hair band

[Fred Shapiro]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:

> Nexis takes it back to 1991 (makes sense-- that's the year that the "hair
> bands" began losing out to the alternative/grunge movement)...
>
> St. Petersburg Times, June 17, 1991, p. 1D
> Are hard rockers going soft, wimping out? Nah. Don't expect crunching
> power chords to vanish any time this millennium. But the better groups are
> breaking from the pack, looking to expand the perception of what a
> pop-metal "hair band" can do, plumbing new dynamics for the style.

A search on Westlaw takes it back to 1988, and suggests that "big-hair
band" may well have been an earlier variant.  I haven't checked Nexis, but
I assume Nexis also has hits back to 1988 or earlier for this term.

1988 _Philadelphia Inquirer_ 18 Sept. D1 (Westlaw)  Rock-and-roll fans
will remember the summer of '88 for the proliferation of big-hair bands on
the road.  David Lee Roth.  Motley Crue.  Aerosmith.  Guns 'N' Roses.  Def
Leppard.

1988 _Albany Times Union_ 4 Oct. [article beginning at page C4] (Westlaw)
Brytny Fox's first single "Long Way to Love" broke into the Top 100.  The
Pennsylvania "hair band," who opened for Poison Tuesday night at the Glens
Falls Civic Center, also continued to chart with its first album.

Fred Shapiro


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