History Main / HairMetal

+ GlamRock, PunkRock, ProtoPunk, PowerPop, BluesRock

* McQueen Street

* Music/Crush40

* Lizzy Borden (later became a straight Power Metal that just so happens to place heavy emphasis on Alice Cooper-style theatrics)

!!Classic hair metal bands (1980s and 90s)

The genre pretty much died out by 1993. There were many reasons, but the best remembered one being the success of Seattle {{Grunge}} band Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Nevermind'' album late 1991 ushering in a sea change in the public's taste for rock music from hair bands to AlternativeRock. Not only that, but fans of hard rock were becoming tired of hair metal, and some felt the genre was leaning too much towards mainstream pop, particularly due to its reliance on big hit power ballads. As with ProgressiveRock in the '70s, hair metal bands seemed out-of-touch with the day-to-day concerns of young people among economic malaise. The metal scene's savior also came in 1991, in the form of Music/{{Metallica}}, a ThrashMetal band whose dark, technical style had gained them critical acclaim and a fanbase so large that they could pack stadiums without much in the way of radio hits. Metallica released their [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled "Black Album"]] one month before ''Nevermind'', and it too became a monster smash, paving the way for other darker, heavier, faster, technical and/or less glammy bands like Music/{{Pantera}}, Music/{{Slayer}}, Music/{{Megadeth}}, Music/{{Sepultura}} and Music/{{Tool}} to have major success in the 1990s. Hard rock fans looking for a happy medium between alt-rock and the newer metal bands could find that in AlternativeMetal, a combination of the two genres, which supplanted hair metal on rock radio in the '90s with the success of artists like Music/{{Primus}}, Music/KingsX, Music/WhiteZombie and Music/FaithNoMore.

The genre pretty much died out by 1993. There were many reasons, but the best remembered one being the success of Seattle {{Grunge}} band Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Nevermind'' album late 1991 ushering in a sea change in the public's taste for rock music from hair bands to AlternativeRock. Not only that, but fans of hard rock were becoming tired of hair metal, and some felt the genre was leaning too much towards mainstream pop, particularly due to its reliance on big hit power ballads. The metal scene's savior also came in 1991, in the form of Music/{{Metallica}}, a ThrashMetal band whose dark, technical style had gained them critical acclaim and a fanbase so large that they could pack stadiums without much in the way of radio hits. Metallica released their [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled "Black Album"]] one month before ''Nevermind'', and it too became a monster smash, paving the way for other darker, heavier, faster, technical and/or less glammy bands like Music/{{Pantera}}, Music/{{Slayer}}, Music/{{Megadeth}}, Music/{{Sepultura}} and Music/{{Tool}} to have major success in the 1990s. Hard rock fans looking for a happy medium between alt-rock and the newer metal bands could find that in AlternativeMetal, a combination of the two genres, which supplanted hair metal on rock radio in the '90s with the success of artists like Music/{{Primus}}, Music/KingsX, Music/WhiteZombie and Music/FaithNoMore.

* Enuff Z'Nuff (these guys were actually a slightly hard sounding, Cheap Trick-influenced PowerPop band who were [[ExecutiveMeddling marketed as a Hair Metal band by their record label]] despite being more of a Power Pop band. The fact that they're remembered as a hair band (mostly because their biggest hit was the PowerBallad "Fly High Michelle") is a particularly sore spot with the members, who would have preferred being categorized alongside power pop bands like The Smithereens instead. As a consolation, they're among the few bands that received the "hair metal" label that critics loved from the start)

* Music/{{W.A.S.P.|Band}} (Blurred the line between hair metal and ShockRock on their first few albums. They began taking a TraditionalHeavyMetal turn as time went on, and by the late 80s they had dropped most of what little hair metal influence they had.)

As for the hair bands? Some of them gave up the ghost entirely, while others switched their sound to adapt with the times. Music/BonJovi was the biggest success in this regard, completely changing their style to adult contemporary while retaining much of their popularity and fanbase. Other big name acts like Music/MotleyCrue and Music/{{Ratt}}, failed in their new, darker 90s guises, which both [[UncertainAudience alienated their old fans and got them mocked relentlessly by grunge and newer metal fans]]. Some hard rock bands whose sounds were tangentially connected to Hair Metal (either in style, their influence or the public's perception),like Music/DefLeppard and Music/GunsNRoses, continued to be concert draws without changing their sound for the times.

* The Scream

* Jackyl

* King Kobra (Put together by Carmine Appice left Ozzy Osbourne in 1983)

* Spitfire (The one from Greece from 1986, not the American band from the 1990's)

* Vixen, a rare example of an [[DistaffCounterpart all-female]] Hair Band

* Music/{{WASP|Band}} (Blurred the line between hair metal and ShockRock on their first few albums. They began taking a TraditionalHeavyMetal turn as time went on, and by the late 80s they had dropped most of what little hair metal influence they had.)

* Cry Wolf

* King Kobra

* SpeedMetal: Heavier hair metal bands often overlaps with this.