Monday, November 28, 2005

Hair Metal's slight return

Play it: Nonessential Hair Metal Records I Really, Really Like (by Chuck Klosterman, from his book Fargo Rock City)

Tomorrow Hair Metal revivalists The Darkness release their sophomore release (One Way Ticket To Hell... and Back, play the advanced single "One Way Ticket") and I thought it would be interesting to get back in that hair metal frame of mind again, so I re-read Chuck Klosterman's excellent (brave) book on the era, Fargo Rock City, told from the perspective of Middle America.

Now, Klosterman's always ripe for lists (and hubris) and this book has plenty to mine (but I'm not a clear-cutter, so one will do.) The Nonessential Hair Metal Records list has all sorts of rules, one of which isn't a span of time for the record to fall into. No Led Zepp, no KISS w/ makeup, no Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, no early Van Halen, no grunge... let's just say the rules help shape what you'd already probably considered 'Hair Metal.'

Klosterman doesn't stop there, though, he also lists an amount of cash (Jack Factor) that it would take to get him to never listen to said album again. These run from $66 (Van Halen's 1984) to $5001 (Guns n' Roses' Appetite for Destruction.) I've listed the Jack Factor w/ the list's tracklisting in the comments.

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1 comment:

Shawn Anderson said...

Hair Metal Records Chuck Klosterman Really Likes (From Fargo Rock City)

"Welcome To The Jungle" - Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction - Jack Factor: $5001
"Too Fast For Love" - Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love - Jack Factor: $1333
"Suicide Solution" - Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz - Jack Factor: $1000
"Patience" - Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies - Jack Factor: $920
"Rock Rock (Till You Drop)" - Def Leppard - Pyromania - Jack Factor: $877
"Don't Change That Song" - Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat - Jack Factor: $580
"Nothin' But A Good Time" - Poison - Open Up And Say Ahh! - Jack Factor: $555
"Love Removal Machine" - The Cult - Electric - Jack Factor: $512
"Gypsy Road" - Cinderella - Long Cold Winter - Jack Factor: $455
"18 And Life" - Skid Row - Skid Row - Jack Factor: $400
"Cult Of Personality" - Living Colour - Vivid - Jack Factor: $379
"Where Have All The Good Times Gone!" - Van Halen - Diver Down - Jack Factor: $333
"One" - Metallica - ...And Justice for All - Jack Factor: $294
"Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Bon Jovi - Cross Road - Jack Factor: $288
"Yankee Rose" - David Lee Roth - Eat `Em And Smile - Jack Factor: $275
"Big Talk" - Warrant - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich - Jack Factor: $258
"Wild Side" - Motley Crue - Girls Girls Girls - Jack Factor: $229
"Be A Man" - Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy - Jack Factor: $217
"Heaven's On Fire" - KISS - Animalize - Jack Factor: $200
"Rock Soldiers" - Ace Frehley - Frehley's Comet - Jack Factor: $199
"Heavy Metal" - Sammy Hagar - Heavy Metal: Music From the Motion Picture - Jack Factor: $180
"Living After Midnight" - Judas Priest - British Steel - Jack Factor: $160
"Lick It Up" - KISS - Lick It Up - Jack Factor: $125
"Round And Round" - Ratt - Out Of The Cellar - Jack Factor: $110
"Rock You Like A Hurricane" - Scorpions - World Wide Live -
Jack Factor: $92
"Rip And Tear" - L.A. Guns - Cocked & Loaded - Jack Factor: $80
"Panama" - Van Halen - 1984 -
Jack Factor: $66