Big hair. Bigger riffs. Leather trousers. Screaming guitar solos. Enough hairspray to punch a fresh hole in the ozone layer.
Welcome back to the glorious world of GLAM METAL, butt. 🤘😈
A massive countdown celebrating the 111 Best Glam Metal Songs has been making the rounds online, courtesy of glam-metal fanatic Felix Mertens, and one particular entry caught our attention here at The Riff Report.
Coming roaring into the countdown at…
🔥 #91 — Y&T – “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”
Now THAT is a proper choice.
While glam metal conversations often revolve around Mötley Crüe, Poison, Ratt, Cinderella, Warrant and Skid Row, there’s a whole treasure chest of melodic hard-rock brilliance sitting underneath the obvious classics.
And Y&T absolutely belong in that conversation.
🎸 Y&T – One of Hard Rock’s Great Underrated Bands
If you’ve spent enough time hanging around rock clubs, record fairs, festival bars or groups of people arguing about guitar tones, chances are you’ve encountered somebody who absolutely bloody loves Y&T.
And there’s good reason for it.
Originally formed as Yesterday & Today in California during the 1970s before eventually shortening their name to Y&T, the band developed into one of America’s most respected hard-rock outfits.
At the heart of it all was guitarist and vocalist Dave Meniketti, whose combination of monster guitar playing, powerful vocals and genuine songwriting chops helped give Y&T an identity of their own.
While they never quite reached the colossal commercial heights enjoyed by some of the bands that followed during the ’80s hard-rock explosion, their influence and reputation among rock fans remain huge.
Songs including “Forever,” “Mean Streak,” “Rescue Me,” “Summertime Girls” and “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” have kept Y&T firmly planted in the hearts of melodic hard-rock fans.
And if you’ve ever seen Y&T live?
You’ll already know.
These boys could absolutely PLAY.
💥 “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” appeared on Y&T’s 1987 album Contagious, arriving right in the middle of one of the most ridiculous periods in rock history.
And we mean ridiculous in the best possible way.
MTV was pumping hard rock into millions of homes.
Sunset Strip bands were multiplying faster than Greggs sausage rolls disappear after closing time.
Guitar manufacturers were seemingly competing to see who could build the pointiest instrument legally allowed in public.
And hair?
Good grief.
THE HAIR.
Entire cans of hairspray were presumably being emptied before breakfast.
Against that backdrop, Y&T delivered Contagious, packed with the kind of polished melodic hard rock that defined the era while still carrying the musicianship and harder edge that had made the band such a respected name.
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” fits beautifully into that world.
Catchy.
Melodic.
Guitar-driven.
Big chorus.
Big attitude.
Exactly what we came for.
💄 Glam Metal Was Completely Bonkers — And That’s Why We Love It
There’s something beautifully unapologetic about the glam-metal era.
Nobody was interested in subtlety.
If something could be made bigger, it was made bigger.
Drums?
BIGGER.
Guitars?
BIGGER.
Stages?
BIGGER.
Hair?
SWEET LORD, EVEN BIGGER.
Music videos regularly featured motorbikes, sports cars, smoke machines, explosions, abandoned warehouses and approximately 700 people who apparently spent every waking hour partying.
A guitarist couldn’t simply play a solo.
No.
He had to put one foot on a monitor, throw his head backwards and attempt to summon Satan through a Floyd Rose tremolo system.
🔥🎸😈
And we wouldn’t change a bloody thing.
🎤 The Songs Were Bigger Than the Hair
It’s easy to joke about glam metal’s visual excess — because, let’s face it, some of those outfits deserve their own documentary.
But underneath the eyeliner, spandex and mountains of hairspray was some seriously good musicianship.
That’s why these songs survive.
Bands understood the power of a riff.
They understood melody.
They understood choruses.
And they definitely understood guitar solos.
A great glam-metal chorus wasn’t something you politely listened to.
It was something designed to be screamed by 15,000 people simultaneously while holding plastic cups of questionable lager above their heads.
Then there were the power ballads.
Every band needed one.
Preferably accompanied by a music video involving rain.
Or candles.
Or somebody looking emotionally devastated next to a grand piano.
Then the guitarist appears on top of a mountain.
GUITAR SOLO.
Rain intensifies.
Somebody’s relationship ends.
MTV plays it seventeen times.
Job done. 😂🤘
🔥 The Glam Metal Hall of Riffage
Trying to rank 111 glam-metal songs is an absolutely heroic way to start an argument.
Because where do you even begin?
You’ve got:
Mötley Crüe
Poison
Ratt
Cinderella
Dokken
Skid Row
Warrant
Winger
Quiet Riot
Twisted Sister
White Lion
Great White
L.A. Guns
Faster Pussycat
FireHouse
Slaughter
…and dozens upon dozens more.
Then someone inevitably asks whether Def Leppard counts as glam metal.
Someone else mentions Whitesnake.
Then Bon Jovi enters the conversation.
Then somebody calls them all “hair metal”.
Then another bloke nearly spills his pint shouting:
“IT’S MELODIC HARD ROCK, MATE!”
Congratulations.
You’ve accidentally started the average conversation in a British rock pub.
🍺😂
🤘 But What Is the Greatest Glam Metal Song Ever?
That’s where a countdown like this becomes seriously interesting.
Because the deeper you go into the genre, the harder ranking it becomes.
There are the gigantic obvious classics.
Mötley Crüe – “Kickstart My Heart”
An absolute rocket strapped to a guitar riff.
Ratt – “Round and Round”
That riff alone deserves its own postcode.
Poison – “Talk Dirty to Me”
Pure Sunset Strip party-rock goodness.
Skid Row – “Youth Gone Wild”
Still capable of turning a room full of respectable adults into rebellious teenagers within approximately eight seconds.
Cinderella – “Nobody’s Fool”
Tom Keifer delivering one of the great voices of the era.
Dokken – “In My Dreams”
Melody, harmonies and George Lynch doing George Lynch things.
Then there’s Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, Quiet Riot’s “Cum On Feel the Noize”, White Lion’s “Wait”, Warrant’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and countless others.
And we haven’t even reached the ballads.
❤️ ALL HAIL THE POWER BALLAD
You can’t celebrate glam metal without celebrating the magnificent art form known as the power ballad.
Because nothing said “dangerous rock ‘n’ roll outlaw” quite like suddenly sitting beside a piano and singing about having your heart broken.
😂
But some genuinely fantastic songs came from it.
Poison – “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”
Mötley Crüe – “Home Sweet Home”
Skid Row – “I Remember You”
Warrant – “Heaven”
Cinderella – “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”
White Lion – “When the Children Cry”
You could fill an entire compilation with them.
In fact, somebody probably did.
Several thousand times.
🎸 #91 Shows Just How Deep This Genre Goes
And that’s why seeing Y&T’s “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” at #91 is so interesting.
Think about it.
If something this good is sitting at number 91, there are still 90 songs ahead of it.
That’s the beauty of exploring the genre beyond its biggest radio hits.
For every “Kickstart My Heart” or “Round and Round”, there’s another forgotten album track, cult favourite or underrated band waiting to be rediscovered.
That’s where lists like this become genuinely fun.
You might disagree with half the rankings.
You might shout at your phone.
You might demand to know why your favourite song is number 73.
But somewhere along the way you’ll probably hear something you’d forgotten about.
And suddenly you’re six albums deep into a band you haven’t listened to since 1989.
That’s a win.
☠️ Did Grunge Really Kill Glam Metal?
Ahhh yes.
The eternal debate.
The traditional story goes something like this:
1991 arrives.
Nirvana releases Nevermind.
Seattle explodes.
Flannel shirts appear.
Hair comes down.
Guitar solos vanish.
And every glam-metal band immediately gets thrown into a skip behind MTV headquarters.
Reality was considerably more complicated.
Musical tastes changed dramatically during the early ’90s and plenty of ’80s hard-rock bands undoubtedly suffered commercially.
But the music never disappeared.
Fans continued buying the records.
Bands continued touring.
Rock clubs kept playing the songs.
And decades later?
Some of those supposedly outdated anthems can still destroy a festival field.
Put “Kickstart My Heart” through a massive PA system and watch thousands of people lose their minds.
Drop “Youth Gone Wild” into a rock club.
Play “Round and Round”.
Stick “The Final Countdown” on after everyone has consumed several beverages.
CHAOS.
The songs survived because great hooks don’t suddenly stop being great hooks.
🤘 Glam Metal Is Still Alive, Butt
Look around rock festivals today and you’ll still see the fingerprints of the ’80s everywhere.
Huge choruses.
Flashy guitars.
Retro clothing.
Young bands embracing glam aesthetics.
Fans wearing vintage tour shirts.
And guitarists once again being allowed to play solos longer than nine seconds.
Nature is healing. 😂🌳🎸
There’s also something wonderfully communal about these songs.
You can have a teenager discovering Ratt for the first time standing alongside somebody who bought Out of the Cellar when it originally came out.
Both know the chorus.
Both know the riff.
Both are probably pretending their knees don’t hurt.
Rock ‘n’ roll brings generations together.
🏆 THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
Seeing Y&T – “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” ranked at #91 in a countdown of 111 glam-metal favourites gets a massive thumbs-up from us.
Not because there’s some scientifically correct order for ranking rock songs — there absolutely isn’t.
That’s precisely what makes lists like this so much fun.
They’re conversation starters.
They’re opportunities to rediscover bands.
And, most importantly, they’re excuses to spend several hours blasting ridiculous ’80s hard rock at antisocial volumes.
Proper job. 🤘
But now we want to hear from YOU.
🔥 RIFF REPORT READERS — WHAT IS THE GREATEST GLAM METAL SONG EVER?
You’ve got ONE choice.
No Top Five.
No honourable mentions.
No sitting on the fence.
ONE. BLOODY. SONG.
Are you choosing Mötley Crüe?
Poison?
Ratt?
Cinderella?
Skid Row?
Dokken?
Warrant?
Y&T?
Or are you going deep into the hairspray-covered vault and choosing something completely unexpected?
And more importantly…
Where would YOU rank Y&T’s “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”?
Get involved and let us know.
Because somewhere out there, someone has just discovered their favourite glam-metal anthem is ranked #92 and they’re already furiously typing a twelve-paragraph Facebook comment explaining why this is an international disgrace.
And you know what?
That’s exactly why rock lists are brilliant. 😂🤘🔥
The Riff Report — Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. 🐉🎸
Keep the riffs loud, the hair massive and for the love of Lemmy, keep the hairspray away from the pyro. 🔥🤘
