing off hair metal" is a revisionist.  Poison, Warrant, et al survived/thrived long after GNR had hit the mainstream.

If anything, they showed everybody that there were bands out there who weren't just about the clich? Sunset Strip party lifestyle.

for real? they lived in the middle of the party, they were always in the thick of things and were drunk and stones whilst doing it half the time

how do you think they got the got the "most dangerous band in the world" moniker? and of course the lable shoved them down peopel throats, the kids thought it was cool that they were such bad asses, it sold alot of the records

and it wasnt unheard of to heard SCOM, Home Sweet Home, Heaven, Every Rose, house of pain....etc etc all within the same "rock block" on the radio

[Neemo]

some of you people must have bad memories....either that or you werent around 

[jarmo]

On the flipside, anyone who thinks GNR had anything to do with "killing off hair metal" is a revisionist.  Poison, Warrant, et al survived/thrived long after GNR had hit the mainstream.

If anything, they showed everybody that there were bands out there who weren't just about the clich? Sunset Strip party lifestyle.

for real? they lived in the middle of the party, they were always in the thick of things and were drunk and stones whilst doing it half the time

how do you think they got the got the "most dangerous band in the world" moniker? and of course the lable shoved them down peopel throats, the kids thought it was cool that they were such bad asses, it sold alot of the records

Yes, for real.


So just because they had songs like Mr. Brownstone and were having their own issues with drugs, they're the same as Poison doing "Nothin' But a Good Time"?


Just because the radio or MTV were playing the all kinds of bands in the same shows doesn't mean they were all part of the same scene.

It's just a bunch of lazy people who love labeling everything.


Just because Headbanger's Ball might've played Black Sabbath and Warrant doesn't mean they're the same kind of music.




Getting Welcome To The Jungle played in the middle of the night on MTV isn't exactly showing them down peoples' throats.



Personally I never cared for all the other bands you love to lump GN'R with. Obviously since GN'R became bigger than any of them, I'm not the only one who saw something different about them and still do.






/jarmo

[Neemo]

Personally I never cared for all the other bands you love to lump GN'R with. Obviously since GN'R became bigger than any of them, I'm not the only one who saw something different about them and still do.

yeah i just love to lump them in there...i love it 


i would just like to know why peopel get all bent out of shape when the comparison comes up  people need to relax  I never compared any gnr song to "nothin but a good time" nor did i say that any of those bands were better than gnr, i'm just saying that when the shit was going down, and these bands were all active, gnr was considered a hair band...if you dont agree with all that and the "lazy categorizors" then more power to ya i suppose....

....but that's how it was

[jarmo]

Because it's not something the band saw themselves being part of?


I guess people associate the term with different things.

I associate it with crappy music made by guys who were more concerned about the way they looked rather than with the music itself. Not only was the music not the main priority, it was also often without any meaning other than "Party! Rock on! Hell yeah!".

I know some people don't need anything else from music, good for them.


That's why I think it's unfair to lump GN'R together with bands like Poison.





/jarmo

[Ines_rocks!]

Personally I never cared for all the other bands you love to lump GN'R with. Obviously since GN'R became bigger than any of them, I'm not the only one who saw something different about them and still do.

gnr was considered a hair band

How so?

For all I know about the history of GN´R, know one would sign them back in the early days because they were different and way more raw than the current scene. Were they the typical Hair Metal band, some label would have approched them way earlier and made a Cinderella out of them.

[Neemo]

Personally I never cared for all the other bands you love to lump GN'R with. Obviously since GN'R became bigger than any of them, I'm not the only one who saw something different about them and still do.

gnr was considered a hair band

How so?

For all I know about the history of GN?R, know one would sign them back in the early days because they were different and way more raw than the current scene. Were they the typical Hair Metal band, some label would have approched them way earlier and made a Cinderella out of them.

well that whole sentence was supposed to read "When all these bands were active, gnr was also considered a hair band" they were also hard rock and heavy metal back then cuz thats what tehy were categorized as...i'm not the one who worked for AMA and RS and Kerrang and all that shit, but the ones who did the labeling considered them part of the genre

I associate it (hair bands) with crappy music made by guys who were more concerned about the way they looked rather than with the music itself. Not only was the music not the main priority, it was also often without any meaning other than "Party! Rock on! Hell yeah!".

Jarmo, its all cool, i agree with alot of what you are saying, and while i do think there are some pretty cool tunes from hair metal bands, i'm not saying that they were or are better than GnR but some of them had their moments...remember there wasnt much else on the radio back then you were pretty much stuck with the warrant and aerosmith, bonjovi, dokken, firehouse, great white, poison, def leppard, ozzy, Crue and yes twisted sister  ....some people can listen to the same stuff all day, everyday....not me i have to have variety or i go insane, so yeah i was subjected to all the other stuff from the rock stations....i didnt dig U2 or INXS or Cure or The Smiths or all that so the "alternative" shit wasnt my thing at all

that particular rock scene (the hair metal scene as it was coined) was my thing and i'm not ashamed to admit it...no biggie, i'm just saying when it was all new thats what the powers that be decided to group it with...and gnr was part of it otherwise i wouldnt have gotten into them

But as for looks....no gnr didnt care about all that...they were too strung out and they had their own idea of what was cool...and teased hair and makeup definately wasnt part of it...but long hair and ballads were enough for the generalizations..

and again i swear it wasnt me who lumped them in there...i jsut resigned myself to the fact that some people associate gnr with hair bands....like i said for me it was no biggie its just the way it was 

[Vicious Wishes]

I noticed when I clicked on the original posters link(and then on the GnR part of that link), that aol music has a video for It's so Easy. It's not the video with Erin Everly in bondage, but similar. Is this a GnR sanctioned video? It would have to be, right? If not, how can they put it on aol music videos?

[AdZ]

It was released when Live 'Era was released..

[C0ma]

Unskinny Bob by Poison peaked on the charts at #3 in 1990
Love of a Life Time by Firehouse peaked at #5 in 1991
To Be With You by Mr. Big peaked at #1 in 1991

All of this after 1.5 albums by GnR. I think "Grunge" is a larger reason for the demise of "Hair Metal"... and even that is a stretch. Guns and Grunge may have taken "some" of the fan base. But Hair metal did have a huge female/pop following that didn't translate to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Not really what I'm looking for...because they're snapshots of 3 songs rather than a trending of music sales and charting songs (rock and top 40) over the late 80's and into the early to mid 90's.

Again, I don't think GnR "put a bullet" in hair band music.  But there's no denying that hair band music faded away....and that's what fads/"trends"/pop culture elements tend to do.   They don't just disappear.  Their popularity just gradually lessens.  By the time '92 rolled around, and GnR was basically one of the (if not the) biggest acts on the planet.....the hair band music was CERTAINLY not at it's height in terms of popularity/sales/and charting songs goes.

 I think GnR was the harbinger of that "fading".....the begining of the evolution of music AWAY from "hair bands".....and Grunge just furthered that trend.  Eventually, hair band music pretty much faded into non-existence...or at least became a non-factor in the industry.

What I was trying to get at is similar to what you are saying... I think that Hair Metal faded away, I dont think any one group or other genre killed it. The average teen pop fan who was buying Poison, Warrant, Skid Row, Mr. Big etc... just followed the top 40 into more pop based acts like Hootie and the Blowfish and even R&B groups like Boyz2Men... you's be surprised how many of the "Every Rose" fans became "End of the Road" fans.

If GnR never fell apart and released a legit follow up to the illusions in 94' they wouldn't have slowed down. They released an album of practically unknown Punk covers and then imploded. When they were at the tail end of the Illusions tour they were still getting Heavy Rotation on Mtv with Estranged.

[Bodhi]

Unskinny Bob by Poison peaked on the charts at #3 in 1990
Love of a Life Time by Firehouse peaked at #5 in 1991
To Be With You by Mr. Big peaked at #1 in 1991

All of this after 1.5 albums by GnR. I think "Grunge" is a larger reason for the demise of "Hair Metal"... and even that is a stretch. Guns and Grunge may have taken "some" of the fan base. But Hair metal did have a huge female/pop following that didn't translate to Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Geffen would have never even thought of signing Nirvana if it werent for Guns N Roses....Guns N Roses brought a seriousness back to rock music.do you think a major label would have even looked at Nirvana if Poison and Warrant were still the biggest bands around??..GNR were the bridge that led to early 90's hard rock like AIC, STP and Nirvana...