American Hair Metal - Softcover

Blush, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 193259518X ISBN 13: 9781932595185

Publisher: Feral House, 2006

Synopsis

“We’re not ashamed of a little hairspray and makeup. We’ve always said it takes a real man to wear makeup.”—Bret Michaels, Poison (1988)

There was a time—not so long ago—when pomp and spandex dominated MTV and pop radio playlists. American Hair Metal visually celebrates this orgy of flamboyance, androgyny, and animal magnetism, of big-haired alpha males and the beautiful women who surrounded them.

Hundreds of striking photographs are surrounded by hedonistic ephemera from bands like Poison, Cinderella, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, and Stryper, and wild interview quotes from major players such as David Lee Roth, Jon Bon Jovi, Sebastian Bach, Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, Bret Michaels, Don Dokken, and a good number of unsung heroes.

Interest in hair metal is currently exploding—witness the barrage of VH1 specials, arena-level revival tours, and reissue compilations that are even today best-selling CDs.

About this title

About the Author

Blush edited the successful punk rock history, "American Hardcore" (Feral House), and also wrote the screenplay to the feature length documentary of the same name which recently debuted at Sundance. Blush edited the music interview magazine, Seconds.

From the Back Cover

Rare photographs of the biggest bands and unsung heroes surround revealing quotes about the sex, drugs and Rock & Roll style of 80s American hair metal.

Author Steven Blush's bestselling "American Hardcore" (Feral House) is now a documentary feature film (Sony Pictures Classics).

Reviews

Readers familiar with the charms of Penelope Spheeris' film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, in particular, will want to check out Blush's wonderfully illustrated survey of that much-lamented scourge of 1980s MTV, hair metal. Spheeris let stars from such bands as KISS and Poison describe their lives and careers, and the results were often comical. Blush has members of the similar Motley Crue, Van Halen, and others, as well as of Poison again, testify amid color photos of themselves in action. In general, these guys croaked harmless lyrics to bombastic, bass-heavy accompaniment while tromping about in spandex and architecturally adventurous hairstyles. The pix (by the likes of hair-metal-lensing specialists William Haines, Frank White, and Eddie Malluk) tell as much, if not more, of the subgenre's story as the actual music. An excellent visual presentation on a pop phenomenon just beginning to attract critical interest, this vital piece of rock semiotics, so to speak, verifies how strong the attraction of monumental vacuity can be. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Feral House
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 193259518X
• ISBN 13: 9781932595185
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 180