Part III Page 2
As in the past, the United States decided to bite back with a vengeance, which was embodied in the pop/glam metal explosion of the 80's. Van Halen was already there since 1978 and had become an arena band, hitting the world hard with Eddie Van Halen's guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth's wild show antics. The prototypical Journey had sold millions of records since its inception in 1972 with its keyboard-oriented metal, and later on Angel and Foreigner would begin breaking through to the masses while Montrose released legendary music. But the real vengeance came in the early Eighties with Motley Crue and Ratt, two bands from Los Angeles that wrote relatively accessible songs big on hooks and strongly influenced by the likes of veterans Sweet and T-Rex. Not only that, but both bands also took the glam images from bands such as Alice Cooper, David Bowie, the New York Dolls, Kiss, and Gary Glitter. Taking them to the extreme, glam metal bands began wearing women's makeup, leather outfits, fishnets, headbands, spikes, and whatever they could basically get their hands on. Motley Crue, perhaps the most important pop metal band of the 80's, began the LA metal explosion in 1983 with Shout At the Devil, an album that was solely responsible for bringing heavy metal fully back into commercial circles; at the same time helping propel Ratt and the older Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot into stardom. "Round and Round," "We're Not Gonna Take It," and "Cum On Feel the Noize," respectively, broke each band over to mainstream audiences worldwide; a success that in turn paved the way for Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi was the second most successful metal band ever, right after Def Leppard; selling millions upon millions of albums and releasing hit ballad after hit ballad. Slippery When Wet and New Jersey took the world by storm, as would Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria. These two bands perfectly learned how to take metal's harshness and mix it with pop's accessibility, therefore producing a perfect blend for the MTV-influenced youth of those days (although many would contend that Bon Jovi isn't really metal). Meanwhile, Motley Crue and Ratt innovated their own music with every album and remained successes for a long time, reflecting the darker side of pop metal. However, these bands obscured others that had as much to offer. Groups such as Kix, Faster Pussycat, and LA Guns, despite their strong material, never truly obtained the success some felt they deserved, while bands like Kiss adapted to the ruling pop metal scene on songs like "Heaven's On Fire." Later on, the pop metal explosion would also obscure bands with harder or more classic styles, such as the acclaimed Thunder, G.U.N., and Junkyard; although others like the Cult and Jackyl did manage to surface.
