I Wanna Rock: The 80s Metal Dream (2023– ) User Reviews

The first real review!

[Marynewcomb2013 · 7/10 · 1 August 2023]

I was looking forward to seeing this and was hopeful that it would be different than what MTV/VH1 had done before! I was wrong!! It's pretty much the same as the others but still a fun watch if you are a fan! They did get the title right with living the 80's metal dream because it is 80's metal!! Contrary to what one reviewer said, Van Halen is not and never was metal!! They are straight forward hard rock with David on vocals! They were more pop rock with Sammy!! Kip talked about his ballet and all that with wondering why his band was disliked, he answered his own question!!

Then you have Ricki talking about Garth being responsible for the end of the 80's metal success? Garth had ZERO to do with it!! The industry itself did it!! They left out how bands in the late 80's were being signed right off the street corners on the strip!! This is what I mean by not getting a documentary right on 80's metal!! Plus you have the fakes saying they made fun of these bands? Those people saying that were probably getting into music after the 80's & also ones who were buying these albums back then!! Why are they made fun of today, the look!! Forget about the great music they made, these people only focus on the look!! I listened to this music when it was all new & I still listen to it to this day!! Long love 80's metal!

Interesting, but a Little too Blinkered

[fatfil-414-451797 · 5/10 · 19 July 2023]

I am no in my early 60s, and have been a heavy metal / Rock fan all my life. Been fortunate enough to see most of the featured bands live, with differing levels of competence, but do have a soft spot for most of them.

Despite other reviews, these bands were the biggest draw in the MTV dominated 80s. My biggest bug bear with this series is the very narrow window it peers through and is very US Oriented

Poison, Winger, Skid Row, Motley Crue, John Carrabi and The Scream, Vixen. Guns and Roses.

There are very, very brief passing mentions of other bands.

Warrant, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Faster Pussycat, Great White, Cinderella, LA Guns, Def Leppard, Van Halen (WTF! Probably THE greatest hair metal band of all time) One of the so called authorities who had written a book on the topic, said she didn't consider Van Halen a Heavy Rock Band. Listen to VH I or 1984 you deaf aid.

I also took exception to a comment that women were treated horribly in the 80s. They may have been portrayed misogynistically by the media, and by most hair metal bands. But in the 80s, at least 40% of the audience were female and didn't seem to have a problem with it.

These people aren't metal. This is revisionism.

[Poltergeist333 · 2/10 · 25 July 2023]

This show is absolutely ludicrous and is trying to rewrite history. Dee Snider is the closest thing to an actual metal artist, but he hasn't done anything notable since "Stay Hungry." He reminds me of a high school football player who spends decades reliving their glory days.

Most of the true metal fans laughed at Kip Winger long before Beevis and Butthead. He was a joke, and now he's a crybaby. His "music" didn't have any substance and it was hard to tell the difference between him and the women he was objectifying.

It's no surprise that an industry that was all about the looks and clearly not about the music crashed and burned. They didn't need Grunge to do it. They were devoid of any real substance and so most people had no problem forgetting them. Note that during the same time Pantera, Megadeth, and Metallica had some of their best years. I laugh at all the hairbands and their fans crying about grunge instead of going out there and making good music to stay relevant.

This show largely perpetuates the same mindset while ignoring the real metal bands who kept putting out quality music. I say good riddance.

We made fun of these bands....

[NullUnit · 4/10 · 18 July 2023]

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.