THE hair band sells visions of big locks, leather jackets, rocking guitars and power ballads. A kind of music or a subgenre from hard rock and heavy metal which was massively popular in the 1980s, mostly within America. The genre was also strongly influenced by the glam metal scene rife with image conscious bands, commonly seen wearing oversized coats and suits in equally large hairdos. Although the style started in earnest during the late 1970s, it enjoyed its apex throughout much of the eighties and later fell out of vogue through a good part of nineties.
The music produced by popular hair bands eventually helped shaped the direction of music and culture in a country that was witnessing changes, at perfect timing for their arrival amidst well-funded marketing campaigns making them overnight sensations.
The Origins of Hair Bands
The hair band era was a combination of glam rock and hard 1970s influences. KISS, David Bowie and T. Rex showed hair bands the importance of looking just as flashy onstage; groups like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath had already established that those looks sounded best when accompanied by powerful guitars. All of this culminated into a new form, genre and style with bands like Mötley Crüe paving the way for hair band fashion and attitude.
Defining Characteristics of Hair Bands
Visually Speaking: That “hair” in hair bands was not a misnomer. We saw bands with teased hair so big you could form an ecosystem underneath, accents of leather or spandex, and makeup by the pound. It was such a crucial need in their exaggerated stage personalities, on-stage rebelliousness.
Music & Themes: They were also characterized by their anthemic nature — pounding rock songs, huge guitar riffs and some fairly catchy hooks. From the topics of love and heartache to party into your youth with no inhibitions.
Power Ballads: By far one of the most essential musical traits any hair bands possessed was that a power-ballad. These vitriolic and sloe songs would quickly escalate into full-bodied rock sing-alongs, seen best on Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and Mötley Crüie’s,”Home Sweet Home.
Key Bands That Defined the Hair Band Era
Mötley Crüe — The ultimate hair band, Mötley Crüe was the embodiment of rock and roll spirit during their heyday with hits like “Girls, Girls, Girls,” not to mention over-the-top fun lifestyles.
Poison– From their catchy, upbeat songs like “Talk Dirty to Me” to the bright clothing they often performed in- there was nothing more hair metal than this band.
Def Leppard: Melted down the glam metal formula and added melodic radio rock with hits such as “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
Bon Jovi: With arena-rock anthems like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Bon Jovi became one of the top acts of the 1980s.
Whitesnake — best known for bluesy hard-rock hits such as “Here I Go Again”
The Decline of Hair Bands
Throughout the 1980s, hair bands had been on top of the world: in many cases it was their world record and they could do what they liked there. But as consumers moved forward into grunge — perhaps solely because we knew that before long someone would offer us flannel shorts and pizza ‹ or to mopey alt-rock like Counting Crows Silly Little Love Songs (TM), major labels suddenly lost interest in keeping fledgling Aqua Nettsters airborne above street level. Grudge music, epitomised by the success of Nirvana and Pearl Jam went some way to reinvigorate a rock industry that had become increasingly anachronistic in its reliance on glam metal tendencies. By now hair bands were considered derivative, with their endless ballads and party anthems becoming dull to the ears of rock fans.
The Lasting Legacy of Hair Bands
For as short a time they ruled,that is how greatly the hair band changed rock music. Those hits are still in rotation on classic rock stations, and these bands maintain an active performance schedule that often brings together the old guard with younger fans who’re just discovering them. And a bout of nostalgia for the wheelin’-and-dealin’ days of hair band fun and excess has kept these groan-fests around in festival form, as well as giving birth to myriad tribute bands.
Hair bands changed the face of music, fashion and culture with their big hair, big sound && even bigger personas during one of rock’s most colorful decades.