The Sunset Strip in the 1980s: The heyday of glam metal and hair bands Curbed LA

Table Of Content

• Popular Hair (Glam) Bands of the 80s – Complete List
• BLINK-182 Returns To North America For Final Leg Of Stadium And Arena Tour
• How Santa Monica’s pedestrian mall became too successful for its own good
• Tyler Hubbard Preps His ‘Strong’ World Tour
• Slipknot Announce Here Comes the Pain Summer Tour
• Big Hair and Hard Rock Defined the 80s
• Best Sugar Ray Songs Of All Time (Greatest Hits)

But perhaps one of the most stand-out trends 80s music brought was the rise of the ‘hair bands’; musicians, often male, who had long hair. From the long hair to the spandex pants, the hair bands of the 80s left an indelible mark on the music industry and pop culture. The 80s was a decade defined by its music and fashion, and hair bands were a significant part of that era. The band’s raw, powerful vocals, guitar riffs, catchy melodies, and anthemic choruses made them popular with fans of rock and metal alike.

Popular Hair (Glam) Bands of the 80s – Complete List

The tenacious band stuck together long after hair rock lost popularity, releasing albums through the early 2000s. Poison, who VH1 called the number-one hair band of the 1980s, still tours today. Warrant started in 1984 but didn’t see mainstream success until 1988, when it signed with Columbia Records. Their debut album had four singles which got them spots opening for Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Cinderella on tour. Their second album came out in 1990 but still harnessed the signature sound of 80s hair bands. Despite their religious lyrics, the band had mainstream success, toured extensively, and enjoyed radio airplay.

BLINK-182 Returns To North America For Final Leg Of Stadium And Arena Tour

Formed in 1983, the band gained popularity with their number one hit single “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, which is included in their sophomore album “Open Up and Say… Ahh! One of the best hair bands that came from the 1980s is Guns N’ Roses, which to this day influences artists from all over the world. Their debut album “Appetite for Destruction” was released in 1987 and it quickly put the band on the map. Over the next few decades, they continued to release new music and still perform.

How Santa Monica’s pedestrian mall became too successful for its own good

"It's cost me my career, my fortune, basically my sex life when I found out I was HIV positive." Crosby died in 2002 of a heroin overdose at 42 years old. A mishmash of the original band members reunited for a tour in 2007 and released a new album in 2010. But while he’s got a number of popular songs, which are his all-time classics? Between the release of these two albums, their drummer, Rick Allen, lost one of his arms in a car accident. Allen still plays with the band, using a custom drum set with extra foot pedals. The album was certified platinum in the United States and helped to establish the band as a significant force in the rock music scene of the late 1980s.

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The musicians of this era took inspiration from the glam rock artists of the 1970s, both in fashion and sound. But the allure of the '80s glam band hasn't dissipated over the years. In fact, it might be even larger thanks to huge worldwide stadium tours, festivals like Rock in Rio and Coachella, "Rock Band," and reality TV shows. Defying age and time, most of these bands continue to hit the recording booth and tour well into their 50s, 60s, and even 70s. The hair band’s original lineup consisted of Tom Keifer (lead vocals, guitar), Eric Brittingham (bass guitar), Michael Smerick (guitar), and Tony Destra (drums).

Zeppelin band members rode a motorcycle up and down the halls, Jim Morrison hung off a 10th-floor balcony like a monkey, and orgies were an almost nightly occurrence. Oblivious to the people below, Keith Richards and Keith Moon supposedly threw TVs off the balcony, while John Bonham pelted cars with water balloons and champagne bottles. They continue to release new music nowadays, such as Flesh & Blood’ which came out this past 2019. Kiss went on tour with Aerosmith in 2003 and headlined the Rock the Nation Tour alongside Poison. After a few years of sporadic shows, they returned to world touring and have more or less kept it up ever since. Their latest rendition of a farewell tour was supposed to play over 180 shows and gross some $200 million, Simmons told The Wall Street Journal, but it was delayed due to the pandemic.

Def Leppard is another English hair band, formed in 1976 but not finding significant success until the 1983 release of Pyromania. Hysteria, released in 1987, cemented the band as one of the best 80s hair bands. They went through several lineup changes before becoming known as Ratt in 1981. They sold 100,000 copies of their independently-released debut album in 1983 and constantly played in Los Angeles clubs to build a die-hard fan base. The 80s included diverse musical offerings such as electronic music, dance-pop, and a new wave of rock.

Eventually Yarbrough grew restless, leaving the trio in 1977 and returning in 1980, only to depart again after a few months of touring in which the old group tensions arose again. Eventually, Hassilev tired of running the studio and wound down his schedule. When the chance came to reunite the Limeliters as a part-time touring act in 1972, Hassilev, who now solely owned the rights to the group’s name, jumped at the chance. The old vocal chemistry was still there; the show drew highly positive reviews and big crowds.

They’ve released eight more albums since the 80s, but their popularity reached its biggest heights along with their hair. Their work ethic and popularity impressed Atlantic Records, who released their first full-length album in 1984. Their first and second label releases reached number seven on the Billboard charts, and several singles reached the Top 40. The band periodically reunites to perform live shows but hasn’t released a new album since 2010. The band’s early music blended hard rock and heavy metal with a theatrical, almost campy sensibility, and their live shows were always a spectacle. Twisted Sister’s music and image helped define the hair metal era of the 1980s, and they were one of the most successful bands of that time.

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Their lead singer, Ian Astbury, often sported long hair and wore leather clothing and jewelry, which were typical fashion choices for hair bands of the era. Other popular glam metal bands of the era included Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and Poison. Grunge music emerged as a new force in the music industry, and hair metal bands were unable to compete. It was the first heavy metal album that went No.1 on the Billboard charts and it would change the Sunset Strip, music, the hairspray industry, and spandex production forever.

The band started touring in 1986 to promote their debut album and stayed on the road consistently until 2012. The band’s original lineup consisted of vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. The band’s original lineup consisted of Jack Blades (bass, vocals), Brad Gillis (guitar), Jeff Watson (guitar), Alan Fitzgerald (keyboards), and Kelly Keagy (drums, vocals).

They are best known for their hit song “The Final Countdown,” which was released in 1986 and reached number one in 25 countries. In the 1980s, KISS continued to evolve its sound, incorporating more pop and synth elements into its music. The band’s sound was heavily influenced by bands such as Aerosmith, AC/DC, and The Rolling Stones. The album was a commercial success, reaching number 6 on the Billboard 200 chart and selling over 5 million copies in the United States alone.

The venues are still there, playing host to reunion shows, new hard rock acts, and those looking to reminisce over sparkling water on their lost weekends on the Strip. Meanwhile, the hair bands that defined the scene still play to packed stadiums on lucrative world tours. The audiences (like the band) are just a little older and (maybe) wiser. While some metal purists may argue that power ballads represented a softening of the genre, it's important to note that metal has always been a diverse genre that encompasses a wide range of styles and sounds. Power ballads were just one facet of 80s metal, and they helped to make the genre more accessible to a wider audience. Without power ballads, many metal bands may not have achieved the level of success and popularity that they did during the 80s.

They said Betts was a “legendary performer, songwriter, bandleader, and family patriarch. The era of glam metal would be the last gasp of lawlessness on the Sunset Strip. It was really a unique era for rock music, and if you were fortunate enough to be around during that time, you know the fashion was also epic. By the next century, a new generation of fans got acquainted with Ozzy Osbourne from his frequent MTV reality shows. The Osbournes first did a show called "The Osbournes" from 2002 to 2005. They also did a show called "Battle for Ozzfest," Sharon Osbourne appeared on "The X-Factor UK," and they released a show on Travel Channel called "The Osbournes Want to Believe" about paranormal activity.

These songs were typically slower-paced and featured more melodic vocals and guitar solos than the faster, more aggressive songs that defined the metal genre. Power ballads often dealt with themes of love, heartbreak, and longing, and they were popular among both metal fans and mainstream audiences. Bands like Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, and Def Leppard scored some of their biggest hits with songs like "Livin' on a Prayer," "Sweet Child o' Mine," and "Love Bites," respectively.

The band Rhoads wailed for was Quiet Riot and they had the best gig in Los Angeles, opening for David Lee Roth and Van Halen. Both bands owed plenty to a handful of glamorous predecessors, including New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, and KISS, and were accomplished, driven musicians who cared more about the music than they did the fame. Mötley Crüe was born in 1981 with the musical union of Nikki Sixx, the bassist, and Tommy Lee, the drummer. They are one of the bands considered most important within the hair metal or glam metal aesthetic, a pioneering subgenre in the eighties. It is one of the bands characterized by playing hard rock, heavy metal, and hair metal.