People love to get angry and knock the Hair Band era, say it's horrible music, and the R-n-R HOF is putting up a brick wall for that era, but the reality is:
1. They played their own instruments and wrote their own music (much more than most of today top artists can claim)
2. Many of their live shows still fill large concert venues 30 years after their last commercial hits (and out-sell many of current artists' tours)
3. They sold billions of albums and absolutely dominated the commercial music scene for the better part of a decade
4. Admit it or not, if you lived through the era, you can probably sing the lyrics of dozens of their songs.
You may not consider it "good music" based on your personal taste, but really what defines "good music"? If bringing joy to millions of fans for decades and motivating them to buy albums and attend concerts for decades, maybe it's time for people to admit the era as a huge "musical" success and give them some due credit?
Well said. Music is art and art is inherently subjective. I agree, if it brings joy to that many people then good on it. At the end of the day that's what this is all about, right? We just need something that gives us an escape – like movies and sports and books and paintings, etc.
Beauty truly is in the eye – or in this case the ear – of the beholder.
That said, as someone who grew up during that era, I never got the hair band cock rock at the time and I still don't get it in retrospect either. In fact, to me, it feels more and more ridiculous with each passing year. It just doesn't move me at all. I find it soulless and plastic and empty and vapid. Basically, from my vantage point, it's just kind of boring and lame.
In fact, I was probably a little bit older before I realized I that I even liked music. I always thought I didn't care for music. As it turns out, I just didn't care for
that garbage (my view). Once I got introduced to other music – mostly British music – that was a game changer for me. It just seemed so much more sophisticated and advanced than the garbage that was constantly being shoved down our throats.
The two primary producers of musical talent in Western civilization are great Britain and United States. Together they are responsible for pretty much every great rock band to ever come down the road. Canada has chipped in a few here and there and so have France, Germany and others. Still, it's mostly the UK and the US.
I can't think of any period in rock history in which there was a greater imbalance between quality music being produced in Great Britain over the United States in the 1980s. Frankly, it was an embarrassment and a permanent stain on our record.
Just my opinion though.
