A few days ago, a friend and I were talking about power ballads, and got into a small debate over exactly what constitutes a power ballad. For those who didn't grow up in the 1980s, power ballads are, at the most basic level, songs released by rock bands that are intended to be romantic and sweet, but still have enough amplified electric guitars to remind everyone that the band members really are rockers at heart. Virtually every hair metal band from Mötley Crüe to Poison to Europe released at least one power ballad. Although there were some exceptions, there was something of a pattern established by a lot of bands in which they released a high-energy rockin' song first, presumably to establish their "metal" bona fides, and then a power ballad so they could sell a lot of albums and pack stadiums full of women.
I was poking around this past weekend, and I believe that this song is the Platonic Ideal of a power ballad. It is a sweet, treacly love song with some edgy guitars thrown in. The band is a pretty typical 1980s hair metal band - it looks like about eighteen cans of Aqua-Net were used in the making of this video. The only thing they are lacking are color coordinated leather outfits akin to those Warrant wears in their video for the song Heaven. What really tops the cake here is that the video has a perfect visual representation of what a power ballad is starting at 0:39 where Bill Leverty appears playing an acoustic guitar that is on a stand while wearing an electric guitar so it will be ready for when the song transforms from the "ballad" portion of the song to the "power" part.
Previous Musical Monday: The Easter Song by Paul & Storm
Subsequent Musical Monday: Please Don't Go by KC and the Sunshine Band
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