- 5 months ago
Grab your hairspray and leather pants, because we're cranking up the volume on those forgotten glam metal anthems! Join us as we headbang through the most criminally underrated hair band singles that dominated MTV for a brief, glorious moment. These bands may have only hit the charts once, but they delivered pure rock magic!
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00:00Hey, hey, what's that sound? I gave you my love and you shot me down.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:09And today, we're counting down our picks for those glam rock acts whose creative pedigree is primarily tethered to one major song.
00:17Take my heart, take my soul. Love, I'm singing it strong.
00:25Number 10, House of Pain, Faster Pussycat.
00:28It's a little past summer time. I'm still out on the board steps.
00:35This Los Angeles-based band existed on the sleazier end of the hair metal spectrum, but their most successful song, House of Pain, was actually a ballad.
00:46Oh, the rough edges of Faster Pussycat's sound are still very much intact here, but House of Pain also possesses a strong and memorable chorus that makes the band feel approachable.
00:56I'm not trying to fake it and I ain't the one to blame.
01:04Meanwhile, the slick music video that accompanied the song was actually an early career product from future Bad Boys and Transformers director, Michael Bay.
01:12Where will you, where'd you go, baby, can't you take it all?
01:19The heavier, Faster Pussycat, exemplified on songs like Bathroom Wall, may be absent here, but House of Pain still works for us.
01:29All these years later.
01:31Now there's no one more that's still in my house of pain.
01:36Number 9. The Ballad of Jane, L.A. Guns
01:42It's something of a misconception that every 1980s hair metal band couldn't also compete in the more aggressive arenas of rock.
01:57The first L.A. Guns album was actually chock-full of rip-roaring tunes like Sex Action, No Mercy, and One More Reason.
02:06It was the group's second LP, Cocked and Loaded, that contained their biggest and most identifiable hit, however, with The Ballad of Jane.
02:21You always want to see, you want to stay, what happened to Jane?
02:29This ode to actress Jane Mansfield eschews the sleaze metal pedigree of early L.A. Guns, but The Ballad of Jane is still a great example of a melodic, dramatic song with plenty of hooks and commercial appeal.
02:43What happened to Jane?
02:45Number 8. Wait For You, Bonham
02:53The disregard of timekeeping felt, at the time anyway, as a contemporary way of keeping the legacy of Jason Bonham's father, John Bonham, alive in the public eye.
03:11All that I can do is wait for you
03:18The band's biggest hit, Wait For You, was a nice amalgamation of that bluesy Led Zeppelin sound pioneered by Jason's dad with the polished and produced arena rock of the day.
03:31The musical chops of Bonham, the band, never felt in question, since Wait For You features intriguing percussive moves and cool guitar riffing alongside Daniel McMaster's best Robert Plant impression.
03:44These unique elements all allowed Wait For You to stick out from a very crowded hair metal landscape in a great way.
03:59I've got to wait for you
04:01All that I can do
04:06Number 7. I'll Never Let You Go, Steelheart
04:11Angel I, you have angel I, such a smile
04:18It was a very crowded world back in the 1980s. An ocean of high-registered singers all seeking their slice of the hard rock pot. Steelheart's Milenko Matievich was truly on another level, however. A frontman whose high notes dominate their best single, I'll Never Let You Go.
04:36The song itself is arranged like a traditional power ballad, but it's Matievich's powerhouse performance that's allowed for I'll Never Let You Go to ensure on through to the modern day.
04:55And I'll never, never let you go
05:00Oh, and just when you think Matievich is done shooting for the stratosphere, I'll Never Let You Go, essentially tells all other pretenders to hold its beer, while the Croatian-born singer hits a high-note home run.
05:14I love you, girl
05:18Number 6. Someone Like You, Bang Tango
05:26The late 80s and early 90s saw all manner of hair metal mainstays and wannabes doing what they could to stay relevant against the changing commercial time. This included inserting influences from other genres into the mix, including the funkiness of L.A.'s Bang Tango.
05:50Someone, someone, with a someone just got you
05:56Someone Like You anchors its presence on that cool, slinky bass line from the reduplicated Kyle Kyle. The song is also nice and sleazy to boot, featuring a howling mad performance from lead singer Joe Leste.
06:10Oh, I need someone to take away the blue
06:15It's a shame that Bang Tango's 1989 debut, Psycho Cafe, isn't more remembered, because the album actually had some solid outside-the-box material.
06:30Number 5. Love Is On The Way
06:35Saigon Kick
06:42Florida's Saigon Kick were another group that broke free from hair metal conventions as grunge started encroaching back in the early 90s. Love Is On The Way
06:53Actually isn't very indicative of how hard-edged Saigon Kick generally were as a band. Yet there's no denying the effectiveness of this tender ballad.
07:03Love Is On The Way
07:07I can see it in your eyes
07:11The impeccably produced acoustic approach serves Love Is On The Way very well, while the vocal harmonies are deftly executed and melodically effective.
07:20Give it one more try tonight, baby
07:26Saigon Kick may have rocked harder on their records, but Love Is On The Way was a huge hit for them during hair metal's lean years.
07:34Number 4. Love Has Taken Its Toll
07:38Soraya
07:39There's just no other way to say it. Soraya should have been bigger.
07:51The New Jersey-based act was certainly promoted at first, with a lot of buzz surrounding frontwoman Sandy Soraya.
07:58The band's self-titled debut is chock-full of great songs, including Back To The Bullet and the album's main single, Love Has Taken Its Toll.
08:07Take my heart, take my soul, love has taken its toll.
08:15Soraya's sound mixes in bluesy swagger, pop hooks, and riff-heavy aggression with compositional skills that simply sound leaps and bounds above their competition.
08:25Maybe this was the problem.
08:35Since 1989 is fairly late in the game for a sound like Soraya's, but don't let any perceived anachronisms discourage you from checking out this album. It's excellence.
08:44Number 3. I'm On To You
08:54I'm On To You
09:04Never Has A Na Na Na sounded so good. The collective lineup of Hurricane was very talented, including members with resumes of working with Ozzy Osbourne, Foreigner, and yes, I'm On To You was the second single from the band's Over The Edge album, an excellent album of polished late 80s hair metal.
09:23I'm not one to give advice, but girl, you're in trouble and you'll better think twice.
09:31Kelly Hansen's vocals lead the charge here with commanding works on the verses and a chorus that's catchier than sniffles in a ball pit.
09:39The guitars may take somewhat of a backseat here, but the actual album proper contained more than its fair share of riff exercises. And we're willing to bet that you're already singing that na na na for the rest of the day. You're welcome.
10:03Number 2. Bang Bang, Danger Danger
10:15The nature of hair metal's commerciality was fairly predictable back in the 80s. The rinse and repeat cycle was usually to release a hard rock
10:33rocking anthem first, followed by a tender ballad. New York's Danger Danger didn't do it that way, however, and instead released two catchy rockers in a row with Naughty Naughty and Bang Bang.
10:47Cause I really thought we had a chance. The gimmick was clear from the get-go, but Danger Danger's debut album was actually chock full of bangers, including Under The Gun, Rock America, and Don't Walk Away.
11:01Don't Walk Away.
11:09Bang Bang did the best on the charts, however, climbing to number 49 in the Billboard Hot 100 and 39 on the mainstream rock chart.
11:17Mainstream Rock Chart
11:25Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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11:381. Don't Close Your Eyes
11:44Kicks
11:45Hair metal bands tended to sing about certain topics time and time again. Rocking, loving, fighting for rock, or searching for love.
12:01The subjects of depression and self-destruction, however, usually weren't in the cards. This is why Don't Close Your Eyes by Kicks still works for us today.
12:11Don't close your eyes
12:17The song was written in collaboration with an outside songwriter, Bob Halligan Jr., and features a particularly strong performance from lead singer Steve Whiteman.
12:27The latter's work on both the chorus, as well as an outstanding bridge section, lends some believable emotion to the song.
12:42Kicks was a band that usually only concerned themselves with the aforementioned rocking and partying themes, but Don't Close Your Eyes was a welcome deviation from that formula.
12:52Don't save your life
12:57Don't save your life
13:00Don't save your life
13:01Don't love your life
13:02Were you around during the original hair metal boom? What are some deep cuts from the era you think fans should discover? Shout your favorites out loud in the comments.
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