there's a world in which this hit the top five:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJqJ7j7HVY
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
one of LL's fave songs ever is on thatxp
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
this stuff was really mega popular in the usa, right?
Journey to blame?
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:21 (eleven years ago) link
weird how so many faceless rock bands had the standard #1 power ballad hit and Journey didn't.
― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:22 (eleven years ago) link
well, members of Journey were in, as Robert Christgau said, the aptly named Bad English.
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:23 (eleven years ago) link
Did I not read somewhere that Journey was the biggest selling rock band of the 80s in the USA?
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:23 (eleven years ago) link
The one time I saw Cheap Trick they introduced "The Flame" by saying how much they hated it, and that they were essentially forced to record it. It's unclear what or whom exactly was forcing them to play the song at that show.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:25 (eleven years ago) link
And anyway, "Mandocello" is vastly superior, the exception to the rule of power ballad crapulence.
Doesn't seem to be the case if this is to be believed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists_in_the_United_States
xpost to AG
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:25 (eleven years ago) link
I think I actually like "The Price of Love" (which I haven't heard before iirc!) more than "When I See You Smile", which I hated.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:26 (eleven years ago) link
no question it's better, in the same way a C+ >>> F-
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:27 (eleven years ago) link
But yeah, these things were mega-popular. I was going to make a comparison with stuff that was mega-popular in the UK but I just looked at a list of #1 songs in the UK in the mid- to late-80s and holy fuck, are those charts schizoid!
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:29 (eleven years ago) link
just listened to that cheap trick song and fuck me its bad
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:29 (eleven years ago) link
but it's got mandocello!
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:29 (eleven years ago) link
Steve "Silk" Hurley "Jack Your Body"[nb 3] 24 January 1987 2Aretha Franklin and George Michael "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" 7 February 1987 2Ben E. King "Stand by Me" 21 February 1987 3Boy George "Everything I Own" 14 March 1987 2Mel and Kim "Respectable" 28 March 1987 1Ferry Aid "Let It Be" 4 April 1987 3Madonna "La Isla Bonita" 25 April 1987 2Starship "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" 9 May 1987 4Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" 6 June 1987 2The Firm "Star Trekkin'" 20 June 1987 2Pet Shop Boys "It's a Sin" 4 July 1987 3Madonna "Who's That Girl" 25 July 1987 1Los Lobos "La Bamba" 1 August 1987 2Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" 15 August 1987 2Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up"† 29 August 1987 5M|A|R|R|S "Pump Up the Volume" / "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)" 3 October 1987 2Bee Gees "You Win Again" 17 October 1987 4T'Pau "China in Your Hand" 14 November 1987 5Pet Shop Boys "Always on My Mind" 19 December 1987 4
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:30 (eleven years ago) link
sund4r a lot of ballads by rawk bands were their biggest hits/only songs to get radio play but a shitload more didnt.
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:30 (eleven years ago) link
Wait, is it "Mandocello" or "The Flame" that you hate, AG?
i loved that steve silk hurley song at the time.
oh tpau is a good one for this thread. they were bad.
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:31 (eleven years ago) link
"the flame"
"Jack Your Body" was still pretty subcultural in North America then iirc.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:32 (eleven years ago) link
OK, I get that UK radio is very different but still: wow @ you never having heard "The Flame" before.
this album was fucking massive btw
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Hot-City-Nights/release/2736814
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:34 (eleven years ago) link
we're a very compact country compared to the sprawling US...dunno if that would make any difference to our crazy charts, but maybe a reason.
xpost
― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:34 (eleven years ago) link
My mate bought it and I swear he made about 100 copies of it for people at school.
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:35 (eleven years ago) link
"The Flame" rips off the opening riff from Spirit's "Nature's Way": http://youtu.be/YsTK2LHZKPQ
Cheap Trick, Zeppelin...poor Spirit guys couldn't catch a break.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:35 (eleven years ago) link
That's just, like, a chord.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:38 (eleven years ago) link
"It's a Sin" is a power ballad?
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:39 (eleven years ago) link
Magnum were very popular in the late 80s for a few years. They used to play the SECC so despite not exactly having huge radio smashes there was a market for it. I guess AOR had its following. Raw/Kerrang certainly covered it. Noodle Vague or Pashmina could confirm this. I suspect if the UK had a rock station A)it woulda been very popular and B) more of these bands woulda had hits.
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:39 (eleven years ago) link
Like, maybe if that hook that shows up around 5s in was in the Spirit, I could see it being a ripoff.
2xpost
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:39 (eleven years ago) link
"Oh Sherry"
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 5 August 2013 23:39 (eleven years ago) link
No, I was just listing the UK #1s for 1987 because I thought it was a crazy mix of things.
Starship "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" 9 May 1987 4
this was bad but I got a horrid feeling the even worse piece of shit we built this city was #1
Cher had a big hit with a certain rock song too in the 80s.
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:40 (eleven years ago) link
Ha, I really like "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". I'm not sure I dislike the Airplane/Starship in any period!
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:42 (eleven years ago) link
Commercial radio had its own singles chart and i think the Chart Show on ITV used it so a lot of the time songs i thought were #1 werent an official #1. (ie the one bbc use)
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:42 (eleven years ago) link
Spirit have another connection to power ballads - Mark Andes was a member of Heart right through their 80s period.
― i'll be your mraz (NickB), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:43 (eleven years ago) link
Same notes played in the same succession, at the same tempo, and in the same key on what sounds like the same instrument.
I'd be surprised if it was a wacky coincidence.
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:43 (eleven years ago) link
Whitesnake - Is It Love? was definitely a hit. I guess UK's hair metal bands did well here but maybe not as well as in north america.
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:43 (eleven years ago) link
I can't believe anyone would hate "The Flame". It's such a good song! I realized that at least one of the reasons I like Big Star's "For You" is because it has the same "yoooooooou" as "The Flame" (which I heard first when I was in middle school and not-dancing at the teen dance club).
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:45 (eleven years ago) link
I mean the flame analogy is corny, but parts of the song redeem the ott corny parts. At least I think so.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:46 (eleven years ago) link
"The Flame" is better than the competition def.
Considered as the band's comeback album following the commercial failure of the 1986 album The Doctor, Lap of Luxury spawned three top 40 hit singles and one minor hit single. After "The Flame" topped the American Billboard Hot 100, a cover of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" peaked at #4. The third single "Ghost Town" continued the commercial success, peaking at #33 whilst the fourth single "Never Had a Lot to Lose" peaked at #75. The album opener "Let Go" also peaked at #32 on the American Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The success of "The Flame" brought the group out of a years-long commercial slump and back into music industry prominence. It was the band's only number one single in America.[4] It also became the band's first hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, reaching #29 there; "Don't Be Cruel" then hit #32 on the AC chart.
Reportedly, although the band disliked the song at first,[5] Rick Nielsen disliked the song so much on first hearing that he yanked it from the tape player and ground the cassette beneath his boot heel.
In an interview with Gerry Galipault, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos stated: "Tom Petersson rejoined in 1988, and then the vice president at Epic Records told us he had these two songs and they're both gonna be #1. He goes, 'We got one for you and one for the group Chicago, but you can have first choice.' He said, 'I think the one 'The Flame' would be good for you guys.' The other one was 'Look Away,' and it sounded like some girl singing on the demo. We really didn't like that song anyway, so 'Sure, we'll do 'The Flame.' We're game.'"[6]
According to lead vocalist Robin Zander, "The band was very skeptical about performing this song live, because we only liked to perform songs written by us. However, a young man from, oh, I don't know, somewhere, confirmed to us after a show in Florida about a week after the song was released that the song was great and, get this, would be a #1 single. As we joked about the guy's prediction, we later realized whoa! This guy was right. I thank him for that."
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:46 (eleven years ago) link
I'm fond of "Ghost Town."
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:48 (eleven years ago) link
Oh, I loved "Ghost Town" when I was 10. Should listen again.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:49 (eleven years ago) link
If you want a summit of the power ballad masters, listen to this top ten from early '89:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUwF-8R7ckY
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:50 (eleven years ago) link
anyway my vote for shittiest power ballad goes to corny crap like "when i see you smile" and "love of a lifetime" -- those songs sucked then and now.
generally most power ballads are pretty good!
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:51 (eleven years ago) link
cowritten by Richard Marx!
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:51 (eleven years ago) link
TS: "Surrender To Me" vs. "Almost Paradise"
― Esperanto, why don't you come to your senses? (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:51 (eleven years ago) link
YES
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:52 (eleven years ago) link
almost paradise
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:52 (eleven years ago) link
cowritten by Eric Carmen!
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:53 (eleven years ago) link
oh god richard marx was really big for a whilehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E2EHVxNAEbig hit here
― ..it would have sounded about as heavy as Talulah Gosh. (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 5 August 2013 23:55 (eleven years ago) link