I once mentioned this on another guitar forum and got laughed out of the place, mostly because I knew such an obscure fact but also because some people just don't think 80s metal was real music. Anyway, I read that Wolf Hoffmann of Accept used an ES-335 in the studio extensively. He was known for playing Flying Vs and such in the 80s, and stated that he only did that on stage to look more metal. The album sound however, had a lot of ES generated tone. So yes, you can do it. You might not look as "metal" though.