10 Things Only Old School Heavy Metal Fans Will Understand

There are those who would argue that acts like Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Poison, and the like are Heavy Metal. This is not true - and to be honest, if you like one, you probably won't like the other. True metal fans consider these bands "glam," concerned more with appearance that with actual music, and responsible for cultivating a sound that tried to make hard rock more widely palatable - in others words, pop.

Hair bands reached their peak popularity in the 1980s with feathered 'dos, skintight outfits, and chanted choruses, and slowly evolved to include harder (but equally frustrating) acts like Guns N' Roses. In the end, the genre could only be stopped by the combined might of Metallica and Nirvana.

It is important to note, though, that Twisted Sister - commonly considered a hair band because of their wild costumes and later sound - started off as a excellent metal band in their own right, with songs like "Destroyer" blasting eardrums and and shaking bowels in a way that would surprise many who only know them from their hits.