Cinderella--Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone) (1988)

     "Hair Metal" is misrepresented in many quarters, but it's hybrid of heavy metal, pop, with a sensibility that comes directly from 70's glam rock had it's place in defining the 1980's (especially from 1985-1990). To my ears at least, they came upon a formula that was genius. Put out an album of metal, or in the case of Cinderella, a blues/metal/rock mix, record a couple of radio ready hits, stir generously  with music videos that included a LOT of women and Aqua net, and you had a hit group.
     For those who look at these sort of things, it was something new. Back in the 70's when us Rock snobs wanted our Rock to be Rock, and any sort of intrusion on the pop charts was anathema, groups like Cinderella, Motley Crue, Poison, and Bon Jovi would have sounded differently. However, MTV was like a big stick which affected all who were caught in the stew, and allowed for a lot of genre mixing.
     Cinderella was formed in 1983 with singer/keyboard/guitar player Tom Keifer, and bassist Eric Brittingham, guitarist Michael Smerick and drummer Tony Destra. In 1985, Smerick and Destra left to form Britny Fox and was replaced by Jeff LaBar and Jim Drnec in time for their debut album. That album, "Night Songs", released in 1986 peaked at #3 that year on the strength of the single, "Nobody's Fool". That remained their biggest hit single until 1988 and, "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone) off of the album, "Long Cold Winter"
     The group suffered the same fate as most hair metal bands with the musical wave that was Grunge. Cinderella suffered a bit more perhaps because of illness and constant lineup changes. Their last studio album was in 1994, but has released a series of concerts over the last 10 years.