RATT’s lead vocalist, Stephen Pearcy, recently shared his thoughts on the term “hair metal,” a derogatory label that emerged in the late 1990s to describe bands perceived as more style than substance.
In an August 8 update on X, previously known as Twitter, Pearcy stated: “The term ‘Hair Metal’? It doesn’t bother me in the least, although it does some of the peers. ‘Hair Metal’, think about it really. I’ll embrace the tag 40 years later. Hey, it identifies you into the 80’s genre forever.”
One of Pearcy’s followers disagreed, arguing, “Nah, I would never embrace the term ‘hair metal’ as it was specifically created to marginalize an entire genre of really talented musicians. It’s all about the music, not the hair.” Pearcy replied: “If you’re doing business are you not going to be played on [SiriusXM channel] Hair Nation or do shows with the term Hair because of the term. I’m not bothered because we created Ratt n’ Roll, and that is ours regardless of the association. To be clear it’s all Rock Music unless you’re needing it.”
The term “hair metal” became prevalent as grunge music began to overshadow 1980s metal.