You Want Some Metal; Where Do You Go?

A few places you can catch the metal craze and what you’ll find there:

Viper Room

The ghost of hair metal past arises every Monday night at the Viper Room, where the Camaro club hosts the ‘80s parody Metal Shop. Young hard-rock acts open the show, and celebrity guests (Steven Tyler, Meat Loaf, etc.) typically join the headliners for a song or more. In the DJ booth, Taime Downe, the moonlighting singer of Faster Pussycat, spins a charged rock ‘n’ roll song list that stretches from T. Rex to Guns N’ Roses to Queens of the Stone Age. 8852 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 358-1880.

Key Club

The past is present several times a month at the Key Club, where ‘80s metal vets gather for the nostalgic crowds of Club Vodka and Gazzarri’s Night, often mixing music with bikini pageants or wet T-shirt contests. Feel the noize. 9039 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 274-5800. Tonight: Club Vodka, with Faster Pussycat, Chigger Red, Peppermint Creeps. Oct. 29: L.A. Guns. Nov. 7: Gazzarri’s Night, with Y&T;, Little Caesar.

Paladino’s

Metal may have ruled the ‘80s Sunset Strip, but the San Fernando Valley was the home for many would-be rockers as well; key metal venues included the Country Club and FM Station. So it’s fitting that this Valley nightclub shows unmatched dedication with a calendar dominated by ‘80s-style metal and hard rock tribute bands. 6101 Reseda Blvd., Tarzana, (818) 342-1563. Friday: Metal Sludge Extravaganza 5, with Metal Shop, Motley Priest, Handsome Devil, more. Oct. 11: Atomic Punks (a tribute to early Van Halen). Oct. 12: Iron Maidens (an all-female tribute to Iron Maiden).

The Rainbow Bar & Grill

No live music, but this restaurant-bar-hangout has been home to several generations of rockers in search of pizza and booze to end (or begin) a long night on the Strip. Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead is still a regular. “The Rainbow was like the bacchanal of bad taste, which I say with love and respect,” journalist Lonn Friend, longtime editor of R.I.P. magazine, says of the club. “Now contemporary artists hobnob at the Rainbow. And after midnight it is a time warp, much like Metal Shop is.” 9015 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 278-4232