Talk:Power ballad
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[edit] Untitled discussion
Here's an interesting article about the history of power ballads. Power Me Ballad Me
Is Metallica's "Fade to Black" really a good example here? I've tried to limit the examples to songs that would have had extensive radio exposure and that most people would recognize. Every band has songs that are beloved by fans but relatively unknown to the general public. I think this is probably one of them. "Nothing Else Matters" is in the VH1 countdown list, and the band gets their due here.
Also, the gist of the paragraph is that "power ballad" was applied retroactively to songs which predated the power ballad craze. If I'm not mistaken, "Fade to Black" was 1984, definitely too late for the point of the paragraph.
where is Aerosmith when the list of notable bands that have made power ballad comebacks?
they are the best example out there having sold tens of millions of records off their power ballad based comeback. --Trweiss 14:49, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
Personal curiosity here: although it's not by a heavy metal band, would it be fair to label Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends as a power ballad? The definition given in this article (interplay between clean and distorted guitar, power chords, "confessional" lyrics) seems to promote a strong yes, but I've never heard it called such. --CannedLizard 17:14, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
I really think a reference to the Finnish band HIM is most appropriate here. Consider the main body text, "...the phrase power ballad was more accessible and appealing than the phrase metal love song."
and then consider this 1990's group is known for self styled "Love Metal", indeed it is the name of one of their albums. Perhaps they best exemplify the modern 1990s take on 'power ballards'? --
I don't think "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a power ballad. It's sort of like "Stairway to Heaven," i.e. an actual [not power] ballad that evolves into a harder-rock song. I think the power-ballad in its classic form is a slower-tempo song that may begin more quietly (the vocalist usually still sounds histrionic, and the instruments synthetic) but moves quickly up to a big, plodding/majestic chorus that suddenly arrives with loud guitars and metal-style vocals. Someone should have mentioned 1984's "Almost Paradise" by Nancy Wilson and Mike Reno as a prototype. Another good example is "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. Most of the earlier examples, like the Raspberries and Eric Carmen songs, have more subtle vocals, a less jarring transistion to the chorus, or less guitar distortion. I would call these influences on the style. I agree that "Beth" by Kiss is just a plain old ballad.
--albalb 07 July 2006
Question is if the VH1 Top 25 Power Ballads List should be included at all, as several of the songs on it does not confirm to the definition given here. Most notably is Beth by KISS, which in it's original version on the album Destroyer (and all versions I have heard) is a piano/symphony ballad through and through. There aren't even any drums (Peter Criss was busy singing I guess).
--EdVogue 19 April 2006
What is VH1 anyway ? Some US radiostation? The article doesn't explain, and assumes it common knowledge
-- 88.159.73.50 15:23, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
I second EdVogue's opinion - several songs don't even fit into the category. It seems more like advertisement to that obscure station than anything else (has anyone else even heard of that before?).--ForemanDomai 00:03, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Wildflower by Skylark an early example?
I just finished writing a stub article on the band Skylark, and included a description of their most famous song, Wildflower, which I described as an early example of a power ballad. It's not as heavy as some later examples, but with its combination of a Freddy Mercury-esque vocal and the Pink Floyd/Moody Blues guitar/percussion, I think it fits as at least a proto-example. It was released in early 1973, charted no. 8 on Billboard, and was quite original for the time. I also think the lyrics were very typical of early-70s (Journey, Styx, etc) examples.--Anchoress 08:54, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Where is the complete list of power ballads?
--Aeternus 17:36, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
It was taken out, given a second chance, and taken out again. Apparently, there were songs on the list that were not really power ballads, and it was felt that it was better to get rid of the entire list, instead of debating which songs belonged on the list and which ones did not. It was a really long list of dozens of songs. There were too many songs and it did not meet the standards of Wikipedia. 204.80.61.10 15:50, 10 July 2006 (UTC)Bennett Turk
Then don't delete it, help to make it better. I'm not telling you that, I'm asking people here to help make it meet the standards. That way, it doesn't get deleted. Also, a good way to make it would've been to include most Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, AOR, and Pop/Rock ballads.
[edit] power ballads
I think the definition for Power Ballad has changed as of late which is leaving out songs that are true power ballads. Power ballads are arena type songs with the repeating chorous that you just want to pump your fist to.
Who doesn't want to pump their fist and belt out the chorus of Love Is On The Way.... or Don't Know what you got... just songs that make you feel empowerd.... i'm not going to say the list below isn't a decent list... but at least 1/2 of those songs in my mind aren't even power ballads, and 3 or 4 of the others aren't that great of a definition of one.... here's a few that should definitely be considered
Cinderella - Don't Know What You Got
Saigon Kick - Love Is On The WAy
Forigner - I Want To Know What Love Is
Head East (Not sure if it's them or Rainbow, or who) - Since You've Been Gone
Agree with what the guy before me put, which is below this. groups like Cinderella were power ballad type gorups, not metalica....
To me the turn powerballad is the one's by eighties hair metal bands. Songs like "every rose has its thorn" by poison and "forever" by kiss. Not Metallica songs.
Hit Parader recently listed the top 10 power ballads of all-time and the choices were:
1. Home Sweet Home
Motley Crue
2. Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Poison
3. Beth
KIss
4. I Don't Want to miss a thing
Aerosmith
5. Is This Love?
Whitesnake
6. I Saw Red
Warrant (Personally, I think Heaven is the better power ballad)
7. Never Let You Go
Steelheart
8. I Remember You
Skid Row
9. November Rain
GUns N' Roses
10. Wind of Change
Scorpions
My pick for the best power ballad of all-time would have to be Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue and it has been documented that it was the first power ballad. Motley Crue is credited with the development of the first power ballad ever.
sorry but that is incorrect. Even if Motley Crue is credited with the first power ballad it is clear that it is not. they may have open it up as a genre, may have redefined it, or even defined it in the first place but they did not develop the first power ballad.
and metallica can write power ballads. though i disagree with the statement made in this debate saying that a power ballad must be a distict departure from the groups main volume of work. i do not agree. Journey, in my opinion, for good reason, is considered the King of the power ballad, nearly every single they released was intended as a power ballad, only because they were a rock and roll band with a rock and roll sound. they rocked hard but they rocked power ballads. so it cannot be argued that a power ballad must be a departure from a band's typical sound although that can happen, such as metallica and early aerosmith and the rolling stones. a power ballad is does not have to be dark but it can be. i believe that the most important feature of a power ballad is the crescendo and the emotional feel of the song, it doesnt have to be a love song but it does have to, at least make an obvious attempt, be emotional. 169.231.3.118 06:16, 29 January 2007 (UTC)Shelley
[edit] Darker songs - can they be power ballads?
I would previously have considered Metallica's One and Fade to Black to be power ballads, but both are most definitely not love songs. Pantera's Cemetary Gates, too, I don't consider a love song. Do songs such as these count? Thedangerouskitchen 14:47, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
- Disagreed. Wind of Change isn't a love song, but is still a power ballad. They don't have to be love songs. However, "Haunted" by Evanescence and "Would?" by Alice in Chains might be considered power ballads, but could also be considered too dark.
while it is not a main requirement if a song is too dark that it cannot be relatively accessible to the public, it is not a requirment it is worth noting it can be like a tipping point kind of thing, if a song may or may be a power ballad and it is or is not easy to be accessible even if they are not written for the public, public acceptance is not a defining factor as whether or not they are a power ballad it is an indicator, albiet one that is wrong a good amount, such as most metallica, guns n roses, and pantera power ballads
If this article gets cleaned up, its worth noting that the Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" was not the first power popular 80s metal power ballad. Both Night Ranger's "Sister Christian" and Dokken's "Alone Again" charted in 1984, and I'm sure their videos were aired on MTV, so the oft repeated factoid of "Home Sweet Home" being the first power ballad aired on MTV seems to be false. Xndr 15:18, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
I Notice that rock ballad redirects here and that this seems to be the only page relating to ballads in any popular music. I do not think all ballads are power ballads. It mentions that the term power ballad has declined from use but "ballads" in rock music exist everywhere past and present. Ballads from soft rock artists such as Elton john - tiny dancer, Candle in the Wind, your song etc. and Billy Joel - She's always a woman, Just the Way you are, New York State of Mind, Summer Highland falls etc and more recent artists like John Mayer and people don't write power ballads but they write ballads. These pieces do not seem to fit in anywhere? Does anyone want to make a page explaining what a ballad is? 04:03, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Female power ballads
I removed this paragraph because the artists discussed were all pop singers. A power ballad is the expression by rock and metal artists of vulnerability, overwhelmingly male vulnerability. Even if female singers can be included, such as Lita Ford, Celine Dion can't be included because she's a pop singer. The whole point behind the concept of the power ballad is the performance of a musical identity supposedly antithetical to the artist's "normal" musical identity. Celine Dion's normal musical identity is the ballad style -- she doesn't really do anything else, and certainly isn't venturing into unusual territory when she sings a ballad. Unless you can find enough significant female rock singers to mention, I'd simply leave the whole thing alone. - Pillsbur 19:39, 7 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Earth Song?
Earth Song is it a power ballad? it's kinda of gospel —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.71.37.81 (talk) 22:05, 31 December 2006 (UTC).
No, earth song is pop. cannot be a power ballad. 169.231.3.118 06:03, 29 January 2007 (UTC)Shelley
[edit] Love Hurts?
"Love Hurts" as recorded by Nazareth, is an early example of the musical style. Lyrically its not a love song, but everything else from the wailing vocals to the guitar solo sounds eerily like Nazareth got a sneak peek at the 80's power ballad rulebook. --67.135.240.36 13:24, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
- Yeah I think its a great example of an 80's sounding power ballad from the 70s. The lyrics are very much about love and heartbreak actually, and that vocal style of the singer sounds a lot like Cinderella to me, at least in terms of intensity. Xndr 20:33, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
ya love hurts is a great example of a power ballad, i dont know why anyone would argue otherwise, to assume that a power ballad had to be from the 80's or later is insane. the power ballad was concived decades before that. "Hey Jude" by the Beatles probably being the most popular example. Love Hurts is a power ballad. 169.231.3.118 06:03, 29 January 2007 (UTC)Shelley
"Love Hurts" is one of my favorite rock ballads. I wondered why it wasn't mentioned. --Yancyfry 04:24, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Another Day
Is it Dream Theater's song Another Day a power ballad? --Λeternus 18:30, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Christina Aguilera ? kelly clarkson ?
Is this insane or what ? A power ballad is a ROCK ROCK ROCK ROCK BALLAD, and not a pop ballad ! gosh the article is so poor its embarrasing to see a whole paragraph talking about "hurt". Hurt is downright pop, and kelly clarkson at hardest is rock-pop. Get the article out. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.160.36.100 (talk) 12:39, 28 January 2007 (UTC). i agree power ballads are reserved for rock groups, the power ballad was concived by rock and roll bands who wrote slow dance numbers for whatever reason 169.231.3.118 05:59, 29 January 2007 (UTC)shelley
- That's right, pop hasn't nothing to do with power ballads... --Λeternus 19:30, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Violence?
The following line in the introductory paragraph: "They are usually confessional nature and differ from metal's more lyrical themes of hedonism, violence, or the occult". I have to protest this, particularly the word 'violence'. The vast majority of metal lyrics are certainly not violent in nature. Killyourtv 13:11, 29 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Definition too narrow
I hate to contradict many on this talkpage, but the term power ballad is commonly used, at least by musicians, to describe pop songs such as Whitney Houston's unavoidable remake of "I Will Always Love You" & its innumerable imitators (but not Dolly Parton's original). That may offend the sensibilities of some users (I personally despise that song), but it's fact nonetheless. Power ballad as a term isn't a genre, it's a descriptive phrase used across sub-genres; and derives from the much older use of ballad as more or less a synonym for "slow tune" or "love song". —Turangalila (talk) 04:47, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
