What's the biggest "What if...?" in the history of hair metal?

[HottKarl777]

The big one for me is what if Steve "Steamin" Clarke had lived. He was the heart and soul of the best of all the hair metal bands.

I know he was kind of out of gas creatively as well as a horrible alcoholic. He reminds me of Alexi from Children of Bodom in that both men were just hell bent on their own destruction with booze. Just a black fucking hole.

Had he lived I don't know what the impact on Leps albums it would have actually amounted too. Sounds like Phil did 85% the guitars on Hysteria, which is so weird and wrong. Steve was intimidated big time by Phil, which was silly because Phil isn't the riff writer that Steve was. I'd like to think that had Steve managed to come out of it (which was not going to happen ) that he would have had a few great songs on every album. And they would look cooler onstage.

[Sleek]

What if Waylon & Buddy Holly switched seats

I am trying to imagine a version of the Highwaymen with Buddy instead of Waylon...

[windycitycane]

What if Paul Stanley didn’t tell Jon Bon Jovi to contact Desmond Child?

There would potentially be no hair metal genre?

Underrated comment.

Not really considering it was already around pre Slippery When Wet.

Desmond Childs’ songs on Slippery When Wet completely changed the game. Smiling pretty boys with nice hair could score major chart success. How many bands had that in the genre before You Give Love A Bad Name went number one?

Practically every band singed in the genre had Bon Jovi / Desmond Child to thank as they tried to write top 40 singles with bands based upon image more so than talent and that appealed to women more than men. I remember working in the industry at the time and there was a definite pre-defined formula.

[aznsquirt]

What if Don Dokken had put out "Up From the Ashes'' as the fifth Dokken album.

Jesus, this was the first thing that popped into my head and I barely had to scroll to find someone saying it. You guys are good.