Martin Popoff - The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metals Debauched Decade

The Illustrated Oral History of

HEAVY METALS DEBAUCHED DECADE

MARTIN POPOFF

2014 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

Photography 2014 Martin Popoff

First published in 2014 by Voyageur Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA. Telephone: (612) 344-8100 Fax: (612) 344-8692

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Digital edition published in 2014

Digital edition: 978-1-62788-375-7

Softcover edition: 978-0-76034-546-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Popoff, Martin, 1963- author.

The big book of hair metal : the illustrated oral history of heavy metals debauched decade / Martin Popoff.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7603-4546-7 (hardback)

1. Heavy metal (Music)--History and criticism. 2. Rock musicians--Interviews. I. Title.

ML3534.P66 2014

781.66--dc23

2014001234

Acquiring Editor: Dennis Pernu

Project Manager: Madeleine Vasaly

Art Director: Cindy Samargia Laun

Cover Designer: Brad Norr

Design and Layout: Karl Laun

Well, cats, here it is, and Im pretty proud of it. Had a blast writing this book. Why? Well, its chock full of interesting talking points n concepts, but more so because hair metal makes me happy. Now obviously, the times gotta be right (cant play this stuff all the time), but man, its a mood lifter for any occasion, aint it?

Much of the cool summarizing stuff I wanna say, youll see, I say it in my year-opening remarks throughout the book, ergo, I dont feel the need to speak much of my piece here. Any of youse whove argued with me about metal of all skunk stripesha hayoull see that I get some of these batty points across in my state of the glam nation address at the start of each yearly chapter.

A few things I do want to say, however, number one being, Im really digging this synthesis of timeline and oral history, because subtle bits of new knowledge come out of the very abutment of date to date (sounds like backstage at Mtley). As well, it allows us to explore all manner of trivia and not have it eat up space or that accursed precious word count.

Main thing Im proud of here, besides some of the philosophical points made, is the fact that all of the quotes n dialogue are from my own interviews, a list of speakers of which is shoved in the rear (sounds like backstage... oh, never mind). I love itits like the memories of talking to all these guys just flashing before my eyes as I rechecked all these old chats for points that matter, obviously leaving out so much more that could have been said. But then again, do you really want five pages on Kick Axes debut (actually, I know a couple dozen buyers of this book who do).

Did I mention running out of room? Well, yes, I did. Fact is, I coulda made this twice as long, especially when it came to the long and complicated prehistory of hair metal. For that reason, Ive left out a lot of the minor bands, didnt talk much about tour dates or compilations or live albums, all of this to allow for the salient points about hair metal to breathe, often with multiple perspectives.

Wait, a couple points of methodology, just so I can fool you a little longer that Im not an idiot. When I didnt know an exact date, say in 1989, for instance, 89 is put at the beginning of the year, June 89 is put at the beginning of the month, and Spring or Early is put somewhere vaguely logical. As for labeling speakers, if the dude is in the band talked about in that entry, then its just his name; if its someone from a band not talked about in the entry, then I mention the band the guys from. Otherwise, I try to say a little bit about who is speaking, like if its a manager or producer or something. Plus, first use of a speaker is where Ive attempted to say the most about someones reason for being quoted; later usages offer less descriptive detail.

Hmm, wot else? Heres something. People are often surprised when I get on the radio or whatever and defend hair metal. Fact is, I appreciate and play a larger variety of it now than I did then, but it was still a lot then. In fact, it was central, along with any old band making records through that time, along with thrash, prog, a heavy dose of alternative (loved me some Minutemen, Meat Puppets, fIREHOSE, and that whole Minneapolis scene in the late 80s), and then about 88, I added all the grunge to the equation. But I gotta say I love Poison now; hated them then. Still hate Bon Jovi. Like only those Warrant records from Dog Eat Dog forward. Keep trying to like Cinderella. But other than that, I loved tons of these bands, from their hair metal output to the records they made in the 90s and 00show many nutcases would say that?! For the record, for my money, Ratt is the best of the perennials, and Love/Hate and Badlands are just the best.

And a point on that popular story of the death of hairin this book we are going with it whole hog, closing out the book with the release of Nirvanas Nevermind on September 12, 1991, which is a cut-off point that is both practical for the length of the book and philosophically cogent (but more on that later in the book). It was agonizing, but if an album I wanted to hail came out after that date, it aint in here, and as far as Im concerned, a lot of the best hair metal came out in 1992.

So there ya go. Like I say, besides all the amazing graphics and memorabilia that make the book such an all-American ace rocket ride that comes alive, theres a ton of great reading in here, and thats from the goofy stories through to the myriad points or gestures toward significance I ascribe to many of the entries. Frig, my count is up... enuffs znuff, letz go!