Top 5 Sleaze Rock Bands According to the Evil Villain Himself – Chris Damien Doll (Suicide Bombers)
Looking for your next sleaze glam fix? Start with the bands that inspired the master himself.
It’s no secret that we at Junkyard Rock Stories love talking about sleaze rock, glam, and hair metal. But what we love even more is getting opinions from others — especially standout members of the newer generation carrying the torch for this wild and dirty genre.
That’s why we sat down “for a coffee of sleaze” with none other than Chris Damien Doll, frontman of the Norwegian sleaze rockers Suicide Bombers, and hit him with the classic question:
“Hey Chris, what are your Top 5 hair/glam/sleaze bands of all time?”
Now, Chris isn’t just a frontman par excellence with the stage presence of an evil villain — he’s also a die-hard fan and collector of this music. And while he’s out there living the sleaze rock dream, there’s no better time to catch up with him.
Suicide Bombers have just dropped a brand-new video for their latest single, Where the Time Always Goes, and are currently gearing up for an explosive UK tour alongside fellow rockers Trench Dogs and Continental Lovers. With that kind of momentum, don’t you even dare ask if the sleaze scene is still alive.
What was really outstanding is that he didn’t just give us a list — he also explained how and why each of these bands influenced him, both as a musician and a rock music lover. These are his picks, while we choose the music!
VAiN
This is definitely one of my top 10 bands overall, in any category, with several “desert island records” under their belts. They absolutely need to be on this list.
VAiN has that great rock’n’roll attitude about them. The element of danger that makes it so exciting. You know that it’s real with VAiN.
Their songwriting and sound is totally original and a lot of that stems from singer Davy Vain‘s highly unique voice and way of constructing vocal melodies. I did 2 in depth radio shows entitled “My Vain Story” – Parts 1 & 2 for Metal Express Radio, which go into great detail for those who want to dive further. You find them both on YouTube now. Here and here.
VAiN is most famous for their 1989 debut No Respect, but has since released a lot of equally great records. Sometimes varying in genre, but never losing their uniqueness. No Respect, Enough Rope, Rolling With The Punches, Disintegrate Together… all records you should own, as are the rest.
W.A.S.P.
W.A.S.P. was the first band I discovered as a kid that was both “of my generation” (even if I was a few years late) and have stuck with me as a favorite ever since. Of all the great LA bands of the 80’s and early 90’s, W.A.S.P. is my favorite by far.
They were a little darker than some of their contemporaries and, even if they had more theatre about them, they also had that cool attitude I like. I found myself in recent years being more aware of that part of why I like bands and haven’t really thought about that since the early 90’s.
Blackie Lawless is an outstanding lyricist, which is always the icing on the cake for me. He also has a very unique voice with so many facets to it.
W.A.S.P. is one of the few bands of that generation who have stuck to their guns the entire time and never changed too much. They keep releasing good quality records too. Their 3 last ones are very strong, but so is most of their catalog.
HANOi ROCKS
Not “metal” by any stretch of the word, but feels too weird to do a list like this without them. Hanoi Rocks were way ahead of their time and such a special, and original, band.
They had a fantastic image, reeked of rock’n’roll, mixed a lot of different styles of music into a blend all of their own.
They were outstanding musicians and always delivered with an intensity and a punch most should envy them, but their biggest strength, and the reason we keep mentioning them all these years later, is the brilliant songwriting. So layered and so cool. The arrangements, especially, are where it’s at.
Hanoi Rocks were young and broke. Their first records have the best songwriting, but the cheapest production and out of tune vocals, while their later albums have stellar production, but not as good songwriting. You can’t go wrong with either one of their 80’s records, but if you want one in between where performance, production and songwriting all shine as bright as possible, Selfdestruction Blues is where you start.
SPACE AGE PLAYBOYS
As I don’t acknowledge the term hair metal at all (it was invented by grunge and alternative music snobs in the 90’s and used as a passive aggressive way to look down their noses at any music from the 80’s) I take the liberty to stretch it again.
Space Age Playboys, the band, is of course when Warrior Soul singer Kory Clarke decided to dive headfirst into his David Bowie obsession and create a drug-fuelled, spaced out, futuristic glam band and succeeded so magnificently!
The Warrior Soul record of the same name is even better, but this is way up there too.
Kory Clarke is one of my all time fave lyricists; his attitude dripping with snot. This is self empowerment music for when you feel good and especially when you feel bad.
Musically this is metalized punk, but the wrapping with Kory‘s silver hair and feathers is so glam. They released one studio album and one live album and both are great.
ZODIAC MiNDWARP & THE LOVE REACTION
This one was tough… I LOVE RATT for instance, and most of the other 80’s LA bands I like (MANY!) have much stronger catalogs overall than these guys, but Zodiac has that one (!) record that’s just so immensely cool. They deserve this place regardless.
Zodiac Mindwarp is one of those bands that come with a whole “universe” of their own making.
Music, design, slogans, artwork, image, packaging, attitude… everything comes together so perfectly to build a total that is so much stronger than the sum of it’s parts. They are an acid biker gang from space and there is no holding them back. Their lyrics are also exceptionally good.
The album in question is of course 1988’s Tattooed Beat Messiah; Sleaze rock perfection and one that should be in every furnished home. This is Chris from Suicide Bombers top 5 hair glam bands.
We told you, guys — you should always ask for music recommendations from the people who live and breathe it. Bet you learned something new about Chris, what influenced him, what is fueling the Bombers and maybe even found something new to explore. Until next time — keep it cool, keep it sleaze!
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