LOVE SONGS FROM SUNSET STRIP

 I think,  you will agree that one of, if not, the most maligned musical "genre" of recent history has been Hair Metal, ...it is especially shat on from those miserable grunge a-holes...ANYWAY...and within the genre of Hair Metal, there was a sub -genre that was shat on from a great hight by even friggin hairy metallers...the highly hated and much loved 'POWER BALLAD".

WHAT IS A POWER BALLAD ?....In its purest, most simplistic sense, its a ballad with POWER....which is why, on this blog, I've included Warrant over Bryan Adams and Skid Row over Scorpions...not a knock to either of those bands at all, matter of fact, its a good idea for a future blog.....

I think its fair to say the during a gig there are “textures” the band gets the crowd rocking, then bring them down with usually a ballad that has cigarette lighters, or in modern terms, the lights on your mobile phone lighting up by the thousands...and yes the musical press by and large have crapped all over the ballads, BUT...some of the best songs from the late 80’s were in fact ballads.....

example I hear you yell...o.k ....Every rose has its thorns by Poison, Heaven by Warrant, Dont know what you got by Cinderella..I will even add Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, although Jon doesn’t like being lumped in with the sunset strip guys..but a ballad is a ballad ..RIGHT?....the construction of a power ballad is pretty much the same as a country song...boy finds girl, boys goes to strip club , boy loses girl and cant figure out why...HAHAHAA...no, serioulsy, they are closely related, lyrically speaking...

SO...which bands /songs go under the umbrella of this particular musical group..well, and here is where enthusiastic discussion begin's...I don't think that you have to have exclusively been from the corner of Sunset and Dohini to lay sole claim to having produced a great power ballad...As you can see on the tracklist, I've put in Alice Cooper, Skid Row and Twisted Sister...none of whom are from L.A..but I think the songs from them that have been included fit right into the genre quite nicely...

NOW...the construction of the power ballad is essentially a a 5 part process

1: THE CRUNCH

the song ebbs and flows and then WHAM when you least expect it, a musical tsunami

2: THE SOAR

the song has soaqr like an eagle instead of ponching about like a friggin penguin

3: SINCERITY

the tune should be gut wrenching, tear drenched and hyper emotional...in short, does it come from a shattered heart

4: FLUFFINESS

the ideal opposite to the crunch and the soar

and finally

5: THE CHEESE

the lyrics should be over the top and more often that not sung in a pleading, tormented manner with a large slice of pleading chucked in for good measure.

SO...there you go, my theory on the good old Power Ballad...probably not a very scientific theory, but a theory none the less