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Heavy Metal Thunder Sleaze Metal

Genres Heavy Metal NWOBHM Glam Metal / Hair Metal Sleaze Metal

Sleaze Metal

Glam with the glitter rubbed off and the danger left in — dirtier, punkier and much closer to the gutter than the stadium.

Active years
1981 – present
Origin
Finland / USA (Los Angeles)
Family
Glam / Hair Metal
Bands here
14

Before you press play

Explicit content

Graphic lyrics and artwork are a defining feature of this genre rather than an occasional accident — which of violence, gore or sex depends on the band. Worth knowing before you put it on in a room with other people in it.

Start here

Four records in order of how easy they are to get into — which is not the same as best first.

  1. Two Steps from the Move Hanoi Rocks, 1984 The landmark

    Finnish, and the band the Los Angeles scene was copying rather than the other way round. Michael Monroe fronted it like a young Steven Tyler; drummer Razzle was killed months later in a car Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil was driving.

    Listen to Two Steps from the Move

  2. Appetite for Destruction Guns N' Roses, 1987

    The best-selling debut album in American history, and it belongs here rather than with the hair bands — this is a sleaze record with no gloss on it at all. Nobody has managed the trick since.

    Listen to Appetite for Destruction

  3. Total 13 Backyard Babies, 1998

    Swedish, and the record that started the sleaze revival. Punk tempos, glam choruses, and no interest in the sincerity that grunge had made compulsory.

    Listen to Total 13

  4. Hardcore Superstar Hardcore Superstar, 2005

    The modern template. Heavier than the eighties records and considerably better produced, from a country that never stopped taking this seriously.

    Listen to Hardcore Superstar

What it sounds like

Glam with the polish scraped off and the danger left in. The riffs are simpler and dirtier than the Sunset Strip records, the production is rougher, and the whole thing leans on the Rolling Stones and the New York Dolls rather than on stadium rock. Vocals are sung but ragged. Choruses are still enormous — this is melodic music — but nothing is glossy, and the guitar solos are shorter and less showy. Compared with hair metal it sounds like a small venue rather than an arena, and compared with punk it has far more interest in a tune. Hanoi Rocks got there before either scene noticed.

  • Heaviness 2 out of 5
  • Speed 3 out of 5
  • Aggression 3 out of 5
  • Technicality 2 out of 5
  • Darkness 2 out of 5
  • Melody 5 out of 5

Where the name came from

'Sleaze' for the gutter-glamour end of the Sunset Strip, as distinct from the radio-friendly hair metal that came to dominate it. Hanoi Rocks, formed in Helsinki in 1979, are the acknowledged starting point and the direct influence on Guns N' Roses; Sweden later made the style its own.

The bands

Hear these first

  • Hanoi Rocks Finland
  • Guns N' Roses USA
  • Backyard Babies Sweden
  • Faster Pussycat USA
  • Hardcore Superstar Sweden

And 9 more

  • L.A. Guns USA
  • Crashdïet Sweden
  • Reckless Love Finland
  • The 69 Eyes Finland
  • Ratt USA
  • Junkyard USA
  • Vains of Jenna Sweden
  • Sister Sweden
  • Dangerous Toys USA

If you liked this

Closest in sound outside this family, leaning towards the similar or the gentler rather than straight into the deep end.