Nowadays, the general consensus says that grunge is to blame for the demise of glam metal during the early '90s. Although grunge did its fair share to cement glam metal's fate indirectly by having record labels and MTV dropping glam bands left and right for the hot new thing, the music phenomenon was already showing signs of being in its twilight years.
Personal issues were popping up across the bands, musicians and producers were constantly trying to one-up others in every extreme and the rock star lifestyle was taking a precedent over the output of solid music. Whatever the case may be, glam metal was snuffed out in a matter of years, and many bands found themselves in an unenviable position – some succeeded in reinventing themselves, while others just had to call it quits. Today we take a look at some of the bands that were hit by the nineties the most. Let's begin.
Cinderella
Formed in 1982, Cinderella rode out the decade in a burst of glitter and glory. Music videos of "Nobody's Fool" and "Shake Me" were all over MTV, their debut album "Night Songs" from 1986 peaked at No. 3 on the US charts and by 1991 had been certified triple-platinum.
Their sophomore album "Long Cold Winter" from 1988 saw a bit of bluesy flavor added by the frontman Tom Keifer, which would continue to be a growing trend on the next couple of albums. "Long Cold Winter" still sold like glitter-sprinkled hot cakes, and still holds a special place in many a glam-rocker's heart.
However, the '90s came before Cinderella had a chance to completely move away from the glam aesthetics. Troubles began during the recording of Cinderella's fourth album, as Keifer had lost his voice in 1991 and needed a long time to recover. By the time "Still Climbing" was released, Mercury Records decided to drop the band and the new decade's rough seas finally sank Cinderella's already leaking ship.
The following years saw the band reunite twice (1996–2009 2010–2017), but Cinderella was finally put to rest after the second, with Keifer stating that the "issues between the band members are beyond repair".
Faster Pussycat
With a name like this every band member being a smoldering, androgynous hunk, Faster Pussycat was all about being sexy and having a good time. The band was formed in Hollywood by the singer Taime Downe during the height of the glam era. After two years of making a name of themselves, Faster Pussycat got a record deal from Elektra in 1987, and released a self-titled debut the same year.
The 90s' arrival saw Faster Pussycat get off much easier than the majority of glam metal bands, as all of their first three albums were well-received most of the shows of their final tour in 1993 were completely sold out, but the band still disbanded upon returning to the US.
The '00s saw two versions of Faster Pussycat emerge - one being led by the singer Taime Downe who gave the band an industrial-metal spin, and the other, led by lead guitarist Brent Muscat who strove to maintain the core Faster Pussycat sound. Eventually, Muscat's version changed the name to Sin City Sinners, while Downe continues to perform under the original name.
White Lion
If the cheesy covers of 80s housewives' romance novels were a glam band, they'd probably be White Lion. Throughout their original bout which lasted from 1985 to 1991, of which the multi-platinum-selling sophomore album "Pride" from 1987 remains the best loved, followed closely by the 1989 follow-up "Big Game".
By the time White Lion's fourth and final album "Mane Attraction" was released in 1991, the singer Mike Tramp had already grown uncomfortable with singing as high, and the album failed chart as high as the previous two. In addition, it received virtually no airplay as grunge was taking up most of it. Bassist James LoMenzo and drummer Greg D'Angelo left the band right after the release of "Mane Attraction", and the band disbanded completely after finishing the album's promo tour.
The Danish-American band too saw some legal turmoil between former members throughout the 00's, when singer Mike Tramp attempted to single-handedly resurrect the band on multiple occasions.
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is one of the very few glam bands that not only lived through the '90s without straying from their original credo too much but also reclaimed a significant part of their lost glory. That said, the decade still brought the band its fair share of turmoil.
Following the release of Mötley Crüe's compilation album "The Decade of Decadence" in 1991, the band's iconic frontman Vince Neil left the band under unclear circumstances. He was replaced by John Corabi, but Neil eventually returned in 1997, when the band released the album titled "Generation Swine" to mixed reviews. Elektra Records dropped the band in the following year, leaving Mötley Crüe in complete control of their opus.
However, despite all the troubles Mötley Crüe underwent during the '90s, the band would reunite twice with great success in the following decade, the last time being in 2019, when it was announced that Mötley Crüe would definitely be coming out of retirement.
Winger
Having emerged at the time when glam was well in its zenith, Winger's implementation of progressive elements were like a breath of fresh air in a scene saturated with poppy hard rock songs. Their first two albums "Winger" (1988) and "In the Heart of the Young" (1990), both released by Atlantic Records, sold at platinum levels of sales, and it seemed like the band was ready for anything the '90s might throw their way.
The show "Beavis and Butthead" alongside the members of Metallica proved otherwise, after intensely ridiculing the band a number of times. The band members, now with a severely hurt reputation, decided that enough was enough and disbanded a year after the release of their third album "Pull" from 1993. However, Winger took flight during the '00s once again and have released additional three studio albums since.
Stryper
Although the overall glorious insanity of the 80s brought some pretty wild things, no-one would have guessed that a Christian glam rock band would be one of them. Stryper, however, was just that. With a name taken out straight out of a King James Bible quote and album titles such as "Soldiers Under Command", "To Hell With the Devil" (certified platinum) and "In God We Trust", Stryper was delivering the Lord's word throughout the decade – and the audiences loved it.
However, not even piety turned out to be a reliable safeguard against grunge's onslaught, as the band's popularity took a dive at the beginning of the following decade. Or maybe it was God's punishment for naming their fifth album "Against the Law" and not mentioning the Almighty a single time on it. We'll never know.
Nitro
Meticulously designed to be wildly over-the-top in every musical, visual and performative aspect, the guys from Nitro were the Ivan Dragos of hair metal. The combination of shred-god like Michael Angelo Batio on axe duties, a singer like Jim Gillette who could reportedly shatter wine glasses with his singing, extremely provocative appearance and lyrics, and a "sonically abrasive" sound completely skewered towards high-end seemed like a permission to print money at the time.
The band's first album "O.F.R." from 1989 made more than its share of noise, in no small part due to everybody involved being ridiculously good musicians. However, the climate in the music industry had already begun to change by the time their second and final album "Nitro II: H.W.D.W.S." was released in 1992. MTV would no longer play Nitro's music videos, and the band got dropped by its record label with a bunch of unreleased songs. The band opted for a graceful way out and called it quits in 1993.
Despite its ultra-short career, Nitro left behind some timeless classics such as "Freight Train" and set some pretty unrealistic standards in singing, shredding and hair size.
Via UG
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