Hair Metal

by Martin Popoff

The Popoff Archive series represents a project from long-time rock 'n' roller-interviewer Martin Popoff to make public his considerable archive of interviews conducted from 1994 to the present day. A majority chunk of every one of these in-depth chats has never been seen, outside of the quotes used for the much shorter features and news pieces for which they were conducted.

Genres: Music

260 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

At approximately 7900 (with over 7000 appearing in his books), Martin has unofficially written more record reviews than anybody in the history of music writing across all genres. Additionally, Martin has penned approximately 85 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. He was Editor-In-Chief of the now retired Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Canada’s foremost metal publication for 14 years, and has also contributed to Revolver, Guitar World, Goldmine, Record Collector, bravewords.com, lollipop.com and hardradio.com, with many record label band bios and liner notes to his credit as well. Additionally, Martin has been a regular contractor to Banger Films, having worked for two years as researcher on the award-winning documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, on the writing and research team for the 11-episode Metal Evolution and on the ten-episode Rock Icons, both for VH1 Classic. Additionally, Martin is the writer of the original metal genre chart used in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and throughout the Metal Evolution episodes. Martin currently resides in Toronto and can be reached through martinp@inforamp.net or www.martinpopoff.com.

Reviews

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent selection of interviews. I was never a huge hair metal guy, although I've seen Poison five times and they were always great, and I've seen several of the other bands because they've toured with Poison (Warrant, Cinderella twice, Quiet Riot) and seen Skid Row as an opening act twice as well, although unfortunately, never with Sebastian Bach. But I do know most of the bands, and thought it was interesting to hear what they had to say now that there hey day has come and gone. I was impressed with the intelligence of several of the guys who I'd never heard from before - Bobby Dahl, Don Dokken - and also impressed with how these guys continue to soldier on. I've read interviews with Rikki Rockett before and also thought he was worth listening to. There wasn't an inteview in here that seemed like filler to me.

I find that with most of Popoff's books, you get insight into behind-the-scenes stuff that you wouldn't ordinarily. So here, we find out about who handles the band's business - quite often, it's not the guys that are front and centre. A couple of the drummers, a bassist - it's interesting to see the division of labour. Also, always interesting how musicians view albums that they've put out from a distance - do they still stand behind it, are there regrets, are there things the would have done differently? - just great stuff.

I also should mention Dee Snider. I've never read anything from Dee Snider, including his autobiography, where I wasn't impressed with his intelligence, and with his ability to clearly see where he and his band fit into the overall picture. Two interviews with him here, I believe, and both were very insightful, full of great stories.

I can't recommend this book enough. I've never been a big hair metal fan, but I love reading about it. And Popoff likes LA Guns Vicious Circle as much as I do! I'm pleased, because most of the reviews I've seen tend to malign it, and I always thought it was the strongest thing in their catalogue.