Here are the best hair metal bands from eleven different countries all around the world.
Hair metal gets talked about like it was a strictly Sunset Strip thing, but that version of the story only goes so far. Once the sound broke out of the early to mid 1980s, it didn’t really belong to one single city or area anymore. Bands all over the world picked it up and shaped it in their own way.
We’re diving into11 countries and the band’s that helped define hair metal in each one. Not every pick fits neatly under the strict definition of hair metal, but that’s intentional. In some areas of the world, the genre existed as a fully formed scene with its own identity. In others, genres overlap; with bands sitting between the cross sections of melodic album oriented rock, glam rock, traditional heavy metal, and even punk. In some countries, the best hair metal band is the band that helped pioneer the genre in their own corner of the world.
READ MORE:5 Hair Metal Songs You Probably Didn’t Know Are Actually Covers
What connects each and every one of these bands is how they all approach songwriting. The focus is immediate impact with choruses that land quickly and riffs built around melodic feel, with of course, the image we have all come to know and associate closely with hair metal.
The deeper you go into the history of this genre in different countries, the more you see how flexible the sound really was, and how many bands were working with the genres blueprint on their own terms.
The Best Hair Metal Band From 11 Different Countries
Hair metal may have gotten its start on the Sunset Strip, but it didn’t stay there for long!
Gallery Credit: Sydney Taylor
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