Top 25 Power Ballads: #10 - #6

It's the stretch run, the Top 10. Put the women and children to sleep, we're bringing out the Big Guns this week.

Previous entries on this rundown....

#25 - #21

#20 - #16

#15 - #11

#10: SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN, Poison (1990) Don't be fooled - behind all that lipstick, makeup and hairspray is a powerful progressive message. How we treat our homeless, our veterans, our poor and our lonely best friends of Bret Michaels. At the very least it answers the question "Is there a Lord Above?". Negatory.

#9: MORE THAN WORDS, Extreme (1991) The Last Great Power Ballad ever released. Not long after this it was time to don the flannels, cut the hair and get serious. It was nice of Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone to give a cameo to the useless members of the band waiving their lighters in the video. Speaking of which, with the general decline of smoking in general, that's the most unfortunate side effect - no more swaying lighters demanding an encore, or for effect during a great power ballad such as this. Yes, I know there's an ap for that now. But it's not the same.

#8: WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, Bon Jovi (1986) As disturbing as it is, JBJ's Cowboy Fetish has produced some great music. You've got this classic. You've got "Ride Cowboy Ride", and you've got the entire Young Guns II Soundtrack. Sure, it's hard to shake the image of a 14 year old Jon prancing around his Sayerville bedroom in assless chaps and a Red Rider but at the expense of never hearing "sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink"? Well worth the imagery. What I find a little pretentious however, is that when this song was written, Bon Jovi was hardly the global success that they are today. So really, the only way Jon saw "a million faces" when he wrote this was if he was collecting Turnpike Tolls that summer.

#7: FLY HIGH MICHELLE, Enuff Z'Nuff (1989) Told you I wasn't done honoring the lost art of hair bands memorializing overdosees in song. Drugs? Check. Lipstick? Check. Hair? Check. Girls? Yup. And really, can you go wrong writing about a Michelle? I can think of 3 Michelle classics off the top of my head. Enuff Z'Nuff never really took off and that's a shame, because this album and their 1990 follow up "Strength" were quality cuts. Maybe it's because they went for the "Poison on Acid" look.

#6: PATIENCE, Guns N'Roses (1989) This was hard for me to include in my countdown. I cringe to put GNR in the classification of "Hair Bands". The era lines up. The look kind of does, though there was very little glamor in their motif. But their track record and their sound is hardly comparable to Bon Jovi, Poison, or even the Crue. But Patience can loosely, very, very loosely, be categorized as a Power Ballad. And a great one at that. Is there a better vocal solo than Axl's wailing at the end of this? Is there a more iconic (and symbolic) sequence from a music video than Slash's snake? Do you not think about this tune every time you're partying in a hotel room?

It's a topic for another time, especially with the million different classifications one could pick, but I'm a firm believer that Guns N Roses was the Last Great Rock'n Roll Band.

See ya'll for the Top Five later this week.

Top 25 Power Ballads: #15 - 11

We're at the half-way point of the countdown. Usually the time where I start thinking what's the next useless waste of time countdown I'll come up with in my own head and spend way too many hours debating. But for the most part, we're moving onto the legendary stage of the list. Rock on.

If you need a refresher:

#25 - #21

#20 - #16

#15: THE BALLAD OF JAYNE, L.A. Guns (1990) Oh hair bands singing about untimely death. I admit, I'm a sucker for them. This ain't the first on the countdown, and it's not the last. The saddest part about this song though isn't the story being told, but rather how Tracii Guns became the 1980's version of Pete Best to Slash's Ringo. I don't watch music videos anymore, primarily because I'm pretty sure they're extinct, but do singers still clench their fists when the camera focuses on them?

#14: WIND OF CHANGE, Scorpions (1990). I miss the Cold War. And don't lie, you do too. This whole ambiguous war-on-terror hasn't lent itself to any great contributions to pop culture. There is no Rocky IV or Red Dawn. Sorry, Hurt Locker blew. But this...The Wind of Change. ICONIC. Regardless of your political leanings, you can't help but get chills down your back. The video? Ehh. I could do without the Pope and George Bush The Elder. But you can't change history.

#13: I WON'T FORGET YOU, Poison (1987) Hands down, Poison's most under-rated track ever. You could argue I'm under-rating it by denying it a place in the top 10 but let's just say there's plenty more of Brett, Ricki, CC and Bobby to come. I know Poison, and Brett Michaels are kind of looked at as a bit of a joke these days, and within reason. Many might consider them the poster-children for the Glam Band Era. And I do too, but for a different reason: Like the age itself, Poison is infinitely greater than it's given credit for. 

#12: I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU, Bon Jovi, 1988 I consider this track to be Richie Sambora's coming out party. No, I'm not talking about that type of coming out. This is a man who was happily involved with Cher. OK, bad example. Moving along. The insanely under appreciated opening guitar riff is one thing, but what's always stood out to me was the "Woman you know my hands are dirty" line he backs up JBJ with.

Side note to Jon though: Not there when she was happy OR down AND you missed her birthday? Forgive her if she finds your promise To Be There For Her to be shallow at best. 

#11: THE FLAME, Cheap Trick (1988) Like their predecessors on the list, Def Leppard and Aerosmith, Cheap Trick enjoyed a storied pre-Hair Band career. They certainly don't belong as a group in the same classification with a majority of these artists. But listen to "The Flame". There's no mistaking the fact that this is a Class A Power Ballad. And a great one at that. When I think of the summer of 1988, I think of the McDLT, Michael Dukakis, "The Flame" and Eric Carmen's "Make Me Lose Control". (Another great tune but I didn't feel like it qualified)

Next week, we bring out the Big Guns and move into the Top Ten. Many repeat artists, but there's three that haven't shown up on the list just yet. Including one that I cringe to put into this classification. I'm not trying to give anything away. Just asking for a little pa....