Hair metal has become synonymous with late-80s excess and VH1 ironic nostalgia specials. Many people consider the advent of grunge as something akin to divine providence due to its role in sweeping the radio clean of the scourge of hair (a.k.a. glam) metal.

Now, I’d be the last one to deny that there were some talentless overexposed glam bands. But there were also some genuinely talented bands that wrote some pretty good rock songs. (And, let’s not forget: grunge itself quickly become overexposed to the point of self-parody; it didn’t help that every record company was frantically signing second-, third-, and fourth-rate flannel-clad Nirvana and Pearl Jam sound-alikes.) Every genre of music has some original talent. Even the much reviled boy band and pop tart craze of the early 00’s produced some genuinely talented artists like Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

So, here’s a little sampling of some good glam metal:

First, Mötley Crüe, an early track, “Live Wire.” This is raw, punk-tinged rock played by guys who happen to look a lot like girs (except for the unfortunately homely Mick Mars). Also: Nikki Sixx gets set on fire in this video. Diagnosis? Awesome.

Poison, “Talk Dirty to Me” – I once saw an interview with Poison where they were asked about jumping on the hair metal bandwagon. Their response? “We built the wheels on that f—— wagon!” (Paraphrased from memory). But look: these guys just wrote some darn catchy songs, of which this is a premier example.

Skid Row – “Monkey Business.” These guys kind of straddled the line between hair metal and just plain metal. In fact, I once saw Sebastian Bach (post-SR) open for Anthrax and Pantera. On the other hand, they were not above a little power ballad action. But definitely a cut above many of their competitors.

Gn’R – “Sweet Child O’ Mine” – it’s debatable if they should even be considered glam metal – they definitely had glam influences, but also punk, blues, and straight-up rock. In some ways they were the death rattle of glam metal – overlapping with the grunge era. And they injected some much-needed sleaziness and meanness into a genre that had become too bubble gum (compare, e.g. Winger). Appetite for Destruction (released 20 years ago!!) still holds up. Will Chinese Democracy ever see the light of day? Axl only knows.