A Walk Down Memory Lane for a Glam Metal Weekend.

Most of the early metal I listened to was glam metal. Probably because that's what my older sister was introducing me to. I've been having some fun re-listening to some of my old favourites that I'd practically forgotten about.

So first up is Europe's The Final Countdown. It was written as an opening song for concerts and they hadn't intended to release it as a single. It was incredibly unexpected when on its release, in 1986, it became such a hit; a number one in 25 countries no less! It became the most successful song from the album of the same name.

You know it's popular when you play it to your teenage daughter and she's already heard it!

Def Leppard's Love Bites. Released in 1988, it was originally a country ballad which the band added the rock elements to. It shot to the top of the charts in the US and made number 11 in the UK.

My final pick for today was released one year later in 1989. I guess I've given myself away as a child of the eighties! It was a song which possibly resonated with a lot of teenagers, because many of us knew of someone like this. It seemed a warning of the risks to those who lived this way.

Skid Row's 18 and Life tells the story of a teenager who's grown up doing it tough. Little more than a child, he's working hard, playing rough, fuelled by alcohol and courting a gun. The muse for the song came from an article, that guitarist Dave Sabo read in the newspaper, about an 18 year old named Ricky who was imprisoned for shooting his friend dead with gun he thought was unloaded.