Skull_Kollektor

No one seems to blame Ozzy, not even Bob Daisley.
I just think on some level he has to be held at least partly responsible for hiding away behind foolish behaviour and alcohol. Obviously he has a drinking problem that is beyond his personal control and I'm not going to be one of those people who says "Why don't you just drink less?", but at the same time, all the backstabbing that he let go on of his friends... It's like, damn Oz. 
I only say all this out of love for Ozzy Osbourne. 

You're right, this is a platinum post! Amazing stuff. You're also right about my list leaning towards the end of the decade and the mega-sellers. I think this is because as a kid my musical consciousness only came about with the release of  'Dr Feelgood', 'Cherry Pie' and 'Slave to the Grind' (when I was 9, 10 and 11 respectively). 
The albums you've listed were all before my time and also flew under the radar in my limited knowledge of music at that time. Then as I grew up and my musical tastes expanded beyond hair metal into other genres I didn't have the compulsion to go back and explore these other bands. It's only now in my late 30s that I'm looking back and discovering what I've missed. True Belief helps with this too because he often talks about these bands and he's very persuasive as I guess everyone knows. 
Another winner from the Kollektor! 

Well done, amico mio! 
Your list is very focused on the late era, which is the one of the mega huge monster successes... hard to argue with the monster best seller that you have put in your list... BUT when we are talking post 1986 hair metal there is one major seller that HAS to be featured... and that is White Lion's "PRIDE" (indeed). Vito Bratta's melodic solos are unmatched. The tunes are great in their own right too, but it's his mesmerizing playing that really sets the record apart! 
It's impossibly hard for me to come up with a list... so what I can do now is pay tribute to the first movers in the scene. Without these bands, there would be no Poison, no Warrant, no Guns, no Skid, no Cinderella, and so on. No nothing!
Here are the most relevant records that spawned the whole movement in the early 80's, IMHO (which might not be so humble, but most certainly is mine).
1. Motley Crue - "Too Fast for Love". The real KICKSTARTER. The one on Leathur records. Nuff said.
2. WASP - "WASP". Sure, it came out in 1984, but Blackie had been a stapler for quite a while, crossing his path with Nikki and bringing New York to LA alongside his fellow former band mate in the NY Dolls and Killer Kane, Mr. Arthur Kane (who used to be the boyfriend of Stacia, the tall naked dancer that was featured as part of Hawkwind's stage show in their Lemmy days). Kickass.
3. Quiet Riot - "Metal Health". Famously known as the first heavy metal record to top the Billboard Pop Chart. If you ask me, it is not. Led Zeppelin did that multiple times, but obviously Led Zeppelin would be offended if you called them heavy metal. So it shall go down as the first heavy metal album in history to top the Billboard Chart and take pride in it! In 1983 they jumped ahead of competition. They made it to the Us Festival alongside Ozzy, Ratt, the Scorps, Motley, Triumph from Canada and the kings of the Strip, Van Halen (whose performance on that occasion was sub par... The best were The Scorpions, closely followed by Quiet Riot... Triumph ruled too, but their repertoire is inferior... Ozzy was coked outta his mind, which is good, but the Jake E Lee incarnation of his band was still warming up). Motormouth Dubrow lost momentum right away bad mouthing every other musician on the planet. In their Randy Rhoads days were part of the Starwood scene that also featured the self proclaimed "American Deep Purple" aka Legs Diamond, Starz, Angel (whenever they were in LA) and bands like Xciter (with George Lynch) and Dante Fox (soon to become Great White). BTW it is fairly obvious that VAN HALEN is the single most important hard rock band to come out of Los Angeles in the 70's.
4. Ratt - "Out of the Cellar". This record initially outsold "Shout at the Devil"! First example of the typical Beau Hill production. He went on to do every other band. Roxx Gang, the Storm, Warrant, Europe, Kix (check out "Midnite Dynamite", he used the exact same vocals processing that he used on Stephen Pearcy's vocals), you fucking name it! Huge seller. Super solid band and charismatic singer... up until then, of course. Pearcy overnight became notorious as THE OTHER asshole on the Strip (right next to Vince, of course). The songs were mostly courtesy of the big man, Robbin Crosby, also known as THE KING. Rightfully so, he is sorely missed. The Ratt EP is also mandatory to understand the early Strip scene.
5. Great White - Same. A wonderful record with loads of heavy metal guitars, amazing arrangements and the outstanding vocal talent of Jack Russell. I said it before, I will say it again. Had he had the looks of a Vince Neil or a Bret Michaels, GW would have been the winners and, to quote Dubrow, WINNERS TAKE ALL. He looked like the ugly motherfucker he is, so Motley Crue got the Lion's share.
6. Dokken - "Tooth and Nail". The debut album, "Breaking the Chains", showed some promise, but this one totally outshines (RIP Chris Cornell) it! Lynch gave all the Ozzy gunslingers and Van Halen wannabes a run for their money with his ingeniously constructed tapping master class in the title track. It's not about overcomplexity, it's about goddamn TASTE! And power too! Also check out the riff of "When Heaven Comes Down". Kiss already had a song with that riff ("Not for the Innocent" on the "Lick it Up" record), but it went on to become the typical Lynch riff. Funnily enough, musicians refer to those descending semitones as chromatic... but in Italy a journalist was inspired by the word to apply the concept of CHROME to basic hard rock. For that reason, Italian hair metal connoisseurs (yes, I am not the only one, there's many) refer to the sort of hard rock that leans on the heavy metal side as CHROMED hard rock (as in covered by an extra layer of slick metal). "When Heaven Comes Down" is like a blueprint for CHROMED HARD ROCK. Want more? Check out "Unchain the Night" from Dokken's follow up record, "Under Lock and Key".
7. Steeler - Same. Ron Keel teams up with Yngwie Malmsteen under Mike Varney's supervision. "Cold day in Hell" is a classic. Rik Fox on bass had ties with both WASP and Angel.
8. Stryper - "The Yellow and Black attack". I'm not the biggest Stryper fan on Earth, but when I saw them play live some 8 or 9 years ago they blew the place to the ground! They are gifted, God has been kind on them. Tim Gaines used to play in STORMER, one of the first Strip bands to use the pentagram. Then he found Christ (or the other way around), quit booze, drugs and witchery... The music was still wicked, though!
9. Black n Blue - Same. Hailing from Portland, Oregon. They came to Los Angeles with two fellow Portland bands: Wild Dogs and Malice. B'n'B were the most melodic of the three. "Hold on to 18" shoud have been HUGE. Dieter Dierks at the helm for this first record. Solid heavy metal. Tommy Thayer was good here.
10. Rough Cutt - Same. It only came out in 1985, but Rough Cutt definitely belong to the first wave of southern Californian heavy metal. Born from a rib of Ratt, the Paul Shortino led band found its place in the heart of Ronnie James and Wendy Dio. In later years a succession of singers tried out for them, including none other than Joe Leste of Bango Tango fame. Rough Cutt were very good, but just not as good as the above nine bands.
 
So here you go. These are the Top 10 albums of the Very First Wave of Southern Californian Hair Metal! Save this post for posterity, it's PLATINUM.
 
 
 
 
Very nice list, but this is a capital sin! "Back for the Attack" is Dokken's FOURTH! 
1 Breaking the Chains
2 Tooth and Nail
3 Under Lock and Key
4 Back for the Attack
 
Also... I LOVE the Neil Kernon produced "Under Lock and Key"! It does have some UBER heavy and fast tunes. "When The Lightning Strikes Again", for instance. They opened the Judas Priest "Turbo" tour while promoting this record... Lucky for them that the Priest toned down their heaviness for this tour, so there wouldn't be so much of a starking contrast! Imagine Dokken opening the "Painkiller" promotional tour!

I count this as progress. At this rate, in 12 months you'll be getting a Popoff tattoo and opening the Martin Popoff museum in Panama City! 

Great post. Sorry I missed it until now. 
At one point Ozzy claimed that he wrote the 'Bark at the Moon' album with one finger on a piano, oh the lies.
Apparently Jake E Lee wouldn't hand over any of the riffs he wrote for 'The Ultimate Sin' until Sharon gave him a proper lock-in contract so that he could get credit and payment. At least he got those things but then booted out. I have a feeling if memory serves that Bob Daisley wrote all the lyrics for 'Bark at the Moon' for a one off payment. So yeah, the 'All songs by Ozzy Osbourne' foolishness is a total nonsense on that album as he didn't write a damn thing. Imagine the nerve, trying to tell the press that he wrote all those incredible guitar riffs with one finger on a piano. Even in a drunken haze how could anyone disrespect the songwriter and themselves to that extent. 
Then they wouldn't pay Phil Soussan properly for 'Shot in the Dark' on 'The Ultimate Sin'. I mean, it just goes on and on...
It just amazes me how much of a sociopath Sharon is, and how much of a goddamn walk-over Ozzy is. Everyone blames Sharon, and that's ok on some level because clearly she is the mastermind, but Ozzy follows around like a damn dog. How could he even consider those buffoons Rob Trujillo and Mike Bordin re-recording the drum and bass on the first two albums?? How any of that got off the ground at all, by the participants, the record label, and Ozzy, is just beyond me. It makes me angry, even today. 
Skully, have you got Bob Daisley's book 'For Facts Sake'? If you don't have it, please get it. It's incredible and exposes all the details of these matters. 
 
 

True Belief’s Best Hard Rock/Hair metal albums:
Motley Crue: Shout at the Devil
Too Fast For Love may have started an entire movement but Shout is where the Crue hit legendary status. Razor sharp riffs, futuristic ‘escape from New York’ look and a swag of metal classics (Too fast for Love, Looks that Kill, Red Hot, Knock ‘em Dead Kid) cement this is one of the most influential albums of the 80s.
WASP – WASP
Too heavy for the LA scene but too gimmicky for the thrash fans, WASP were always an interesting bunch looking for a ‘home’. WASP ‘peaked with their debut and opening track “I Wanna Be Somebody” remains as ther finest moment. Follow-up “The Last Command” was an uneven, slicker affair with perhaps a couple of standouts tracks (including the incredible ‘Widowmaker’) but the buzzsaw cod-pieced, assless leather pant adorned debut smokes almost every debut this side of “Kill em All”. The production is glorious and the songs never waiver right to the end. “Hellion”, “School Daze”, “B.A.D”, “Tormentor”…a horrible but beautiful release.
Hardcore Superstar – Dreaming in a Casket
This inclusion may surprise some but I will argue all day that had this been released in 1985 not 2005, it would have been huge. Silver’s final appearance on guitar is by far his best work, the album reached backwards to go forwards, clutching firmly at the band’s Dr Feelgood and early LA Guns influences. “Wake up Dead in a Garbage Can”, “Medicate Me”, “Sensitive to the Light”, “No Resistance”……it’s a Swedish version of LA-sleaze done right.
H.E.A.T – Address the Nation
Fronted by Sweden’s Idol contestant Erik Gronwall, H.E.A.T leans towards AOR at times but what cannot be denied is the sheer quality of the songwriting and the vocal performance in this 20012 album. Taking influences equal parts Whitesnake + Def Leppard and perhaps late era-Scorpions, “Address the Nation” is right up there alongside Pyromania for radio friendly, stadium filling high energy (with guitars damn it!!) hard rock. And the vocals are very very good.
Def Leppard – Pyromania
“Pretty Boys + Loud Guitars = megabucks”. A noticeably more commercial sound form the band who were (incorrectly according the them) lumped in with the NWOBHM movement following their first two albums. The album sold like batshit in the US and a ‘star’ was borne. The last DL album I can stomach. The rest are plain awful radio  friendly vapor IMO. “Stagefright”, “Too Late for Love”, “Die Hard the Hunter”…great, great stuff.
Faster Pussycat – Wake Me When It’s Over
The juvenile, playful debut usually gets the credit but this follow-up is a more mature,  toughed-up version of Guns n Roses with a little bit of blues thrown in for hard measure. A real underground,  dirty, sleazy, sound pervades this release while straight ahead rockers “Slip of the Tongue”, “Pulling Weeds’ and “Aint No Way Around It” elevate this one above the crowd. Their best ever song “Where There’s a Whip There’s a Way” showcasing the depraved and twisted mindset of sex-crazed songwriter/vocalist Taime Downe (cool name).
Cinderella – Night Songs
The phrase “never judge a book by its cover” was never more apt than when describing Cinderella’s debut. Owing more to AC/DC hard rock than weak-sauce LA hair metal, the album produced on every front. Rough and ready vocals, crunching, hard rock driven guitars and some classic moments that were much heavier than they should have been. “Shake Me, “Somebody Save Me”, “Night Songs”, “Push Push”. It’s a shame that the stupid name & clothes put so many people off. They still don’t know what they missed.
Poison – Look What the Cat Dragged In
Hard Rock’s ‘worst’ album cover – check; Hard Rock’s worst ever lead guitarist – check, Hard Rock’s rocks worst ever drummer – check. Representing everything that was rotten and putrid with the music scene circa 1986, Poison’s punk infused glam drenched debut is so much better than the sum of its shitty individual parts. Rikki Rocket’s non-performance on drums during the recording is the stuff of legends; CC Deville’s “Look What the Cat Dragged In” solo voted the worst in history in a Guitar World poll…thank god for Bret Michaels. In one of life’s great mystery ”Talk Dirty to Me”, “Cry Tough”, and the  chugging title track all work to create Poisons best release of their career. Fuck me if I know how.
Skid Row - Skid Row
The band hated the weak-sounding production on the debut but the chicks loved it. “Youth Gone Wild”; “18 and Life”, “Big Guns”, “Sweet Little Sister” still stack up today as adrenalin soaked stadium fillers. Despite the look, Skid Row represented a "grittier, more street version of hair metal” and went noticeable heavier on the awesome follow-up “Slave to the Grind”. Hard to split the two but the debut continues giving to this very day.
Dokken – Back for the Attack.
Not as hard as the guitar driven debut yet more mature and hard rocking than the disappointing MTV-targeted “Under Lock and Key”, Dokken’s third strikes the perfect balance. A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3 title track “Dream Warriors” got all the attention (and it’s a pretty good song) but there are some career highlights elsewhere in here  – “Heaven Sent”, “Prisoner”, “Stop Fighting Love”…and “Mr Scary”. Album was massive in Japan, less so everywhere else, internal strife found them out in the end. Plus Don lost his voice.
Special mentions: Van Halen debut, Motley Crue ‘Dr Feelgood’ & ‘Too Fast for Love’. Guns N Roses don’t count.

Requiem's Top 10 Hard Rock/Hair Metal Albums
I'd love to see the @Skull_Kollektor and my boy @True Belief do this list. 
10. Cinderella - 'Long Cold Winter'
Melodic, catchy and a little bit bluesy, I still contend that this band would have been a lot bigger if they didn't have such a terrible name. This whole album is solid. 
9. Guns n Roses - 'Use Your Illusion II'
I used to love this a lot more as a kid. I still love it now and it's way better than 'Use Your Illusion I'. This has some great songs on it. I'm one of those people who wish Gunners had have just taken the best songs from each album and made one good release. Here's the track list for it: 1. Civil War 2. You Could Be Mine 3. Live and Let Die 4. Pretty Tied Up 5. Bad Obsession 6. Knockin' on Heaven's Door 7. Estranged 8. Get in the Ring 9. Locomotive 10. Don't Cry 11. November Rain. Done. That would have been a masterpiece. 
8. Skid Row - Skid Row
The debut is brilliant. '18 and Life', 'Youth Gone Wild', 'I Remember You', etc. Amazing voice Sebastian Bach, just amazing. 
7. Motley Crue - 'Shout at the Devil'
What an album this is. Lots of classic tracks. By the way, I'm still Too Young to Fall in Love...
6. Warrant - 'Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich'
Jani Lane writing songs a bit more glam than the 'Cherry Pie' album which doesn't have such a fun factor as this one. 
5. Whitesnake - '1987'
Amazing production, amazing Coverdale vocals, amazing Sykes guitar work. Just a fantastic album. 
4. Skid Row - 'Slave to the Grind'
The supreme Skid Row album. 'Monkey Business' is one of the most underrated songs of all time. 
3. Def Leppard - 'Hysteria'
The Mutt Lange production masterpiece. 
2. Motley Crue - 'Dr Feelgood'
The Bob Rock production masterpiece. This is one of my all time favourite albums and I keep one copy in my house and one in my car at all times.
1. Guns n Roses - 'Appetite for Destruction'
You just can't go past this. What an album. What an attitude. What an era. Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff and Steven. That's the true band. 

Tell that to Skull "what has Martin Popoff ever done before the internet" Kollector. The @Skull_Kollektor refuses to acknowledge the existence of Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles. Actually, where is Skully these days? 
Great post Morbid. I felt the nostalgia and I felt great empathy. 
I forgot to mention that I used to read Metal Hammer back in the late 90s too. That was a strange magazine sometimes, touching on nu-metal and being obsessed with Peter Steele. It was really too commercial for my tastes, so the discovery of Terrorizer was a supreme moment. 
As for the hilarious pen-pal ads, I used to be fascinated by the English ones as well - they were always so colloquially British. Now here I am online as a 400 year old vampire... the more things change hey?  

My favourite Nightwish wannabe band is probably Within Temptation. Their first four albums are really good (although for some reason I haven't heard much of the third one and I own the fourth). Still, it's hard to get excited by them. Every other wannabe band sucks. 

Yeah I'm with you, he has an amazing catalogue! I mean, there's songs (especially on "Blizzard") that have been played to death and yet I'm never getting tired of them. "Crazy Train" anyone?
I just wish he and his band played "Over the Mountain" more often!
I think that "Let's Get Crazy" is a pretty good release. Unfortunately the shows are incomplete and the one from "Bark at the Moon" sounds better than the other one, but I find them perfectly listenable. I'm probably biased, though...
Speaking about the guitar slingers that were "scouted" by Ozzy and Dio (or, more accurately, by Dana Strum and Jimmy Bain), it's amazing how poor Jake E Lee got screwed up by both! It's pretty obvious that the riff of Dio's "Don't Talk to Strangers" is the product of Jake E Lee's guitar proficiency, yet that song and the title track are the only ones off the "Holy Diver" record that were credited solely to Ronnie Dio (no band contribution). Come on, you can assume that Dio wrote "Holy Diver"'s riff by himself on a bass (actually it is not too far removed from "Heaven and Hell" and both are in A minor, like so many other hard'n'heavy riffs), but how the hell could he pretend to have come up with a riff like "Don't Talk To Strangers"'? NO WAY! Jake himself has said in many interviews that it was his own riff... Ozzy and Sharon did even worse than Ronnie and Wendy (Dio's wife... who actually was Aynsley Dumbar's EX wife... Aynsley whose 60's band was Aynsley Dumbar's Retaliation, whom were covered by Black Sabbath on their debut album - the song is "The Warning"... Aynsley who drummed for John Mayall and the original Journey incarnation... Aynsely who played drums on Whitesnake's breakthrough album, "1987" or "Serperns Albus or "Whitesnake" alongside John Sykes who was one of the three guitarists that Jimmy Bain had recommended to Dio for his solo band... Aynsley who played drums on... JAKE E LEE's solo album "Retraced" in 2005 alongside Tim Bogert... who used to play with Carmine Appice in Vanilla Fudge, Cactus and Beck, Bogert & Appice... Carmine who drummed for Ozzy when Jake was in the band during part of the "Bark at the Moon" tour, until Sharon kicked him out for, allegedly, stealing the show and being too visually loud on a stage that belonged to Ozzy... and, naturally, Carmine who founded King Kobra right after... and... Carmine who is brother to Dio's original drummer Vinny Appice of Derringer, Axis, Black Sabbath, WWIII and many more's fame... I could go on, but I'll stop :D).
Sorry for the excursus in brackets... back to Ozzy and Sharon: the whole "Bark at the Moon" album is credited to Ozzy! Music & Lyrics! Could you imagine Ozzy coming up with "Bark at the moon's" monster riff? NO FUCKING WAY (would Eric Adams say)!
So... those riffs, TO ME, represent the "Riffs à la Jake E Lee". On my old laptop I have a playlist with a few dozen songs each and every one of which starts with a "Riff à la Jake E Lee". To give you an example: GARY MOORE's "SPEAK FOR YOURSELF"! As Jake-y as it gets!
 

That's the stuff.
Today I woke up and listened to half of Elvis "for lp fans only" while showering, then I moved on to Rolling Stones "Aftermath" while having breakfast, then Motorhead "Rock N Roll" on the way to work. Some 12 hours later, Chicago "Chicago V" on the way back from work and finally my own shitty songs. A pseudo power metal tune entitled "Master of Your Soul", a prog/space rock instrumental and my own trashy glam anthem "I just dig somebody else". I suck, but I like me.

Amaranthe boomerang. Digital word. Couple of within temptation songs on youtube

Metal pub PA:
Judas Priest
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Megadeth
now a band I don't recognise but who are way worse than the previous few songs.
 

Accept - Fight It Back

Pretty much all of those choices would count as power metal, other than Manowar anyway. Who cares if you can only list the old stuff? New power metal is shit!
 
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Somehow I own a copy of "The Last Command" on CD. I did not purchase it, have never listened to it, and have only the faintest suspicion about where it might have come from. The cover photo can be relied on to make me chuckle.
 
NP: Fen - Winter

WASP "The Last Command" - now it's a party.
WASP "Inside The Electric Circus" - why is this album so long?  Trim it to the first 8 tracks and you have a great record.  Run the full 14 on this copy and it's a struggle! "D.B. Blues" - wtf???

You're not old enough to be a fossil. You're more of a paleontologist.

Ok had to read that a second time. No offence but boy am I ever glad we won't be sharing an island. Let's give this another go and see if my list changes at all...
 
Death
A flawless discography with plenty of variation and tremendous relistenability...is that even a word?
 
Bathory
We won't talk about Quorthon's little episode in the middle there. Great variety and inspiration to build a longboat out of palm trees lol.
 
Pink Floyd
Do I need to say anything here? Too many masterpieces to name.
 
My Dying Bride
Variety is the spice of life and MDB have it in spades. Some albums are certainly stronger then others but overall I couldn't imagine going without these guys.
 
Running Wild
The perfect music for sitting around wondering why the rum is gone...

Poison Idea - We Must Burn

Sex Pistols - Flogging a Dead Horse

UK SUBS - Stranglehold

Haha yeh they're great! That song has been sampled so many times made me listen to Cypress Hill actually..'What's ya number'..
That's interesting, wasn't aware of that.

Exactly! Incredible lyrics and delivery. So confronting, so in yer face!
With your hands on your head, or on the trigger of your gun.
As a matter of fact, reading that magazine got me so hooked on the London Calling album, that it made wanna reach out to my complete collection of Mott The Hoople. Their first 3 albums and the fourth happen to be produced by the same Guy Stevens who produced London Calling. And apparently those records were among the reasons that made Mick Jones pick him up. "Mad Shadows" is brutal. The album opener tramples all over your ears!

"When they kick at your front door, how you gonna come?"