The 10 best 1980's Hair Metal bands of all time.

 1. Mötley Crüe.

Formed in 1981 in California, the “Crue” has to go down as one of the most fun bands of all time, hair metal or not. With a lineup of Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, and Nick Mars, they’ve been rocking several generations of American youth for decades now.

Notable songs: Home Sweet Home. Girls Girls Girls. Shout At The Devil.

2. Bon Jovi.

New Jersey shore. Richie Sambora. Banana-yellow Ferraris. Girls everywhere. The year 1986. Big hair. Slippery When Wet. Ghost Busters. Jam shorts. Cocaine. Half shirts. Tight jeans with plenty of holes. Loud motorcycles. Bigger hair. Keep the Faith. What more can we say with one of the best bands and solo artists of all time, who is so charismatic and timeless he’s made a second career on the silver screen?

Notable Songs: You Give Love A Bad Name. Wanted Dead Or Alive. Bad Medicine. Living On A Prayer.

3. Guns and Roses.

Now, we’re cooking with gas, as G & R isn’t just one of the best hair metal bands of all time but one of the best rock bands of all time. Lead men Axel Rose and Slash are legendary, exploding on the metal scene out of LA in 1986 with platinum record after record, iconic hit after hit. To this day, I’ll still listen to “The world’s most dangerous band,” and appreciate them musically – not just as a stalwart of my youth (though I did see them play in 2003 off their Chinese Democracy tour and Axel Rose was about 300 lbs., sweating gravy, and howling like he was destined for the Bat Mitzvah circuit.)

Notable Songs: Welcome To The Jungle. Sweet Child of Mine. Patience. November Rain.

4. Poison.

This mid 1980’s glam band may have peaked and then gone away completely within a 10-year span, but so would you if you sold 45 million worldwide! Lead man Bret Michaels and the rest of Poison definitely represented hair metal well with huge coifs, tight leather, and lots of explosions on stage.

Notable Songs: Your Momma Don’t Dance. Every Rose Has Its Thorn.

5. Def Leppard.

Five English blokes from Sheffield put this band together as far back as 1977, but their commercial success in the U.S. mirrored the emergence of MTV as a cultural phenomenon. They hit their crescendo with Pyromania in 1983 and Hysteria in 1987, which went platinum twelve times over in the U.S. alone and sold over 20 million copies worldwide (in total, the band has sold more than 100 million!) How hard does Def Leppard rock? At one point after a in 1986, band member Rick Allen, their drummer, lost his arm in atragic auto accident – and kept on drumming with the band for a spell.

Notable Songs: Animal. Pour Some Sugar On Me. Photograph.

6. White Snake.

Another British rock band that took over the American glam rock scene, Whitesnake was actually the creation of David Coverdale, former lead man of Deep Purple when he left that band. They put out good music ever since 1978 but ’87 was their year, as they crushed the charts with two mega hits that are still anthems of the 80’s. And how could forget Tawney Kitaen dancing on the hood of the their cars in that video?

Notable Songs: Here I Go Again. Is This Love.

7. Cinderella.

A glam band from the suburbs of Philadelphia? That’s exactly where Cinderella came from in 1985, with lead singer Tom Keifer and company rode the wave of MTV pyrotechnic rock party videos to smashing commercial success. They fizzled out well before 1995, but left quite a legacy with 20 million records sold within a decade.

Notable Songs: Don’t Know Whatcha Got Til It’s Gone. Nobodys Fool.

8. Van Halen.

Everyone agrees that ‘Halen rocks, but when we throw them on a list of 80’s hair bands, we’re specifically referring to the very weird David Lee Roth doing kung fu moves-in multi-colored spandex 1984, Panama, and Jump Van Halen era, not the punk-rooted I, II, Fair Warning and Diver Down ‘Halen or the post-Roth Sammy Hagar and beyond ‘Halen. Jesus, how many times has this band completely reinvented themselves - and still been awesome? 

Notable Songs: Jump. Panama. Hot For Teacher.

9. Ratt.

Not that anyone cares, but this is the first live concert I saw as a pimply-faced middle school kid in braces, when they played with Billy Squire at the New Haven coliseum. There were drunk people and drugs and fights and arrests and mass nudity. It was awesome. Apparently, others hold the same opinion, because Ratt has been a staple of the 80’s hair glam band scene every since the 1970’s in Los Angeles.

Notable Songs: Round and Round. Wanted Man. Way Cool Junior.

10. Twister Sister.

Even though front man Dee Snider always marched to his own drum, playing the club scene way back in the mid 1970’s with goth, make up, and women’s clothing in the vein of Alice Cooper. But they came around to be the classic glam metal band, and there was no way we could leave him off a list that includes the words “hair,” and “rock” in the title. The kids from Long Island defined hair metal for a time with their cult classics and use of MTV to make mini-movies, not just music videos that attracted a huge audience.

Notable Songs: We’re Not Going To Take It. I Wanna Rock.

On deck: My sincere apologies to the lovely gentlemen in Skid Row, Warrant, Dokken, Wasp, Extreme, Winger, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, LA Guns, Billy Squire, and Tesla. (By the way, I never in my life thought I'd write that sentence.)