'Rolling Stone' Readers Pick the Best Hair Metal Songs of All Time

Rolling Stone recently asked readers to choose the best hair metal songs of all time. The songs are all "top of mind" tracks -- there isn't anything obscure here. This means that some really great songs are missing but many of the best are fairly represented. The sad part of this list is that it is unfairly heavy with Guns n' Roses, Motley Crue and Def Leppard. There are many other great Glam bands, but you wouldn't know it by seeing this list. So the top ten songs are below. What do you think?

10. Guns N' Roses, 'Sweet Child o' Mine'

9. Whitesnake, 'Here I Go Again'

8. Poison, 'Nothin' but a Good Time'

7. Motley Crue, 'Girls, Girls, Girls'

6. Warrant, 'Cherry Pie'

5. Motley Crue, 'Home Sweet Home'

4. Guns N' Roses, 'Welcome to the Jungle'

3. Guns N' Roses, 'Paradise City'

2. Def Leppard, 'Photograph'

1. Def Leppard, 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'

Comments

[fletch]

when RS gives almost every yoko ono album a 5 star rating (just as recently as last year), then it's time to question RS's integrity when it comes to music. [I mean, who even knew she was still putting out "music" (sic)]. Have any of you heard her latest??? I have. goodness gracious/oy vey/holy cow!

Stern purports that she contributes a lot of money to RS (goodness bless her) in order to get those reviews (justice be damned). RS should stick with political features (long live matt tabaii), social issues (long live what's his name) and in-depth features on people or groups who are helping to change the world in a postive direction (given the particular time frame).

[Metalboy!]

Don't even get me started on Yoko. In 1988, while waiting to get into Sarabeth's (THE breakfast joint near the Dakota, where she and John Lennon lived and where she still resides), she began staring at me like all goo-goo eyed and sh*t (I sh*t thee not -- my Robert Plant hair and reflective sunglasses may have had something to do with it).

She was with some dude who she had been romantically linked to at the time and I was with my new hot German GF (surprise, it didn't last) as well as my friend I dragged to see JUNKYARD with The Black Crowes opening the following year (more on this in a moment).

I actually might have approached her had I been waiting in line solo, to not only thank her for her husband's contributions to music, but also the positive influence he had on my life (I trust you can read between the lines). Then I would have told her Lennon should have continued working on "Double Fantasy" with Cheap Trick beyond the demo stage where the initial collaboration began.

Of course, it was nearly a decade later I discovered from one of the preproduction guys on that album (and partner of Julian Lennon's former guitarist, John Curry), that she was the one who discouraged John from continuing to work with Trick for fear it might overshadow her input on the record.

I also wanted to ask her why she screwed over Julian so bad, tho we know it's because she didn't want him to be more successful than her f*ck up son, Sean, who duzn't even have 1/16 the talent of his stepbrother.

I promise to bring this all back to Rolling Stone and Hair Metal but first...

Fletch -- are you sure you don't mean Yoko contributes to The R'n'R Hall of Fame to get her favorable reviews in Rolling Stone. That approach would work since TRARHOF is run and virtually owned by Jenner.

[fletch]

no...and who is Jenner?

[Metalboy!]

The Black Crowes is the perfect example of the kind of chess playing going on during the era when Hair Metal ruled the earth.

I mean, come on -- The Black Crowes are okay and all but let's face it -- Ain't they kinda boring?

Well, the night I first saw JUNKYARD -- make that 1989 -- The Black Crowes opened for 'em. I had never heard of 'em but they sounded pretty good. The lead guitarist was killer and I could already tell Rich Robinson, The Crowes 2nd guitarist and brother to the band's lead singer, Chris, was a dingus.

They were really kinda boring, sounding kinda like an amped up Georgia Satellites channeling Graham Parsons era Rolling Stones. But that kind of derivitive Boring Rock wasn't gonna stop MTV from filming them doing one song, no fooling around, using 3 cameras. The camera crew barged down front and flanked each side with two more cameras, which was pretty aggressive considering the size of The Cat Club where the performance was taking place.

Later, I saw this clip one too many times (musta watched it at least 200 times as it ran on MTV night and day, promoting their new show, "MTV Bootleg".

Anyway, I'll be damned if JUNKYARD didn't come on, taking the place by storm with their brand of ZZ Top by way of Ramones style Rock and Roll, blowing the doors off the place, causing a near Riot, and just generally making bellhops out of The Crowes.

Well, wouldn't you know, ol' Rolling Stone Magazine devoted a whole page to the story in the following issue, praising The Crowes and not once even mentioning JUNKYARD. Wouldn't the real story have been about, despite all the MTV hype, how JUNKYARD blew the doors off the place and The Crowes off the stage. What a travesty.

[Metalboy!]

Fletch! Oops... Typo... Wenner, not Jenner. Jan Wenner. I explain who he is in my earlier comments. He runs both Rolling Stone and The R'n'R Hall of Fame.

[fletch]

thank goodness, niki,,,for a second, I thought your were discussing 'Bruce Jenner' and the Kardashianss...I kid you not.

[Metalboy!]

Huh-uh-lo-oh! Jan Wenner controls Rolling Stone and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Who the hell is Bruce Jenner? And who the hell are The Kardashians?

[Metalboy!]

And that's Nikki to you, Flush! Can't you spell?

[Metal Dad / nirVrana]

A top ten list has to have a theme. I guess theirs is Top 10 songs from 3 bands?
To me, "Hair Metal" is generally looked back on as fun, accessible guitar rock. It has to have a tasty riff and a huge chorus. With that definition in mind, my top 10 list [not the best, not my favorite, but a hair metal primer for the kids of today]:

1: Ratt - Round and Round
2: Quiet Riot - Metal Health
3: Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
4: Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
5. Warrant - Cherry Pie
6. Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me
7. Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
8. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O Mine
9. Poison - Nothin But a Good Time
10. Europe - Final Countdown