Your favorite 80's Hair / Glam Band is?

[Tasmen]

I heard they are supposed to be going on tour again soon!

Faster Pussycat seems to be always touring. But I do believe they will be playing some shows this summer. There is a huge 80's hair band music festival going on in Oklahoma this July (rock fever in Rocklahoma ). TONS of 80's favorites including FP are going to be there.

I was also a pretty big Faster Pussycat fan back in the day. I went to college at UCLA right during the last couple years of the hair metal revolution on the Sunset Strip. It was a truly fun time I even go to be in the 'Kick Start My Heart' Crue video. Granted, you have to pause the video to see me, but I was there! Oooooo the memories.

He's one, but you are right, he had limited success--and definitely wasn't in a "hair band." And you reminded me of one I forgot--Jason Bonham, son of John Bonham! He had a "hair band" at the very end of the era, and has kicked around in a bunch of other bands with marginal success since then.

Bonham always sounded like a Led Zeppelin light to me to be honest. They found a singer that sounded almost exactly like Robert Plant.

my CD collection ranges from Pantera to show tunes, so I listened to a little of everything, even back then.

I miss Pantera so. My CD collection is also rather eclectic. My friends often joke about what it's like to ride in my car. They can hear anything from Pantera to Kermit the Frog on my iPod.

Another band no one mentioned yet that I was simply totally in love with is Bang Tango. Want to talk about some stage presence there!

 

[Tasmen]

I'd also like to point out that the "hair band" label didn't mean they all sounded alike. Hair bands ran the gamut of ultra-blusey (Tangier, Tesla) to funky (Extreme, Saigon Kick) to gritty (G&R, Junkyard) to ultra-polished (Bon Jovi, Winger).

Yep yep. After the success of Quiet Riot, record execs were pretty much trolling Sunset and signing almost any band that could consistently pull a crowd. Tons of bands were getting signed and putting records out. It only mattered that they looked good. Sound/talent wasn't so much a big concern. If that was the case, Motley Crue probably never would have been signed in the first place. They were HORRIBLE at first and I say that as someone who loves the Crue

 

[ducklite]

Faster Pussycat seems to be always touring. But I do believe they will be playing some shows this summer. There is a huge 80's hair band music festival going on in Oklahoma this July (rock fever in Rocklahoma ). TONS of 80's favorites including FP are going to be there.

My DH and I actually talked for a few fleeting moments about going to taht. Then common sense kicked in.

I was also a pretty big Faster Pussycat fan back in the day. I went to college at UCLA right during the last couple years of the hair metal revolution on the Sunset Strip. It was a truly fun time I even go to be in the 'Kick Start My Heart' Crue video. Granted, you have to pause the video to see me, but I was there! Oooooo the memories.

How fun!

Bonham always sounded like a Led Zeppelin light to me to be honest. They found a singer that sounded almost exactly like Robert Plant.

Not nearly as much as Kingdom Clone did.

I miss Pantera so. My CD collection is also rather eclectic. My friends often joke about what it's like to ride in my car. They can hear anything from Pantera to Kermit the Frog on my iPod.

That's funny! I've got a really long story about Pantera, but that's another thread, another time. Nice guys though. Really nice guys. Dime would ahve given you the shirt off his back.

Another band no one mentioned yet that I was simply totally in love with is Bang Tango. Want to talk about some stage presence there!

I always forget about them. I crewed for them when they were out with Britny Fox in late winter 1990 for about five weeks. (I was working both bands) They were some interesting cats. IMHO they were a band before their time, and would actually translate better now than they did then.

Anne

 

[wvrevy]

You probably saw Dangerous Toys with either Junkyard or Faster Pussycat.

Can't remember if it was with Faster Pussycat that I saw DT or not. I know I saw FP with Tesla once, but can't remember if I saw them any other times. (Turns out, that "short term memory loss" thing wasn't just a myth )

Not obscure in the Norteast and Mid-Atlantic, somewhat more obscure elsewhere until they released the single "Don't Close Your Eyes" and landed the Aerosmith tour. Unfortunately for Kix, their live show always was better suited for a more intimate club setting--like Hammerjacks--than the big arena stage. For a band that put out six CD's (IIR, might have been one more or less) they never really quite "made it."

Anne

Holy CRAP I can't believe someone else remembers Hammerjacks!!! When I first went to DC in the USAF, we used to make weekend treks up to Baltimore just to go to Hammerjacks. When they tore the place down, I still remember the radio station up there (98 Rock, I think) playing a parody called "They Paved Hammerjacks and Put Up A Parking Lot".

How about another obscure one....anyone remember Tora Tora? Or Danger Danger (since I seem to be in a repetitive mood )?

 

[Tasmen]

My DH and I actually talked for a few fleeting moments about going to taht. Then common sense kicked in.

If I wasn't already going to Disney in a day, I'd probably have gone to the festival

IMHO they were a band before their time, and would actually translate better now than they did then.

That's a good way to describe them. I do think they would have been far better received if they had gone more into the Goth scene than the hair metal scene. Kyle Kyle certainly was a very talented bass player.

 

[ducklite]

Yep yep. After the success of Quiet Riot, record execs were pretty much trolling Sunset and signing almost any band that could consistently pull a crowd. Tons of bands were getting signed and putting records out. It only mattered that they looked good. Sound/talent wasn't so much a big concern. If that was the case, Motley Crue probably never would have been signed in the first place. They were HORRIBLE at first and I say that as someone who loves the Crue

They really haven't gotten much better. They become bigger than life with their antics, and I really think the onstage strippers, rolling drum cage, pyro, drugs, booze, and general mayhem that surrounded that band is what made them so popular. It was like watching a freaking train wreck. You didn't want to watch, but you couldn't tear your eyes away.

I try to think of who is really musically talented in that band, and I continually come up blank. They are probably the best example ever of the band whose reputation preceeded them. All I can do is sigh. I never worked for Crue, but I had friends that did, and I was backstage at more than a few of their shows, and the stories I could tell would get me banned from the DIS for life.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Holy CRAP I can't believe someone else remembers Hammerjacks!!!

Hell yeah! I spent my 30th birthday there with Extreme and Winger! I also remember some of the areas other fine watering holes--Rabbits Foot being one of them. In their hayday, Hammerjacks was the largest Budweiser beer account east of the Mississippi! The owner used to pay for implants for any waittress who wanted them She signed a promissary note and paid him back "$X" out of her pay each week!

How about another obscure one....anyone remember Tora Tora? Or Danger Danger (since I seem to be in a repetitive mood )?

I was working for someone--I think Extreme--it was fall of 1989 and we were playing the Ritz in NYC (Formerly Studio 64 version) and this crazy dude comes screaming into the production office that "my singer is standing out in the pouring rain, why aren't we on the list, I need to get my singer in NOW!" Not making any friends for sure. Turns out "his singer" was the dude from Tora Tora and for some reason they hadn't made it onto the guest list--which was full.

Danger Danger was managed by a guy who my DH ended up working for for about five years--I think crazyme5kids' DH knows him as well. I have ZERO idea what happened to any of those guys. I remember a label A&R guy gave me their CD when I was crewing for PWEI (ugh) in September, 1989 out in LA, and I liked them the first couple of times I listened, but boy they got old, fast.

BTW--it was 98 Rock. I still have a bumperstick from them on an old tour itinerary I pulled out to look up a date the other day!

Anne

 

[Ride Junkie]

Rokken with Dokken!! They were my favorite.

But the award for biggest hair would go to...Y & T!!!

I loved their "Contagious" album, and that one had a pic with even bigger hair!!

 

[Monte Cristo]

I voted for Motley Crue before I remembered LA Guns.

They are my favorite...still listen to them. I saw them in a POS club in Boston and then 2 years later at the Paladeum in Boston. I think I liked them better in the small POS place.

 

[ducklite]

That's a good way to describe them. I do think they would have been far better received if they had gone more into the Goth scene than the hair metal scene. Kyle Kyle certainly was a very talented bass player.

Bang Tango was a classic case of a label having no idea of how to market a particular band, so they tossed them out with whatever they could and hoped for the best.

A few others through the years:

Alice in Chains opening for Extreme (if that wasn't one of the biggest mismatches in history... )

The Allman Brothers Band opening for the Beach Boys. (A total head scratcher)

No Address opening for Breaking Benjamin (huh???)

Bang Tango should have been out with the Cult or Faith No More.

Anne

 

[dturner]

Rokken with Dokken!! They were my favorite.

I agree DOKKEN!!!

 

[Tasmen]

Bang Tango was a classic case of a label having no idea of how to market a particular band, so they tossed them out with whatever they could and hoped for the best.

A few others through the years:

Alice in Chains opening for Extreme (if that wasn't one of the biggest mismatches in history... )

The Allman Brothers Band opening for the Beach Boys. (A total head scratcher)

No Address opening for Breaking Benjamin (huh???)

Bang Tango should have been out with the Cult or Faith No More.

I totally agree. I always felt a Bang Tango/Cult combo would have been wonderful.

And yes, Alice in Chains with Extreme was an oddly coupling. I remember going to that show in LA at the Palace. I had a friend that was very into guitar so she wanted to watch Nuno play. That was the first time I had heard Alice and I fell in love. I actually enjoyed their set far more than went to GTI and came also just to watch Nuno. Talk about a guitar fan boi drooling type of event

And LA Guns...oh yes, I loved those boys. Talk about your dirty dirty from the gutter hair band

 

[Tasmen]

I agree DOKKEN!!!

Heeee. Our boy kitty is named Dokken. We named him that so that we could call him with a \m/ Here kitty kitty (insert head banging) \m/

 

[WeirdEyes]

I have to say, I am the world's biggest Def Leppard fan and have never considered them to be a hair/glam band, not even in the 80's. And I always have to laugh when people refer to them as heavy metal, too.

I think I might have to fight you for that title. I agree, I laugh also.

 

[Papa Deuce]

I think ducklite likes my musical threads... she gets to relive her past!

 

[ducklite]

I agree DOKKEN!!!

As much as I liked Dokkens music, they never did a single thing for me as a live act. And Don was a jerk.

Anne

 

[WeirdEyes]

I think ducklite likes my musical threads... she gets to relive her past!

I think you're right and she definitely knows her stuff!

 

[dturner]

As much as I liked Dokkens music, they never did a single thing for me as a live act. And Don was a jerk.

Anne

I always thought Don had the best voice in rock back then.

I had heard that Don was a jerk, doesn't matter still liked him.

Loved the black hat and trenchoat in the video with the rain........now, what song was that????

 

[ducklite]

I totally agree. I always felt a Bang Tango/Cult combo would have been wonderful.

And yes, Alice in Chains with Extreme was an oddly coupling. I remember going to that show in LA at the Palace.

Oh I remember that show! Everybody who was anybody was trying to get comps that day. I always felt a little chill at the Palace--in the shadow of the Capital Records building and all... And the gaggle by the stage door--oy! I remember it was like being a salmon swimming upstream to get in and out of the building.

I had a friend that was very into guitar so she wanted to watch Nuno play.

If you like Nuno, you out to check out his brother Luis. I love listening to him.

That was the first time I had heard Alice and I fell in love. I actually enjoyed their set far more than went to GTI and came also just to watch Nuno. Talk about a guitar fan boi drooling type of event

AHAHAHA--want to talk about drooling? I was the ONLY female on the road with:

With a road crew that was generally as good looking--in some cases even better. Ahhh, those were the days.

Anne

And LA Guns...oh yes, I loved those boys. Talk about your dirty dirty from the gutter hair band

I don't know what it is about those diiiirty LA bands. Buck Cherry is a current band from there--and ewww, I wouldn't get near them with a ten foot pole.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

I think ducklite likes my musical threads... she gets to relive her past!

I was definitely in the middle of it! Been there, done that, got a couple platinum plaques on the wall.

Anne