Photos: 8 favorite heavy metal bands of the '80s The 1980s is famous for its hair metal, but Slayer, which lost one of its founding members when Jeff Hanneman died Thursday, stood apart. The band, seen here in 1986, earned acclaim throughout that decade with their distinctive take on thrash metal. Slayer wasn't the only group on the harder side -- here are eight other heavy metal favorites that we rocked to in the '80s: