Don't Call It Hair Metal: Art in the Excess of '80s Rock

A love letter to the hard-rocking, but often snubbed, music of the era of excess: the 1980s

There may be no more joyous iteration in all of music than 1980s hard rock. It was an era where the musical and cultural ideals of rebellion and freedom of the great rock ’n’ roll of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s were taken to dizzying heights of neon excess. Attention to songcraft, showmanship, and musical virtuosity (especially in the realm of the electric guitar) were at an all-time high, and radio and...