Best Hair Metal Bands

Even in their hayday, hair metal bands were a little silly on the surface.

The teased hair, full-faced makeup, skin-tight leathers, and oh-so-80s rockstar personas verge on comical, but there’s more to it than meets the (smokey) eye.

Hair metal (or glam metal) bands bridged the gap between classic rock and grunge, taking inspiration from 70s rockers like Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls to create a uniquely thrashy, loud sound that defined an era.

Even today, 30 years later, hair metal hits like “Cherry Pie” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me” can be heard blasting all over the world in a testament to their infectious sound and undeniable character.

Here are some of the best, most bombastic hair metal bands of the time.

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1. Twisted Sister

With fist-shaking hits like “We’re Not Gonna Take it” and “I Wanna Rock”, Twisted Sister is undeniably one of the most recognizable all-out glam metal bands – complete with frizzy hair and a full face of makeup.

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Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister was a product of the 70s rock scene, and made their breakthrough in the early 80s. After that, the band suffered from record company overexposure, which caused them to fizzle out. Nonetheless, their hits still remain hair metal anthems.

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2. Cinderella

On the surface, Cinderella is another loud and leathery hair metal band, but they’re often celebrated by hard rockers as a more musically talented group than other bands during the time. Some attribute this uniqueness to an alternative creation in Philly instead of the white hot Sunset Strip.

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Cinderella

Their vocals, belted out by founder singer/songwriter/guitarist/keyboardist Tom Keifer (he was busy), are some of the most unique of the era. They have a more edgy, screeching sound that’s reminiscent of earlier rock-n-roll.

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3. KISS

Kiss features the most iconic faces in all of music, and has maintained impressive cultural relevance 40 years after it was formed in 1973.

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KISS

Their makeup and flamboyant outfits made them idols for teenagers in the 70s, but their music was some of the earliest to evolve the theatrics of 70s New York rock-n-roll.

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4. Warrant

Warrant formed in 1984 Los Angeles, but didn’t experience super-stardom until the late 80s with singles “Down Boys”, “Sometimes She Cries”, and more genre-defying hits.

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Warrant

Their biggest success, “Cherry Pie”, is arguably the quintessential hair metal song: sexy, loud, and brash. However, the hit is surrounded in irony as the bands frontman, Jani Lane, later said that he hated the song.

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5. Whitesnake

After leaving Deep Purple, vocalist David Coverdale formed Whitesnake, which became one of the defining bands of the glam metal movement.

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Whitesnake

Whitesnake didn’t blow-up internationally until the early 80s when they released a slew of hits like “Is This Love” and “Here I Go Again,” which got a ton of attention thanks to music videos starring model-actress Tawny Kitaen.

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6. Skid Row

Skid Row was the thrash-iest, fastest band to emerge from the hair metal era. Their lead singer, Sebastian Bach, pioneered their sound by providing glass-shattering vocals and catchy, pop-primed melodies.

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Skid Row

Skid Row’s vocals weren’t the only decidedly metal-oriented thing about them. The band was also notorious for being extremely brazen on stage, with a string of controversies involving fights with fans over thrown water bottles and controversial AIDS T-shirts.

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7. Poison

Led by four sexed-up heaps of hair, Poison is another defining feature of 80s hair metal. Ballads like “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and “Talk Dirty To Me” were catchy, sensitive, simplistic, quintessentially glam metal.

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Poison

Today, frontman Bret Michaels remains one of the most famous hair rockers alive thanks to his reinvention as a TV personality on shows like

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8. Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses is one of the most famous bands of all time, and for good reason. Their infectiously lovable hits like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Welcome to the Jungle” not only cause head bobbing, but they’re also just high-quality metal.

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Guns N’ Roses

Their worldwide recognizability and critical acclaim is largely thanks to Slash’s shredding on the guitar and lead singer Axl’s ferocious vocals. In a time when dance music and pop-metal ruled the charts, Guns N’ Roses came crashing in with something special

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9. Hanoi Rocks

Hanoi Rocks is often credited with being the true inventors of unhinged, bawdy hair metal. They never achieved the commercial success of other glam rockers (mostly due to the tragic loss of drummer Razzle), but they’ve always maintained an impressive cult following.

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Hanoi Rocks

Hanoi Rocks still isn’t very well known in the states, but they have a surprisingly large following in Japan.

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10. Bon Jovi

To this day, hardcore headbangers still sometimes turn up their noses at Bon Jovi for shamelessly embodying every pop-rock cliche. But personal opinions aside, their commercial success and lasting appeal with mega-hits like “Livin’ On a Prayer” is wrong to overlook.

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Bon Jovi

One controversy that still sticks to the band comes in a video for “Lay Your Hands On Me” when Jon wears a cloak featuring a skull logo that’s almost identical to the one used by the Misfits. Despite the Misfit’s obvious influence on Jon, he still claims the logo’s similarity was a coincidence.

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11. RATT

RATT’s reign as white-hot kings of hair metal didn’t last quite as long as some bands, but it gave us unforgettable hits like “Round and Round” and “Lay it Down”. Their brash attitude, catchy melodies, and leather-clad look helped shape the Sunset Strip in their hometown of Los Angeles.

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RATT

After Out of the Cellar, RATT’s first album under Atlantic Records in 1984, the band skyrocketed to worldwide stardom.

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12. Def Leppard

British heavy metal hair band Def Leppard made their mark in 1983 with their breakout album, Pyromania. They remain among the most recognizable glam bands ever, with hits like “Pour Some Sugar On Me” still blasting in seemingly every strip club and sexy movie scene.

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Def Leppard

Their music and personalities weren’t quite as crazy as other hair metal bands, with more melody driven songs and toned-down looks. This is probably why they found such huge mainstream success early in their career, despite setbacks like their drummer losing an arm in a car accident.

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13. Mötley Crüe

Mötley Crüe were the leaders of overindulgence and manic rockstar energy that defined an era. From their electrifying 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, all the way to their genre-defining 1989 album Dr. Feelgood, Motley Crue pushed the limits of unhinged, larger-than-life hard rock.

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Mötley Crüe

The band was made up of four members: Vince Neil on vocals, Mick Mars on guitar, founder Nikki Sixx on the bass, and Tommy Lee on the drums. Each member was a mega-star and lunatic in their own unique way, which added to the band’s effect. They were a sight to behold onstage, with performances that literally put the rockers lives on the line – on more than one occasion.

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