Alright, Peeps... Rock Power Ballads. Yes or No?
I've had today's Mike's Music Morning in my head for a while.
First, let’s define rock “Power Ballad” for what it is (thanks Tony Stark/Iron Man)… For me this takes the form of a lot of stuff I grew up with in the late 70’s-early 80’s.
From Wikipedia: “Simon Frith, the British sociomusicologist and former rock critic, identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles, and the adaptation of this style by performers such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones, and Joe Cocker to produce slow-tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars, and sometimes choirs. According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences while retaining their "macho rocker" mystique.The hard rock power ballad typically expresses love or heartache through its lyrics, shifting into wordless intensity and emotional transcendence with heavy drumming and a distorted electric guitar solo representing the "power" in the power ballad.
Okay! On with the show! I think I picked some good ones here, but let me know what you think in the comments.
This double album from GnR is amazing:
This, to me, is a very haunting and beautiful song:
I had no idea until this morning that this was a tribute to Elvis Presley:
Even Ozzy Osbourne, The Prince of Darkness got in on some of this action:
This was, of course, made famous by Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Little movie you might have heard of called “Pretty Woman”
These two songs from Bryan Adams kind of summed up my early 1990’s.
I love this movie series, and there’s always been a special place in my heart for “Beyond Thunderdome”
…and, finally. No list of rock ballads would be complete with this one:
Good morning from Western Wishes.
Kilgore
And don’t forget to check out our previous installments in this ongoing series of music recommendations and best-of debates:
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Generation X's Greatest Black Musician? Rihanna, In My Humble Opinion.
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These 2 Hypnotic Sitar Albums Saved Me Last Night as the PTSD Demons Struck Back
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