CINDERELLA's TOM KEIFER Says 'Hair Metal' Term Is 'Just Ridiculous'

September 15, 2019

In a new interview with Billboard, CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer cited such acts as THE ROLLING STONES, LED ZEPPELIN, HUMBLE PIE and Janis Joplin as influences for his songwriting.

"I don't consider my music metal — and the 'hair metal' term is just ridiculous," he said. "I like the term 'hard rock.' As I teenager, I got into Muddy Waters, Son House and Johnny Winter, and learned the roots and the blues. It always has been a part of my music. So I see myself as a blues-inspired or American roots-inspired hard-rock musician."

Back in 2015, Keifer weighed in on why bands like BON JOVI, MÖTLEY CRÜE, RATT and CINDERELLA were all lumped into the "hair metal" genre despite the fact that their music was at times sounded drastically different from each other.

"I think that every decade has a visual look to it and a style," he told Sleaze Roxx. "The '60s had a look to it. The '70s had a look to it. The '80s got lumped together because of MTV, because it was so in-your-face, 24/7. The visual and the image became as important as the music. And not that it wasn't in the '60s or the '70s — the look of the '70s is what inspired us. The more glam-edged kinda rock like AEROSMITH, THE [ROLLING] STONES, Janis Joplin, Rod Stewart is what I came up on, and I think in the '80s, we were all trying to take that to another level. The fact that we had the MTV camera in our face 24/7 made everyone really take it over the top [laughs], and not just in rock. The '80s were a very colorful time, even in the pop world with people like Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Boy George; everything was just so over-the-top in terms of imagery in the '80s and I think a lot of it had to do with the camera we had in front of our face, 24/7. There was a lot of emphasis on image, but at the end of the day, a lot of the artists from that era had a unique sound. DEF LEPPARD sounds very different from CINDERELLA, sounds very different from POISON, sounds very different from GUNS N' ROSES and TESLA. Everyone had a unique sound. At the end of the day, for me, I think the music world would be a much better place if people listened to music with their ears, and not their eyes. I think that all too many times, too much focus is placed on what people look like. Close your eyes and just listen to music and judge it by that, is where I'm with it."

Keifer's second solo album, "Rise", was released on September 13 via Cleopatra Records.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).