Hair Band Head-to-Head

Songs Everyone Should Know

“Wanted Dead or Alive”, Bon Jovi, 1987

“Paradise City”, Guns N’ Roses, 1987

Today we put two serious hair bands head-to-head. Look out as they were both at the top of their game when these two beauties came out!

Hair bands were an evolution of glam, hard rock, and heavy metal. The glitzy, but edgy look with fast power chord guitar dominated. Pretty boys with guitars really – but those boys knew how to rock!

Kiss could be considered the trailblazers of this form of rock, although we can’t forget the New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, T-Rex, or Aerosmith. Some of the best were: Metallica, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Mötley Crüe, Poison, Cinderella, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Dokken. (If I missed your favourite, I’m sorry, there were a lot of them!)

When we talk about these songs by Guns N’ Roses and Bon Jovi there are many similarities:

• Both bands have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
• Both of these songs were supposedly inspired on tour buses.
• Both bands played sold out arena shows everywhere they went.
• Both lead singers are (or at least were) long-haired and charismatic, with recognizable, dynamic voices
• Both had amazing axe men: Gn’R: Slash, Izzy Stadlin, B.J.: Richie Sambora
• Both of these songs speak to the lifestyle of a rock star and yearning for simpler times.
• Both had their best album ever on the charts in 1987: Gn’R: “Appetite for Destruction” B.J.: “Slippery When Wet”

If it wasn’t for Nirvana maybe we would still be listening to Hair Bands. Ya think?