Glam metal
Early glam metal evolved directly from the glam rock movement of the 1970s, as visual elements taken from acts such as David Bowie, T. Rex, and the New York Dolls (and to a lesser extent, the punk and new wave movements taking place concurrently in New York City) were fused with the decidedly more heavy metal leaning and theatrical acts such as Alice Cooper and Kiss.
The first examples of this fusion began appearing in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene.
Early glam metal bands include Mötley Crüe, Hanoi Rocks, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, and Dokken.
Glam metal achieved significant commercial success from approximately 1982 to 1991, bringing to prominence bands such as Poison, Skid Row, Cinderella and Warrant.
[12] Glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles of drugs, strippers and late-night parties, which were widely covered in the tabloid press.
[15] Music journalist Stephen Davis claims the influences of the style can be traced back to acts like New York Dolls, Aerosmith, KISS, Cheap Trick, Boston.
He popularized a playing technique of two-handed hammer-ons and pull-offs called tapping, showcased on the song "Eruption" from the album Van Halen.
[19] In March 1980, Def Leppard released their initial album On Through the Night, its first song "Rock Brigade" provided a hint of this future sound style.
In November 1982, Night Ranger (from San Francisco) released their initial album Dawn Patrol which reached the top 40 in the United States.
"[29] The most active glam metal scene was starting to appear in clubs on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, including The Trip, the Whisky a Go Go, and the Starwood.
[31] By the mid-late 1980s, glam metal had begun to achieve major mainstream success in America with many of these bands' music videos appearing on heavy rotation on MTV, often at the top of the channel's daily dial countdown, and some of the bands appeared on the channel's shows such as Headbangers Ball, which became one of the most popular programs with over 1.3 million views a week.
[36] Stryper made their mainstream breakthrough in 1986 with the release of their platinum album To Hell with the Devil and brought Christian lyrics to their hard rock music style and glam metal looks.
[37] Two Pennsylvania bands, with Harrisburg's Poison and Philadelphia's Cinderella released multi-platinum début albums, respectively Look What the Cat Dragged In and Night Songs in 1986.
With a "grittier" and "rawer" sound than most glam metal, incorporating elements of punk and blues, Appetite for Destruction produced three top 10 hits, including the number one "Sweet Child O' Mine".
L.A. débuts included Warrant with Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (1989),[54] and Skid Row with their eponymous album (1989), which reached number six in the Billboard 200, but they were to be one of the last major bands that emerged in the glam metal era.
[57] The 1988 film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years captured the Los Angeles scene of successful and aspiring bands.
Successful bands lost members that were key to their songwriting and/or live performances, such as Mötley Crue's frontman Vince Neil, Poison guitarist C.C.
Other alternative bands such as R.E.M., Radiohead, Stone Temple Pilots, and the Smashing Pumpkins achieved mainstream success in the wake of glam's decline.
Many major labels felt they had been caught off-guard by the surprise success of alternative music and began turning over their personnel in favor of younger staffers more versed in the new scene.
Glam acts such as Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi attempted to adjust their sound to the changing times, whereas bands like Skid Row ended up fading away into irrelevance.
As MTV shifted its attention to alternative music, glam metal bands found themselves relegated increasingly to late night airplay, and Headbangers Ball was cancelled at the end of 1994,[32] while KNAC went over to Spanish programming.
In 1996, David Lee Roth returned briefly and his replacement, former Extreme singer Gary Cherone, left the band soon after the release of the commercially unsuccessful 1998 album Van Halen III.
[18] Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers' 1992 debut album Generation Terrorists featured a glam metal sound.
Tensions between the other band members and lead singer Axl Rose continued after the release of the 1993 punk rock covers album "The Spaghetti Incident?".
Some established acts who had managed to weather the storm enjoyed renewed popularity, others reformed and new bands emerged to emulate the glam metal style.
[18] The long-awaited Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy was finally released in 2008, but only went platinum in the US, produced no hit singles, and failed to come close to the success of the band's late 1980s and early 1990s material.
[75] Nostalgia for the genre was evidenced in the production of the glam metal themed musical Rock of Ages, which ran in Los Angeles in 2006[76] and in New York in 2008.
[78] The Darkness's Permission to Land (2003), described as an "eerily realistic simulation of '80s metal and '70s glam",[79] topped the UK charts, going quintuple platinum.
This began with Blessed by a Broken Heart and subsequently popularised by the success of Black Veil Brides, Escape the Fate and Falling in Reverse.
[82] Avenged Sevenfold's 2005 album City of Evil also promoted a similar influence, seeing the band depart from their metalcore sound in favour of one indebted to glam metal.
