The 90’s were an interesting decade for music. Many musical acts that had experienced lengthy amounts of success in the previous decade started to become obsolete. It wasn’t overnight, in fact some of the bands debuted in 1990 with overwhelming success. Over time however, change inevitably set in. Some of the 80’s bands changed with the times, some for better, some for worse. A few groups decided it wasn’t worth a try to compete and broke up. Some stayed true to their original sound of pure, heavy rock and did their damn hardest to represent the genre. Some bands even held on to their sound while growing as musicians and fitting in with current trends, despite poor album sales. In fact, most of the bands fit into the latter and it’s a shame they didn’t get the recognition deserved because of stereotypes. This post is about those bands, everything ranging from hair metal, to prog to, thrash metal. This is the 80’s bands in the 90’s.
Motley Crue
Lets start with an obvious one. The 90’s were extremely turbulent for the band that released a #1 album in 1989 with six #1 singles. Fortunately their 80’s success was big enough to sustain the Crue through the 90’s in terms of relevance. Initially the decade set out to be a successful one as the band released ‘Decade of Decadence’, a greatest hits collection with a few new tracks. The momentum quickly shifted as the band fired singer Vince Neil. They would go on to hire former ‘Scream’ singer John Corabi and released their self titled and only album him on vocals in ’94. Honestly, it’s their best record and Motley Crue certainly used the current heavy metal trends to their advantage. They truly created a masterpiece. The problem? People simple didn’t recognize the band as Motley Crue without Vince Neil on vocals. The success of Dr. Feelgood had come back to bite them in the ass. Eventually the record label forced a reunion by 1997 through shady tactics. The band released their most dysfunctional album in their career. 1997’s ‘Generation Swine’ is a strange attempt at being a 90’s glam metal band with strong industrial metal overtones. The album proved to be a bust at the end of the day, although there are some strong tracks. The saving grace at this point actually became the success of ‘Dr. Feelgood’ as the band embarked on a huge summer tour filled with audience members aching to hear the classics.
Poison
In many ways Poison had the most successful of the 90’s careers. Although they didn’t hit the long run like their earlier brethren, Motley Crue, Poison enjoyed success during the grunge revolution that none of their peers achieved. All after firing original guitarist C.C. Deville and replacing him with prodigy Richie Kotzen. The move served the band as they shed their glam fashion for more traditional, raw, funky, blues based hard rock. The result in my opinion is that they released their strongest album. ‘Native Tongue’ was released in 1993 and debuted in the top ten going double platinum. They embarked on a huge world tour that only their comrades could have imagined during the grunge movement. Unfortunately, the success was short lived and Michaels kicked Kotzen out of the band. Poison soldiered on trying to duplicated the same success as ‘Native Tongue’. They had a set release in 1996 with the album ‘Crack a Smile’ with another new guitar player. However, the album got shelved and the dysfunction of the band got the best of them. They all but disappeared until a reunion in 2000 with C.C. Deville. This clip shows the height of the ‘Native tongue’ era, even though Arcenio Hall introduced the wrong album title.
Warrant
Warrants case is simply one of too much success too soon in the wrong department at the wrong time. Their debut album came out in 1989, a typical year for Hollywood Hair bands to cash in on a dying trend. The following year they beat the sophomore slump with their even more successful album ‘Cherry Pie’. The title track would dominate their career for the rest of their lives. Most of the band didn’t really mind except of frontman and head song writer Jani Lane. 1992 saw the band take a much heavier and more serious direction with ‘Dog Eat Dog’. Unfortunately the people didn’t care about quality and only cared that their bands come from the pacific northwest. Warrant couldn’t escape it, despite creating their finest hour in 1995 with ‘Ultraphobic’. This album represented the real Warrant. It wasn’t a cheap, fuck me and get it over with album. It was a thoughtful and quality effort. Again, they aren’t from Seattle so the album flopped. The following album ‘Belly to Belly volume one.’ was to be an epic two parter, but the album couldn’t generate enough sales to complete the journey. The band faded and never regained their former chemistry. In 2011, Jani Lane was found dead in a hotel room.
Skid Row
Skid Row in many respects did the opposite of selling out. Their 1989, self titled debut did remarkably well in a saturated market. However, the band saw where heavy metal was going and in 1991 released the incredible ‘Slave to the Grind’. The album was 80 million times heavier than the first record It debuted at number one and was the first of it’s kind to do so, opening the door for Pantera to debut at number one three years later. The tour proved strenuous and the band went on a hiatus afterwards. In 1995 they released the equally excellent ‘Subhuman Race’ and it went gold and eventually platinum. A remarkable feat for a band of their era. Unfortunately, the band started having inner friction and frontman and songwriter Sebastian Bach left the group. They rest of the band dismembered following. Both have regrouped in their own worlds but we have yet to see a real Skid Row reunion.
Slaughter
Although the band debuted in the 90’s, Slaughter has it’s roots in the 80’s. Out of the band that was the Vinnie Vincent Invasion which was born out of Vinnie Vincent’t tenure in KISS came Slaughter. Their anthems gained them major instant success with their first album ‘Stick it to Ya’. Heavy MTV rotation gave them the upper edge as they won best new artist under the networks new awards ceremony. They won over Alice in Chains and the upcoming Nirvana. This gave Slaughter the incentive to continue their mission of bringing ‘old school’, high quality arena rock. They stuck with their sound and their 1992 album, ‘The Wild Life’ debuted at number 8. The tour was a success in the midst of the grunge revolution and Slaughter continued their sound with 1995’s ‘Fear No Evil’. The release stuck to the original Slaughter sound but the band was in turmoil. That mixed with musical trends ended in doom for the band and they faded out as the years went on. They released two more records.
The Big Four
The Big Four obviously refers the big four originators of thrash metal: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. What’s interesting is that they all follow a similar pattern. In the 80’s they are mega aggressive innovators that fuzed punk with British new wave heavy metal and progressive metal. As the years go on they all seem to slow down the tempos and focus on the groove and melody aspect of metal. This is an excellent evolution and makes for diverse album collections from all four bands. As the 90’s happened they worked with the times, while retaining what made each individual band who they are. This amounts to integrity which amounts to retention of fan bases. Time has caught up with the big four as melodic thrash metal is moving back into the mainstream. Here’s hoping they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Queensryche
Seattle’s Queensryche had a strong following in the 80’s that was hard earned through learning, evolving and finding a signature sound. By 1990 the band had reached major mainstream status with their release ‘Empire’. What’s truly unique however is that the band didn’t release an album for another four years. Most bands would fold under the time pressure, but Queensryche had other plans. In 1994 their sixth album ‘Promised Land’ debuted at number 3 on the hot 200. Simply a remarkably statement about what the band had to offer. They endured on a major amphitheater tour with a three and half hour long set. The tour set a standard that the band could have lived up to for the rest of it’s career. Having the lead single on a major blockbuster film didn’t hurt things either. Unfortunately the band fizzled out with wom3 success after their 1997 release ‘Hear In the Now Frontier’. Once the tour finished founding member Chris DeGarmo left the band and the magic faded out through time.
Tesla
Alright, one final band here. Tesla has a great story from the 80’s to the 90’s. Initially the band had trouble taking off because their debut in 1986 didn’t offer much of an image apart from it’s excellent album cover. The band didn’t dress in spandex. They didn’t put on make up or wear ridiculous leather outfits. They were a band that in rare cases, started selling albums because they wrote good songs. The band eventually took off and their lack of image ended up paying off in the long run. 1991’s ‘Psychotic Supper’ went double platinum in the beginning of the Seattle revolution. Mostly due to their ‘lack of image’, their jeans and t-shirt aesthetic. Their follow up ‘Bust a Nut’ was released in 1994 and debuted in the top 20 selling 800,000 copies. Eventually the album went platinum. A testament to the quality of a terrific band. The success was short lived unfortunately as a member succumbed to drug issues. The group continued as a quartet (a quintet previously), with underrated guitarist Frank Hannon dealing with all guitar duties. The group reunited for a short time in 2000 but could never quite capture the momentum of their late 80’s and early 90’s success.
These are the top bands from the 80’s that transitioned into the 90’s. I wish some of the groups had more success and became recognized as more than just ‘hair metal’. Either way, many of the groups kept the music alive and it’s still alive today.
