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Favorite forgotten hairband songs: A playlist

by Jana 29 Comments


Playlists

Jana of JanaSays.com is in her late 30s, and Erin of TexErin-in-SydneyLand is in her early 40s.  #noshame #oldladieswin 

 Aquanet … Spandex … Blue eyeshadow … MTV … BIG HAIR … all of these things were part of our childhood and teen years.  So was the genre of music that gets a lot of teasing (pun intended) and ridicule known as Glam Metal, Hair Bands, Cock Rock….but these bands and songs are beloved by the two of us.  In fact, as we got to know each other, we instantly connected with our mutual love of books and hair bands. This is not the list of songs that are played in sports stadiums or classic rock stations.  C’mon.  Admit it.  You guys know Welcome to the Jungle, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and Livin’ on a Prayer.  You probably even know Pour Some Sugar on Me, Cherry Pie, and Here I Go Again. (You’re probably singing one of them in your head right now. You’re welcome.)

These are the songs that you have to turn to a specialty station like SiriusXM’s Hair Nation (in the U.S.) for a chance to hear them. Or be an avid fan of this music from days gone by.  This list is a combined effort of our favorite forgotten hair band songs.

1. Wait for You by Bonham – 1989 – Do you recognize this name?  John Bonham, the drummer of a little band called Led Zeppelin, who died in 1980…he had a son named Jason Bonham.  He can play drums too.  He had a band that had a song, and this is it.

2.  Call to Your Heart by Guiffria – 1984 – Honestly don’t remember anything about Guiffria except this song.  And, this is a good song.

3.  Edge of a Broken Heart by Bon Jovi – 1987 – Back in the day, pop radio had djs and you could actually call and request to hear your favorite songs.  The local Houston station (104 KRBE) had a “Top 8 at 8:00” most requested program.  From Erin: “I’d wait for this song to play, so I could record it on my cassette tape each night, so I could have an entire cassette of just this song playing over and over.”  The work and commitment we had to give for our favorites…..

4.  Burning Like a Flame by Dokken – 1987 – To be honest, we could give you a whole list of Dokken songs of fantastic songs from Dokken, but this is a fave.  From Erin: “Is this the time that I tell you about getting my picture taken with Don Dokken when my friend was getting beers or going to the bathroom, and she’s the one that really loved Dokken and she missed the photo opportunity??”

5.  Tell Me by White Lion – 1987 – Don’t know many girls
that didn’t find Mike Tramp (the lead singer) pretty dreamy back in the
day.  The last time I (Erin) saw him was 2008, and he was still pretty dreamy.

6.  Coming of Age by Damn Yankees – 1990 – Once upon a time, a supergroup was formed with a member of Night Ranger, a member of Styx, and Ted Nugent.  Fun fact from Erin: “I saw them open for Poison in Fargo, ND.”

7.  Bang Bang by Danger Danger – 1989 – From Jana: “They were my
favorite and I was obsessed. Meeting Ted Poley and Andy Timmons was the
highlight of 8th grade.”  No other words are needed.

8.  Love Song by Tesla – 1989 – Serious now.  If you aren’t going to listen to any other of the songs on this list, listen to this one.  It truly is one of the greatest anthemic love songs ever created.  Yes, we are biased about this list, but we speak the truth about this song.

9.  Dirty Love by Thunder – 1990 – This British band has 9 studio albums, 7 live albums, and 22 singles released.  Sure, they’ve had a lot of band members in and out during that time…but that’s more albums produced than Taylor Swift or Rhianna or One Direction or many of the other big sellers of popular music.

10.  Big Talk by Warrant – 1989 – Awww Warrant.  The band known for Cherry Pie.  In fact, that song was part of the demise of lead singer, Jani Lane, who died a few years ago from an alcohol fueled death.  They really were a talented band.  (Feel free to fast forward the first minute of this film clip.)  R.I.P Jani

11.  One in a Million by Trixter – 1991 –  This song hit radio airwaves the same year as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.  Poor Trixter was just a little too late for any serious music people to listen to them.  Wait.  We ain’t about those music snobs anyway.

12.  Mad About You by Slaughter – 1991 – Not sure this song made it to the music charts.  There were actually some songs on this album that got more airplay.  But, we’re rebelling and going with this lesser known gem for our list.

13.  Tainted Angel by Southgang – 1991 – We knew this one was a given.  Erin loves Butch Walker (he’s the hunk of a brunette guitarist in this video clip).  Admittedly, most of the love is for the artist that Butch is now.  (No joke.  He is a hugely talented singer-songwriter-producer-and yes, guitarist.)  Jana saw Southgang in concert New Year’s Eve 1991.  Jana frickin’ wins!

14.  I’ll Never Let You Go by Steelheart – 1990 – This is Jana’s favorite power ballad, and it was going to be left off the list “because his voice may hurt the ears of others” (that’s actually verbatim), but Erin said “Hell no!  I’m totally including Steelheart!”, and here you have it.  (Get to the chorus – the vocals are seriously insane!)

You really have no idea how difficult it was for us to narrow down this list.  It was like selecting our favorite child or something (even though Erin doesn’t have a child, but she does have step-children, and Jana has one, so obviously, that one is the favorite).   So, really, this was more difficult than picking our favorite child.  We’re still questioning how
Ratt, Cinderella, Mr. Big, Skid Row, Firehouse, Whitesnake, and others didn’t make this list.  But, we wanted to  keep it short enough that you may stay with us.

 

If you’re actually still with us, tell us some of your favorite songs from big hair bands.

 

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Jana

Series Navigation<< Catchy songs about f*cked up things: A playlist by Jana and ErinUnder the Covers with Erin and Jana: A Playlist >>

Comments

    • Jana says

      I need to listen to more hairband radio on Spotify (since I don’t have Pandora). I listen to my playlists quite often, though.

      Reply

  4. Tonya@Budget and the Beach says

    “Don’t know what you got…till it’s gone…don’t know what it is I did so wr wr wrong…” Cinderella! 🙂 My roommates and I would go around singing that Tesla song and the top of our lungs too. College roommates. Me…old. So many good ones. I love that JBJ has sustained such a long and cool career, even getting into acting. Many of his counterparts did not do so well.
    Tonya@Budget and the Beach recently posted…BREAKING NEWS: Your Money Doesn’t Care About You!My Profile

    Reply

  7. Nadine says

    YES!!!!!!!!!! I grew up listening to big hair bands because I have young parents and they were super in to music. Bon Jovi is my everything and I actually go to see him in concert with my mom and dad as an adult and it was basically in the top 10 nights of my life!
    Nadine recently posted…Setting Fall GoalsMy Profile

    Reply

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