What was it with '80s dude bands looking like chicks with the glam & makeup??

[Atma]

 i think you can drive it back to bowie

I agree, and then when the 80's hit you had Robert Smith, Prince, and the afore mentioned hair bands.

I was heavily into punk rock which had it's own kind of glam, given the amount of hairspray needed to keep our mohawks up, and the amount of eyeliner that went around. It's kind of interesting with punk, where we wore combat boots, leather coats, ripped up jeans and wife beaters, with an emphasis on fighting and slam dancing and toughness, yet wore tons of eyeliner.