Glam Metal

Twisted Sister Singer Dee Snider Isn't 'Gonna Take It' From Anti-Maskers | Billboard
New Jersey’s Twisted Sister. (Image Credit: Billboard)

Origin: 1980’s USA, especially Los Angeles

Characteristics: Accessible and melodic; big, empowering choruses; climactic guitar solos; over-the-top fashion including makeup and wigs; usually less edge than classic heavy metal

Typical Live Hand Gesture: 🖐 or 🤘

What is the appeal?: Having fun getting outside of yourself; Catchy singalong choruses; Self-indulgent cheese

On the opposite end of the 80s metal spectrum from the grit and aggression of thrash metal was glam metal, or hair metal. Though both of these styles took major elements from classic heavy metal, glam metal was a more pop-influenced genre, focusing on accessibility, catchy choruses, and fashion. Glam metal expanded on the glam rock of the 1970’s, infusing the genre with a bigger sound overall thanks to metal’s edge, dynamics, and distortion. Glam metal would be an enormously successful genre commercially, and Quiet Riot’s Metal Health would be the first heavy metal album to reach number one on a Billboard chart, paving the way for the success – and oversaturation – of the genre in the following years.

Metal Health was a breakthrough album for glam metal. “Cum On Feel The Noize” has everything that makes a good glam metal song, with a pounding rhythm, a singalong chorus, and a big guitar solo. These elements are expanded upon from classic heavy metal, though with less edge and more focus on catchiness.

Glam metal would explode into fame in the 1980’s, with bands such as Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, and Poison releasing their first albums and skyrocketing into the spotlight. Glam metal was all over MTV and the radio, and showed no signs of slowing down until the 1990’s saw a decline in both thrash and glam metal, as Seattle’s grunge scene rose to prominence.

“Kickstart my Heart” is one of Mötley Crüe’s most anthemic songs.
“Pour Some Sugar On Me” demonstrates that absolutely pounding rhythm that would be a staple of glam metal.
The ballad would be another staple of glam metal.

Works Cited

Bowar, Chad. “What Is Hair Metal?” LiveAbout, DotDash, 17 May 2018, http://www.liveabout.com/what-is-hair-metal-1756185.