Glam metal (also known as hair metal and often used synonymously with pop metal) is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal. It combines elements of these genres with punk rock and pop music, adding catchy hooks and guitar riffs, while borrowing from the aesthetic of 1970s glam rock.
It arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene, pioneered by bands such as Kix, Night Ranger, Mötley Crüe and Quiet Riot. It was popular throughout the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, bringing to prominence bands including Poison, Cinderella and Bon Jovi.
The genre rapidly lost mainstream interest from 1991 to 1994 with the rise of grunge and the release of albums such as Nirvana's Nevermind, but it has enjoyed revivals since the beginning of the new millennium with the Swedish sleaze metal movement and the retro styling of bands including The Darkness and Steel Panther.
Read more about Glam Metal: Characteristics, Terminology
Famous quotes containing the word metal:
“And, indeed, is there not something holy about a great kitchen?... The scoured gleam of row upon row of metal vessels dangling from hooks or reposing on their shelves till needed with the air of so many chalices waiting for the celebration of the sacrament of food. And the range like an altar, yes, before which my mother bowed in perpetual homage, a fringe of sweat upon her upper lip and the fire glowing in her cheeks.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)