Not everyone's going to Glastonbury. On 24 June, while the world's media is focused on Worthy Farm, 25,000 people will be at London's newly refurbished O2 Arena, watching Bon Jovi tear through deathless anthems such as Livin' On A Prayer and You Give Love A Bad Name. In the spirit of classic rock nostalgia, then, here are our Top 10 hair metal anthems. Let us know who you think should have made the list.
1. Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
Twenty years on, still one of the most exhilarating choruses of all time. Famously co-written by muso-for-hire Desmond Child, who, somewhat shamefully, later penned Who Let The Dogs Out for one-hit wonders The Baha Men.
2. Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
Bassist Nikki Sixx wrote this 1989 hit about the time he overdosed on heroin and was declared clinically dead before being revived by two adrenaline injections. In the process he vomited on a new top hat he'd been due to deliver to Guns N'Roses guitarist Slash. Classy.
3. Poison - Unskinny Bop
"Like gasoline you wanna pump me/ And leave me when you get your fill, yeah." A typically cryptic meditation from Sunset Strip goons Poison, who somehow sold 25 million albums in the late 80s.
4. Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Master of the filthy innuendo, leather-lunged Whitesnake shouter David Coverdale's other notable anthems include Slip Of The Tongue, Slide It In, and the immortal Slow Poke Music. We think that last one was about sex.
5. Def Leppard - Let's Get Rocked
"I'm sorry girl here's my confession/I suppose a rock's out of the question?" Does that even make sense? Who cares - this masterpiece of horny gobbledegook still makes us want to punch the air (when no-one's looking).
6. Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
Frontman Sebastian Bach lived by the motto, "You think, you stink" and once wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan 'AIDS Kills Fags Dead". Grunge couldn't come quickly enough.
7. Europe - The Final Countdown
Huge-permed singer Joey Tempest came up with the famous synth riff in his bedroom when he was just 17. Years later, in 1986, the song hit Number 1 in 26 countries.
8. Van Halen - Why Can't This Be Love?
Classic rock buffs always rave about early hits such as Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, but the mid-80s period, after Sammy Hagar replaced Dave Lee Roth on vocals, spawned many guilty pleasure gems.
9. Guns N'Roses - November Rain
Bombastic and overblown, this piano ballad was Axl Rose's attempt to write his own Bohemian Rhapsody. More recently, the song was the inspiration for Regina Spektor's charming minor hit On The Radio ("That solo's awful long/But it's a good refrain" - how true).
10. The Darkness - Growing On Me
Squealing solos. Daft hair. Rampant hedonism. The Darkness missed the hair metal boom by two decades but, for the briefest of moments, they almost made the genre cool again. This track, a single in June 2003, is a reminder of how much fun they were before cocaine crushed their spirit.
9:59 AM | 25/04/2007
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idiots! there's nothing by twisted sister in this list!!!
the darkness are not worthy to be listed with these bands.
Posted by danananakroyd at 2:17 PM | 25/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Journey, Don't Stop Believing. Doesn't get any cheesier than that. Sheer 80s genius!
Posted by frances_barber at 2:54 PM | 25/04/2007 | Report Abuse
salty dog? surely the best by far.
Posted by badger legs at 5:03 PM | 25/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Do Aerosmith count as hair metal? If so, they ought to be way higher than the fucking Darkness.
Posted by statetrooper at 7:33 PM | 25/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Where's Rainbow - Since you been gone? or Metallica's cover of Whiskey in the Jar? pfft
Posted by JeS at 11:24 AM | 26/04/2007 | Report Abuse
It's far too mainstream and obvious a list. Where are the tracks from classic hair metallers like Warrant, Great White, White Lion, Kip Winger etc?
Posted by Aldrington Andy at 2:29 PM | 26/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Crazy Crazy Nights by Kiss. Not strictly a hair metal band I know, but during this period they were definitely more hair than metal. A true guilty pleasure.
Posted by Richard Hardy at 6:10 PM | 27/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Kiss, anyone??
Posted by lee Egerton at 6:24 PM | 27/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Um..
You forget so many!
1) Keep On Loving You - REO Speedwagon
2) Shake Me - Cinderella
3) Stay In The Light - Honeymoon Suite
4) Dirty Love - Thunder
5) American Girls - FM
And so forth and such as... ;-)
Posted by Danny Brown at 1:41 AM | 28/04/2007 | Report Abuse
por dios q mangas de idiota se le ocurre votar a bon jovi cuando lo mejor del rock es guns n roses
Posted by tuterose at 12:47 AM | 29/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Scorpions - Still Loving You (they're metal occasionally, aren't they? and they are definitely hair, or were back then, now K. Meine is balding...)
I would replace Def Leppards's "let's get" with "pour some sugar on me" or "rocket"
WASP - Sleeping in the fire or Wild Child
Posted by teemy at 6:23 AM | 29/04/2007 | Report Abuse
Aerosmith should be axed off the list.
Keep On Loving You - REO Speedwagon
Bon Jovi - You Give Love a Bad Name!
A different Motley Crue song seems more fitting as well.
Posted by Elizabeth at 3:49 AM | 03/05/2007 | Report Abuse
Forgot to mention..
SISTER CHRISTIAN - Night Ranger
Posted by Elizabeth at 3:50 AM | 03/05/2007 | Report Abuse
Mtoooooo boa essas musicas!!otimas
Posted by aline at 11:18 PM | 14/05/2011 | Report Abuse
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