10 Legendary Rock Bands That Got Darker Over Time

The year 1990 was not really the best time to be in a hair metal band. As much as the Sunset Strip may have held a firm grip on the pop charts, things were getting staler by the minute and was about to become outdated in a matter of months when the grunge scene hit the airwaves. For a band that got their start so late in the scene, Skid Row had a lot more chops than they were given credit for.

After their first album had your traditional hair rock in the style of Bon Jovi, things started to turn a corner during the making of their next handful of records. While not necessarily going grunge, songs on Slave to the Grind like Monkey Business sounded like they were trying to shake off the shackles of the Sunset scene, especially given the fact that they were hanging out with acts like Pantera on tour around this time.

By the time they got to Subhuman Race, it was almost like they had eradicated every single ounce of glam rock from their body, getting a lot more gutteral with the production and Snake Sabo wearing his heavy influences on his sleeve. While they were probably never going to sell legendary numbers in the wake of acts like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, this is the kind of band that made a good send off for the LA focused side of rock and roll.