Your way in
Glam metal 1981
Hard rock with hairspray, a radio chorus and a mandatory power ballad. It ruled MTV until 1991.
- Heaviness
- 5
- Speed
- 6
- Melody
- 10
- Where from
- Los Angeles, USA
- Tempo
- 120-160 bpm
- Song length
- 3.5-5 min
- Written about
- Sex, Los Angeles, Excess, The ballad, obligatory and sincere
- Vocals
- Sung
Why this one
| You said | Glam metal | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| No words at all When someone is singing, what should come out? | clean | 80% | ×3 |
| There, but not the point How much weight do you want behind it? | 5 out of 10 | 100% | ×2 |
| Quick and driving What pace? | 6 out of 10 | 90% | ×2 |
| The beginnings Does it matter when it was made? | 1981 | 52% | ×1 |
| Being young and out late What should the words be about? | Sex, Los Angeles, Excess, The ballad, obligatory and sincere | 100% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 86% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 5 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1 out of 9. Glam metal leads the next by 1 point. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1The one to put on first
Skid Row, Skid Row 1989
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind. The genre's heaviest album, released exactly too late.
- 2Then
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is Glam metal's own entry point. After it come Glam metal's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Rock and roll 84%
Ground zero: twelve-bar blues sped up, piano hammered hard, lyrics about cars and girls. It made the electric guitar the defining instrument of the century.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 4 steps from Glam metal.
The way into Rock and roll -
Glam rock 80%
Rock in glitter, platform boots and calculated ambiguity. The spectacle is half the music.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 6 steps from Glam metal.
The way into Glam rock
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- No words at all put 33 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Black metal, Death metal, Grindcore. Worth 3 of 9.
- The beginnings put 67 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Folk metal, Metalcore, Nu metal. Worth 1 of 9.
- Being young and out late put 115 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Punk rock, Hardcore punk, Alternative rock. Worth 1 of 9.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.