A lot of people will dismiss or rip hair bands for their looks alone.

The fact is, many of these dudes not only wrote some of the greatest rock tunes but solidly represent virtuosic playing.

In order to develop a real taste for greatness in music, you need to look past the glam and stage shows and straight up listen to the music first. I mean really sit there and take in the solos, the song writing, and technical ability.

Alright I get it.

Much of the lyrical content can be total shit.

You can only write so many tunes about riding motorcycles or taking down chicks before it’s just too damn direct or lacking poetically. Or artistically. However you want to “describe it.”

You gotta understand one major point – the hair and the look was a product of the time.

It’s what you did to get attention. In show business, half the battle is to get people talking and barrelling through doors to get in your gig.

This has essentially gone on for years, from Alice Cooper, Ozzy, KISS, and more recently…Miley Cyrus.

I bring up Cyrus the Virus because it’s exactly what she’s doing. Problem is now everyone can post on YouTube and the universe is saturated with gimmicks and attention grabbing whores.

Back in the 70s and 80s, it was all word of mouth until you could land a few nice headlines. Bagging a good magazine cover could really push your non-existent income to the next level.

You might be the greatest guitar player in the world but show biz doesn’t wait around. You have to go out and make waves.

Well, that wave was glam, big hair, and horrific, atrocious Poison album covers.

Of any album cover ever, Look What the Cat Dragged In might piss me off more than anything.

However, I have no doubt that Poison shows were probably a spectacle of raw talent. All these guys did was sit around jammed into a tiny flat trying to master the art of music. They slept on pizza boxes because they gave up everything else.

Same thing with RATT, another sleeper band I will get into shortly.

If you go for it and make it your mission, with some natural talent and personality, you become the guys on stage everyone envies.

Now all you need to do is get people in the door.

The best way to do that is with an army of people that leave your previous show wide-eyed saying “can you fucking believe these guys? They can actually play, too.”

Since you couldn’t see it on YouTube or steal it easily, you had to show up and see it for yourself.

I want to explore a few tunes that I believe demonstrate a certain greatness in music that is lost on many of today’s musicians – the blues element. I’ve already gone into why I believe clean vocals are superior to growling inaudible nonsense, something hair bands obviously knew.

RATT – Way Cool Jr.

Guitarist – Warren DeMartini

Just listen to the dripping blues bends and tasteful vibrato – 2:07 – it’s the kind of stuff that launches burst after burst of raw emotion and feeling. I guarantee if you straight up covered this song or ripped it off for your own, and played it live, it would kill. It’s how it works.

People don’t know who it is or where it comes from but it doesn’t matter because it’s packed with feeling.

Show the picture below to the average bro before they hear it, and they will immediately hate whatever comes next. In some ways I don’t necessarily blame them.

Let ’em hear the tune first (especially if your band can play it live) and it’s amazing how people respond to it. A complete 180.

 Cinderella – Somebody Save Me

Guitarist – Jeff LaBar

I’ve actually gigged with Jeff Labar’s son Sebastian, as he is in a local Philly band called Mach22. We opened for them and had a great time. They cover this song and it flat out rocks.

Cinderella is one of the bands that will mercilessly feel the brunt of the ridicule when it comes to looks and even band name. But some of their tunes just flat out smoke, like “Somebody Save Me.”

I really don’t care if you don’t like it, that’s fine. But compared to much of the dog shit people send my way on a daily basis, I’ll take this any day. Zebra tights or not.

W.A.S.P. – Wild Child

Blackie Lawless is one of my all time favorite rockers. A real arrogant bastard with a soul that probably smells like burnt whiskey. I consider him to be one of the most underrated vocalists and songwriters in all of metal.

These guys blended the glam with the shock to draw huge crowds back in the 80s. Their live shows were KISS-like and their tunes rock hard.

“Wild Child” is easily one of my all-time favorite classic metal tunes. Some say Alexi Laiho’s nickname was inspired by this song.

Below is a definitive list of bands that were either glam or had the look at one point in their career. Check ’em out when your looking for something new – sometimes you have to dive deep into the past to find timeless gems. In many cases, not all of these bands necessarily had album after album of ball-busting metal, but just mess around and see what you come up with. I guarantee you will discover some memorable guitar solos along the way.

Mötley Crüe

RATT

Cinderella

Dokken

Tesla

Skid Row

Def Leppard

L.A. Guns

Great White

Twisted Sister

Y&T

Scorpions

Van Halen

ACCEPT (early)

Krokus

Extreme

Hell, even Pantera started as a glam band.

One of my favorite bands of all time, Metallica, came into existence almost purposely as a glam-killer.

Which in itself is a way of making industry waves.

Nirvana and grunge bands are often described as glam-metal killers, but only temporarily in my opinion. Timeless music never dies.

More recently, the band Steel Panther has made a living as the ultimate 80’s glam parody. But without question Satchel can absolutley, fucking, shred. I highly recommend you check them out, as their stage act is quite entertaining and impressive considering it also blends in plenty of comedy.

Look, it’s “party like a rock star” for a reason. Glam metal bands had a life most people can’t even dream about in a dream. You might hate the look, but much of the music is undeniably great.