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Just read the lineup to a co-worker. His response: Dude, I haven't even heard some of those NAMES in 15 years much less their music.

And for the record, I was card carrying member of the Slaughter fan club as a kid. "Fly To The Angels" was my tune.

My first concert ever: Firehouse (with Tesla).

Pretty excited about this one.

When I first read this I was so excited because I LOVED Samantha Fox but now I see it's Britney Fox. Who the hell is Britney Fox?

PS. My first real concert: Poison with Slaughter. Such memories.

Looks like Jason McMaster will be doing double duty with both Dangerous Toys on the 31st and Broken Teeth on the 1st. I'd say the Alice Cooper-topped bill looks the best. Now, can someone get any pics of Bret Michaels bald dome? Enough with the bandanas and cowboy hats already!!!

This reminds me of Heavy Metal Mania at the Coliseum in 1987. Lineup:

Faster Pussycat
Loudness
TNT
Y&T
Ace Frehley
Gary Moore

My first ever concert was at the original Cardi's on Westheimer and Fountain View - Yngwie Malmsteen with Talas.

I was such a metal nerd.

One wonders why they chose perhaps the hottest week of the year in Houston when they could've waited 6 weeks and had better weather.

Wow, a golden oldies tour.

Ok I'll give props to Hagar and also Dee Snyder is pretty droll but, man, this is pretty awful. I was around when a lot of this stuff came out the first time and it was awful then. It represented everything that was lazy and bloated about rock and roll and there was a reason why it all looked ridiculous after Nirvana broke.

Nevertheless, it’s a good reminder how much rubbish existed in the 80s and that underground and alternative bands were really (commercially speaking) nobodies in a sea of fluff.

I know that's the prevailing opinion, Ramon, but I think a lot of this stuff has held up pretty well over time - and, you have to admit, a lot of the "underground" stuff that people think bands like Skid Row and Great White kept from being more widely known by choking off all its airplay was pretty terrible too.

Not all of it, of course, and in a much different way, but I'd wager there was just as many awful punk, hardcore and indie bands as hair-metal groups. Still are, even.

Just my opinion, of course. And beyond that, on a purely visceral level, I still turn up "Once Bitten, Twice Shy," "Eighteen" "I Can't Drive 55" every damn time they come on the radio. And Slave to the Grind I think is an extremely underrated album.

Whoa, I agree with Ramon.

Those bands sucked the first time around and they still suck.

But then Chris is right too. There was a lot that sucked about the '80s and it was not limited to hair metal.

Oh God, my camera was still reeling from the Bret Michaels show back in May.

Sure, some of these bands "suck" (Firehouse???) but you can say that about any genre. I am not a big fan of hair metal, but frankly I'd take the "Nuthin' But a Good Time" sentiment of these acts over the shoegazing we're-so-serious-for-our-art indie rock acts of the day. Plus, hair and pop metal videos had a lot of really hot women that, uh, stirred a lot of senses in men of my age group at the time.

And this stuff WAS hugely popular at the time (you probably know more songs than you're willing to admit..), so shows like this one and Rocklahoma are showing that there's a lot of people who still want to hear the music.

Oh don't get me wrong Bob there was and is a lot of indie/alt/punk/et al. crap out there. Hair metal just was something that by and large I couldn't buy as a genre becasue most of the acts were so dreadful. I mean which would you rather have listened to in the 80's - Motorhead and Metallica or Warrant and Ratt? That's not even a contest. And don't get me wrong either on Pop; I will pop on an old Cheap Trick album and totally dig it. On the whole Hair Metal didn't have enough sweat and heft to be good metal and it didn't have smart enough hooks to be good pop.

I mean take "Ain't nothin' but a good time" by Poison (Brett Michaels). Like most of these songs all I know is the chorus via osmosis (you couldn't escape it at the time) but it's just such a lazy hook. Really how far was that from Debbie Gibson? It really wasn't. I mean I can get behind the debauchery these bands were going for and all that. More power to them but in the end it was just crappy minor league pop with guitar solos.

Like we both said this stuff was really popular and a lot of people liked it. Unfortunately, I just think it's mostly uninteresting fluff.

I'll go with Motorhead and Ratt. Even I can't justify Warrant, except that a couple of their videos probably sped up puberty a bit.

But I have to be honest, I respect the hell out of Metallica, and have seen them live a couple of times, but they're just too damn humorless for me to take in anything greater than song-length doses anymore.

Out of the Cellar, on the other hand, is nothing but sleazy Sunset Strip fun from start to finish. I still listen to that record.

Ramon,

Motorhead rules!!!!

That's why the real metal show of the year in Houston is going to be the Judas Priest/Heaven & Hell/Motorhead/Testament show.

I got to interview Lemmy over the phone in 1991 for the "March or Die" and he was pretty funny. He was also pretty drunk, and you could tell in his voice. He should be called "Phlegmmy."

Even if I personally don't like a band or genre, I understand that others do. It's just personal preference, so I never think it's "right" or "wrong." You likes what you likes.

Most hair metal acts I personally never had any use for, especially Bret Michaels and Poison. But when I got to talk to him a few years ago, I was surprised at how intelligent and what a good conversationalist he was. He was pushing a Poison reunion single at the time, and asked me - by call letters! - which local stations were or weren't playing it.

Oh I'm not sayign there is a right or wrong...except for Motorhead of course.

And yes The Motorhead, Sabbath, Priest thing will rule! Heavy Metal parking lot! YUSS!

One last thing! I missed out on the Maiden show earlier this year - that makes me a total poser!