Well of course i'm going to go with the 'at the time' arguements , how can I not if you're discussing hair metal. Unless you're trying to argue it's just as prevalent now as it was then.
I don't think Pop metal describes them at all considering they hated metal.
Guns n Roses played Stones style rock n roll with a punk attitude.
I don't see how that's generic as I can only think of 3 other bands that did that sort of thing. The New York Dolls , Hanoi Rocks and Primal Scream. And none of those bands sounded anything alike.

'At the time' refers to them being different from other bands during the time they played, but not different from bands in the past, i.e. Wolfmother.
@Predator: I've heard all the songs you mentioned, and everyone of them falls under the two categories I mentioned.
@Urban: How the hell did they not play pop influenced Metal? They sound nothing like The Rolling Stones with a Punk attitude. They played Pop-Metal, with maybe a bit of a punk attitude, and tryed to sound 'mature' by making power ballads later down the line. If you disagree, then whatever, but that's the way I see it. I just don't get where you're coming from with Stones style Rock&Roll with a punk attitude.

How do I know?

By reading what the band members themselves said their influences were. In fact they covered a bunch of Stones songs for their demos.

Ahh yes, I remember now, pianos were a staple of hair metal, along with an entire f*cking orchestra. Can't forget how all hair metal bands did acoustic albums. And every one of them had amazing guitarists. You are diluted if you think they didn't offer any originality.

Yes. I'm very diluted. I'm calling them Pop Metal tto make you feel better, remember? Once again, they tried to sound more 'mature' by doing power ballads and other things 'mature' bands do.

:laughing:

Naturally in 1987 I heard Appetite For Destruction & thought to myself
" Hmmm this is OK but in 17 years time a really average band will come along , maybe called Wolfmother and take away all it's impact".

Um...





Those are just some off the top of my head. A band using an orchestra doesn't make them original, nor do pianos or acoustic guitars. Guns and Roses were different than hair metal bands for some reasons, but the reasons you listed weren't them. Really the guitarist comment is only a valid one but I'm sure there were other hair metal bands with guys who could solo well.

Pop metal? What exactly is that? Pop refers to popular music. A band cannot choose to be pop. Tried to sound more mature? It wasn't looking for a mature sound, it was trying something different. Again, just because you don't like them doesn't mean they aren't any good.

Let me quote Suicidal here.

Ummm, Tesla is also not hair metal. Not sure what the first one was.

My point was not saying that those things made them original, the point was them trying different things. They were not generic.

It was Cinderella and using pianos and acoustic guitars isn't really trying different things since they were featured in most power ballads. I can list other hair metal songs that featured acoustic guitars, Every Rose has Its Thorn is pretty famous for it.