Vocalist Ronnie Atkins of long-running Danish hard rockers PRETTY MAIDS spoke to HardRockCore about how the rise of grunge in the early 1990s forced most hard rock bands off the radio and MTV, with album and tour sales plummeting.

“Looking back at the ’80s and looking at all the hair metal bands, a lot of people are laughing when they see what clothes they were wearing, but hey, man, it was entertainment, and people had a good time,” he said.

“And that’s important. That’s what it’s all about.

“I remember how the transition was, going from the ’80s and the hair metal bands, and then GUNS N’ ROSES — it was sleaze metal for a while — and then came the grunge,” he continued.

“And the first time I heard [NIRVANA‘s] ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and PEARL JAM, I thought, ‘F*cking great. It’s great that something new happened.’ But then when I look at it in hindsight, it was so depressing. It was so different from what came out of the ’80s, which was party, rock and roll — sex, drugs and rock and roll — and then came this very introvert kind of negative attitude on stage, which, in hindsight, I don’t really like it.

“I like the music, but it was more about committing suicide and being fed up with life and everything else, I guess. Some great albums came out of that, but you can’t compare it to the ’80s. I thought that the ’80s were great fun.”