Glam metal

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Glam metal

Development phase: The early 1980s years
Place of origin: United States
Stylistic precursors
Glam rock , heavy metal , hard rock
Instruments typical of the genre
Electric guitar  - electric bass  - drums
Important local scenes
los Angeles
Subgenres and currents
Sleaze skirt

Glam metal (casual to derogatory hair metal ) is a sub-genre of heavy metal and hard rock that was particularly popular in the 1980s . It combined the garish appearance of glam rock with power chord- based, pop- influenced “party metal”. Typical are power ballads , virtuoso guitar solos, catchy refrain parts with rock chorus with sexualized texts and openly displayed hedonism .

Glam Metal was most popular between the early 1980s and the early 1990s until it was supplanted by grunge . Since the late 1980s, Glam Metal has developed into Sleaze Rock , which was more influenced by blues rock and cultivated a more “earthy” image. In the 2000s and 2010s , groups like The Darkness or Steel Panther oriented themselves ironically or parodisingly on glam metal of the 1980s.

term

The actual term glam metal is based on the glam rock of the 1970s. By distinguishing between rock and metal, he draws a line and should therefore be viewed as a musical advancement. The term "Pop Metal" was also common in the USA. Not because of a connection to contemporary pop music, but because of its massive popularity in the 1980s.

Steel Panther bassist Lexxi Foxxx

The equally common term “hair metal” refers to the musicians' mostly long and teased hair. This originally negative designation denies the genre authenticity and musical relevance and assumes that the musicians are primarily defined by their appearance, especially the abovementioned lush, teased hair. These musicians are also referred to as "hair bands" or "hairspray bands" .

The term "Poser Metal" has a similar connotation, which was mainly used by musicians and fans of other metal directions to deny Glam Metal its legitimation as a metal genre. Uncertainty due to the massive popularity and presence of the genre in the 1980s are reasons for this, as well as a contemptuous opinion about the appearance and appearance of those groups, which sometimes mixed with homophobic comments, as well as the opinion that metal will never be tailored to the mass market should; Correspondingly, in the metal scene of the 1980s, a preference for this trend, which they perceived as ridiculous, and at the same time underground metal were viewed as incompatible and glam metal bands were referred to as "wimps" ('wimps') and " Poser ”. The band Poison in particular was hated by metallers, and the cover of their debut album Look What the Cat Dragged In was often described as nauseating. Holger Stratmann, publisher of Rock Hard , tried for almost thirty years "to keep this music out of Rock Hard as far as possible", with the exception of "A Mötley Crüe front page grudgingly approved on the occasion of the Nikki Sixx drug confession in 2009" names and, according to their own statements, has "nothing against Dokken , Great White , Ratt and the like"; The fact that an issue of his magazine was devoted to this topic in 2013 proves that with Rock Hard “not everything stays the same ”. However, the end of glam metal and the appearance of grunge ensured that other metal fans now have a more relaxed relationship with hair metal. True to the motto "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". Because other metal genres suffered from the rise of grunge and were badly affected. Today parts of the metal scene are more open to glam metal.

Origins

Musically, glam metal developed in the early 1980s from the glam rock and hard rock of the previous decade. Major musical influences were KISS , Aerosmith , The Sweet , Alice Cooper , Slade , New York Dolls , Queen , Cheap Trick and Led Zeppelin . David Bowie and Marc Bolan are the main visual influences . The music of the latter did not play a major role, only the eccentric, androgynous and bisexual appearance was taken over.

Pretty boy Floyd

Dee Snider of Twisted Sister explained, for example, that he had never asked his sexuality into question; in addition, his future wife helped him to dress. He also pointed out that others who wore leather were close to the gay leather scene . Metallers who rejected Glam Metal as "gay" were often at the same time supporters of the band Judas Priest , whose singer Rob Halford is homosexual, who adopted the style from the leather scene and established it in metal. Accordingly, the glam metal bands orientated themselves musically and visually towards established rock bands and had no intention of creating a new style of music; instead, rock clichés were perfected with them.

Mainly three established rock bands turned out to be immediate pioneers of the genre: The American rock band Kiss due to their simple, power chord-based style of playing and their image, the Australian hard rock band AC / DC with their blues rock roots, and the virtuoso guitar-oriented band Van Halen , which from a rock journalistic point of view is considered an early US metal band today. The latter had a significant musical impact on the genre, mainly due to her first three studio albums. Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing played an essential role in this. When glam metal was established, Van Halen changed their style to adult oriented rock . The American critic Kurt Loder said that Van Halen brought the genre out of the underground with their fast and moderate metal. Eddie Van Halen's way of playing, hammering and tapping called the prevailing cliché into question. This type of music ensured that glam metal reached a wider audience. As a band, Van Halen represented a compromise in this way.

definition

In addition to the often found falsetto singing , fast guitar solos and pounding guitar riffs played with power chords are an essential characteristic of Glam Metal. A precise definition of the genre turns out to be difficult, whereby the second album "Shout At The Devil" by the Californian band Mötley Crüe is often cited as an early typical genre example of a glam metal album, and Quiet Riot is often cited as the first glam from a rock journalist's point of view -Metal tape are called. The difficulty of precisely classifying the genre is also described by the writer and music journalist Chuck Klosterman in his book Fargo Rock City , published in 2004 . Because many bands that are assigned to Glam Metal did not use this genre designation themselves. Most saw themselves as heavy metal or hard rock bands. So who expressed Ratt bassist Juan Croucier in 1985 that "Heavy Metal 'much become too broad, the term" is.

The Roxx Gang

In addition, some groups changed their style over the years, such as Mötley Crüe . These began in the early 1980s with Too Fast for Love with fast glam metal, switched to more poppy rock with Girls, Girls, Girls in the middle of the decade , before they separated in the late 1980s, until the temporary farewell of the singer Vince Neil, with Dr. Feelgood turned to the Sleaze. Even Nikki Sixx complained in an interview that Mötley Crüe, WASP and Twisted Sister were mentioned in one sentence.

While Mötley Crüe, which the rest of the scene followed, had a rowdy appearance, later bands like Poison, Bon Jovi , Cinderella , Stryper , Dokken or Love / Hate appeared more moderate. The scene itself was heterogeneous: pioneers such as Van Halen, Aerosmith and Kiss had developed in other directions, Mötley Crüe caused most of the scandals. There was a lot of animosity among the bands, which was evident at the 1989 Moscow Music Peace Festival . The commonalities were rather limited to unconventional hairstyles, make-up, flashy clothes and groupies . The temporary success of Glam Metal was favored by female fans, which meant that male metal and rock listeners were more critical of the genre from the outset.

Success and popularity

In contrast to most genres of music, Glam Metal was not related to any particular social class, age group, or ideology. Because of this lack of exclusivity, the genre was attacked by supporters of other directions. It also benefited from the media landscape that was already large in the 1980s. In addition to radio stations and music magazines, the launch of MTV in 1981 was of great importance. The catchy melodies of the songs and the eccentric appearance of the performers matched music television. In June 1987 alone, there were always 20 to 25 metal bands in the American Billboard Top 200 album charts. After Mötley Crüe attracted attention through scandals such as a brawl that was filmed, more glam metal bands emerged.

The success was related to the female followers. For Klosterman Poison represent the epitome of Glam Metal, because for him they embodied everything that distinguished the genre: rock numbers as well as radio-friendly ballads and an androgynous singer. However, it was precisely this popularity with women that ultimately fatalized the group. The fact that the female followers saw glam metal as a fad and abandoned it in favor of the following fashion is also seen as one of the reasons for the end of the scene in the 1990s.

After Bon Jovi was at number 1 in the charts for a week with Slippery When Wet in 1986 , they achieved their worldwide breakthrough in 1988 with New Jersey . So the trend arrived in Europe, where some bands like Def Leppard ( Hysteria ), Judas Priest ( Turbo ) or Saxon ( Crusader , Innocence Is No Excuse ) adapted to this visually and musically and thus aroused displeasure among True Metallers.

The making of the sleaze

As already Glam Metal few years earlier developed from the mid-1980s, the sleaze rock (of English. Sleaze , scum ',' shabbiness' or 'scandal') from the music scene of Los Angeles. This took up the musical means and themes of Glam Metal, but it sounded harder and more aggressive. This musical advancement was accompanied by changes in appearance and image. Instead of eccentricity, an underdog or bad boy image was used, with reference to the lower social class as origin.

Skid Row (Live, 1989)

Starting with groups like Faster Pussycat , bands like LA Guns and Hollywood Rose emerged . From these two Guns N 'Roses developed , which should blossom into the most successful band of the genre in the coming years. The single Sweet Child o 'Mine and the music video for Welcome to the Jungle are the reasons for the success .

The band's success was based not least on the fact that they were awarded authenticity . Above all, singer Axl Rose appeared authentic from the point of view of many rock fans. He beat up fans who wanted to photograph him, broke up concerts because of trivialities and treated women badly. Nevertheless, he exerted a certain fascination that set him apart from singers from other glam metal bands and made him appear as an alternative. Over the years, the band increasingly distanced themselves from the glam metal scene.

While in Europe Sleaze was viewed as a genre of its own that evolved from Glam Metal, in the US it was viewed as a subgenre. Accordingly, there were only a few bands in Europe from these two styles of music such as Hanoi Rocks from Finland, Nasty Idols and the Backyard Babies from Sweden; at this point the genre had already passed its zenith. The 69 Eyes , founded in 1990 , initially played Sleaze. It only achieved commercial success with the fourth album in the mid-1990s, which stylistically can be assigned to Dark Rock . Her demeanor had changed too.

Declining popularity of the genre

The emergence of grunge rock in the early 1990s is often seen as the end of glam metal . Especially the album Nevermind by Nirvana is seen as crucial. In 1991 Guns N 'Roses were still considered the most commercially successful rock band in the world, while the grunge bands were more underground. After Nevermind was released, that changed radically. The media stylized a rivalry between Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain , which was taken up by both. The mutual contempt culminated at the 1992 MTV Music Awards in a tussle between the two bands.

In terms of content, grunge was an alternative to hedonistic glam metal and the attitude towards life of the 1980s. Despite the comparatively musical dilettantism , disorientation, annoyance and fear of the future tended to hit the listener's taste. While glam metal also emphasized the staging of rock stars, grunge took the opposite path. In contrast to glam metal, grunge bands at least ostensibly represented the opinion that they were not different from their audience.

The decline of glam metal isn't entirely due to grunge. Frank Thiessies from Metal Hammer is of the opinion that Glam Metal has outlived itself. Covered hedonistic escape from reality, glossy hard rock and single ballads no longer fit into the early 1990s. Glam Metal could not have continued to exist like this, which is why a change was necessary. Jenny Rönnebeck names grunge as a counter-movement from Seattle, the oversaturation of the scene, the turning away female supporters, for whom glam metal was just a fashion, and the changed political situation. Martin Sweet believes that Glam Metal has been "ironed out too smoothly" and "far too pop "; the music was “rather raw at the beginning”, but when “the glam and sleaze bands of the time lost punk”, it lost its quality.

revival

After the genre's popularity ended, some music groups tried to approach the new trend musically, for example Mötley Crüe with John Corabi as singer, or Skid Row with their 1995 album Subhuman Race , but with moderate success. Other groups that kept the old style were hit harder.

From the late 1990s, Sweden became the stronghold of the recurring sleaze in the form of bands like The Hellacopters , Backyard Babies and Hardcore Superstar . In the USA the band Steel Panther successfully played classics by Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe and Skid Row on the Sunset Strip with exaggerated stage appearances as parody of the old bands whose members Steel Panther supported in re-enacting their pieces. Some of the old bands also returned to Glam Metal, although their quality often did not come close to their old successes. The 2001 biography about Mötley Crüe brought the group renewed attention. In the USA Buckcherry were one of the first bands in the tradition of Glam Metal and Sleaze to be successful.

Several new Sleaze bands emerged in Sweden and Finland. The Swedish group Danger coined the term "New Wave of Swedish Sleaze". Said groups popularized the sleaze. The bands from the 1980s benefit from the success of these groups. In terms of style, regional differences can be recognized: “In Sweden, the snottier variant (Crashdiet) dominates, which can also be brought across by female musicians ( Crucified Barbara , Sister Sin), and the mix with Melodic Rock (HEAT), in England it works like a bit harder and sometimes more modern to the point (Jettblack, Heaven's Basement ), and the German hair-metal youngsters incorporate catchy hard rock. "

Thematic content

The relationship between glam metal and sex has always been obvious. This element marked the difference between the glam metal aesthetic and other styles of rock. Female listeners were not necessarily offended by the sexism of the lyrics. That was due to the charisma of singers like Sebastian Bach , Bret Michaels or Vince Neil . Their rebellious image was still attractive and sparked fantasies that such men would pick up their girls on a motorcycle.

Women, sex and money - the main themes of glam metal

This music was able to "stimulate an infantile machine of imagination and contribute to becoming a man". Adults would retain such ideal images and in this way could serve as an escape and parallel universe.

Klosterman believes that the sexualized songs of Glam Metal were not created in a vacuum, but are reflections of their place of origin and their time. Even Mick Mars remarked that one could keep the music of Motley Crue for misogynist, but you need not überzuanalysieren that. Mötley Crües album of the same name is conceived as nihilistic. Where at first glance it all comes down to sex with strippers, Sixx was concerned with "getting fucked in the brain yourself".

The focus on sex and women favored the creation of the " power ballad ". To achieve success in the mass market, love songs had to be created that were free from sex issues.

Criticisms

A point of criticism that is often attached to Glam Metal and Sleaze is the lack of authenticity and strict commercialism . Klosterman comments: “When I was growing up, it was the soundtrack for my life, and for the lives of almost everyone I liked. We didn't wear lederhosen and we didn't go to school with makeup on, but this stuff hit our nerves. Most of the time, when smart people try to explain why Glam Metal died, they emphasize that it was 'not real' or 'it said nothing'. However, to me and my friends, it was real. And more importantly, it said something. He said something about us. "

Oli Herman from Reckless Love

Schäfer attests a certain honesty to the genre: “Above all, good old Hair Metal was never more than calculated, disdainful Mammonist exhaustion. That's exactly what the bands were promoting. They never pretended to want to be anything other than rock stars, who really make a splash with the buyers' money, but also gave them everything they asked for. They were basically the changing over-fulfillment of the service target. There is an almost touching sincerity behind this whole high-boobed, dressed-up, torn, fetish-hungry masquerade. "

The glam metal of the 1980s was also considered the acoustic equivalent of the neo-conservative zeitgeist. As with punk, hippies were despised, but unlike this one, which often had a left-wing attitude, Glam Metal took over the monetarism of the conservatives . Conversely, in her 2013 Glam Metal article for Rock Hard magazine , Jenny Rönnebeck regards hedonism, the values ​​embodied by the bands “carefree, fun and nonconformity” as opposed to the conservative and Christian orientation of the Reagan era.

Web links

Literature (German)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jenny Rönnebeck: Hair Metal . »We didn't just want to be an image« . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 38f
  2. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 35
  3. ↑ Markus Baro, Mike Seifert: GLAM / SLEAZE-ROCK-SPECIAL PART 2 . The world domination of hairspray metal with make-up
  4. ^ Daniel Ekeroth: Swedish Death Metal . Second edition. Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points 2009, p. 7
  5. ^ Daniel Ekeroth: Swedish Death Metal . Second edition. Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points 2009, p. 275
  6. ^ Daniel Ekeroth: Swedish Death Metal . Second edition. Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points 2009, p. 27
  7. ↑ a b c “As you know there is an US glam fag band called POISON, what do you think of them?
    - I haven't heard them yet (luckily!), But our bass player told me that he saw a video with them and he got sick for two weeks after it. When I first saw their lp cover, I thought: Oh, nice US chicks, I would like to fuck one of them ... But then I learned that it were boys. (At least they pretended to be male ...) (Maybe they are ´crossovers´) If they should become as fameous as (or should I say ´notorius`?) As MOTLEY CRAP or PISSED SISTER, we'll probably have to change our Surname. Maybe to POISONED, ´cause we don't want to be mixed up with all that homo shit. " Poison . infernal massacre . In: Jon Kristiansen : SLAYER. N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 363
  8. ↑ “What does" DTP "mean?
    - "DTP" means: DEATH TO bleached hair, devil dick sucking, make up spike wareing [sic!] Foggot [sic!] POSERS !!!!! ” Sadus . In: Jon Kristiansen: SLAYER. N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 411
  9. ↑ “In your opinion, who is the biggest asshole in the world?
    - "The world is full of assholes like Paul Stanly, Jon Bon Jovi etc. But I think Blackie Lawless is the biggest." " Tribulation . In: Jon Kristiansen: SLAYER. N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 435
  10. ↑ a b «Il y avait also un gros écart entre le metal commercial et l'underground. Mötley Crüe et Wasp c'était vraiment ridicule pour nous, tandis qu'aujourd'hui les gens semblent plus ouverts et se mettent à réécouter ce genre de groupes. Mais avant, on ne pouvait pas être à la fois fan de Venom et de Twisted Sister. “ Metalion : Préface . In: Jon Kristiansen: SLAYER. N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 21
  11. ↑ a b Nasty Karsten, Metalion: slayer awaits! . In: Jon Kristiansen: SLAYER. N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 178
  12. ↑ a b c d Jenny Rönnebeck: Hair Metal . »We didn't just want to be an image« . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 41
  13. ↑ Holger Stratmann: Poison . Look What The Cat Dragged In . in Rock Hard , No. 18, accessed March 27, 2013
  14. ↑ a b c d e Jenny Rönnebeck: Hair Metal . »We didn't just want to be an image« . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 38
  15. ↑ a b Holger Stratmann: Hello friends! . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 3
  16. ↑ a b c d e f Jenny Rönnebeck: Hair Metal . »We didn't just want to be an image« . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 42
  17. ^ Piero Scaruffi : A History of Rock Music: 1951–2000 . iUniverse, 2003, ISBN 0-595-29565-7 , p. 274
  18. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 19
  19. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 66
  20. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 210
  21. ↑ P. Auslander: Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music . Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press 2006, ISBN 0-7546-4057-4 , p. 232
  22. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 33
  23. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 38
  24. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 34
  25. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 12
  26. ^ R. Walser: Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music . Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-8195-6260-2 , p. 13
  27. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 56
  28. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 12
  29. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 70
  30. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 110
  31. ↑ Metal Hammer Legends: Guns N 'Roses - 25 Years of Sleaze, Sex & Scandals , p. 56
  32. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 183
  33. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 43
  34. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 49
  35. ↑ Frank Schäfer: 111 reasons to love heavy metal , p. 175
  36. ^ Hair Metal
  37. ↑ a b Grunge vs. Metal? - The Nevermind aftershock . In: Metal Hammer , October 2011 edition, p. 55
  38. ↑ Frank Schäfer: 111 reasons to love heavy metal , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2010, p. 175
  39. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 45
  40. ↑ Jens Peters: Crashdiet . Everything at the beginning . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 47
  41. ↑ a b Jenny Rönnebeck: Hair Metal . »We didn't just want to be an image« . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 43
  42. ^ Jenny Rönnebeck: Hair Metal . »We didn't just want to be an image« . In: Rock Hard , No. 310, March 2013, p. 42f
  43. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 262
  44. ↑ DANGER . Interview with guitarist Rob Paris ( Memento des Originals from December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metal-district.de
  45. ↑ Frank Schäfer: 111 reasons to love heavy metal , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2010, p. 222
  46. ^ D. Weinstein: Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture . Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2000, ISBN 0-306-80970-2 , pp. 45-7
  47. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 105
  48. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 110
  49. ↑ Frank Schäfer: 111 reasons to love heavy metal , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2010, p. 63
  50. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 130
  51. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 129
  52. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 167
  53. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 117
  54. ↑ Chuck Klosterman: Fargo Rock City , Rockbuch-Verlag, 2007, p. 13
  55. ↑ Frank Schäfer: 111 reasons to love heavy metal , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2010, p. 149
  56. ↑ Frank Schäfer: 111 reasons to love heavy metal , Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2010, p. 35