The last few years brought some of the wildest and most surprising changes in multiple industries. And during 2022, we’ve all been witnesses to the advancement in machine learning. Now, we know that anyone visiting this page is either an avid music admirer or a musician. So things like “machine learning,” “neural networks,” and “artificial intelligence” have nothing to do with that, right? Well, quite the contrary. AI has found its use in arts and entertainment, even creating actually listenable and completely original musical pieces.
With this in mind, we’ve decided to give this AI thing a chance and have some fun with it. Using a service called Midjourney, which is somewhat similar to the already popular DALL-E, we’ve decided to give artificial intelligence the task of recreating some of the biggest glam/hair metal bands on its own. You can find the resulting images below.
Bon Jovi
Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi made a huge breakthrough with their third album “Slippery When Wet,” released in 1986. Although these days Jon Bon Jovi’s live performances might not be as what we expect of them, the AI gave him and the band justice. You can obviously see Jon in the front. However, the rest of the guys kind of all look the same and the second one from the left doesn’t have the most 1980s hair.
Def Leppard
Of course, Def Leppard would be unavoidable on this list. And on this AI-generated image, we can clearly distinguish two guys who look like Phil Collen and singer Joe Elliott. However, make sure not to look at the t-shirts for too long as trying to read whatever things are written on it feels like going through a fever dream. But you can still notice the Def Leppard-style writing.
Skid Row
Skid Row, on the other hand, doesn’t look much like the band. Maybe the dude with sunglasses gives some Scotti Hill vibes. However, these dudes look too jacked compared to actual Skid Row. And AI clearly read the band name as “SRIEWD SHILD DOWV.”
Whitesnake
As for Whitesnake, the AI here definitely nailed the aesthetics. On the other hand, all the members look like blends of David Coverdale and Tommy Aldridge. However, if we had to choose, the dude in the front wearing a white shirt would be Coverdale.
Ratt
As far as Ratt goes, the AI must have had a hell of a time making this image. Not only have there been countless musicians in its lineup, but Ratt also existed in two versions at the same time. Either way, these guys do look like 1980s male models.
Poison
With Poison, we have an interesting photo where we can see some Brett Michaels traits in the guy wearing the bandana. On the other hand, please make sure not to look at this guy’s eyes for too long. It’s just incredibly creepy.
Twisted Sister
Hold on — did Frank Zappa play in Twisted Sister? If we ask this AI, he clearly was there at some point. Just look at the guy who’s second from the right. But all jokes aside, this was a somewhat convincing image. The Frank Zappa lookalike has Dee Snider’s hair and the guy behind him is obviously Jay Jay French.
Scorpions
When they made their massive international breakthrough in the 1980s, Scorpions were already several albums and over 15 years deep into their career. So the lineup changed a lot, which means that it might not be the simplest task for any AI to create a definitive convincing Scorpions photo. Nonetheless, it still did a pretty great job.
Cinderella
This one, on the other hand, was a complete mess. The AI probably had a difficult time distinguishing between Cinderella the band and Cinderella the fairy tale. The result was something that looked like My Chemical Romance.
W.A.S.P.
But with W.A.S.P., it probably wasn’t too complex since all of them looked alike in the 1980s. We also had a blast trying to read what’s supposedly written on the jacket of the guy standing in the far right of the image.
Mötley Crüe
If there’s one band that’s synonymous with hair metal, then it would be Mötley Crüe. For the AI, it wouldn’t be much of a trouble to re-create a band that existed in its original formation for the most part. The problem is, however, that artificial intelligence still doesn’t know how decades of substance abuse affect humans. These four guys are what Mötley Crüe would look like if they led healthy lives. Plus, they look like a 2000s nu metal band as well.
Steel Panther
And finally, not just the greatest glam metal band of all time but also the greatest metal band in general. Unfortunately, this AI wasn’t informed that Lexxi Foxx left the band. Nonetheless, it did a great job presenting them in the best possible light. The only problem is that all four of them look too similar.
