Hair Glam Pop Metal

Le Glam Metal or “Hair, Pop Metal” evolved from Glam Rock like David Bowie and a fusion of Metal and New wave.

The Heavy Metal world was affected by the “over the top” ’80s fashion, and many bands adopted the exaggerated look with a lot of makeup, extravagant clothing, big hair and a heavily charged look.
Their music was less edgy, like a softer popular version of Metal. A good example was “Def Leppard”, who started just a British Heavy Metal band but turned to Hair Metal following the new trend.
However, Pop Metal or Hair Metal was perceived as a negative subgenre by “real Metalheads”.
Bands like Whitesnake, with their sun-kissed California blond big hair and romantic video clips calculated to please the American public. Bon Jovi and Motley Crue were the best representatives of Hair Metal.
Glam metal (or hair metal) is the good old “Pop Metal”.
Historically, it is a form of hard rock that emerged in the early 1980s and had as its main centre of propagation the Sunset Strip club scene in Los Angeles. Influenced by the catchy songs, extravagant costumes, and androgynous aesthetics of glam rock, as well as the hard rock riffs and energy of names like Slade, Kiss, and Van Halen, musically glam metal is characterized by an emphasis on catchy hooks, In addition to the riffs and energy of the hard, seventies names such as Slade, Kiss, and Van Halen, musically, glam metal is characterized by an emphasis on very catchy hooks, strong guitar riffs full of melody, choruses made to sing along, and lyrics extolling the lifestyle of sex, drugs, and rock and roll – not forgetting, of course, the romantic ballads to lighten the mood and get along.

In the early 1990s, the genre began to lose popularity due mainly to the saturation of the style, with hundreds of bands wanting to ride the same wave and making the sound too generic.
With the emergence of grunge, MTV, once the main catalyst of hair metal, changed its focus and began to highlight bands from Seattle such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and others, putting the lid on the style. The contrast with the aggressive posture and the stripped-down outfit of grunge and alternative rock, in vogue at the time, turned the term hair metal into something derogatory, a fact that, combined with the bands’ heavy and exaggerated wardrobe, ended up forming a negative image about the eighties scene in Los Angeles.

Personally my favorite Glam bands are Van Halen, the are in my opinion beyond any sort of classification and Eddie was a musical genius. I also like a lot Quiet Riot with their great “Metal Heath” album.