You Wanted the Best...Honorable Mention

If you're favorite band didn't make my top ten best glam list, no worries. We all have opinions and this is an open forum to debate music and all things glam.

During this countdown, I reevaluated my band selections every single night. It got to the point where my husband was begging me to just write all the articles at one sitting so I wouldn't continually change my mind every five minutes. While music is a pastime and hobby for most, it's also my passion. I take what I do here very seriously and try very hard to make informed recommendations for my readers. To that end, there were three bands I kept taking in and out of the countdown for various reasons. They are (in no order):

Faster Pussycat
Cinderella
RATT

While I didn't weight the band's ranking solely on album sales, I did let this factor into my higher placement on the list. That said, all three bands on this honorable mention list had major hits. I also happen to like these three bands more than some of those on my top ten list, but I felt their impact wasn't as big on newer bands or were too similar to other bands of the glam heyday.

I love Faster Pussycat so much I want a cat named Taime. Their self-titled debut is killer and a must own for every glam fan. I still believe "Bathroom Wall" is one of the best songs of the genre. Unfortunately for Faster Pussycat, they were overshadowed by Guns n' Roses and Appetite for Destruction.

Cinderella remains an underrated band. Lead singer Tom Keifer has a very raspy voice that gives the band an interesting sound. Cinderella reminds me of Aerosmith, so it's no surprise I love this band, too. Night Songs is a great debut album. The song of the same name might very well have been written with me in mind:

"Workin' this job ain't payin' the bills/
Sick and tired rat race takin' my thrills/
Kickin' down a road, not a dollar in my pocket/
Nighttime falls and I'm ready to rock it/"

*Fun fact: Eric, Heather and I flew to Rocklahoma out of Columbus, Ohio. It's about a 90 minute drive from Dayton, so we listened to Rocked, Wired & Bluesed: The Greatest Hits the entire trip.

There isn't much to say about RATT, other than they really rock. In fact, I gave up my opportunity to be in the Rocklahoma pit during Poison to see all of RATT's set. Warren DeMartini is a great guitar player and the band produced some really fun tunes. Odds are you already know this, or you wouldn't be reading a website called Bring Back Glam! in the first place.

Comments

[Chey]

i do seriously think that ratt and faster pussycat should have been on the list. guns n roses really isn't a glam band, they don't even like the genre. they're a great band who had a major impact but not a glam band. ratt and faster pussycat should have been on there definatly.

[Christian Graus]

Faster Pussycat were a band I missed first time around ( I think I saw the 'you're so vain' clip once, in the day ). The debut is OK, but the second album, I bought the cassette at a trash market, and I immediately got the CD and played it to death, that's the one that does it for me.

Of course, nowadays, FP is just crap, as we saw at Rocklahoma.

[Sweet Lou]

I totally enjoyed the list but am wondering the influence of Badlands and Winger?
As much as it seems a punchline now, RATT actually were the flavor of the day on the Sunset Strip. I went back and checked out old issues of "BAM" and "Screemer" (free press in L.A.back in the day) and RATT was noted by every single band in a ton of early issues as being the band to compete. Hell, so was Quiet Riot, but they got signed and released a hit album before everyone else. As for the RATT pack they had HUGE momentum leading to "dancing undercover" which became a "failure" in the eyes of critics and the industry and completely took them off the "flavor of the month" list.
As for GnR NOT being glam...what an F'N JOKE! You only have to watch the "Welcome to the Jungle" video and see all the teased hair, the make up etc., SHOWING the MTV world they were glam. This was a band that saw a change coming and jumped on the new train and turned their backs on getting caught up with the "hair" tag. We didn't have as many sub-genre tags back then as we do now. So "glam" and "hair" became synonymous with each other. Prior to the 80's glam was...Sweet, Slade, New York Dolls , etc. Hell, even PANTERA was glam at the begining. They of course made the transition, but still started out "glam." Were they "influenced" by the trend? Maybe, Dime was a huge KISS fan, but I think it was more doing what they had to do and not being "true" to what they really were. They used "glam" as a stepping stone.
I love all the bands that don't want the "glam" or the even worse..."hair band" tag attatched to their name. Even though somehow, someway THEY used that genre; either to get signed or noticed. Then in the true fashion of "PR" distanced themselves and denied they were a part of it or influenced at all by it, or even WORSE, pretending it never happened.

[fletch]

Hey Allyson,

I liked (not loved) most of your list. I agree with Lou about the your addition of Winger and Badlands. I thought you were also going to throw Nelson in there, too, along with Vixen. I'm glad that you didn't.

I also completely agree with Christian about FP based, almost exclusively, what Taime did at Rocklahoma.

I believe that Cinderella and Ratt should have been on the list. For what it is worth, here is my top 10 list of 1980's glam bands...in alphabetical order, as I can't make up my mind as to where each band should be ranked:

Bon Jovi
Britny Fox
Cinderella
Guns-n-Roses
Motley Crue
Poison
David Lee Roth solo
Ratt
Warrant
WASP

Take care all and have a nice Holiday Season!

fletch

[KixRules]

Here is my top ten list:
10)Cinderella - just a great live band
9)Poison - Tons of hits and still a great live band
8)Warrant (W/Janie) - Actually have great songs that never got noticed.
7)Def Leppard - Made great music over 3 decades
6)Child's Play - Not many people outside of the Mid Atlantic will know then but Rat Race is still one of my top 5 albums of all time.
5)Skid Row (W/Bas) - Had a great range of music from ballads to heavy metal
4)LA Guns (W/Phil) - Have put out great albums and with Phil Lewis are great live
3)Motley Crue - Again time tested and amzing live.
2)GNR - To me if they stayed together would have been the biggest and best rock band to ever come together. Hopefully one day Axl will get his crap together and get everyone back for real GNR shows.
1)KIX - Did you expect anything else??? To me were hugely under rated and put out 7 cds over a nearly 20 year period (one live album). But their live show and Steve Whitemans energy and persona is what makes Kix what it is. I truely hope they are at Rocklahoma 08 so everyone gets a chance to experience a live KIX show.

[aXe mAn]

I enjoyed the list, it was a very interesting read.
I do think that Ratt & Cinderella should have made it on there. I am with you, I also have a passion for glam/hair metal.

[Christian Graus]

Yes, Kix at Rocklahoma would mean more to me than almost any other band, with the possible exception of Extreme.

[Kenny Ozz]

I really think Skid Row was a glaring omission from the list. How could any of you forget them!?!?!?!

[Chey]

omg i love kix. listen to them everyday. lol Vixen would have been a good choice. They rocked. even if they don't now. its not even the same people anymore. except for the guitarist.

[Heather]

No honorable mention for Van Halen?