Best Hair Band ballads from the 1980s

No. 8: "Heaven" - Warrant

At the tail end of the Eighties, Warrant burst into the hair band scene with their debut album Dirty, Rotten, Filthy, Stinking Rich. It featured three top 30 songs on Billboard, including two ballads. "Heaven" reached as high as number two during the late summer months of 1989.

Featuring Jani Lane's sweet vocals and bleach-blond hair, this love ballad is definitely aimed at the female demographic. The band followed this hit up with another top 20 ballad, "Sometimes She Cries."

Maybe to prove they were still a rock and roll band and not strictly a ballad band, they bounced back with a lewd, crass, old-fashioned rock song "Cherry Pie," off their album of the same name. That song peaked at number 10, but they still could produce good ballads. "I Saw Red" and "Blind Faith" both solidified their ability to write great ballads.

Heaven gets the nod here for a couple of reasons. It is a fantastic love song that almost hit number one, and all of the other ballads by the band were released as singles in the Nineties.

No. 7: "Home Sweet Home" - Motley Crue

In 1985, Motley Cure released Theatre of Pain. It was the band's third album, their first since breaking out with Shout at the Devil two years earlier. Unlike their more raw, edgier work to date, Theatre of Pain had a poppier vibe than its predecessors.

The album also featured their first true ballad, "Home Sweet Home," a melancholy tune about life on the road as a touring band, according to bassist Nikki Sixx. On the heels of their top 20 remake of "Smokin' in the Boy Room" by Brownsville Station, "Home Sweet Home" was immensely popular, although that wasn't evident by its numbers on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1985, according to Billboard, it peaked at 89, then at 37 in early 1991 and 1992. However, it was a smash on MTV, holding the number one spot for most requested videos for 14 weeks, according to Totally 80's. In fact, MTV had to change their rules, only allowing songs to be number one for a maximum of 30 days. There has always been a disconnect between Billboard's numbers and reality, and here is a perfect example.

"Home Sweet Home" made it acceptable and profitable for hair bands to do ballads.