Hair Metal: The New Hitler
There's an issue of the zine Law of Inertia (now folded into Reignition Records) somewhere containing an interview with someone, maybe Ann Beretta, where they call the pop punk of the late '90s the new hair metal— it's just sped-up Warrant! Given the ubiquity of the bands, the indistinguishable sound, and their shared approaches to life (for: girls, fun. against: breakups, anything else that makes you sad) it seemed like insight at the time. Now that MTV is calling My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco Hair Metal's Second Coming, we have to wonder: Does calling something the new hair metal have the same relationship to arguing about music that bringing up Hitler does to arguing about politics? No offense to MTV's article, which is pretty good, but does invoking "the new hair metal" automatically invalidate your argument? At least there's a reason to hate Hitler. All Blackie Lawless ever did was invent the most awesome stage name ever and wear a buzzsaw codpiece. Why is hair metal the worst thing you can compare a genre to?
- Hair metal marked the first time critics were beaten to death with their impotence, so if your world-weary reviews don't dent sales for a couple different albums, it's time to figure out what the new [punchline associated with hair metal that hasn't been taken yet] is
- Snobs hate music poor people love unless it's old, but hating rap makes you look like a right-wing prude or a racist, and none of your readers listen to country, so calling something the new Western Swing is pointless
- It never actually went away but a new generation of critics are signaling professionally by adding something to the official disdain pile
- Cocaine
- It happened while/took advantage of things that are generally held to be bad, so whichever genre is doing the same thing, or pulling the same levers is automatically the new hair metal
Posted at 12:30 PM
Tags: My Chemical Romance | Panic! At The Disco | Warrant
Western swing is cool, for reals. Leave it out of this.
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I loved reading that article yesterday, impressed by how Mtv was basically accepting and embracing their hypocrisy.
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W.A.S.P. wasn't really hair metal, more shock metal or glam metal. When I think hair metal I think Cinderella, Poison, Europe, etc., etc.,
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I think hair metal in an of itself is not a terrible thing. It's just a genre (actually pop metal, but you folks seem to prefer this connotation), and in any genre you'll get better and worse.
I know there are H-M tunes out there that people really love and are not ashamed of it... And there are others that are so bad that only "what the hell were we thinking / smoking / drinking / poking" comes to mind.
It's okay though. Ten years from now, we'll have to defend everything we loved that was suggested to us from this very site. Karma sucks.
DwD
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ok, i know w.a.s.p. is way more metal than winger, poison, etc., but i just really like blackie lawless' name.
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like hair metal, pop punk, and new emo function on a style level only. they are all the creampuff version of something more serious. essentially it is all obvious pop music, I don't know how that is a relevation.
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if My Chemical Romance is the new hair metal...what does that make Marilyn Manson?
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Does this mean I can't name my black metal band "The New Hitler"?
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KO, it makes Marilyn Manson = Lemmy
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I hold hair metal responsible for the short-lived ubiquity of Adam Fucking Curry.
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Guyliner isn't the new hair metal because it embodies hair metal...it's the new hair metal because it will prove to be embarrassing to anyone who liked it in about five to seven years. That and the makeup.
--nt--
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Corporations taking things that are successful and mass-marketing them? Being attractive IMPROVING marketability?! Absurd!
These points could be made about any musical movement from fake grunge to nu-metal.
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Did Europe (of the Final Countdown fame ) do the wrong thing when they became too commercial ?. Yes they did. Should they stuck to the sort of music they made with their self-titled debut and Wings of Tomorrow ?. Yes they should.Though they are a very good band, they chose the wrong path when they jumped on the glam metal. I don't blame John Norum for leaving the band because of this.
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Did Europe (of the Final Countdown fame ) do the wrong thing when they became too commercial ?. Yes they did. Should they stuck to the sort of music they made with their self-titled debut and Wings of Tomorrow ?. Yes they should.Though they are a very good band, they chose the wrong path when they jumped on the glam metal. I don't blame John Norum for leaving the band because of this.
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