A thread for the worst ballads/power ballads by rawk bands

La Lechera: what about Tigertailz and Firehouse?

Like, I like Cheap Trick and Foreigner too.

Dunno Tigertailz, Firehouse sang Love of a Lifetime? If so, no -- that song is awful.

Yep.

I think Bon Jovi - Always might win this thread. Or one of Aerosmiths lame 90s ballads

http://www.allmusic.com/album/vh1-the-big-80s-power-ballads-mw0000669707

there's a world in which this hit the top five:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuJqJ7j7HVY

one of LL's fave songs ever is on that
xp

this stuff was really mega popular in the usa, right?

Journey to blame?

weird how so many faceless rock bands had the standard #1 power ballad hit and Journey didn't.

well, members of Journey were in, as Robert Christgau said, the aptly named Bad English.

Did I not read somewhere that Journey was the biggest selling rock band of the 80s in the USA?

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.

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

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.

no question it's better, in the same way a C+ >>> F-

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!

just listened to that cheap trick song and fuck me its bad

but it's got mandocello!

Steve "Silk" Hurley "Jack Your Body"[nb 3] 24 January 1987 2
Aretha Franklin and George Michael "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" 7 February 1987 2
Ben E. King "Stand by Me" 21 February 1987 3
Boy George "Everything I Own" 14 March 1987 2
Mel and Kim "Respectable" 28 March 1987 1
Ferry Aid "Let It Be" 4 April 1987 3
Madonna "La Isla Bonita" 25 April 1987 2
Starship "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" 9 May 1987 4
Whitney Houston "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" 6 June 1987 2
The Firm "Star Trekkin'" 20 June 1987 2
Pet Shop Boys "It's a Sin" 4 July 1987 3
Madonna "Who's That Girl" 25 July 1987 1
Los Lobos "La Bamba" 1 August 1987 2
Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" 15 August 1987 2
Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up"† 29 August 1987 5
M|A|R|R|S "Pump Up the Volume" / "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)" 3 October 1987 2
Bee Gees "You Win Again" 17 October 1987 4
T'Pau "China in Your Hand" 14 November 1987 5
Pet Shop Boys "Always on My Mind" 19 December 1987 4

sund4r a lot of ballads by rawk bands were their biggest hits/only songs to get radio play but a shitload more didnt.

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.

"the flame"

"Jack Your Body" was still pretty subcultural in North America then iirc.

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

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

My mate bought it and I swear he made about 100 copies of it for people at school.

"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.

That's just, like, a chord.

"It's a Sin" is a power ballad?

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.

Like, maybe if that hook that shows up around 5s in was in the Spirit, I could see it being a ripoff.

2xpost

Journey to blame?

"Oh Sherry"

"It's a Sin" is a power ballad?

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.

Ha, I really like "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". I'm not sure I dislike the Airplane/Starship in any period!

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)

Spirit have another connection to power ballads - Mark Andes was a member of Heart right through their 80s period.

That's just, like, a chord.

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.

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.

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).

I mean the flame analogy is corny, but parts of the song redeem the ott corny parts. At least I think so.

"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."

I'm fond of "Ghost Town."

Oh, I loved "Ghost Town" when I was 10. Should listen again.

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

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!

Shit I read that as "best and worst", those are some of my favorites.

I can't find a thread for best hard rock and metal ballads...

ok what i've been playing lately on sleepytime playlist which doesn't work because i don't sleep well anymore

Alias - More Than Words Can Say
Sheriff - When I'm With You (yes yes I know same singer on both of them)
Firehouse - Love of a Lifetime (hate away)
Steelheart - I'll Never Let You Go