Anybody here like 80s Rock/Metal?

[killerman]

Just wondering if anyone here likes to listen to 80s Rock/Metal music? In my teens, early 20s I went through a phase where I really liked 80s Hair Metal. Well I'm getting right back into it now. Bands like Dokken (George Lynch is a BADASS guitar player), Winger, Ratt, Def Leppard, Whitesnake..such awesome music. Rocking guitar riffs, shredding solos, killer hooks and choruses, epic Power Ballads, cool image (I don't care what people say but the big hair and hairspray was awesome) and of course it was all about having fun and fucking chicks. An AMAZING era. Bands like Steel Panther are proof that there is still an appetite out there for that kind of music and that it never really died out. Bands like Def Leppard and Whitesnake still sell out arenas, which you cant say about the grunge bands. Since it's been 20 years since I first got into that music I can now look back objectively at those bands and in my opinion Dokken were the best Hair Metal band. They made the best songs and George Lynch is an INSANE player. So good, such an aggressive guitar player. The best pinched harmonics and vibrato you will ever hear. Back For The Attack is like the magnum opus and golden standard for ripping leads and solos in the context of a rock/metal band that write songs. I love it. Every solo on that album is killer. And every song is killer as well.

Then there was the shred guitar scene with all those amazing players...Racer X/Paul Gilbert, Yngwie, Vinnie Moore, Tony Macalpine, Greg Howe, Satriani, Vai, the neoclassical rock/metal scene was EPIC. So many great players pushing guitar playing and technique to new heights. In my opinion the 80s was the greatest time to be a guitar player, there were just so many amazing guitar players out there and you could hear guitar solos on the radio.

If anyone here likes that kind of scene, the Hair metal, shred guitar, leave a comment, let's have a conversation about that awesome time in music history.

 

[Calibration]

You didn't mention Tony Iommi

 

[killerman]

Sabbath is more 70s metal though.

 

[Calibration]

Although 70s was the golden era, Tony Iommi was active even during 80s. With Oz falling (kicked) out in 79, Black Sabbath kind of died but Tony was still active all the way until 2000s more or less. But if you're talking about guitarists coming to limelight in 80s, I concur.

 

[Jeff]

Hey man, big metal fan here. Primarily the 80s stuff - Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Priest etc.

Love hair metal as well. My favourite hair metal album would probably be Dr Feelgood unless Whitesnake's self titled record counts as hair metal.

Favourite hair metal/hard rock player - John Sykes, who's one of my all time favourite guitarists.

 

[killerman]

1987 is a great album and John Sykes is a BEAST. His tone on that record is huge. Pity Coverdale fired everyone on that album, he should have kept them for the next album. My dad used to work with someone who dated John Sykes once, she said he was an arsehole lol

 

[Jeff]

1987 is a great album and John Sykes is a BEAST. His tone on that record is huge. Pity Coverdale fired everyone on that album, he should have kept them for the next album. My dad used to work with someone who dated John Sykes once, she said he was an arsehole lol

Yeah I heard Sykes was/is a prick haha. But he's the reason I play a Les Paul (and keep sliding every two notes hahah)

 

[killerman]

On the subject of Whitesnake, I don't think I stressed it enough how much I rate Whitesnake. The 1987 album is in my top 5 Hair Metal albums, it's an absolute KILLER album. Every track is a screamer. And they're the KINGS of power ballads. Sykes's guitar sound on the album is huge as well. Have you heard John Sykes's version of "Is this love" from Bad Boy Live!? It's got Sykes singing on it aswell. The guitar is much louder in the mix, really heavy and ballsy and he just kills it. Awesome player.

 

[Jeff]

Yup totally agreed. But it's Bad Boys from the Bad boy live album (bad boys is my favourite WS track) that blew my head off.

Incredible tone. Incredible vibrato.

Love the Blue murder stuff as well

 

[killerman]

Just listening to Crying In The Rain from Bad Boy Live. Holy shit, he tears it up! That vibrato, the pinches and crunchy riffs. I need to get this album.