3 Hair Metal Bands That Went From MTV Fame to Obscurity

Like any genre, there are many tiers of hair metal bands. Unlike Mötley Crüe and Guns N’ Roses, many hard rock bands from the 1980s disappeared into obscurity after MTV fame. While some have continued to play the county fair or cruise circuits, they’ve returned to a subculture of bands that once rode the popular hair metal wave alongside Poison, Warrant, Cinderella, and others. But for a brief moment, they each had at least one song getting played regularly on MTV.

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Britny Fox

Half of Britny Fox started with Cinderella. Guitarist Michael Kelly Smith and drummer Tony Destra left Tom Keifer’s band in 1985 and formed Britny Fox. (Destra died in a car accident in 1987 and was replaced by Johnny Dee.) The lineup also featured bassist Billy Childs and singer “Dizzy” Dean Davidson. That’s the thing about hair metal, the musicians had names like Izzy, Dizzy, and Jizzy (don’t ask). Britny Fox looked like Cinderella but echoed the shouty arena anthems of KISS, and their minor hits “Girlschool” and “Long Way To Love” received airplay on MTV. But the band became a casualty of alternative rock’s popularity as rock groups in Victorian outfits were no longer fashionable.

Faster Pussycat

Faster Pussycat emerged from the Sunset Strip with “Bathroom Wall” and “Don’t Change That Song”. The band shared a bluesy rawness with L.A. Guns and Guns N’ Roses but wouldn’t see much commercial success until its follow-up, Wake Me When It’s Over. Though a more polished effort, the band kept its punk spirit as heard on “Slip Of The Tongue”. But the power ballad “House Of Pain” gave Faster Pussycat its only Gold record and was played endlessly on MTV. There was one more major label release, but that was 1992, with Lollapalooza in full swing. Singer Taime Downe reinvented Faster Pussycat as an industrial rock project and continues to perform under the name with a revolving lineup.

Bulletboys

Bulletboys arrived in 1988 with an MTV hit called “Smooth Up In Ya”. (Hair metal bands weren’t subtle.) Singer Marq Torien previously played guitar in Ratt and later auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne’s band following the death of Randy Rhoads. But he resembled David Lee Roth while fronting Bulletboys. The group worked with Ted Templeman, who also produced the Roth-era Van Halen albums, and “Smooth Up In Ya” became Bulletboys’ only hit. Though they released two more albums on Warner Bros. Records, Bulletboys failed to duplicate the success of their debut single.

Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns