Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of All Time: #5-1
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Pyromania (1983)
Pyromania took Def Leppard from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal into the stratosphere. Uber-producer Mutt Lang was known as an incessant micromanager, but it paid off here, as the songs are flawlessly crafted for maximum pop appeal. Pyromania gave the band three huge hits -- "Photograph", "Foolin", and "Rock of Ages," pushing the band into freaking diamond platinum status. 10 million copies sold, baby. -Linda Leseman
1. Guns N' Roses
Appetite for Destruction (1987)
This is the sound of sleaze. Though they're rarely lumped in with the hair metal scene, at the time of Appetite for Destruction's release Guns N' Roses were still very much a part of the Sunset Strip scene. Rude, decadent, and doomed to implode, G N' R crafted their debut amid an alcohol-soaked hurricane of wild sex, rage, and dysfunction -- that managed to capture them in all their grit and glory. Witness the terrifying, beautiful chaos of Axl Rose's shriek and the furious guitars of Slash and Izzy Stradlin. The album's furious tracks of metal, funk, punk -- and no fucking ballads -- sounds as great now as ever. Thankfully, this gang of misfits stayed intact just long enough to get it all on tape. -Steve Appleford
See also:
*Excerpt From Duff McKagan's New Memoir: Guns N' Roses Finds Their Identity, Somewhere Between Metal And "Cow-Punk"
*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: #10-6
*Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums
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