Picking the worst album by 11 big hair metal bands was more difficult than picking the best.
Unfortunately for these bands, that’s because a lot of them released far more bad albums than good.
That’s not necessarily surprising over the course of a multi-decade career. Once you strip musicians of their million-dollar budgets, top-notch producers and the youthful determination to take over the world, inspiration dwindles and the output often gets considerably worse.
As a result, a lot of the bands on this list released their worst album long after the glam metal zeitgeist ended, by which point they had abandoned the sound and aesthetic of the Sunset Strip scene. Many of them tried and failed to adapt to the grunge and alt-rock revolution of the ’90s. Even when they managed to write some good songs within this new framework, they lacked the identity that made them famous in the first place.
READ MORE: The Heaviest Album by 11 Big Hair Metal Bands
Other bands on this list resurfaced in the 2000s with their old glam metal sound intact. But their watered-down attempts to recreate their glory days just served as a depressing reminder that sometimes you can’t go home.
The lucky few bands on this list who weathered the shifting musical tides and endured as hitmakers and top concert draws faced a different problem: They’d managed to “age gracefully” along with their fans, but in doing so, they’d reduced themselves to a collection of stock riffs and lyrical platitudes that sounded like the work of jaded boardroom executives rather than rock stars.
Frankly, it was kind of a bummer to consider all the ways the mighty had fallen — but it was also fascinating to observe the many paths they took to the bottom.
Read on to see the worst album by 11 big hair metal bands.
The Worst Album by 11 Big Hair Metal Bands
Even the giants had misses — sometimes several of them.
Gallery Credit: Bryan Rolli
