Power Ballads That Don't Suck...

Let's play a little game here:

I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on this subject. Power ballads are usually Snark Bait, but there is the occasional one that's just too awesome to laugh at. And quite a few more that are awesomely bad. I can name a few.

For my definition of Power Ballad, we're not just sticking to love songs. The lyrics can be pretty much anything, as long as it's suitably... Ballad-y. I'll list four examples right off the bat that aren't love songs, but are Power Ballads per my definition, and are awesome to boot:

Iron Maiden - Children of the Damned

Judas Priest - Beyond the Realms of Death

Metallica - Fade to Black

Paradise Lost - Forever Failure

And that's just a start, I have loads more. But let's see what everyone else can come up with. And yes, they can be love songs. They just don't have to be.

Ride On - AC/DC. It's both honest and self-aware. How many AC/DC songs can you say that about?

Europe: ''Roll With You''

Just ignore the stupid visuals.

edited 19th Mar '14 1:41:58 AM by KlarkKentThe3rd

Some of the best ones I know:

Judas Priest – Run Of The Mill

Alice Cooper – How You Gonna See Me Now

Queen – Who Wants To Live Forever

Meat Loaf – I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)

All great ones so far. Here's another one:

Live - Lightning Crashes

Three more, all well-known (and, in two cases, LONG) Classic Rock radio staples:

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird: A great song, though it's only one of several classic Power Ballads the band did.

Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven: Another classic, even if guitar stores don't want you playing it... Once again, one of several great power ballads the band did...

Aerosmith - Dream On: I've heard it said this song started the whole Power Ballad thing. Not exactly true (other bands had definitely done it earlier) but this one DID sorta unleash the flood, as it were.

All great songs, no matter how overplayed they are (that's the reason I almost never listen to the radio- can't have good songs ruined by being overplayed, now can I?)...

The one true Church.

Hah. That is a good one. It's always weird when a truly heavy band does a Power Ballad, but some manage to do it well (Priest, Maiden, Metallica, and of course Metal Church). Excellent (if somewhat obscure) choice, man!

"Hero of the Day" by Metallica is their best ballad, in my opinion. It's also my favorite song by them.

"Cheatin' in Your Dreams" from Meat Loaf's Bad Attitude is also great. But so is every other Meat Loaf ballad.

Agreed. Meat Loaf had some great ballads, that's a fact. Big fan of "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad", "For Crying Out Loud", "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" and "Objects In the Rear View Mirror". Great ballads. Man really sells even the over-the-top lyrics.

My favorite Metallica ballads are "Fade To Black" (helpfully provided up top), "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "One", "Nothing Else Matters" and "Unforgiven". Great songs all.

Further Maiden examples - Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Wasting Love and up there in the awesome stakes, Blood Brothers.

To go with a different style, I'll link up a cheeky example from "They're Post-Grunge but they're good" heroes Cold. Just try to ignore the silent army of spotty goths in the video... makes it hard to take seriously!

Gone Away

edited 23rd Mar '14 2:19:45 PM by Jonny0110

Well, I put up a Live song, so Post-Grunge but good isn't something I'll complain about. That's not a bad one, btw. Here, have some Grunge:

Pearl Jam - Alive That guitar solo...

Pearl Jam - Black Most bleak breakup song ever.

Pearl Jam - Garden This one's so fucking depressing-sounding. Even if I'm not completely sure what it's about (is it about a funeral? Abortion? Life in general? Fuck it I know...)

Pearl Jam - Release The last few minutes of this one aren't actually part of the song... And all these are just off Ten- theyhave several other good ones off their other albums...

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun Great song, freaky music video...

Soundgarden - Like Suicide I think this one counts, even if has a weird structure by power ballad standards...

Alice In Chains - Rooster This one's inevitable in any discussion of Grunge ballads. Still great though.

Alice In Chains - Down In A Hole Dour verses, then a chorus that starts out uplifting and then gets miserable again. Ouch.

Damn, that was a lot. And I'm not even done.

Being a mainstream-minded music guy, I'd like to know why power ballads are considered Snark Bait.

I mean, I love Journey. Silly love lyrics aside, I love Schon's guitar work and especially Cain's piano.

Sappy lyrics (which Alternative/Indie Rock, Prog, Psychedelic, Punk and Metal fans normally don't care for) and the overused quiet/loud dynamic. Those are generally the reasons. Myself, I have no problem with them, though many are So Bad, It's Good for me.

Journey are awesome. And non in a guilty pleasure way, in a completely sincere way... Neil Schon is a great guitarist, very underrated. Did ya know he got his start as Santana's second guitarist? He played on Santana III and Caravanserai, if I recall.

edited 23rd Mar '14 10:04:12 PM by sharkcrap11

Yeah, I know about Schon being a Santana guitarist. Hell, the guy's still got it after all these years.

But I love Jonathan Cain's piano a lot more than Schon's guitar. My favorite Journey songs are the ones that are more piano/keyboard driven ("Faithfully", "Separate Ways", even "Don't Stop Believin'").

But back to the original topic; Journey pretty much made a career on making truly awesome power ballads.

That they did. They had some great rockers though, too. They were good at both.

On a different note, how'd I get this far into this conversation without mentioning this one:

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb: That guitar solo!

Or this one:

Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper: Only gets heavy during the instrumental break, but I'd say it still counts as a power ballad.

"I have a fever, and the only prescription... is MORE COWBELL!"

HAHA! I got that joke in before anyone else did!

Always loved that sketch. Helps that I'm a big fan of both BOC and SNL in general...

I like this game.

Breaking Benjamin - Give me a Sign

Smile Empty Soul - Silhouettes

Cold - A Different Kind of Pain

Aha, more good Post-Grunge. Very good.

A bit of Myles Kennedy fever.

• In Loving Memory
• Watch Over You
• Wonderful Life
• Blackbird (I still consider this one of the best guitar solos ever written, and just listen to that note he holds near the end)
• Starlight
• Sweet Child o' Mine (acoustic Guns N' Roses cover)
• Fall to Pieces (acoustic Velvet Revolver cover)
• Patience (Guns N' Roses cover from the Made in Stoke live album/DVD)
• Dreamer (Tommy Bolin cover)

There's a reason he's sometimes said to have the voice of an angel.

And for that matter, GNR have always had an ability to make some excellent ballads. I think they need no introduction in that regard, but I'll post some stuff from Chinese Democracy anyways (because everybody seems to hate that record).

• Street of Dreams
• This I Love

edited 27th Mar '14 2:06:05 AM by Alucard

Demon Hunter - My Heartstrings Come Undone

Dry Cell - Last Time

Flaw - Not Enough

Oh and hey, I was cool with a lot of Chinese Democracy. Better is an awesome song!

Here's a pretty good one from Jerry Cantrell (i was actually going to post some Alice in Chains ballads, but most of their best ones like rooster, down in a hole, and dont follow are too well known):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ6k6WKKAIE

Also, can covers of ballads count? If so, Metallica's cover of "Tuesday's Gone" definitely qualifies, its on par with the original (odd that a guy from LA can have such a convincing southern rock vocal):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpzNZQN7hwE

Always nice to see people giving an artist that tries to grow a chance. Especially that magnitude of growth.