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I know a lot of Metalheads deride Glam as crap pop music and not heavy enough.
Personally I don't mind a bit of Glam but I think it's hated for no reason these days.
Why Glam was important to development of Metal
I think Glam was an important "gateway drug" for many Metalheads as it was often the first type of metal one would hear.
One heard Glam ala Motley Crue or Guns N Roses, then Metallica, then Megadeth/Iron Maiden, then Pantera/Slayer/Sepultura then Morbid Angel/Carcass etc.
Without success of Glam, it's doubtful Thrash would've been that successful or even Death Metal had a slight heyday in early 1990s.
In essence glam was a trailblazer especially in fickle US market.
And going back to "gateway drug," Glam probably increased number of Thrash fans who started on Glam but then moved onto Thrash.
Why Glam Metal is extreme
In some ways Glam is more extreme than your average Thrash or Death Metal band of the 1980s in two regards:
1. Visual aesthetics - as your average Glam Metaller was dressed up like some sort of fucked up junkie transvestite, it was a helluva lot more offensive to the mainstream public than the average NWOBHM/Thrash/Death guy who wasn't that different in appearance to the 1970s rockers.
And when you're on MTV visuals counted for something. And hell visuals have counted for something since rock was invented.
Even today Glam Metal guys from the 1980s have a far more extreme image than most Extreme Metal guys, save for the Black Metal crowd.
And Metal always was a bit about offending people, especially when you're 14 and you want to stick it to your parents.
2. Glam was musically extreme when you look at it's main competition: pop music.
Thrash/Death were mainly underground genres that appealed to a niche market (Thrash became mass audience later on).
Glam Metal was competing for mass audidence appeal. To someone whom Madonna or Devo or ABC or INXS was normal, Glam Metal was truly extreme.
Glam reminds metalheads about some other important things in life - babes, beer and partying
I remember attending a pre-gig BBQ with a bunch of Metallers including dudes from Psycroptic.
The music played was extreme metal with the softest being Carcass.
Extreme metal makes for shit BBQ/party music - it's too monotonous and it's lacking in fun.
Glam on the other hand is great for this kind of thing. It's fun and it makes one want to soak up the sun, drink some brews and bang some hot chick/chicks.
And the old Glam guys were talented musicians - listen to Guns N Roses, Extreme, Van Halen (1990s outpit), Motley Crue, Skid Row etc and you'll see not only talented musicians but great song writing too.
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