The Power Ballad Remains an '80s Gift That Keeps on Giving
Saturday September 13, 2008
I don't know if the boundaries between decades are any more than artificial constructs, but when it comes to the power ballad - a musical form known intimately in particular by members of my generation - there seems to be a magically distinct aspect to the '80s. Maybe it's as much psychological as audible, but I just don't think slow and sentimental songs of the '70s or '90s or other decades of the rock era can hold a candle (or lighter) to the ones homegrown between 1980 and 1989. If nothing else, the decade served as a very consistent peak for this specialized hybrid rock style, and perhaps it wouldn't even be inaccurate to say that the '80s hold essentially exclusive rights to the form.
No matter how we choose to shade the definition, an essential understanding of '80s pop music cannot take place without a solid grasp of the bombastic, uniquely overwrought power ballad concept. To this end I offer no end-all, be-all summation, but you still ought to check out my Power Ballad Profile, along with all the related content already on my site that spotlights the special strain of commercially viable, lovelorn hard rock perfected during the '80s. Were Loverboy, Night Ranger, Bon Jovi and Poison merely in the right place at the right time, or is it simply a case of overwhelming nostalgia? You decide.
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