From Bonnie Tyler to Roxette to Skid Row, I think the 1980s was the decade of the Power Ballad. They were somehow the perfect genre to complement the time, whether it was the clothes or the movies, nothing says ’80s more than the power ballad.
The 1980s: the decade of the Power Ballad
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WHOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHH, BODYFOOR-OOOOOOOOOOORM!
I am not so familiar with Heart, but looking on YouTube there are some corkers:
Trying to be all “historic” about this, I would suggest that Jim Steinman is the original architect, and Bat Out Of Hell probably the original incarnation.
The Big Hair/Big Ballading gave rise to the “phenomenon” known as Soft Metal (basically another name for AOR-centric radio-friendly Rock music).
Pretty soon if you had lots of hairspray, a big anthem-y voice and a guitar solo snuck away somewhere, you were all set.
One of the most genre-stretching exponents was Robin Beck performing the big Soft Metal Ballad “First Time”. This song was basically the latest in a Coca-Cola ad with re-written lyrics.
Not much more was heard from Robin, and her follow-up single “Drink It In The Sun, Sunkist Is The One” didn’t perform as well as was hoped
Do we have to? I enjoy a bit of serious rockin’, and even the occasional “Hell on the road” mid-tempo bluster before it speeds up and rocks out again, but power ballads always seem so forced and insincere: real “music industry” stuff. OVAA,
The “rock chicks” (or should I say, “ladies”) to whom power ballads were directed, however, are another matter. Might I modestly suggest, with my professional head on, that there was a classical conditioning between a teenage boy’s involuntary physiological reaction to all that female-filled tight spandex, teased hair and make-up, and the power ballad, so that eventually the power ballad caused a mild sense of arousal? This would also explain the allure of David Coverdale and Whitesnake for many young ladies (and men so inclined).
‘Not much more was heard from Robin, and her follow-up single “Drink It In The Sun, Sunkist Is The One” didn’t perform as well as was hoped’
New Order re-wrote that one:
Egad, I hate the complete genre…I can usually listen to the most unlikely toons: but not the classic ’80s power ballad….
Couldn’t agree more. Disliked it then and can’t see any relevance for it now.
Was painful then. Really don’t want to be reminded about it again.
no question, Every Rose Has Its Thorn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c56vEgA4fjU
I will confess to finding the combined twinkliness and ‘chug’ of Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us fairly irresistible. My rationalisation is that I was first exposed to it at an impressionable age.
Twinkliness and Chug – one of the Hanna-Barbera stable’s lesser creations
:oD
Big Hair – Check
Big Voice – Check
Sold Lorryloads – Check
Looks a reet miserable sod, though
Michael Notlob – How Am I supposed To Live Without You
this uncomfortable, dark rabbit-hole that I find myself stuck down leads to this . Mickeys version of To Love Somebody and Drift Away
“His voice is phenomenal” – is it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwJ87i5nDc
His voice is a phenomenon?
No discussion of the genre is complete without this….
Power Ballads …… File alongside terrible hairstyles, padded shoulders, Margaret Thatcher and records by miserable Mancunians as one of the reasons the 80s was crap.
Aren’t all Mancunians miserable? (Gets his tin hat and runs for cover).
Don’t stop believing Afterworders!
http://youtu.be/Ag92cCR_zo4
You are tarring a whole decade based on the fashions of a couple of years. The 80’s were not crap. Certainly better than the Noughties or the drivel that passes for popular music these days.
It was never the intention to tar anything, I can assure you. I like quite a few of these, and many others of the genre.
We only hear about the good ones though don’t we? Did Anne Diamond ever clench a lacy fist? Did Des O’Connor release a dove? In pre-internet days you could release a stinker of a song and no one need ever know.
I think some of the abberations above have given the genre a bad reputation. You can make a good Power Ballad by:
-channelling Neil Young rather than Jimmy Page in your guitar solo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBt38B8_FI
-Or covering Donovan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kECK020nR-0
This is a power ballad and a half! Def Leppard, Love Bites. Several ozone layers were wrecked in the making of this beauty…
I can remember talking to Dog Faced Boy once about power ballads, and I’m fairly sure that “You See Me Crying” by Aerosmith from Toys In The Attic is the first one…
For the first one: Hendrix/LZ/Mountain:
The best British Power Ballad was by Def Leppard in 1981
Bringing On The Heartbreak
His name was Prince and he was funky. Except for the millionth time I heard the song Purple Rain I wanted to lock him in the boot of his frickin’ Corvette..