Warrant

• Genre: Pop Metal

About

What did it take to transform mediocrity into lucre in the mid-1980s? A slew of Gerber-ized love lyrics and lots and lots of teased hair. Warrant's formula for success proved irresistible to nubile teenage girls and coming-of-age metalheads in those halcyon days when Pop Metal offered a lusty alternative to New Wave wussiness. By combining sentimental mush in songs such as "Heaven" with coy, soft-smut teasers "Cherry Pie" and "Down Boys," the band satisfied the mainstream's cravings for both naughty and nice. These suave Aqua Net Svengalis knew how to manipulate their listeners' emotions with surgical precision, and a line such as "I don't need to be a superman / As long as you will always be my biggest fan" can still put a crocodile tear in our eyes today.

- Chad Driscoll