Move over, thrash — these are the six best hair metal albums of 1986. As the Bay Area headbangers were catching fire and pioneering a subgenre based on full-speed-or-nothing brutality, a different ...
Pop and MTV ruled supreme but 1986 was also a banner year for hip hop and metal.
The 20 best hard rock and metal albums of 1986 run the gamut from thrash to pop-metal, reflecting the vast array of heavy music subgenres that were catching fire as the decade entered its second half.