Part III Page 3
However, pop metal eventually became too accessible and flashy and needed revitalizing. Whitesnake, which epitomized the common successful glam metal band, was already dying out despite its existence since the Seventies, and only the strongest and best bands were surviving: Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, and Motley Crue. The scene needed a new type of band; a band that was not as polished and accessible, a band that came from the sleazy and edgy streets. Enter Guns n' Roses.
Guns n' Roses was what the pop metal scene needed. Appetite for Destruction was a searing, raw, and aggressive affair, featuring Slash's bluesy guitar licks and Axl Rose's hanging-on-to-dear-life vocals. Guns n' Roses took the spotlight with its mix of the Hanoi Rocks, the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, and previous pop metal acts with songs like "Welcome to the Jungle," "Night Train," and "My Michelle," while showing its softer side on "Sweet Child O' Mine." With the band invading the media massively after what had seemed to be an initial failure, Guns n' Roses had saved pop metal from commercial extinction and would eventually reign the scene along with Motley Crue, while Def Leppard and Bon Jovi enjoyed long breaks.
The coming of Guns n' Roses, however, would not prevent new accessible bands from appearing. Poison and Warrant were probably the best and most noticeable of these; although they weren't something completely new, their songs were original and catchy, but their extreme use of makeup and glamorous clothing would incite critics everywhere to attack them as throwaway bands. White Lion was also an important pop metal offering; although some of the band's songs were rather trite, much of its material was also quite impressive; especially songs like "Lights and Thunder," "If My Mind Is Evil," and "Leave Me Alone." Meanwhile, the bluesier Cinderella offered a string of honest and straightforward rock albums, and Tesla did likewise, shunning the glam image in the process. The far more experienced outfit Dokken was yet another historical feature of pop metal, displaying George Lynch's blazing fretwork and a heavier influence of technical musicianship (as well as the epitome of what would eventually become all of glam metal's cliche's), while Europe blasted through the charts with the melodic masterpiece "The Final Countdown." Others like the Christian Stryper, the often criticized Winger and Great White, Mr. Big, Bad English, Damn Yankees, and Slaughter made up an important part of the scene. There was also the rather memorable Skid Row, but its line-up would eventually venture into much heavier grounds, despite the heavy success of its debut album: Skid Row.
