10 Best Hard Rock Bands Of The 1980s

For all the bile that's been thrown at it, hair metal does deserve its place in the hallowed halls of rock. While some saw the visuals as a shallow gimmick, the bands that emerged from that scene did some great work. However, the hair metal scene had gotten incredibly overblown by the late 80's, with bands that seemed like carbon copies of each other.

Enter: Guns N Roses. Coming from the seedy underground of Los Angeles, these guys brought a much-needed authenticity to their music that was severely lacking at the time. From the first listen, you could tell this band had listened to the lessons of bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Aerosmith and applied them to the nth degree. The tone of Slash's guitar had more emotion in it than some hair bands had in their entire repertoire. Add to that the punk edge of Duff McKagen and the wild man action of Axl Rose and the band became an unstoppable force.

With a band that was as intense and dangerous as GNR, why would you want to listen to a cheap knockoff of hair metal ever again? When sorting through the great acts of the past, those that stick out are those that are real. Guns N Roses were REAL.