Heroes of Hair: The Sleazy Side of Glam

With the recent premier of The Dirt, a biopic about Motley Crüe in the Eighties, I’ve made all you headbangers a flashback playlist of Eighties hair metal. 

Heroes of Hair: The Sleazy Side of Glam

The year: 1981

The place: The Sunset Strip In LA

The event: The Birth of Glam Metal

A selection of bands made their names in the varied clubs up and down the Sunset Strip such as the Whiskey A Go-Go, The Troubadour and Gazzarri’s. These bands would go on to be legends- Motley Crüe, Micky Ratt (later shortened to Ratt), Dokken and Quiet Riot. The sound caught on with both the fans and the labels. Before you knew it, make-up and hairspray emerged and the glam metal sound took over the radio. (TRIVIA: Aerosmith’s Dude Looks Like A Lady is about Vince Neil of Motley Crüe) The hair got bigger and the music got sleazier. In fact, the only thing higher than the vocals was the hair— well, and the musicians themselves. This was the mainstream sound of the Eighties peaking at the end of the decade with acts like Guns N Roses, Faster Pussycat and Warrant making their lyrics as sleazy as the radio could handle. 

Eventually, the bubble had to burst. Grunge emerged and slew the leather-clad and made-up monster known as hair metal. Like all good-and bad- things, glam metal would re-emerge from the slime of LA with acts like Steel Panther as well as the classic acts still making a run for it. 

So go to the playlist, get a can of AquaNet to put your hair up and hit shuffle. The Strip is calling you.