Rare Glam Metal Tracks With More Than 1M Streams On Spotify
Over a million streams on Spotify, huh? That doesn’t necessarily indicate anything specific, as it could change literally overnight if your song blows up on TikTok or if it’s featured in a famous series or movie. On the other hand, if your song was uploaded to streaming services 10 years ago, it’s not the same as if it were uploaded yesterday, due to some legal battles with your former label.
Anyway, that doesn’t stop us from creating this list of rare glam metal tracks that have more than one million streams on Spotify.
If you’re a casual fan of ‘big bands,’ you might be surprised by these songs. However, if you’re a hardcore fan, it’s all normal to you. You’re probably wondering why these bands don’t have many more streams… because they deserve it, right?
Yeah, let’s proceed to the list. Here are lesser-known bands (below A and B tier) with songs that have more than a million streams on Spotify right now! We tried to eliminate bands that have multiple songs surpassing 1 million streams and listed only those with one or two.
Shotgun Messiah – Heartbreak Blvd.
Swedish sleaze metalers released only three albums before disbanding, and “Heartbreak Blvd” with Tim Skold on vocals is probably their biggest song of all time. Coming from their second album, “Second Coming,” this song was an ultimate hit and is the only one that has more than 1 million streams.
Baton Rouge – Walk Like Woman
Two full albums and one based on old demos were all that we got from these Louisiana rockers back in the day. Anyway, their ultimate hit “Walks Like A Woman” goes very strong, nearing almost 2 million streams.
Vain – Beat The Bullet
San Francisco glam rockers Vain are still present today, and over all these years, they have released seven full albums. The best one being their debut, “No Respect,” that brought several iconic glam metal hymns, such as “Beat The Bullet,” which is the only one with more than 1 million streams for now.
Sleeze Beez – Stranger Than Paradise
Similar to Shotgun Messiah, who moved to LA from Sweden, Sleeze Beez made the same decision, moving to the City of Angels from the Netherlands. Their first album, “Screwed Blued and Tattooed,” made the charts, and “Stranger Than Paradise” was a big MTV hit. It still is today on streaming platforms along with the ballad I Don’t Want To Live Without You that has even more streams than the one we chose.
Babylon A.D. – Bang Go The Bells
Another Bay Area band on this list, which also moved to LA, has released only four albums to this day, with the last one in 2017. Their first release from 1989 is still the biggest one with the triplets of hits like “Hammer Swings Down,” “Kid Goes Wild” (that was featured in Robocop 2), and “Bang Go The Bells.” Interestingly, only the latter managed to get more than 1 million streams. If Robocop were released today on Netflix, “Kid Goes Wild” would probably blow up on TikTok or something.
Bang Tango – Someone Like You
Bang Tango was a beast of a band back in the day, and they would probably have more songs for this list if their first two albums were available on Spotify everywhere. Seriously, they were not available here where we are until recently. Anyway, “Someone Like You” is an ultimate hit from their first album, and there is nothing strange about it being on this list. We are waiting for more songs to surpass the million.
Dangerous Toys – Teas’n, Pleas’n
Texas sleaze rockers Dangerous Toys have four albums in their catalogue released from 1989 to 1995, and they have two songs that fit our list. Both are from the debut album, with one being “Scared,” which has well over 2 million streams, and the other one is the one that we chose. We said not more than two songs, and “Teas’n, Pleas’n” sits at a solid 1.8 million streams right now.
Love/Hate – Blackout In The Red Room
Love/Hate has only two (three if you count the latest Jizzy’s release, Hell CA from 2022) albums on this streaming service, despite the fact that they released several more during the ’90s. Anyway, up until this day, their biggest release was their debut, “Blackout In The Red Room,” which gave us a song for this list with well over 1.8 million streams right now. Yeah, it is “Blackout In The Red Room,” of course.
Pretty Boy Floyd – Set The Night On Fire
It was either this one or “I Wanna Be With You,” but since we don’t like ballads, we chose the pretty awesome “Set The Night On Fire” from Pretty Boy Floyd’s 1999 compilation album, “Porn Stars. That was actually a re-recording of the song from their 1989 debut, “Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz.” It’s weird how this version got more than one million streams but not the original one.
Tykketo – Forever Young
New York rockers Tyketto signed with Geffen Records for their 1991 debut album, “Don’t Come Easy,” but failed to compete with the grunge-oriented industry in the coming years. The only song that has one million streams comes from this album, although they have released four more to this day. Rumor has it that they are working on a new one that is going to come out in 2024.
Killer Dwarfs – Dirty Weapons
Canadian rockers Killer Dwarfs are likely on every hardcore hair/glam metal fan’s playlist, and this song probably comes up 99% of the time. From their most successful album, ‘Dirty Weapons,’ it is the only song with over a million plays.
Tigertailz – Love Bomb Baby
This song holds a significant place in the Welsh band’s discography, boasting over two million streams, standing alone in that position. No other songs from Tigertailz’s catalog fit our list and surpass the magical million, which is why we have chosen it. Coming from their 1990 album ‘Bezerk,’ this is not surprising, as the album entered the UK Top 40 Album Charts back in the day.
Lee Aaron – Whatcha Do To My Body
Returning to Canada, we find the biggest hit from the glam metal queen Lee Aaron. Coming from the 1990 album ‘Bodyrock,’ which was the best-charting album in her long career, it is the only song that has surpassed one million streams. By the way, she is still active and rocking, consistently releasing great albums, with her latest one being ‘Elevate’ from 2022.
Saraya – Love Has Taken It’s Toll
Another cool female-fronted band from the late ’80s finds its way onto our playlist, and it’s Saraya, fronted by the charismatic Sandi Saraya. They only released two albums in their career, but fans still appreciate songs like the one we have here.
Junkyard – Simple Man
No, we are not named after this L.A. band. It’s a different story. Anyway, it’s nice to see Junkyard on this list of the ‘magic million.’ They were part of the ‘Cathouse Sleaze Rock Scene,’ and their debut album from 1989 is still, to this day, a staple for every sleaze rock fan.
Little Caesar – Chain Of Fools
Let’s finish this list with a good old ’80s street hard rock anthem from Little Caesar’s debut album. Fun fact: Did you know that Bob Rock produced this album, and they were signed to Geffen Records? Anyway, only this song from their catalog fits our list.
This is it for now. If you want more rare songs from lesser known 80’s glam metal bands, than stream the hell out of them.
And for all “anti-Spotify” people, we created a YouTube playlist for you to enjoy!
