Def Leppard's 'Rock of Ages' Crowned Greatest Hair Metal Anthem of All Time

Jacqueline Burt CoteThu, February 19, 2026 at 2:32 AM UTC

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(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives on Getty Images)

In the days when hair metal reigned supreme, life was "nothin' but a good time," as Bret Michaels sang. Not really, of course, but that's how it seemed for fans back then...and even though some of the biggest hits from that era seem kind of dated today, lots of music lovers out there still aren't ready to let the party stop.

From Bon Jovi to Warrant to Poison to Cinderella to Mötley Crüe and so many, many others, this flashy and hard-rocking phase in music history spawned plenty of chart-topping albums and songs, so choosing the best of the best is no easy task. That's what Louder attempted to do with their list of the "20 greatest hair metal anthems of all time," however, and the songs featured in their roundup definitely include some of the catchiest tunes from the most popular bands of the hairspray-and-spandex period.

The bottom half was a mix of songs pretty much everybody everywhere knows — like Warrant's "Cherry Pie" (1990) at #16 and Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" (1986) at #12 — plus a few tracks that aren't still being played on the radio constantly, like Faster Pussycat's "Bathroom Wall" (1987) at #15.

The top 10 kicked off with Twisted Sister's delightfully defiant "We're Not Gonna Take It" (1984), which spawned one of the most unforgettable music videos of the '80s, followed by another MTV mainstay, Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" (1987), at #7. Ozzy Osbourne's solo hit "Crazy Train" (1980), featuring the incomparable Randy Rhoads, took the #8 slot, while another guitar-driven favorite, Van Halen's "Panama" (1984), was ranked #7.

Ratt made a showing at #6 with their first (and biggest) single, "Round and Round" (1984), and though the #5 pick technically came out before most people think the hair metal craze started, it definitely fits the bill: KISS with "Rock n’ Roll All Nite" (1975). Poison's aforementioned ode to partying, "Nothin' But a Good Time" (1988) was ranked #4, while Quiet Riot popped up with "Metal Health" (1983) — which encouraged a generation to headbang, literally — at #3.

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Guns n' Roses, one of the harder-edged (and most successful) bands to be associated with the hair metal genre, took second place with the now-classic song that launched the band's career: "Welcome to the Jungle" (1987).

So which song earned the title of the greatest hair metal anthem ever? That lofty distinction went to Def Leppard, but don't assume the winner was "Pour Some Sugar on Me" or something else from their bestselling album, Hysteria. Nope, the winner was "Rock of Ages" from the band's 1983 breakthrough album Pyromania.

Why? Well, Louder described the song as "an endless build-up into an orgy of sticky-sweet screamalong choruses — or maybe the whole thing is the chorus, it’s hard to tell," going on to say that the song "hit every rock fan in just the right place, and at just the right time."

And like the song says, Def Leppard is "still rollin'...rock and rollin.'"

Related: This 1981 Classic Ranked 'Best Hair Metal Debut Album'

This story was originally published by Parade on Feb 19, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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