10 Greatest Hair Metal Albums Of All Time

The common conception behind the hair metal scene is that no one was really caring about the future. Considering that this was the same era of music that brought us some of the cheesiest music in the world, it's not like these artists were the next musical Mozart on their instruments or anything. When you break it down though, there are still some quality stuff mixed in between the hairspray.

Taking the sounds of glam rock from David Bowie and T Rex as their inspiration, a lot of these bands went far beyond being just a gimmick. If you were to put some of these records up against the greatest rock of all time, they can still hold their own in some respects, only for the fact that the songs were catchy as hell. Like it or not, there was no way that you were getting some of these songs out of your head once you heard them for the first time.

More than just the hairspray though, this is where rock actually started to feel exciting. Since the sounds of the classic rock of the '70s were getting way too bloated for its own good, to see people like this who could play their asses off and have fun was a breath of fresh air. The '70s were officially over. Now it was finally time to party.

When bringing up the absolute worst of hair metal, Poison is usually one of the first bands that people like to point and laugh at. It's not like they haven't warranted that title either, given the amount of cringy stuff that Bret Michaels has been affiliated with over the years. On their first record though, Look What the Cat Dragged In was just a feel good time all around .

The beauty behind a record like this is just how different it sounds when compared to Poison's other work. Since most of their later period would show them getting a little too strange for their own good, the amount of hooks on this record feels like AC/DC by way of Wham!, and it ends up going over like gangbusters. While none of these people are going to be the best at their instruments by a longshot, they can write hooks like nobody's business.

For every cringy time someone tries to throw on something like Every Rose Has Its Thorn at a karaoke bar, there are always songs like Talk Dirty To Me and I Want Action that make this record well worth your time. Even if the rest of their catalog can get a bit spotty, hearing these guys young and hungry on the streets of LA still makes for one hell of a party.