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....

Top 25 Power Ballads: #20 - 16

It's a nice and balmy 8 degrees in Northern New Jersey on this lovely Friday morning. Just one of those beautiful days that makes you want to forget about politics for a while and focus on the lighter side of life. Since there's still about 8 hours before it's acceptable to get into my flip-flops, pop a Corona and chill on my deck, I figure there's no better time than now to resume the celebration of 1986's Silver Anniversary with the Top 25 Power Ballads of All Time...

#20: WITHOUT YOU, Motley Crue (1989). For some reason, SONY Records has removed every single Motley Crue video on YouTube. If you own stock in Sony, and the Crue is their bread and butter, the asset they must protect at all costs, I highly recommend you bail immediately. It was a little presumptuous of Nikki Sixx to craft a love letter from Tommy Lee to Heather Locklear though, don't ya think? Maybe there was a little Clapton/Harrison/Layla action going on in Crueland.

#19: LIVING IN SIN, Bon Jovi (1988).  The suspense is over. The Boys from Sayreville make their debut on the rundown with their first of four entries. I can't get enough of "Sin". I remember the Catholic Church getting their dresses in a knot over the fact that the band used imagery of the Blessed Sacrament in the video - for a song that advocated the most heinous of crimes...Cohabitation. Don't ya think that effort woulda been spent more wisely worrying about all their priests that were Living In Sin in the late 80s?

#18: WHAT IT TAKES, Aerosmith(1989). The one and only appearance for Aerosmith - who doesn't neccessarily fit the definition of a "Hair Band" based on their work both before and after this glorious era we speak of, but if the high heeled boot fits, wear it.

#17: SOMETIMES SHE CRIES, Warrant (1989). Man, in 7th Grade, I would have bet big money on Warrant being the next Rolling Stones.I also would have bet heavily that Ronald Reagan would go down as one of the best Presidents ever. I was much closer with Warrant.

#16: LOVE BITES, Def Leppard (1987). Much like Aerosmith, Def Leppard had a storied career before the Aqua-Net Age, but unlike them, they didn't quite survive the rise of grunge. I was shocked to find out that "Love Bites" was their only song to ever hit #1 on Billboard. I guess the Billboard guys don't frequent strip clubs because "Pour Some Sugar On Me" easily has to be considered the defining Def Leppard song. It's just a shame that 24 years later, we still don't have an answer to the age-old question: When you make love, do you look in the mirror? 

I'm also reminded of the most F'ed up question I ever heard on the old "Remote Control" game show (AKA: MTV's last original and quality program): "How many mittens would it take to cover the hands of all five members of Def Leppard"

Top 25 Power Ballads: #25 - 21

If it's 2011, that means that:

A. Children of the 90s will start infiltrating your bars and buying up your Smirnoff Ice, Twisted Tea and Jaegermeister.

B. America makes another step towards that More Perfect Union by breaking the Orange Barrier and swearing in the first Speaker of the House to match the hue and tone of an Ooompa-Loompa.

C. We celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Golden Era of the Hair Band

D. All of the above.

If you haven't figured it out by now, anytime "All of the Above" is listed as an option, it's the correct one. But with all due respect to Speaker Boner and a new generation of barflies that we can only hope are more tolerable than the children of the Eighties, I'd rather focus on the Silver Anniversary of an era that lasted just long enough to make an impact without going overboard and becoming a joke like disco did.

Alright, I'm looking back with (Axl) rose colored glasses. It was a bit of a joke. But a damn good one. I love the hair bands and glam rockers and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Who else but the likes of Enuff Z'Nuff and Slaughter could put a romantic gloss on suicide and overdose? Who else but Poison could capture the mental angst and issues of a Vietnam Veteran? Who better than the Scorpions than to overshadow the empty platitudes of Ronald Reagan and tell the masses what the fall of the Iron Curtain really meant? For a select slice of the populous, these Masters of Mullets groomed our emotions, teaching us how to love, hate, fear, respect, mourn and thrive. 

I define the beginning of the era as the first time Jon Bon Jovi bought a can of Aqua Net, and the end likely came not long after Kurt Cobain said "Hey, wanna get high?" for the first time. But looking back to a time I remember all to well, the golden age of the hair band began in 1986. While I was home sick with bronchitis watching the Challenger go boom on my 9th birthday, the music world was being prepared to be rocked off their asses with releases such as Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In, and Europe's Final Countdown and Somebody was making millions selling blow to Adam Curry.

For the remainder of the decade, we were treated to an all out blitz of boobs, hair, lipstick, cars and any other vice you could think of before rock decided it hated itself and wanted to die.

To honor these quasi-cross dressing men, I humbly begin my definitive countdown of the 25 Greatest Power Ballads. I'll get into criteria at a later date....

#25: HIGH ENOUGH, Damn Yankees (1990) - Sneaking in at the tail end of The Hair Age, something tells me that psycho gun-nut survivalist Ted Nugent isn't exactly encoring his Sean Hannity Concerts for Freedom, Jesus and Troops with this tune. Also, in true hair band fashion, the video (about robbing a liquor store and engaging in a hostage situation) has absolutely nothing to do with the lyrics.

#24: CARRIE, Europe(1986) - Apparently Europe is still huge in, well, Europe. They're even planning a tour and new album this year. I'm going to try and book them for my Fantasy Football Draft this summer. As long as they stick solely to songs from The Final Countdown. Especially this classic. When lights go down.

#23: FLY TO THE ANGELS, Slaughter(1990) - I was shocked to discover that frontman Mark Slaughter's given name was actually Mark Slaughter. Can't say the same for Tracii Guns or Chip Z'Nuff (and Messers Axl Rose and Jon Bon Jovi aren't exactly going straight off the birth certificate). I don't know if Mark's father was a Sergeant though. Here's our first song about suicide-and/or-accidental death, and I'll kill the suspense, no pun intended, and let you know that Kix's "Don't Close Your Eyes" just missed the cut. I had it at #28.

#22: WHEN THE CHILDREN CRY, White Lion (1987) - You may prefer to take your lessons from a crackhead like Whitney Houston telling you to believe the children are our future. Me? I'd rather be condescended to by a bunch of Danes. Then again, 1987. I was 10. Was I the child that cried?

#21: TO BE WITH YOU, Mr. Big (1991) - I remember a friend of my father's started dating a woman who looked just like the dude who sings for this bad. Shared many a chuckle at that. Anyway, whether you were making a movie or writing a song back in these days, there was one can't miss recipe for success: A plea to a beautiful woman who at the time was involved with a complete and utter asshole. Never failed.

Till we meet again, may you have Nuthin' But a Good Time.