Sleaze Rock
tagStarted 1985Peak 1987-1992Last big hit still active
Located in 2 routes
Dirty, strutting glam-adjacent hard rock with a street edge: bluesy raunch riffs, rasping snotty vocals, and grooves built for gutter swagger. Lyrics steeped in vice, nightlife, and decadence. Less makeup and more menace than glam metal — punk attitude welded to Stones-y barroom crunch, all leather, sweat, and sleaze.
History
Coalesced on LA's Sunset Strip in the mid-80s, where Faster Pussycat and L.A. Guns roughed up glam metal with bluesier, dirtier swagger and a grittier image. The sound faded with the 80s but was revived in the 2000s by a Scandinavian wave, with Sweden's Hardcore Superstar and Backyard Babies driving its return-to-form.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/sleaze-rock/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster_Pussycat
- https://rock.fandom.com/wiki/Sleaze_rock