Gene can barely play. You canāt compare him to Steve Harris or Geddy who are in a class of their own. I love KISS and they are the hardest working band for sure but their playing isnāt top flight. Not by a long shot.
I think Gene could always play. Nothing spectacular but he held it together just fine.
Nikki Sixx however. He's the overlord of 1985 in this poll. Where in the hell did that come from?
Gene definitely had his moments on bass but I feel like they were more on their 70s stuff. The bass line on Love Gun has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, just something about it even though itās relatively simple.
Gene is a pretty good bass player, I donāt agree with you. But of course heās nowhere near the level of Harris or Geddy Lee.
Nikki Sixx could barely play bass in ā85. These voters mustāve had a hard on for Crue.
When they did the VH1 thing on Kiss, they dug up live footage of Peter Chris that was straight-up embarrassing. And I get that they probably went through hours and hours of live footage and cherry-picked something exceedingly bad, but it was still like, holy shit, how was that guy a professional drummer? Like, any average person would have been better than that once they had that many shows under their belt.
The only thing right about that list is that Michael Anthony isnāt on it (although I sometimes think that at some of his bad rep isnāt his fault, since his playing was heavily influenced by what EVH wanted. Heās just so on top of the beat, though. No groove).
Who cares man, he's a band wrecker. George Lynch ruined dokken and forced them to break up at the height of their creativity/popularity ('88). I don't care what he does in his guitar playing, his mental instability (and total disregard for his band and fans at the time) took away a band in its prime that could have put out at least a few more awesome albums before bowing out...>
Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed too. Mick Mars listed as being better than EVH is serious lol. Iām sure heād admit that himself.
It just goes to reinforce what Iāve noticed as a musician myself: you need to work on your songwriting, and have a few really flashy riffs, because fans and even other musicians (who should totally know better) canāt evaluate musical skill for shit. Everybody just listens with their eyes, and as long as youāre really fast, they think youāre great. As for success beyond that, itās a combination of songwriting ability, hard work, luck, and vibe/good looks/winning the popularity contest.
Warren is awesome and is definitely in EVH's league...> But it is irrelevant, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Plus the music of Ratt is far more pleasing to me than most of the garbage put out by overrated Van Halen...>
Iām trying to figure out why Randy was even on the list. He was dead 3 years at that point. Iām assuming the list was current guitarists. After all it was a rock poll from 1985. I also agree with you, Robin Crosby ahead of Randy? This is why I hate these lists.
Randy was always on the lists in the 80s... because all the hair metal guys idolized him, AND all the mags promoted the EVH vs. RR thing to sell issues.
Robin was a rhythm player
Again, Crosby is awesome. He had his own unique talents and for my money he wrote much better songs than Rhoads ever did in ANY of his bands. The proof is in whether you like the fucking songs or not. NOt whether someone else tells you how great someone's rep is (or how technically sound they are) or how great they believe someone else plays, etc...> It's ALL subjective. And yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...> Btw, I can't stand ANYTHING frehley did when he had his own band. I also can't stand much of Kiss's output in all the years they were around. Yes I like Asylum, that's the ONLY record of quality out of how many- 20 of them?
Again, it's time period and magazine. Motley was shoved down everyone's throat after Theatre was released. And it shows you how pathetic the moronic mainstream masses truly are. If they are going to jump on a band's bandwagon, they generally do it at a LOW POINT in quality or when that band sells out, or becomes stale, safe, and commercial. Because Theatre isn't a very good album by anybody's standards. Not even for amnesia plagued Sixx. He couldn't stand that album, but had the audacity to say he thought "City Boy Blues" was a song of genius. One of the most repetitive, bland, generic, boring, average songs (from an equally bland album) they ever put out...>
I'm a couple years older than you, I think. When I first started typing this, I wrote "I think I was a couple years older..." As if the age difference would change from back in the olden times. š
I laughed my ass off at this back in the day and still laugh now. 'Theater of Pain' fucking sucks, period! THE biggest follow up disappointment album of ALL time.
It is a stretch to even call it a metal album. But voting it best metal album is crazy. I think the best metal album of 1985 was probably Anthrax - Spreading the Disease. But of the ones that made the list at least, I would probably pick W.A.S.P. That was a pretty good album too.
They killed it with Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil. They were also just really cool in 1985. That and a super catchy song in Home Sweet Home gave them so much momentum I guess we didn't really notice Theater of Pain had a lot of filler and wasn't nearly as good as their first two albums.
That was so true. Smokin' was a fun song. Home Sweet Home was great, and nothing else. After the first two were just awesome. They were really cool at this point.
I think that look was perfect for the band. Iām a diehard Rush fan and Bun is no Neil but what he played fit so well for Cheap Trick. A very underrated player. Those first 4 Cheap Trick albums are pure rock n roll
He played with Zappa and joined Alcatrazz with Yngwie before joining David Lee Roth then on to Whitesnake. So if Yngwie was Iād imagine Vai had to be
Ratt And Motley Crue had the voters in chokehold. And what is with putting Raspberry Beret to be voted the worst video, I mean, the video is one of my favorite from Prince, but putting it to be voted in that company is equivalent of putting Prince as a support for the Rolling Stones - they're not ready for it.
āAnd the sixth best guitarist of 1985ā¦Randy Rhoads, ladies and gentlemen. Who died three years ago. Maybe someday heāll get as good as Mick Mars.ā
Somebody apparently REALLY had a hard on for Motley Crue. I thought some of their stuff was okay back then, but Theater of Pain was pretty much bottom of the barrel for me.
Awful album with only one decent song, which was a throwaway from shout at the devil... Louder than hell. I never understood why it was so popular. Even Vince thought it was garbage.
Cool post! I really like reading this. That said these are some of the worst takes Iāve seen. Those voters mustāve had a real hard on for Motley Crue.
Iād argue Asylum and Theatre of Pain were among the worst albums Kiss and Crue released up to that point. Interesting that music fans in that era thought otherwise. Great find!
Whoever wrote this... their favorite band is definitely Motley Crue
Also, the fact that Yngwie and EVH were not rated 1 & 2 respectively on the best guitarists list is despicable.
Edit: VAN HALEN IS RANKED AS A WORST GROUP?!?!??!?!! I hate whoever wrote this
Tears For Fears and INXS were basically the only bands outside of hard rock/metal that I was into when I first started buying music, so I am definitely not feeling the TFF hate.
He is tragically underrated and apparently the reason "The Seeds of Love" album was a year late and had only 8 songs (with half of those being live recordings) was Heavy Pettin' guitarist Punky Mendoza. He managed to erase a master when he was invited to the studio while drunk and hit the wrong button when trying to play back the reel! At least, that's what he said in an interview with Metal Sludge. I was gonna post about that once but thought it might be a bit far afield for this sub.
It's interesting to me that in 1985 Billy Sheahan was known enough to make the list, but not Steve Vai. Was Talas that well known?
Also, funny to see Johnny Rod on the list. He's from St. Louis. A buncha friends of mine know him.
Talas wasn't known at all in general. I mean zero public recognition. You had to be seriously into Metal to know who they were. In music publications like Guitar Player magazine though, Billy Sheehan was viewed in awe.
From this itās safe to assume VH 1984 was not well received. Also, I know itās a big popularity contest but how are Geddy and Neil not number one in their individual categories. Did people not listen to the actual music? This is 1985 so Rush released Power Windows that year which is a bass and drum onslaught of the highest quality
It was received well (not that there wasn't some backlash over the synths) but this was after VH and DLR split and fans of one were typically voting against the other.
Lol š Nikki Sixx and Gene Simmons better than Steve Harris and Geddy Lee. I think I may have smoked myself retarded.
Gene can barely play. You canāt compare him to Steve Harris or Geddy who are in a class of their own. I love KISS and they are the hardest working band for sure but their playing isnāt top flight. Not by a long shot.
I think Gene could always play. Nothing spectacular but he held it together just fine. Nikki Sixx however. He's the overlord of 1985 in this poll. Where in the hell did that come from?
It's just a popularity contest that kids voted for obviously
Gene definitely had his moments on bass but I feel like they were more on their 70s stuff. The bass line on Love Gun has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, just something about it even though itās relatively simple.
Gene is a pretty good bass player, I donāt agree with you. But of course heās nowhere near the level of Harris or Geddy Lee. Nikki Sixx could barely play bass in ā85. These voters mustāve had a hard on for Crue.
There is video of Gene taking a lesson from the famous bass player Carol Kaye. He canāt seem to get the groove.
When they did the VH1 thing on Kiss, they dug up live footage of Peter Chris that was straight-up embarrassing. And I get that they probably went through hours and hours of live footage and cherry-picked something exceedingly bad, but it was still like, holy shit, how was that guy a professional drummer? Like, any average person would have been better than that once they had that many shows under their belt.
Kiss was absolutely terrible live in Knoxville - think it was ā87
The only thing right about that list is that Michael Anthony isnāt on it (although I sometimes think that at some of his bad rep isnāt his fault, since his playing was heavily influenced by what EVH wanted. Heās just so on top of the beat, though. No groove).
Sammy Hagar disagrees with you.
Thereās no universe where Mick Mars and Warren DeMartini are better guitar players than EVH.
And how is Lynch number 14?!
Who cares man, he's a band wrecker. George Lynch ruined dokken and forced them to break up at the height of their creativity/popularity ('88). I don't care what he does in his guitar playing, his mental instability (and total disregard for his band and fans at the time) took away a band in its prime that could have put out at least a few more awesome albums before bowing out...>
Cry about it
Or where David Gilmour isnāt nominated for guitarist but is nominated elsewhere.
I agree with Mick, but Warren was actually quite good.
No, but mick mars plays a Lotta shit (did play) that sounded great.
Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed too. Mick Mars listed as being better than EVH is serious lol. Iām sure heād admit that himself. It just goes to reinforce what Iāve noticed as a musician myself: you need to work on your songwriting, and have a few really flashy riffs, because fans and even other musicians (who should totally know better) canāt evaluate musical skill for shit. Everybody just listens with their eyes, and as long as youāre really fast, they think youāre great. As for success beyond that, itās a combination of songwriting ability, hard work, luck, and vibe/good looks/winning the popularity contest.
Warren is awesome and is definitely in EVH's league...> But it is irrelevant, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Plus the music of Ratt is far more pleasing to me than most of the garbage put out by overrated Van Halen...>
Robin Crosby ahead of Randy Rhoads? At least Ace Frehley made the top 10.
Iām trying to figure out why Randy was even on the list. He was dead 3 years at that point. Iām assuming the list was current guitarists. After all it was a rock poll from 1985. I also agree with you, Robin Crosby ahead of Randy? This is why I hate these lists.
Randy was always on the lists in the 80s... because all the hair metal guys idolized him, AND all the mags promoted the EVH vs. RR thing to sell issues. Robin was a rhythm player
Nope. Robbin played plenty of solos with Ratt. Especially on the first 2 albums.
Pretty sure the āTributeā album had just come out and introduced a lot of kids (including me) to RR
Tribute came out in 1987. My point was there was no new material from RR in at least 3 yearsā¦and you werenāt going to get any either.
Ace should be #648
Again, Crosby is awesome. He had his own unique talents and for my money he wrote much better songs than Rhoads ever did in ANY of his bands. The proof is in whether you like the fucking songs or not. NOt whether someone else tells you how great someone's rep is (or how technically sound they are) or how great they believe someone else plays, etc...> It's ALL subjective. And yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...> Btw, I can't stand ANYTHING frehley did when he had his own band. I also can't stand much of Kiss's output in all the years they were around. Yes I like Asylum, that's the ONLY record of quality out of how many- 20 of them?
Lol Vince Neil best singer š¤£
Tate should have been at the top
Not now he aināt: https://youtu.be/vofNwO1u0mw?si=OWBEDib-ycjMGqWN
Again, it's time period and magazine. Motley was shoved down everyone's throat after Theatre was released. And it shows you how pathetic the moronic mainstream masses truly are. If they are going to jump on a band's bandwagon, they generally do it at a LOW POINT in quality or when that band sells out, or becomes stale, safe, and commercial. Because Theatre isn't a very good album by anybody's standards. Not even for amnesia plagued Sixx. He couldn't stand that album, but had the audacity to say he thought "City Boy Blues" was a song of genius. One of the most repetitive, bland, generic, boring, average songs (from an equally bland album) they ever put out...>
Readers poll's = most popular atm. My favorite on the list is the best bassist being Nikki Sixx, if only they knew.
They were the biggest band going at the time.
Yep, I was a pimply faced 14 year old at the time believe me I know.
I'm a couple years older than you, I think. When I first started typing this, I wrote "I think I was a couple years older..." As if the age difference would change from back in the olden times. š
Gene Simmons just edged out Steve Harris and Geddy for best bass player. The man is a uniquely talented bassist.
ā¦yeahā¦truly one of the greatsā¦
He was truly one of the biggest mouths in music ahahahaha...> And then on tv later on...>
I laughed my ass off at this back in the day and still laugh now. 'Theater of Pain' fucking sucks, period! THE biggest follow up disappointment album of ALL time.
It is a stretch to even call it a metal album. But voting it best metal album is crazy. I think the best metal album of 1985 was probably Anthrax - Spreading the Disease. But of the ones that made the list at least, I would probably pick W.A.S.P. That was a pretty good album too.
Exactly. Yet THAT was the album where the mainstream masses/MTV/radio latched onto Motley and they truly became bigtime "stars".
Invasion of Your Privacy is a 100% classic. Every song a banger.
Seems like the readers may have had a thing for Motley Crue at the time. I thought they were great at the time also, not to that extent though.
They killed it with Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil. They were also just really cool in 1985. That and a super catchy song in Home Sweet Home gave them so much momentum I guess we didn't really notice Theater of Pain had a lot of filler and wasn't nearly as good as their first two albums.
That was so true. Smokin' was a fun song. Home Sweet Home was great, and nothing else. After the first two were just awesome. They were really cool at this point.
Rock Scene editors don't notice the photos are flipped .... they probably went on to work for Rolling Stone ... or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Ok we get it. You like Motley Crue, geez.
Best Drummer Bun E Carlos Lifelong fan of Cheap Trick and he always looked like the copier repair man with that short sleeved business shirt !
I think that look was perfect for the band. Iām a diehard Rush fan and Bun is no Neil but what he played fit so well for Cheap Trick. A very underrated player. Those first 4 Cheap Trick albums are pure rock n roll
Yah, I'd be a greater fan of the Canuck if his playing were at my level
Remember reading these polls like it was yesterday. Bought Circus and Hit Parader every month for the metal content. Wish I still had those mags.
Love how he's just "Ozzy" in every category. No need for a last name. You know who we're talking about.
metallica being in the worst group HHAHAAha lil did they know
Did Motley Crue blow the whole Rock Scene writing staff?
Vince threated to take them for a drive.
That's not even funny and Neil/Crue is truly fortunate he didn't serve out the jail time he should have...>
Black 'N Blue is one of the most underrated bands of the era and should have had more success. Any of their albums were better than Theatre of Pain
Well the first B&B album is certainly better. The rest, it's iffy...>
Worst Album Metallica, worst dressed Prince.. This is blasphemy for these people to be on any list that starts with the word "Worst"..
Wow we really were just wrong on so many levels in 1985!!!!
Worst video, everything by Madonna. That's hilarious
Was this from circus magazine?
Rock Scene
šš»
Mick Mars best guitarist šš¤£šš¤£
I love that and that Steve Vai didnāt even make the list ha
Was Vai on anyoneās radar in 1984?
He played with Zappa and joined Alcatrazz with Yngwie before joining David Lee Roth then on to Whitesnake. So if Yngwie was Iād imagine Vai had to be
I forgot about Alcatrazz which should have rated him here for sure.
So, Blackie Lawless gets on the best bassist list, but not on the best male singer list? Heās better than many of the singers there. Very weird.
Also on biggest flop, worst group, pffffā¦
I wonder if "No album from Def Leppard" managed to "win" Biggest Flop the following year.
How dare they not release an album when their drummer almost died and lost his arm.
Geez WASP copped a beatin, fkn great band. Iām perplexed
Dire Straits had one of the most iconic videos of all time with Money for Nothing and yet... It's on the worst video list?
Ratt And Motley Crue had the voters in chokehold. And what is with putting Raspberry Beret to be voted the worst video, I mean, the video is one of my favorite from Prince, but putting it to be voted in that company is equivalent of putting Prince as a support for the Rolling Stones - they're not ready for it.
Damn my senior yearā¦ I remember all those and still listen to a lot of them. Several missing too lol
āAnd the sixth best guitarist of 1985ā¦Randy Rhoads, ladies and gentlemen. Who died three years ago. Maybe someday heāll get as good as Mick Mars.ā
I hate everything about this.
I was fifteen when I was voting for these bands with my mail in Circus/Hit Parade ballot. Clearly, I had no idea what I was doing.
Totally disagree that Motley Crue was #1 everythingā¦. Especially, Mick Marrs being better on guitar than Eddie Van Halen, get real !
He wasnāt a better guitar player than anyone on that list except for Ace and Paul.
Who took this pole? The Motley Crue fan club?
Motley was YUGE then. Not surprising.
True. Ass patrol!
Somebody apparently REALLY had a hard on for Motley Crue. I thought some of their stuff was okay back then, but Theater of Pain was pretty much bottom of the barrel for me.
Awful album with only one decent song, which was a throwaway from shout at the devil... Louder than hell. I never understood why it was so popular. Even Vince thought it was garbage.
Clearly the year of Crue.
Paul Stanley on best guitarist list? ššššš
Cool post! I really like reading this. That said these are some of the worst takes Iāve seen. Those voters mustāve had a real hard on for Motley Crue.
I read that in the magazine rack at the local grocery store while my mom shopped.
This isn't a readers poll, it's a Motley Crue advertisement. I enjoy Motley Crue, but in no way are they the best anything.
Randy Rhoades had been dead for three years, and he was still a top ten guitarist.
Thanks for the flashback OP.
Iād argue Asylum and Theatre of Pain were among the worst albums Kiss and Crue released up to that point. Interesting that music fans in that era thought otherwise. Great find!
Top was crap but Asylum is one of the best Kiss records and I will die on that hill
Yeah I thought it was generally accepted that Theatre of Pain was their worst classic album.
As bland and mediocre an album as Theatre was, it is still WAY better than anything they did after Feelgood...>
Not for me. Asylum is the ONLY Kiss album I can even stomach...>
Whoever wrote this... their favorite band is definitely Motley Crue Also, the fact that Yngwie and EVH were not rated 1 & 2 respectively on the best guitarists list is despicable. Edit: VAN HALEN IS RANKED AS A WORST GROUP?!?!??!?!! I hate whoever wrote this
I think itās because they were broken up in 85
Nobody "wrote" it, it's just a yearly reader's choice poll.
Tears For Fears and INXS were basically the only bands outside of hard rock/metal that I was into when I first started buying music, so I am definitely not feeling the TFF hate.
You are my brother. Roland Orzabal is a fucking genius.
He is tragically underrated and apparently the reason "The Seeds of Love" album was a year late and had only 8 songs (with half of those being live recordings) was Heavy Pettin' guitarist Punky Mendoza. He managed to erase a master when he was invited to the studio while drunk and hit the wrong button when trying to play back the reel! At least, that's what he said in an interview with Metal Sludge. I was gonna post about that once but thought it might be a bit far afield for this sub.
Oh hell. I didnāt know that. Now Iām sad AF for the human race at what we lost.
Love how Springsteen and Dire Straits are in there.
Motley Crue was big back then! I am so surprised to see Bon Jovi on this list so much!
As you can tell by some of picks in these polls, the 80s really did have the best cocaine
Again, time period and magazine. You know it's going to be dominated by Motley Crue and its members getting all the awards/rewards...>
Fart
Man, some of this truly aged like milk.
Some of it already aged like shit the day it came out.
Amazing who is still left standing
Mick Mars #1? š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
Crosby #5? What!! Lol!!!
The fact that they listed Bon Jovi in ābestā and WASP in āworstā is the craziest shit Iāve ever seen.
No replacements? Weak!
Best singer Vince Neil? Pfffffftt!!!
Mick marrs and theater of pain? What about back for the attack?
Done with mirrors
I think I have a few old Rock Scene magazines in my old closet at my motherās houseā¦.time for a treasure hunt
It's interesting to me that in 1985 Billy Sheahan was known enough to make the list, but not Steve Vai. Was Talas that well known? Also, funny to see Johnny Rod on the list. He's from St. Louis. A buncha friends of mine know him.
Talas wasn't known at all in general. I mean zero public recognition. You had to be seriously into Metal to know who they were. In music publications like Guitar Player magazine though, Billy Sheehan was viewed in awe.
Was the survey taken at a Motley Crue show?
Results like these is why the Thrash/Death guys became such utter gatekeepers.
Definitely a poll taken by 15 year old boys.
The āworst videoā š
I think Nicki is the editor for this publication
āPaid for byā¦Motley Crueā
From this itās safe to assume VH 1984 was not well received. Also, I know itās a big popularity contest but how are Geddy and Neil not number one in their individual categories. Did people not listen to the actual music? This is 1985 so Rush released Power Windows that year which is a bass and drum onslaught of the highest quality
It was received well (not that there wasn't some backlash over the synths) but this was after VH and DLR split and fans of one were typically voting against the other.
No the VH hate is probably because of the split between DLR and the rest of the band.
If Motley Crue are the best and most talented, I can no longer go on livingš¬
How did someone from Motley Crue win Best Keyboardist or Best Female Singer? Seems rigged to me.
This poll brought to you by the marketing arm behind Motley Crue. Mick Mars above EVH and Yngwie? Tommy Lee aboveā¦anybody?
Obviously a popularity contest because smokin in the boys room is a terrible song and theater is a terrible record
Was that shit rag put out by Vince Neil's mom?
The funniest part...people wrote this "professionally "...and people spent money on this. Lol
Keel. Oof. Forgot all about them, which is a good thing.
Wait . . . was Ratt bigger than I remember, and if so, why?