one4review | On 10, Aug 2025

Comedy in front of a rock-literate audience is a high-wire act. Too often, stand-ups retreat into their safest material — watching it land with all the grace of a dropped cymbal — or bluff their way through the subject, exposed in seconds like a brand-new band tee that still smells of the shop.
Steve McLean is the rare exception. He doesn’t imitate the culture; he embodies it. The A to Z of Hair Metal comes not from research but from lived experience — the kind of immersion that leaves a permanent dent in your record collection and, possibly, your hair.
His command of the genre is encyclopaedic in the best sense: a deft mix of chart statistics, backstage folklore, and the kind of obscure album-cover trivia you can’t Google. What makes it land is the delivery — a fan’s unfiltered glee wrapped in a comedian’s timing. Whether recounting the birth of the power ballad, the onstage mishap that nearly roasted a pyrotechnics crew, or the scandal that sank a stadium tour, McLean keeps you hooked.
The alphabetical structure is elegant in its simplicity, but what drives it is his fearless irreverence. Bon Jovi’s beige period is dispatched with a shrug. Metallica’s touchiness gets a playful jab. The 1980s’ industrial-strength misogyny is skewered without mercy. Bad album art? Pretentiousness that could make prog rock blush? Both flattened under his gleeful critique — even as he clearly loves the excesses he’s mocking.
Crucially, you don’t need to know your Warrant from your W.A.S.P. to enjoy it. The comedy has its own momentum, sharp enough to capture anyone who’s ever felt the lure of spectacle. By the finale, you not only know which band once set fire to its own crew — you understand why hair metal’s glossy, lacquered spirit refuses to die.
Part stand-up, part rock history, part mixtape from the friend who always knew where the good tracks were — McLean makes the case for hair metal with wit, warmth, and just the right amount of hairspray.

****

Reviewed by Steve H

PBH;s Free Fringe at Slow Progress Cafe and Records

16.00 (1hr)

Until 24 Aug (not 12 or 19)