Hair metal, also commonly known as pop metal and glam metal, is a sub-genre of heavy metal music which features pop and blues-influenced guitar hooks and riffs, and these artists borrow heavily from the fashion of 70’s glam rock. Inspired by 70’s glam and punk rock music movement from legends such as Alice Cooper, New York Dolls and David Bowie, pop metal or hair metal bands rose in the late 70’s and early 1980s in the U.S., particularly around L.A.’s Sunset Strip music scene.
Ultimate 80s & 90s Hair Bands List
Discover and learn more about each hair metal artist, band members, albums, songs, view pictures and music videos.
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Classic hard rock bands | Supergroup bands
Autograph >
Babylon A.D. >
Bang Tango >
Baton Rouge >
Bon Jovi >
Bonham >
Britny Fox >
BulletBoys >
Cinderella >
D-A-D >
Danger Danger >
Dangerous Toys >
Def Leppard >
Dokken >
Electric Angels >
Enuff Z’Nuff >
Europe >
Extreme >
Faster Pussycat >
FireHouse >
Gorky Park >
Great White >
Guns N’ Roses >
Hanoi Rocks >
Jackyl >
Killer Dwarfs >
Kix >
L.A. Guns >
Lillian Axe >
Lion >
Lita Ford >
Love/Hate >
Mötley Crüe >
Nelson >
Neverland >
Poison >
Precious Metal >
Pretty Boy Floyd >
Queensrÿche >
Quiet Riot >
Ratt >
Saigon Kick >
Saraya >
Shark Island
Skid Row >
Slaughter >
Sleeze Beez >
SouthGang >
Stage Dolls >
Steelheart >
Tangier >
Tesla >
Thunder >
Tora Tora
Trixter >
Tuff >
Twisted Sister >
Tyketto >
Van Halen >
Vixen >
W.A.S.P. >
Warrant >
White Lion >
Winger >
Classic Sprayed Hair Bands
These classic rock bands and artists existed long before hair metal came onto the scene. But during 80s, they altered their looks and sounds to match the success of hair bands.
Aerosmith >
Alice Cooper >
KISS >
Scorpions >
Whitesnake >
Super Hair Groups
These bands were formed from previous successful hard rock and hair bands. They often toured with hair metal acts.
Alias >
Arcade >
Bad English >
Badlands >
Contraband >
Damn Yankees >
Giant >
House of Lords >
Mr. Big >
Hanoi Rocks has been cited as one of the first and most influential bands of the 80’s glam rock movement. While bands like Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Van Halen and Dokken first took heavy metal mainstream, later bands like Bon Jovi, Poison, Cinderella, Warrant, and Whitesnake made hair bands songs a stable on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The late 80s and early 90s were in deed a time of high flying guitar solos, power ballads, flashy spandex, leather jackets, excess makeup, and of course, big hair.
Well, mothertruckers, if you’ve ever spent time trying to make your rock guitar sound like a motorcycle along with Mick Mars, you belong here. If you’ve ever rocked a Joe Elliott mullet with no shame, you belong here. If you sang “I Remember You” from the top of your lungs in the shower, you belong here. If you love or hate Bret Michaels for having a VH1 show, you belong here too and you’re not alone. This is the place to find out everything you need to know about your favorite hair bands. You may even discover some hidden gems who were flying the hair metal flag high back in the day. So bust out your Aqua Net again and check out their big hair story, along with the albums and music videos we all know and love.
Big hair rules!