Does anybody else think a lot of the 80s hair bands sound the same?

I think everything today sounds the same. The musicians are an after thought to bumper to bumper lyrics which have zero poetic metaphor.
I want to hear the music musicians once made again and owned the songs.

That’s only bc of the 1986 Ballad law requiring every hair band to release a ballad
Sweet November rain - GnR
Every rose has its thorn - poison
Home sweet home - Motley Crue
Dead or alive - Bon Jovi
Etc…

80’s hair bands were formulaic for sure, but they’re sort of a guilty pleasure for me. Some were much better than others though. Ratt had some great riffs, Motley had some great grooves, Queensryche were technically brilliant, and had great lyrics, Steelheart had a singer that could hit inhuman notes, Def Leppard had great songwriting, production, and harmonies… I could go on and on.

Well, I was kid that grew up in the 80's and it started out pretty good but by 1987-88 I was sick of the hair bands. Started diving back into the blues, then luckily the 90's blew in and all us Gen Xer's were saved !!!! So I get what your saying bro

well you'd be in the minority, because a lot of people do like 80s groups.

Back when the men were ladies and those ladies had real balls!

I grew up with Priest, Maiden, Sabbath, Dio, bands like that. Then these hair bands claimed to be "metal" but had these identical acoustic ballads that your girlfriend liked.

Hated them then, hate them now.