Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Top 5 Underrated Hair Metal Songs Of All Time

Here is my personal list of the 5 most underrated hair metal songs of all time.

#5 Salty Dog- Come Along. A band I like to call the poor man's Guns N' Roses, Salty Dog had just one album, Every Dog Has Its Day in 1990.


#4 White Trash- Apple Pie. Released in 1991, their self-titled CD was actually successful. Like many hair bands in the '90's they disbanded soon after.


#3 Trixter- Give It To Me Good. Off their debut album, which went gold, Trixter had a string of hits in 1990. Then grunge came and we never heard from them again. There was talk of a reunion tour but that's as far as it went, talk.



#2 Gorky Park- Bang. Gorky Park was a Russian glam metal band who toured with Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, and Cinderella. Their biggest moment was when they played at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1990.


#1 The Quireboys- 7 O'clock. Known as the London Quireboys in the US, the band broke up in 1993. At least they gave us the #1 hair metal song of all time!


There you have it, one man's opinion. Yes, it is a lot to take in but what else did I have to do today? I know some of the video quility sucks and the sound varies from loud to quiet but this was the best I could do.

6 comments:

Joseph said...

Wow. This post takes me back to simpler times. It takes me back to the time when songs about sex and drugs had a sense of playfulness to them. These guys, and by extension their fans, only wanted to rock and roll all night and party every day. Yes, those were simpler times. And though we were living in the shadow of an evil empire (i.e., the USSR), a band like Gorky Park could emerge from the cold war millieu and offer the promise of the "winds of change" to freedom-loving metal fans worldwide. Bang Bang indeed. Nevertheless, not every selection can be dated to the cold war era. For instance, if memory serves me right, White Trash's "Apple Pie" debuted after the fall of the Berlin Wall. White Trash is a transitional band. "Apple Pie" heralds the end of pure hair metal, and suggests what would come: less emphasis on style (e.g., grunge) and a willingness to experiment with sounds/instruments that would never find a home in classic hair rock (e.g., a prominent horn section). Salty Dog's "Come Along" is a sort of retro push by late period hair metal bands to return to the blues and boogie sound of early Aerosmith in the advent of Guns n Roses' 1987 landmark "Appetite for Destruction. Though the lyrics are juvenile (even by hair metal standards), "Come Along" is representative of the general disposition of my hair metal brethren. It is an invitation to join the fun, and come along together to, uh, take drugs and have sex. OK, so maybe it's not the most noble sentiment. But the hair metal sensibility was always about more than just sex and drugs - it was about a sense of community and the belief that rock and roll could bring people together from diverse ethnic backgrounds (e.g., Gorky Park), color (e.g., Living Colour), and gender (e.g., Lita Ford). Yes, those were simpler times. But would it be fair to call us naive? I don't think so. In the immortal words of another obscure hair metal band, Love/Hate: don't fuck with me cuz I don't look like you / we can be brothers / and wear our different colors too.

Anonymous said...

the only band i heard of on this list is Gorky Park. Hair metal sucks!

Joseph said...

Jakethesnake, you are a delight!

Broke But Still Drinking said...

What about Right Said Fred?

Joseph said...

Oh c'mon Broke, obviously Right Said Fred is too sexy for this post.

Brad said...

Ok, there is a lot to get to in this post... Let's start off with the people I don't know. jakethesnake, if that's your real name, how old are you? I'm guessing early 20's. Hair metal was all about nothing. I agree, it did suck, but songs about drinking, getting laid, and drugs are ok in my book. Joseph, my head spins when I read your comments. Welcome to the staff of TIGO! Broke, obvouisly you are a little drunk right now so you get a pass. Just try to lay off the Busch pounders, you will thank me in the morning.