The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #10-6

See also:
*The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #20-16
*The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of All Time: #15-11
*The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #5-1
*Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums

10. Warrant
Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (1989)
RIP Jani Lane. Warrant's lead singer, who was found dead in Woodland Hills this summer, didn't have the strongest voice, or, per this quote, the strongest songwriting skills. But he understood the latter-year hair metal zeitgeist better than anyone. Despite its subject (excess) Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich manages to somehow sound hungry. She may be so damn pretty (should be against the law), but, you know, sometimes she also cries. Cherry Pie was self-satisfied, but DRFSR was a quite tight work that holds up. -Ben Westhoff

9. Ratt
Out Of The Cellar (1984)
"Round and Round" is fantastic, and deserves all of the airplay it receives today. There are plenty of other reasons to revisit Ratt's Out Of The Cellar, however, like "Wanted Man," which gives the badass Western tale an '80s rock makeover. Then there's the fact that Juan Croucier's unique bass sound would be replicated by others for the rest of the decade. Finally -- not for nothing, video vixen Tawny Kitaen makes her hair scene video debut on the "Back For More" video, beating Whitesnake by three years. -Jason Roche

8. Def Leppard
Hysteria (1987)
Four long years in the making following the phenomenally successful Pyromania, Hysteria was an act of faith. The band and producer Mutt Lange wanted to kill each other in the studio, and drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. But the glue held, and the work is a seemingly-endless string of dramatic, note-perfect gems. No one took themselves more seriously than Def Leppard, and god bless them for it; even if "Pour Some Sugar On Me" makes no sense as a heterosexual come-on. -Ben Westhoff