I think songs like "Home Sweet Home" or "When the Children Cry" or whatever owe more Aerosmith's "You See Me Cryin,'" Kiss' "Beth," or a few Alice Cooper songs. But those were kind of one-offs, and didn't become the song you associate with those bands. When something like "Home Sweet Home" or "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" becomes a monster genre-crossing hit (much like your favorite country ingenue's songs,) the record companies smelled money and made these schmaltzy indulgences the centerpiece of their marketing and radio/video push. It cheapened the genre, and alienated it''s core audience - teenage boys,who found something else. Happens every 10 years or so.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

You could argue Def Leppard fucked it all up with Hysteria.
In order:
1987
"Women"
"Animals"
"Pour Some Sugar On Me"
"Hysteria"
1988
"Armaggedon It"
"Love Bites"
1989
"Rocket"

I remember when the video for "Rocket" came out and thought..."these guys are still milking this album?"
That's when my 13 year old brain started processing the music biz.

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@audioidkid

Journey and REO Speedwagon pretty much made their entire careers off of these songs.

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The band for me that kicked ass early and then got weepy and lame was Def Leppard. Their first two albums are really good but Pyromania is an overproduced pile of dog crap.

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Not the same , though. With the exception of the Scorpions (and that song wasn't a huge crossover hit,) None of those bands are identified with your definition of Metal, and tenuously at best with Hard Rock. A better argument could be made for Def Leppard's "Bringin' On the Heartache," which I believe was '82 or so. None of those artist were doing "Shout at the Devil" 2 years prior to their slow dance songs, and although Kiss could have released a Calypso album and the Kiss army would have bought it, none of those others listed were primarily selling t-shirts, records, and concert tickets to 14-18 year old boys when they released their big ballad.

EDIT: Doug noted the Def Leppard exception first.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I don't study pop music history but wasn't there a shift in music every 5 years or so in the pre-internet days? Hair band, not metal, had a huge run from about '83/84 to '92. Wasn't it just natural that a shift in style was going to occur? We say it was because of Nirvana but wouldn't it have been someone else if not them? Granted, part of the reason for this shift in style was the greatness of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Both of them, came out with all-time great albums and there was nobody in the hair rock genre to measure up.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

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Just chillin' like Garret Quillin.

I thought Metallica selling out killed off metal

I thought Warrant rocked when the DRFSR album graced the airwaves. I was also 9.

...and for the record...Nelson Killed the hair metal era. Christian rock rocks the fuck out of "After the rain".

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Blame is the wrong word. How about rescued?

Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, STP and then the bands that followed such as Radiohead, Pavement, and the Flaming Lips were all immensley better than the hair bands.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

I think you have varying degrees of hair rock to hard rock. On one side you have bands like Poison and Winger and on the other side you have GNR and Motley Crue. And even most of those acts you listed as hard rock all recorded the power ballads which were most indicative of a hair band. Even Ozzy had a ballad. The lines get blurred pretty quickly.

I would contend that Cinderella and Skid Row were more of a hair band than hard rock and Crue's Theatre of Pain and parts of Dr. Feelgood were definitely hair bandish. I don't know what all this amounts to but it is fun going down memory lane.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

I cut my teeth on Motley Crue. My older sister played Shout at the Devil over and over and over. I could be drunk as hell and still recite In the Beginning and not miss a beat. I still listen to Crue, old Metallica, and Anthrax when I am working out.

As I was finishing HS, grunge became popular and I embraced that as well. Hell, there's even some good country music out there if you look for it. But out of all of them, the Indie music over the last 10 years or so has been my favorite type of music.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

You are preaching to the choir!!

TFFL was fantastic. Very underated!

Top 10 Favorite Crue Songs:
1) Kickstart my Heart
2) Shout at the Devil
3) Too Young to Fall in Love
4) Too Fast for Love
5) Ten Seconds to Love
6) Wild Side
7) Looks that Kill
Live Wire
9) Home Sweet Home
10) Primal Scream

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

KS- Did you see them back in the summer?

I went a couple years back and loved seeing them.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Jani Lane will forever haunt your dreams, motherfuckers.

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Just chillin' like Garret Quillin.

Now I don't have to wake my wife up.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

The state of Indiana says: +1 on the observation, -5 on lives.