Surely, no list is complete without these three:

Thanks WolfDancer, you reminded me that once I show the Mrs. this little project she's probably going to be looking for "Heaven" from 1984's Reckless. Oooh, if missing I might have some explaining to do.

I'll squeeze in some Bryan Adams.

Wow, I never realized "Summer of '69" is NOT [just] a reference to a year!

I can't believe I forgot Slaughter. Bryan Adams however can never be forgotten. As someone who has seen quite a few bands in concert, Bryan Adams in a small arena is the best concert I've seen to this day. Dude knew exactly how to make it personal and fun.

I'm not convinced on the "69" thing, yet Bryan Adams claims...

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"When Adams appeared on The Early Show in 2008, he was asked about "Summer of '69" and its lyrical meaning. Adams confirmed the song was about sex and making love in the summertime. "69" is a reference to the sexual position, 69.[3] Vallance however has gone for the more conventional interpretation of the title being a reference to a year. He notes Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty", which contains references to 1965 and 1969, as his own influence, and recalls Adams citing the film Summer of '42 as his.[2] However the song bears no references to anything in 1969"
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Link


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"In 2008, Adams was quoted as saying:

"'Summer of '69' - I think it's timeless because it's about making love in the summertime. There is a slight misconception it's about a year, but it's not. '69' has nothing to do about a year, it has to do with a sexual position ... At the end of the song the lyric says that it's me and my baby in a 69. You'd have to be pretty thick in the ears if you couldn't get that lyric."[13]"
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Link


Still wouldn't be as risqu� as Jefferson Starship's "Miracles".

++++++++++

EDIT: Ok, I'm [sort of] convinced [the song could have two meanings, since Adams co-wrote the song and was born in '59). At the 3:00 mark (iTunes), "Me and my baby in a 69". Can't be on the Reckless lyric sheet though, I would have noticed it with the LP (can't get to my CDs right now).

This song gets automatic inclusion!

It's powerful and it's the most balladesque song from this underrated band:

Warrior Soul - The Losers



There doesn't exist an official video of the album version and I don't want to use the live versions - the frontman's rock'n'roll lifestyle took a heavy toll on his voice in later years.
(Now I wonder: Has Mot�rhead ever made a power ballad? Maybe on the "1916" album?)

Fair enough if you don't like the song, it is however, a Power ballad: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Arms_(Journey_song)

I don't agree with Wikipedia on this one (click the "power ballad" link from your link)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad#Power_ballads

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"Aaron argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs such as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971), Aerosmith's "Dream On" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (1974).[50] The Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love" (1972) has also been identified as a prototype of the power ballad.[51] Notable power ballad examples include Nazareth's version of "Love Hurts" (1975), Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" (1984),[49] Scorpions' "Still Loving You" (1984), Heart's "What About Love" (1985),[52] and Whitesnake's "Is This Love" (1987).[53]""
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But if The Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love" and Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" are to be included as examples of the power ballad, then absolutely "Open Arms" is a power ballad.

I don't dislike the song as much as it's considered to be so representative of Journey. Maybe I'll keep it.

Nothing from the Carpenters can be considered a Power Ballad... PLEASE

But listening to it *live*, maybe Wikipedia is right about this song being "a prototype of the power ballad"...




And it does have a guitar solo (lacking in "Open Arms").

See, this is still my idea of a rock power ballad.


VH1 definition



The Carpenters I wouldn't even consider "soft rock", every song they sing is sappy. IMO, a Rock Ballad has to be out of the norm for the group.

If you look at the 10 songs on that list, I thing we nailed them. I guess they consider Journey's songs ballads too.

I'm down with VH1's definition of a rock power ballad with the following exceptions:

- They shouldn't imply that Poison and Journey were "manly".
- They shouldn't imply that Poison and Journey were hard rock bands.
- They shouldn't imply that Journey and Def Leppard were hair bands (and neither was '80s Van Halen even with all that hair).

Journey was neither manly nor a hair band (unless you count Neil Schon's humungous 'fro in the '70s).


I like their list. Kinda weird to see White Lion's "When the Children Cry", I really like the song (good find...one for my personal playlist) but I can't help but think that power ballads are mostly about poon (unless it's intended to be dark/sad or you're Ozzy).

Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" a power ballad? I thought is was one of the few songs on Escape that wasn't. Oh well, I like the song but it's not making my list.

Otherwise, I think this is the best definition/examples yet. I guess Wikipedia including a Carpenters song is just an example how much opinions differ on the subject.

Maybe it was someone's joke. I don't know if that melody could
be twisted into a power ballad, even if you had a Felix Papalardi
arrangement with Leigh Stevens on guitar and John Finlay
on vocal, that being the most potent combination I can think
of off hand.

But the metal power ballad is just a gentle permutation of
the power pop ballad, which goes back to the early sixties
(As I cited before, Walker bros Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore),
or even the fifties - maybe the first was Conway Twitty (Only
Make Believe) or Gene Pitney (Town Without Pity), and had all
sorts of practitioners. The sixties had the Righteous Brothers,
Jay and the Americans, and too many more to remember. Tom
Jones had a TV show from around 68 to 72, and he would
deliver a different power pop ballad every week. In the
seventies, there was Eddie Money, and I seem to recall the
gimmick band Kiss got their best mileage out of a power
pop number. And on it goes.

Interesting history of the power ballad, PV1.

My all-time favorite rock power ballad (by which all others are judged) is actually pretty old...




The runner-up is even older (both on my first list)...



IMO, the ultimate rocking sap. I like it, she likes it, good times at 17 (and 47)!

Rush's early stuff, maybe even up to 2112, was heavier than anything AC/DC has ever done. AC/DC started out as a blues-based band, and once Brian Johnson came along they pretty much turned to power pop.

Journey wouldn't be categorised as a hard rock band in my book either, and "Don't stop believing" doesn't quite fit my personal idea of a power ballad.

But if a power ballad is a ballad with added soaring emotions, attempted profundity and amplified guitars, starting slowly and then gradually building to a crescendo, what is a ballad?


Basically it is a refrain song a ditty, a story set to musical notes, as I interpret the definition at Wiki. Hence just about every piece of music in modern culture that would fit on to the "single" format could be termed as a ballad.

Yes, you definitely should! Here's a power ballad from their last Wooden Nickel record, "Man of Miracles."



Here's another early Styx tune, with a keyboard solo that reminds me a lot of Rick Wakeman's in "Close to the Edge."




And a power ballad from...Iron Maiden?? Can it truly be??

I'm sitting here reading this while listening to the Ventures. I'm so confused lol

Reminds me more of Keith Emerson, Brain Salad Surgery era ELP

True, but if you listen to the keyboard solo at the end of the "I Get Up I Get Down" movement of Yes "Close to the Edge" you'll hear what I mean.

Here's someone else playing it, but he nails it.