What ever happened to the Power Ballad?

[ForeverAutumn]

I was wandering around Future Shop's CD section yesterday and came across this two CD set of power ballads. As a little bit of a nostalgia trip and guilty pleasure I decided to get it. This was the soundtrack for my formative years and has been a fun listen. I've always loved a good power ballad.

Disc: 1
1. Lady – Styx
2. Love Hurts – Nazareth
3. Feel Like Makin’ Love – Bad Company
4. Beth – KISS
5. I Want To Know What Love Is – Foreigner
6. Goodbye – Night Ranger
7. Amanda – Boston
8. Honestly – Stryper
9. Carrie – Europe
10. Is This Love – Whitesnake
11. Save Your Love – Great White
12. When The Children Cry – White Lion
13. What Love Can Be – Kingdom Come
14. Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Poison
15. Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) – Cinderella

Disc: 2
1. Headed For A Heartbreak – Winger
2. Don’t Close Your Eyes – Kix
3. Heaven – Warrant
4. When I See You Smile – Bad English
5. Love Song – Tesla
6. I Remember You – Skid Row
7. The Ballad Of Jayne – L.A. Guns
8. Fly To The Angels – Slaughter
9. High Enough – Damn Yankees
10. Silent Lucidity – Queensryche
11. Love Of A Lifetime – Firehouse
12. More Than Words – Extreme
13. Only Time Will Tell – Nelson
14. Love Is On The Way – Saigon Kick
15. I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Meat Loaf

None of them are 3 minutes and 16 seconds though.

[kexodusc]

Wow, this is pure sock-hop gold!
No fewer than 4 of these were playing during some junior/high school, errr, we'll call it romance drama... Even had a girl named "Carrie"....she dumped me to be with a guy who ended up beating her.

But how in the hell did Def Leppard not make the cut here? Love Bites is the epitome of power ballads...

[Finch Platte]

None of them are 3 minutes and 16 seconds though.

Well, what good are they, then?

[GMichael]

Well, what good are they, then?

They're not.

[bobsticks]

I think the low water mark was somewhere around the time Keith Emerson's half-retarded cousin started hanging out with Bob Saggett and Howard Kosell's son on the set of Saved By The Bell:The Baltimore Years and drinking Craig Goldy's Aquanet while hitting on B actresses that got turned down for hand soap commercials...

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[-Jar-]

Pavement killed the power ballad. "Here" was the "I Wanna Know What Love Is" of the indie rawk generation..

[nobody]

fortunately, the power ballad died a merciful death

[Luvin Da Blues]

fortunately, the power ballad died a merciful death

Yep, died with the Big Hair Bands

[Mr Peabody]

I've got many of those albums. Some of those I don't know if I'd call "power" ballads, maybe just ballads. The set is missing the Scorpions, Still Loving You or Krokus, Screamin in the Night, we could go on.

I don't think the style has gone as much as the term. Wouldn't Hinder's, Lips of an Angel fit? Or, a couple of the hits off the last Nickleback album. My brain is mush tonight, I can't think of that first big Staind song or a couple of 3 Doors Down. I think the PB is still around. I have an album by this Prog band called Sylvan and much of what they do sort of has that PB style threaded through.

[tony_abreu]

What ever happened to the Power Ballad?
Nirvana came and killed it....thank God

[SlumpBuster]

[QUOTE=kexodusc]Wow, this is pure sock-hop gold!
No fewer than 4 of these were playing during some junior/high school, errr, we'll call it romance drama... Even had a girl named "Carrie"....she dumped me to be with a guy who ended up beating her. QUOTE]

For me most were playing at least some point during just the "Romance" part. Not much drama here. Although, I'm still saying Hail Marys for what occured during most of these songs. Between the late 80s/early 90s power ballads and Catholic School uniforms, I was completely helpless. I was going to reveal that I actually married a girl named "Carrie" but your story takes a much darker turn.

Finally, the power ballad lives on with BUCKCHERRY - purveyors of fine power balladeering! Two of the three below rock a bit more, but you can hear the power ballad influence. Regardless, about a third of their songs are straight up power ballads. They are sleazy and dirivative, but I love them.

SORRY
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EVERYTHING
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CHECK YOUR HEAD
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[SlumpBuster]

hanging out with Bob Saggett

I never want to miss an opportunity to link this vid:

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[bobsticks]

It's alive and well and festering in its own evil...in Europe...I hold Bert responsible.

The original:
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The newer model, talk about not holding up well...

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The singer sounds like he stopped singing about five minutes after the first one was in the can and never again sang a note until he found himself onstage twenty years later.

I would, however, like any info any of y'all can gimme about finding a tiger-striped tux.

[bobsticks]

Kinda like watching Lance Hendrickson's brother do a Joe Cocker impersonation...