80’s Blog – Hair and Glam Metal.

Hair and Glam Metal was/is essentially party music, music you can have a good time too.

In America, there were 2 Glam metal scenes: The East and West Coast.

· West Coast/Los Angeles - Quiet Riot, W.A.S.P, Motley Crue, Ratt, Stryper and Warrant were just some of the big names from the west.

· East Coast – Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Poison and Twisted Sister were the big names in the east.

Heavily polished distorted guitars, high male vocals and basic rock drum beats. As I said above, it was essentially party music. Music to have a good time with your friends too, music you’d expect to be played in clubs and bars, music to drive too, dance too. Bands such as Quietriot and Bon Jovi alike seemed all they wanted to do is party and play some rock ‘n’ roll. Heavily polished distorted guitars, high male vocals and basic rock drum beats. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Sweet, New York Dolls, and Sabbath are all obviously a big influence on many of the glam metal bands at the time. Also, David Bowie 70’s glam rock albums and image were an influence in its self, and trend, for example the big hair and bright coloured outfits. The exaggeration of the hairspray was critical to any glam metal bands image.

The scene soon took off in the U.S.A. and it seemed the movement started on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, thanks to bands such as Motley Crue and W.A.S.P. However, one of the biggest reasons for the rise of glam rock was the development of MTV, making rock a more visual genre and therefore spawning outlandish looks. Music videos soon became short films, with huge production teams. This was the same as there live shows, well rehearsed huge arena tours seemed crucial to the band. Stage shows must have consisted of over 2000 lights, fireworks and often confetti to be scattered upon the crowd. Glam metal bands always tended to put on a good show.

There were 2 waves of glam metal, the first wave of glam metal was between 81’-84’ bands included Quietriot, W.A.S.P, Twister Sister and Motley Crue. There music consisted of a heavy rock influenced sound but a glam metal image, but this soon changed in the mid 80’s when the second wave of glam metal approached. Bands like Poison, Warrant and Faster Pussycat all were around when glam was at the peak of its success. It ruled the airwaves and they were chart topping artists back in there day.