Like Metal?? You can check out my Top 10 Heavy Metal Bands post from last year.
Now listen up party people and let’s get this straight. Lists like this will always be a bit controversial and you may or may not like the Hair Bands listed or the order in which they have been posted. Too bad, make your own list then and rock on!!
Top 10 Hair Band Videos from the 80s
# 10 – Babylon A.D. – Hammer Swings Down
They got it. Maybe a bit too late on the main hair band scene but they totally got what the genre was all about and they rocked it well. Any grown man wearing chaps in their video deserves a nod for ballsyness alone!
# 9 – Europe – Rock The Night
Here you have a band known by 99.9% of their fans for The Final Countdown which is an epic song but they dropped a ton of other hair band classics. Rock The Night? Killer living on the road video.. and look at all that hair!! Come on fellas, 1/2 you probably wish you could still rock even a flattop after watching this video.
# 8 – Steelheart – Sticky Side Up
I know I know.. You wanna see their biggest hit I’ll Never Let You Go in this spot, right?? Well screw you master of the obvious! Instead you get one of their lesser known songs in Sticky Side Up. Bring a wet nap.
# 7 – Cinderella – Shake Me
Killer band right here who knows how to deliver a live show. Even 10-20 years later they’re still rocking live shows better than most new bands are. True musicians and kick ass performers of the genre. The play on their Cinderella story in a band named Cinderella?? LEGENDARY!
# 6 – Britny Fox – Girlschool
Nobody would typically list this song since they were never as famous as most of the other hair bands here which is EXACTLY why I’m putting it up here for you filthy animals to watch. They were all about the 80s Hair band scene and were pretty good live. I saw them with Quiet Riot in the early 90s and they rocked the house.
# 5 – Danger Danger – Naughty Naughty
They are classic hair band from back in the day. These guys just ooze 80s rock and Naughty Naughty was an anthem for many a young ladies climbing out their bedroom windows at 2am to meet their fellas revving the motor in their roaring Camaro.
# 4 – Skid Row – Youth Gone Wild
Everyone and their mother wants 18 and Life or I Remember You and that’s just not going to happen here. The anthem of our wild youth WAS Youth Gone Wild and it deserves to be here. Sebastian Bach is what that scene was all about.
# 3 – Winger – Seventeen
This is the anthem for all dudes looking for barely legal chicks. Hell even if you’re not looking for it they were wildly abundant in the Hair band scene. I’m guessing all that makeup and hairspray got them in the door. Kip Winger is a consummate showman and understood the frontman game of a Hair Band as good as anyone. If it’s your bag you can even Google him and see his Playgirl spread (you’re welcome ladies) from back in the day.
# 2 – Poison – Unskinny Bop
These guys took it to a whole new level. Once they achieved initial fame in the genre they took the ball and slam dunked it in the hole. The hair, the music, the light show, just the simple outrageousness of it all worked for Bret Michaels and crew. They’re still rocking to this day entertaining 40+ year old women across the globe (or your local state fair, YMMV)
# 1 – Bon Jovi – Livin’ on a Prayer
Perhaps the biggest band to come out of the Hair and Glam scene Jon Bon Jovi and crew are still selling out big stadiums here in the Northeast to this day. Tons of glitter, hairspray, and tight leather got the girls lining up for Bon Jovi. Some might even go ahead and call them the Justin Bieber of the 80s Hair Band scene haha!! Credit where credit is due, Jon and crew ruled the roost of the hair era and for that we applaud you!
Hey before you all bitch about not seeing bands like Scorpions, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Quiet Riot, Guns-N-Roses, etc. don’t fret my little monsters we can’t possibly fit everyone into a Top10 and be able to include some lesser known artists that deserve props. Those bands and more will all be showing themselves in the next installment dedicated to HARD ROCK. I know some of their songs could have made it in here but it’s a big enough genre to separate into the next installment!
Rock on bitches!