Home Sweet Home: Hair Metal as a Lens Into the 1980s

The music genre of hair metal serves as a fascinating portrait of the 1980s. I found in hair metal a set of very concerning beliefs about masculinity, freedom, and consumption that reflect the essential values, beliefs, and mores of the 80s. Functioning as a response to changing gender roles and a shifting economic environment, hair asserts masculine liberty and helps its listeners assuage any fears they may have about threats to the status quo or their way of life.