Glam metal (also known as hair metal and often used synonymously with pop metal) is a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene. It was popular throughout the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, combining the flamboyant look of glam rock and playing a power-chord-based heavy metal musical style. The genre rapidly lost mainstream interest from 1991 to 1993 with the rise of grunge and the release of albums such as Nirvana's Nevermind, but has enjoyed revivals since the beginning of the new millennium.

Musically, glam metal uses traditional hard rock and heavy metal songs, incorporating elements of punk rock, while adding pop-influenced catchy hooks and guitar riffs. Like other heavy metal songs of the 1980s, they often feature shred guitar solos. Aesthetically glam metal draws heavily on the glam rock or glitter rock of the 1970s, often with very long backcombed hair, use of make-up, gaudy clothing and accessories (chiefly consisting of tight denim or leather jeans, spandex, and headbands). The visual aspects of glam metal appealed to music television producers, particularly MTV, whose establishment coincided with the rise of the genre. Glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles of late-night parties, which were widely covered in the tabloid press.

The term pop metal is routinely used as a synonym to "glam metal" but sometimes refers to a related but separate movement, especially according to Canadian anthropologist Sam Dunn and website Allmusic. Allmusic refers to glam metal as "hair metal", whose characteristics are flashy clothing and heavy makeup (as embodied by Poison, Twisted Sister and M?tley Cr?e), whereas pop metal refers to the whole pop-tinted hard rock and heavy metal scene of the 1980s (including Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Europe). In the "definitive metal family tree" of his documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, anthropologist Sam Dunn also differentiates glam and pop metal, with glam metal bands including M?tley Cr?e, Poison, Twisted Sister and Hanoi Rocks, while pop metal bands include Def Leppard, Europe, Lita Ford and Whitesnake. Hair metal is a derogatory, derisive umbrella term encompassing the whole 1980s glam metal scene; use of the term started in the early 1990s, as grunge took over the popularity at the expense of 1980s metal. However, the term is used in a non- or semi-derogatory sense by Allmusic to refer to glam metal.