Best Power Ballads

Blisterman

What do you think are the best power ballads of all time? Most of the time they suck, but there are some good ones


My favourites
Motley Crue-Home Sweet Home
Metallica- Nothing else matters
Night Ranger- Sister Christian
Toto- Hold The Line
Alice Cooper- Poison

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Blind Guardian - harvest of sorrow
blind guardian - nightfall
hammerfall - glory to the brave ( )
demons & wizards - fiddler on the green ..? that a power ballad? . what is a power ballad?

anyway, great songs all

Baggio

Rush - Mission - from Hold Your Fire
Tears - from 2112
Losing It - Signals
Resist - Test For Echo

Jethro Tull - One White Duck - Minstrel In The Gallery
She Said She Was A Dancer - Crest Of A Knave
Moths - Heavy Horses
Wondering Aloud - Aqualung, especially live version!

Horslips - Faster Than The Hound - The Tain
Sideways To The Sun - The Book Of Invasions
Exiles instrumental - Aliens
I'll Be Waiting - The Man Who Built America
Rescue Me - Short Stories/ Tall Tales

Tom Waites Kentucky Avenue - Blue Valentine
Somewhere - Blue Valentine
On The Nickle - Heart Attack And Vine


ciao Baggio..................

feylya

Always been a fan of The Unforgiven and Fade To Black - Metallica

metalish

Man o War : Battle Hymns
Metallica : Nothing Else Matters, Fade to Black, The Unforgiven
Alice Cooper : Poison
Europe : Final Countdown
Guns 'n' Roses : November Rain, Sweet Child o' Mine, Paradise City
Pantera : Cemetery Gates, Walk, 5 Minutes Alone
Pearl Jam : Alive, Garden

It wasn't me!

Iron Maiden-Fear of the Dark

Doctor J

Acid Reign - Thoughtful Sleep

mise

When I think of Power Ballads I think 80s and for me the best has to be "The Voice" by John Farnham.

Crucifix

metalish wrote:

Pantera : ....Walk

Obviously I've got the wrong definition for power ballad

Mr. CooL ICE

Iron Maiden - FearOf The Dark, Infinite Dreams
Children Of Bodom - Angels Don't Kill
Pantera - Cemetery Gates
SOAD - Aerials

Muhahahahaha

Kilgore-Trout

one of my favourites is:
Rhapsody - Lamento Eroico

Sarky

Manowar- Master Of The Wind.

Cheesy, but veery nice all the same.

If The Warrior's Prayer counts, pop that in too.

"Grandfather, tell me a story!"

Beekay

Metallica-Welcome home(sanitarium)

Machine head-Descend the shades of night

Treebeard

Megadeth: Addicted to Chaos, Trust, Foreclosure of a Dream
GNR: Sweet Child, Estranged
Judas Priest: A touch of evil
Testament: Musical Death (a dirge)
Led Zep: Stairway
Dream Theater: Space Dye Vest

D!ve^Bomb!

metalish wrote:

Pantera : Cemetery Gates,

That is some solo!!! me likes

shivface

does sweet home alabama count?

or have i got the complete wrong idea?

niallith

megadeth - a tout le monde!!!!
metallica - fade to black

Oeneus

Velvet Revolver - Loving The Alien
Nightwish - Swanheart
Heart - Alone (Hahahahaha!!!, eghhem..)

frodi

No where fast, Fire Inc from the sound track of Streets of Fire.

Blisterman

Don't think stairway counts as a power ballad.

Stefano Guinnes

Power ?


Stairway for Heaven

Nothing else matters

Sweet Child'o mine

Turn the page

Zoton

Creed - My Sacrifice
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man
Slipknot - Iowa
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
Machine Head - The Burning Red
Boston - More Than Feeling
Rainbow - Since You've Been Gone
Staind - Outside
Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
It Must Have Been Love - Roxette

machiavellianme

Its gotta be "total eclipse of the heart" by bonnie tyler or "november rain" by guns n roses
a lot of the songs suggested dont even fit under the "power ballad" definition.

Power ballad is a name given to love songs that were predictably included on heavy metal or less mainstream albums in the 1980s or early 1990s.
The power ballad was frequently slower in tempo and much less aggressive in lyrics than the remaining music on the album. The songs were often crafted in a hope of scoring a Top Forty hit, and were particularly associated with bands in the hair metal genre.

Power ballads have to be about yearning and need, commitment and loss. Listening to one should make your heart soar or sink. Its sentiment should linger long after the last chord. It should make you feel.

Several of the songs listed already just have power chords in them but that doesnt neccessarily qualify them.

Doctor J

Escape From Within by Flotsam And Jetsam, also a classic.

edson

machiavellianme wrote:

Several of the songs listed already just have power chords in them but that doesnt neccessarily qualify them.

which ones do you think aren't power ballads?

well, here's a few i like:

Fade To Black
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Fear of The Dark

machiavellianme

No offence, but none of those songs really qualify as power ballads. Having said that, all are excellent tunes, especially Fear of the Dark, but just being a "quieter" or "slower" song by a heavy band doesnt directly coin the term "power ballad" as these songs were typically more commercially orientated and were usually lyrically attached to emotions about love etc. Perfect examples would be "Poison by Alice Cooper","Every Rose Has Its Thorn by Poison " or "Always by Bon Jovi". Probably the closest song Metallica have to a bona fide "power ballad" would be "nothing else matters" or something off reload. And as for whoever suggested Slipknots "iowa" as a powerballad?
Also, Aerials by system of a down would not fit under the accepted definition of power ballad.

Doctor J

machiavellianme wrote:

No offence, but none of those songs really qualify as power ballads. And as for whoever suggested Slipknots "iowa" as a powerballad?
Also, Aerials by system of a down would not fit under the accepted definition of power ballad.

You just wouldn't let it lie, would you?

Blisterman

Yeah, that's why I din't put Stairway in my list.

edson

fair enough, at least i know what they are now

superconor

Hammerfall - Glory To The Brave
Great song about fallen warriors...no, i cant smell cheese, why?

Iron Maiden - Infinite Dreams
Is this song about insanity or what? insomnia?

Blind Guardian - The Bards Song
Ahhh, right back to courtrooms and minstrels!

Extreme - More Than Words
Hair!!

Sarky

I'm listening to Judas Priest's Diamonds And Rust at the moment. I certainly think it counts as a power ballad, and a damn good one at that. And Beyond The Realms Of Death might count too.