The Best Prog Song by 5 Hair Metal Bands - Bon Jovi, Winger + More

Commit to keeping an open mind before you read our list of the best prog song by five hair metal bands.

No, we're serious.

We know as well as you do that the '80s glam metal boom was not necessarily known for its nuance, diversity or lyrical ambition. But that didn't stop some hair metal bands from defying stereotypes and moving beyond anthemic, sex-obsessed riff rock.

You'll notice all of the songs on this list were released in the early '90s. By that point, glam metal had largely run its course and was on the brink of obsolescence. The bands on our list saw the writing on the wall and sought to expand their sound accordingly.

READ MORE: The Best Grunge Song by 5 Hair Metal Bands

While the songs on this list might not always be progressive in the traditional sense, they all feature some combination of technical virtuosity, narrative storytelling and unconventional song structure — which, given the narrow parameters of most hair metal, makes them worthy candidates.

One last thing of note: We opted not to include bands such as Queensryche, who started as a prog-metal band and later dabbled in glam. Instead, we looked for genuine pop-metal acts who ventured into prog territory.

With that in mind, read on to see the best prog song by five hair metal bands.

Bon Jovi, "Dry County" (Keep the Faith, 1992)

Bon Jovi sought to move beyond the frothy pop-metal sound and aesthetic of their '80s output with 1992's Keep the Faith. Although the album has no shortage of stadium-sized hooks and fiery riffs, it also featured their most mature songwriting to date.

Case in point: "Dry County," a long-form narrative epic about the declining oil industry and its ruinous effect on oil towns. Clocking in at nine minutes and 52 seconds, it's the longest song Bon Jovi ever recorded, full of evocative piano playing, heartfelt vocals and blazing guitar pyrotechnics. It's one of their most ambitious and staggering achievements.

Extreme, "Cupid's Dead" (III Sides to Every Story, 1992)

Extreme started broadening their sonic horizons on 1990's Extreme II: Pornograffitti, a funky, metallic concept album about lost innocence and the ills of capitalism. They took it even further on III Sides to Every Story, an 80-plus-minute concept LP featuring a distinct musical style on each of its three "sides."

The whole album is wildly ambitious, but its best prog moment comes on "Cupid's Dead." The song starts in traditional Extreme fashion with chunky riffs and powerful grooves, but its dizzying mid-section reaches a new prog-funk peak even by their standards. Top it off with a rapped outro by John Preziosa, Jr., and you've got one monster track.

W.A.S.P., "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)" (The Crimson Idol, 1992)

For a band that made its name by hurling raw meat at audiences, W.A.S.P. — particularly bandleader Blackie Lawless — had grand, cerebral ambitions. The glammy shock-rockers realized those ambitions on their fifth album, The Crimson Idol, a concept album about a disaffected teenager named Jonathan who runs away from home to pursue a life of rock stardom and excess — only to realize it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Conceptually, it's standard rock opera material, but the music reaches all-new levels of power and sophistication for W.A.S.P. The album highlight is "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)," a nearly nine-minute epic about a "cocksucking asshole" record label executive named Charlie. With its galloping drums, red-hot guitar solos and shifting musical motifs, "Chainsaw Charlie" has more in common with Iron Maiden or Queensryche than most of W.A.S.P.'s Sunset Strip peers. It's the perfect blend of decadence and aggression.

Warrant, "April 2031" (Dog Eat Dog, 1992)

Jani Lane really, really hated "Cherry Pie." The Warrant frontman seized every opportunity to distance himself from the boneheaded hair metal anthem, resulting in 1992's ambitious, heavy and tragically underrated Dog Eat Dog.

The album's lyrical highlight and most progressive song is "April 2031," a post-apocalyptic power ballad that predicts the consequences of a nuclear fallout. Lane observes the "nuclear ring around the moon" and laments "a world beyond resuscitation even by God's hand." It's musically captivating and lyrically chilling — and it becomes more so each day as we creep closer to the song's date.

Winger, "Rainbow in the Rose" (In the Heart of the Young, 1990)

Winger's collective musical virtuosity always lent itself to prog stylings, even when they were writing weepy ballads or lusty pop-metal anthems about teenagers. Singer-bassist Kip Winger and guitarist Reb Beach got to flex their instrumental and songwriting muscles on the band's sophomore album In the Heart of the Young, which featured a more (dare we say) "mature" sound than its self-titled predecessor.

The prog highlight of In the Heart of the Young is "Rainbow in the Rose," a sprightly hard rock anthem bolstered by stabbing keyboards and spacey, soaring guitars. It's more nuanced than the average glam metal hit but still eminently poppy. Nobody would mistake "Rainbow in the Rose" for a dyed-in-the-wool prog jam, but it wouldn't sound out of place on an Asia or Marillion album.