VH1's Top 40 Hair Bands (1 Viewer)

[Bill Catherall]

Did anybody see this show last night on VH1? I rarely watch VH1, but this caught my attention because I love hair metal from the 80's.
The show seemed to concentrate on how degraded the artist felt about the image they had to portray. They mentioned a lot about how bands were not appreciated for their music, but instead people were more concerned about the hair, the clothes, the girls.
The thing is though...even though I was just a kid in the 80's, I really only cared about the music. Sure the MTV videos were cool to watch, but I was first and foremost a fan of the music.
Now I'm not saying this to toot my horn, that I'm some kind of music aficionado. I'm just wondering if things were really as bad as VH1 makes them out to be. I mean, if I was that way, I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Afterall, music videos didn't sell albums. Am I wrong?

 

[Mike Broadman]

Bill, I would say that videos absolutely did and still do sell albums. With the advent of the music video, marketing a band changed completely. Now, they could sell the image as well as the music. In the 80s, that image happened to be outlandish colors and big everything. Now, that image is weird hair and shitty looking clothes. In the end, it's all the same thing.

The fact is, all 80s bands pretty much had to conform to a similar look, even if their music sounded different. Queensryche fans shudder when they look at pictures of the band from the Warning/Rage For Order days. Bruce Dickinson has since cut his hair.

 

[ace peterson]

Dang, I missed that. Is it going to play again?? I like that music!

 

[Mick Wright]

The best part of the special was hearing every interviewee say some variation of "we were real band with our own thing going on, but unfortunately we got lumped with the whole hair thing." Yeah right. And then they brag about all the groupies.

 

[Greg_Y]

VH1 rebroadcasts it every once in a while. The other night they only did from #20 through #1, but I've seen all 40 in a row. It's fun.

 

[James D S]

With the advent of the music video, marketing a band changed completely. Now, they could sell the image as well as the music.

And this phenomenon culminated that decade with the ultimate image-priority band, Milli Vanilli - A fitting end to the 80's and its "music second" approach.

 

[Ted Lee]

although i mostly listened to the alternative stuff in the 80's (cure, depeche, the smiths, etc) i did enjoy a few glam-rock tunes (cinderella, white lion, ratt, crue, etc.).
i know i wasn't admiring the band, that's for sure. so, for me, it was definitely the music that i was listening to.
howz that tune go: "unn-skinnnnyyy bop!" ???