80-87. Before then you had great moments but 82-83 was when British Rock took a hold in the US in a big way. Heavy Metal Parking Lot… late 80s was terrible in the 90s recovered with Pantera once they stopped glamming up, but this was by far the best era with the look, talent, and skill, before pay to play and cheesy metal ballads. 86 had Bon Jovi which mainstreamed a lot of it…Van Halen with Hagar, same thing. 87 had the best and worst moments. After “Pour Some Sugar On Me” that was it.

A lot of metal fans either embraced country, alternative rock (Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were labelled metal in 90, grunge in 1991) , or speed metal in the 90s.

10 years ago a lot of the hair bands were playing the club circuit., although some were still packing arenas. A lot of younger kids have since embraced it (there’s no doubt Ozzfest has played a big part in keeping it alive) and now a lot of these guys are playing arenas again.

well with bands like Queen the music was great back then 🙂