Grunge takes all the blame (or credit, depending on who you're talking to) for the downfall of hair metal as the '90s arrived. Yes, it did signify the end of an era, like all upcoming musical trends in history, but let's not pretend like hair metal wasn't trending toward near its own self-inflicted extinction anyway.

Casting Nirvana's Nevermind aside along with high-profile releases from Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and so many others, Ep. 7 of "50 Years of Heavy Metal" explores the other contributing factors to hair metal's expulsion from the mainstream.

In reality, there was no greater enemy to the glam era than the very musicians who created this whole thing in the first place. With a scene built on excess in all forms and a reckless disregard for personal well-being, especially in the long-term, reaching the burnout point was an inevitability. For those less fortunate, death called early in life, sending a grim warning to the rest of the scene.

In the video at the top of the page, we get a bit of help from Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan, Cinderella's Tom Keifer, Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt and author/journalist Jon Wiederhorn on exactly what was going wrong.

Watch Ep. 7 in full at the top of the page and, once you're done, revisit hair metal's birth and how it happened in the video below.

How Did We Let Hair Metal Happen?

Top 30 Hair Metal Albums of All Time

 

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