glam rock fans?

Check out any and all Slade collections, but I personally recommend "Slayed" as their best album. There are also some great CD comps that collect the more obscure stuff. Two to check out are called "Velvet Tinmine" and "GlitterBest"

-Jake

No. Unfortunately you are a bit off the mark. The bands like Poison, Warrant, and Bon Jovi are "glam metal" or "hair metal".

What was once known as "Glam" was typically British stuff in the early to mid-70s like Slade, Mott the Hoople, Bowie, Sweet, T-Rex, and a many more. On the American side you had bands like The New York Dolls, the Hollywood Brats. Even Kiss had "Glam" crossover appeal. "Glam" eventually ended up morphing into some of the first punk bands (The Damned, The Heartbreakers, Dead Boys, etc) who took the "Glam" aesthetic, but stripped it down...along with the music.

When Motley Crue, Hanoi Rocks, and the earliest LA hair bands started making waves in the early 80's (and started putting on the silly makeup and clothes to compliment their music), the music press started reverting back to the "Glam" moniker in order to describe them. Its a crying shame. The awesomeness of bands like Slade, T-Rex, and the original "Glam" bands should never have had their names tarnished by being even remotely compared with such crap as Poison, Cinderalla, Warrant, Vixen, and their ilk.

-Jake

Yeah, there is definately no justice in that little sordid chapter of musical history.

There are a lot of contemporary bands that have taken a cue from the REAL glam bands of the 70s though. The Darkness, Marilyn Manson, Turbonegro, and a few others come to mind.

If anybody takes a cue from the hair bands from the 80s....well, then we're screwed. As if the current music industry was not vapid enough. The last thing we would ever need is to have glam/hair metal rise up from the ashes.

-Jake

Dzigon,

There is no way that I'm knocking the 80s metal scene as a whole. Hell, in the last few years I've seen Testament, Exodus, S.O.D., Satyricon, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, etc, all at seperate shows...and none of them were at that crappy Ozz-Fest either. I love metal!

The guys like Malmsteen, Vai, Wylde, DiMartini, Rhoads, etc were (and still are) totally badass. I'm knocking the hairbands specifically. Although you could make a case for Ratt, Whitesnake, and at one point even Ozzy (The Ultimate Sin era) for being hair-metal bands, I dont really classify them as such. The "glam metal scene" was a total joke to Metal as a whole. Whether it be New Wave of British Heavy Metal, power metal, speed metal, death metal, or thrash metal; I think the bands that were part of those genres share absolutely NOTHING with Cinderalla, Warrant, Bon Jovi, and those kinds of oppurtunists.

And as for the implication that members of T-Rex or the New York Dolls "could not play", you've got to be joking. Most glam bands of the 70s contained great musicians (Roxy Music, Bowie's various lineups, Queen, etc). They may not have been as good as their prog-rock contemporaries that were dominating the airwaves simultaneously, but hey, when you're up against guys like Fripp and Steve Howe for technical chops, its gonna be pretty hard to even come close.

My points, in case we're losing sight of them, are as follows:

1. 70s Glam (the REAL glam) had great musicians and songwriting.

2. 80s Glam/hair Metal was crap. Similar to manufactured Pop, this was a more industry driven exploitation of the real metal scene, only re-dressed in less offensive clothing.

Haha, I love debating this crap.

-Jake

Darren,

I think the fact that you actually wear a Cinderalla shirt may be on par with me having bought a Rosemary Clooney SACD last week. They are both kinda silly, but hey, if you like the tunes, go for it. This is America! It is our given right (indeed, almost an obligation) to indulge in trash.

And yeah, I bought the "Shot in the Dark" single when I was 12 years old. Definately not afraid to admit that. Although it begins to sound like I'm writing off the whole hair-band thing, you can be damn sure that Motley Crue, Hanoi Rocks, Guns 'n Roses, and a few others get a doctor's note. It was not *all* bad.

Take it slow and happy listening,
Jake

BTW, I agree that it is easier (at least for me) to debate in this forum rather than the others. To some people around here, if you cannot tell the difference between a KT88 and an EL34, you're pond scum.