The Best Song by 11 Big Hair Metal Bands

Our list of the best song by 11 big hair metal bands is woefully overdue.

We’ve already listed the heaviest song by 11 big hair metal bands, the best ballad by 11 big hair metal bands and the best album by 11 big hair metal bands. So it only makes sense for us to round out our coverage by selecting the biggest, baddest tunes from the Aqua Netted legends who dominated the Sunset Strip.

Make no mistake: This wasn’t an easy list to assemble. Every band here wrote plenty of fist-pumping, arena-filling anthems — but which ones stand out from the pack?

For some of the bands on this list, their biggest hit doubled as their best song. Contrarianism has its place, but it’s difficult to argue against a stone-cold classic like Ratt‘s “Round and Round” or Twisted Sister‘s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”

That wasn’t always the case, though. Hair metal — and ’80s rock as a whole — was obsessed with power ballads and these melodramatic love songs often rocketed to the top of the charts. But we could never in good conscience claim that “Here I Go Again” was Whitesnake‘s best song, or that “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” beat out every other Poison track.

Although the hair metal scene had a lot more diversity than its critics are willing to admit, all the songs on this list share some common DNA. For starters, they all feature era-defining riffs and blistering solos, as was typical of the entire genre. And even at their heaviest, these hair metal anthems contain irresistibly catchy choruses. Rock and metal are meant to foster community, after all, and what better way to achieve that than by screaming your lungs out to your favorite song alongside 20,000 people?

Read on to see our list of the best song by 11 big hair metal bands.