Hanoi Rocks - Legacy

Legacy

Although Hanoi Rocks never achieved huge commercial success, they have a very big cult following and they have received critical acclaim for their musical style and energetic live performances. On January 5, 1985, Hanoi Rocks was featured in almost every category in a poll cast by Sounds, including Best Album (5th), Best Band (2nd) and Best Live Act (3rd).

Hanoi Rocks' influence can be seen in various bands, including Guns N' Roses, and their glam look has been used by many bands, including Poison, L.A. Guns and Ratt. Other bands like Manic Street Preachers, Murderdolls, Skid Row and the Foo Fighters have acknowledged being Hanoi Rocks fans. Alice in Chains also often played Hanoi Rocks' "Taxi Driver" live in their early days. Other Finnish rock groups that were influenced by Hanoi Rocks include The 69 Eyes (with whom McCoy has also worked with) and Negative. In Finland Hanoi Rocks is known as the Finnish rock band who, at their time, had come closest to real international fame, only much later giving way to such groups as HIM, Nightwish, Stratovarius, and Children of Bodom.

Hanoi Rocks also brought the glam rock look of the 70s back into style. In 2003, when Nasty Suicide was asked about the bands look, he said that he and Michael Monroe decided to keep the punk leather jackets but bring a kind of "transvestite vibe to it".

Even though Hanoi Rocks influenced many 80's glam band's, some feel that these bands ripped-off Hanoi Rocks. In 2008 Joe Elliott, frontman of the English hard rock band Def Leppard, described his dislike of 80s glam metal bands bands like Mötley Crüe and Poison, and said this about Hanoi Rocks:

"The only band — and I'm not saying it because we're here (Sweden Rock Festival) — the only band that did pull it off was Hanoi Rocks. I thought Hanoi Rocks were a good band, and they looked… Michael Monroe (Hanoi frontman) was one of the best… I would have shagged him. I like Michael, I think he's sexy, and I'm not gay. And I think Andy McCoy (Hanoi guitarist) does the best kind of Keith Richards... so much better than Mötley Crüe or Poison or any of those bands. They (Hanoi Rocks) were real — the rest of the guys, it was all a bit fake for me."

Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks have influenced many rock'n'roll artists and bands: Slash and Duff McKagan had bought tickets to the outsold gigs of Los Angeles, which were canceled because of the death of Razzle. In the Hanoi Rocks autobiography "All Those Wasted Years" Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett says "The Hollywood scene changed in just one night after people saw the pictures of Hanoi Rocks. After that everyone was wearing the same kind of hair, clothes and make up as Monroe". Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks have often been mentioned as the starters of the Hollywood's glam-rock scene, which was then adopted and developed by many 1980's glam-, punk-, and hard rock bands like Mötley Crüe, Jetboy, LA Guns and Poison.

Hanoi Rocks is cited as one of the most influential glam metal bands of all time in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey document movie.

American TV Channel VH1 named the top "hair bands" of all time, and Hanoi Rocks was at number 40. When Sam Yaffa was asked about it, he replied: "We were a hat band, not a hair band!".

Andy McCoy has said that the Guns N' Roses song "Paradise City" is a compilation of a few riffs of Hanoi Rocks. He said the chorus is the same as the riff in "Lost in the City", just slowed down. Nasty Suicide can also be seen in the music video for "Paradise City".

The Guns N' Roses song "Right Next Door to Hell" was co-written by former Hanoi Rocks bassist Timo Kaltio.

Hanoi Rocks is mentioned by Bret Michaels in the song "Human Zoo" from his album A Letter from Death Row, which is also the soundtrack to the film of the same name.