legopig: I preferred Brian Maiden when Di'Anno was singer. Don't get me wrong, Bruce has a hell of a voice, but nothing beats the original.
While we are at it, can we put Tiger Tailz and Def Leppard in the mix?
Elmofongo: I always saw Def Leppard as Glam/Hair Metal. On par with Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, and Poison.
A lot of people have it in their minds that there was ALWAYS screaming/screeching while wearing corpsepaint metal bands and therefore any band that doesn't sound (or look) like them isn't "metal" but back in the day Def Leppard, W.A.S.P. and Motley Crue and co were really freaking heavy compared to what was on the radio. Visually Motley Crue (late Too Fast For Love era until Theatre of Pain era) and W.A.S.P. were the black metal of their time. Motley Crue (Shout At The Devil era especially), Def Leppard, W.A.S.P., Dokken etc were all easily metal bands.
Oh and hair metal is just a derogatory label that is pretty meaningless, usually used to glorify grunge and metal bands that take themselves too seriously. Most of the 80s "hair metal" bands were either hard rock bands or metal bands, both using the standard late 70s hard rock/metal formula (Van Halen/Aerosmith for hard rock, Judas Priest for metal) but with better production values and 80s fashion (which everybody had, even 70s rockers).
On that note, No, grunge did NOT kill "hair metal" or topple some enormous menacing beast. All of the big bands of that era were already falling apart around that time (breaking up, members leaving, infighting, addictions taking over etc) and the L.A. scene was pretty much entirely tapped out by that point. "Hair metal" was already in the late stages of its death throes when grunge came along. Grunge or no grunge Pretty Boy Floyd wasn't going to carry the rock banner into the 00s.
