🤘🏻 GLAM METAL
Big hair, bigger hooks, and guitar solos for days.
I was first introduced to glam/hair metal in the 80s, and I loved it… but I hadn’t hit my formative years yet. When grunge crashed the party, I was fully on board, and this era was largely forgotten for me.
That all changed while I was out shopping for CDs a few months ago (in 2026), and decided to pick up Def Leppard’s Hysteria on cassette. That catapulted me into a massive cassette hunting adventure, largely centered around 80s glam metal and hard rock. I watched The Dirt with Kade and Jett, and dove head-first into Mötley Crüe. Then rediscovered my love for Skid Row. Guns N’ Roses made a huge comeback for me. Dokken, Cinderella, Ratt, Damn Yankees… the list goes on and on. At this point I listen to this era and genre more than anything else, and I don’t see it stopping.
Part of me felt like I was betraying my grunge roots… the grunge explosion effectively ended this era of rock in the early 90s… but you know what? Fuck it. I can love both.
Featured Artists – click to see more
Skid Row
Mötley Crüe
Guns N’ Roses
Def Leppard
Also in my Collection
Alice Cooper
Bad English
Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet and New Jersey deliver hit after hit
Cinderella – Night Songs and Long Cold Winter are two of my fave album discoveries
Damn Yankees – can you take me high enough… 🎶
Dokken – Go listen to In My Dreams immediately
Extreme
Firehouse
Hanoi Rocks
L.A. Guns – So many bangers!
Lita Ford
Loudness – Great lore behind this band. Listen to Crazy Nights and get back to me.
Mr. Big – just to be the next to be with you… 🎶
Night Ranger
Poison – every rose has its thorn… 🎶
Quiet Riot
Ratt – Another band with so many bangers!
Saigon Kick – Honestly shocked these guys weren’t bigger. The Lizard is fantastic.
Scorpions – Honestly worthy of the featured bands section
Slaughter
Steelheart – the vocals… dear god
Stryper
Tesla – The Great Radio Controversy is peak… and they have so much more too.
Van Halen – Also worthy of Featured Band status… Jump is iconic, but Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love is an all-time favorite song of mine
Vixen
Warrant – Cherry Pie is a party anthem, but they have quite a few great tracks
W.A.S.P.
White Lion
Whitesnake – Right up there with Scorpions for me
Winger