Ermm.. try to rewrite history much????
I grew up in the 80s... I was around for the spawn of Heavy Metal as Disco died and classic rock gave way to a generation of "anger-fueled" rock.. later coined Heavy Metal... all of which NO radio station would EVER play until sometime later, in the 90s.
The "problem" with MTV, 80s record exec's, et. Al., is that they never really understood what "Heavy Metal" actually was. They were always completely out of touch with the actual metal community. They didn't understand the sound, the attitude, the musicality.. none of it. This mini-series is no different.
Calling the bands featured in this "Heavy Metal" is an insult to actual Heavy Metal.
Many of the bands mentioned in this I had either never heard of or they were jokes in the 80's "metal" heyday. NONE of them were what my friends and I referred to as "metal".
These are all bands my friends and I referred to as "Glam rock" - where doing hair and makeup and picking out a good "outfit" for stage was FAR more important than any actual music. When I first saw a a headshot photo of Poison in a Guitar World, or similar, magazine I honestly thought it was a girl band. THAT was Glam Rock - these bands. No one listened to these songs because there was some fantastic guitar or drum riff in them.. or the base line was so solid... no... The music was irrelevant to many of these bands and just a vehicle to a lifestyle with a lot of women and as little responsibility as possible.
All the bands featured here sounded the same in the 80s, there was really no differentiating factor to any of them - Winger, Motley Crue, Stryker, Skid Row, Ratt, Poison -- all relatively androgynous, big hair, eye-liner bands with vocal ranges that could often be seamlessly moved from one band to another (because they all sounded the same). Some may have been lucky and made an impression with ONE song from their FIRST album, but that was it (Quiet Riot, Motley Crue). However, the "chicks" really liked them so.... the "dudes" had to tolerate them (if they wanted the girls).
The bands featured here were part of a VERY SMALL MICROCOSM in Los Angeles that's all. These bands were a reflection of a small "clique" of musicians in LA at the time - which is why you often find these band members moving from band to band to band.. it was all the same (estimated) 50 people, that's all. And NONE if the "music" had ANYTHING to do with the rest of the country. It was nothing more than bubblegum glam rock the record execs could get radio stations to actually play at the time. (cough - kickbacks)
This mini-series is like a video version of "Headbanger's Ball - where are they now" -- a bunch of bands that were NEVER as popular as MTV and Record Companies thought they were. I don't have sales figures. I just know most of these bands were "Headbanger's Ball" feature bands.. and they were all laughable at the time. REAL Metal bands OFTEN gave the host "crap" for what was being called "Metal" and the host even commented several times that he "had to play what they told him to play." - I think that's in the Decline of Western Civilization documentary series.
The "suits" in charge were all too fearful to promote ACTUAL metal like Mortorhead, Metallica, Megadeth, Testament, Suicidal Tendencies, COC, DRI, etc.. so they churned out these "crap" glam bands that really didn't care about any music and were willing to sell their souls and integrity for a record deal.
There's no real "substance" in this mini-series.. a few past musicians commenting on where they are now, or some passing comment about the band as a whole.... and some whining about how the grunge movement killed their future.
It was interesting.. but more as a "parade of delusion" than anything else. If ya make the same music everyone else around you is making and sound the same as all the other bands around you..... why would you ever last???
To be clear.... There was some great musical ABILITY in some of these bands.. unfortunately. They all "drank the Kool-aid" and decided to be near duplicates of everyone around them... so they naturally all died at the same time. The true musicians in these bands found ways to keep making music.
RE: Kip Winger... Beavis & Butthead did NOT make you a "joke". Your band was a joke already - for all the reasons outlined above - which is WHY the t-shirt was used on Beavis & Butthead. You've got things backwards.
