1990 Hair Metal Hit, One of the ‘Most Gut-Wrenching Songs of Its Time,' Was Just Ranked Among the ‘Greatest Power Ballads' Ever
In 1990, the band Slaughter was all over MTV and radio with the song "Fly to the Angels." Written by Dana Strum and Mark Slaughter for the album Stick It to Ya, the hair metal hit featured an acoustic intro, a driving guitar solo, and the high-pitched vocals of frontman Slaughter.
"Fly to the Angels" peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Oct. 27, 1990, and became Slaughter's highest-charting song and only platinum single.
Classic Rock magazine recently ranked "Fly to the Angels" among the greatest power ballads of all time, noting that Slaughter "were always much mightier than their second-division ‘hair-metal' tag suggested." Without going into the song's backstory, the outlet added that the song took on a devastating new meaning eight years after it was released.
"Later, doubtless due to its mention of angels, heaven et cetera, the song took on greater poignancy as a tribute to the band's guitarist Tim Kelly, who died in a car crash in 1998," Classic Rock shared.
Music historian Adam Reader described "Fly to the Angels" as "one of the most gut-wrenching songs of its time," and "the one rock song that will put a lump in your throat."
That's because "Fly to the Angels" was sad from the moment it was written.
In an interview on Reader's Professor of Rock podcast, Slaughter revealed that he penned the song after attending his former girlfriend's funeral. He found out his ex had passed away just as he tried to reconnect with her.
"I called a friend of mine, Don, a friend of mine that we grew up together, and I said, 'Hey, man, I don't have Cindy's number,'" Slaughter recalled. "It was a girl from high school… we dated, and you know I said, ‘I'd like to see her. I want to talk to her.' And he said, 'Okay, well, I'll find her number.' And then two days go by, and then he calls me, and he says, ‘Mark, I have some really bad news.' And I go, ‘What's that?' And he goes, 'Well, I found Cindy, but her funeral's tomorrow.'"
Slaughter revealed that he went to the funeral and the whole place was "filled with roses."
"And that's where the line hit me. I said, 'Fly the angels, flowers bloom in your name,'" he shared. "Right then, that's when it hit me."
He brainstormed with Strum on the rest of the song.
Slaughter also explained that "Fly to the Angels" was about "letting go" after someone dies.
"It's the freeing of that emotion and not holding on to it and letting it consume you," he said. "I think that, you know, when you're dead and gone, you want your others to live their life fully and not just go around in a pool of tears. You want them to live. And I think that's really what we wanted the song to be, is a song about letting go and a release. And man, it's touched so many people's lives in that way. I think ultimately it has more life to it than we thought it would have."
Slaughter previously told Classic Rock Revisited that years later, people still tell him how much "Fly to the Angels" means to them.
"More than I can count, absolutely," he shared. "Here's the truth, the song was written truly from the heart and very quickly. It was not over-thought. I think that is what makes it honest."
Related: The Song That ‘Invented' Heavy Metal Just Turned 56-And It Has a Nightmare of a Story
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 7:13 AM.