Favorite Power Ballads From 1988-1992

Loudwire put out their best power ballads of all time that don't suck. I don't think they understand what a power ballad is.

Before I saw that article, this happened. I'm a big college football fan and Andy Staples, who writes for Sports Illustrated about college football, has a column every Monday which includes a "Random Ranking". Via Twitter, I asked Staples if he'd ever done a random ranking on power ballads between 1988 and 1992. He replied that it would be in this week's column, You'll need to scroll past the football stuff to get to it if you're not a fan.

Why 1988 to 1992? Because that was power ballad prime and power ballad hell, concurrently. Then Nirvana blew the whole thing to shreds.

What follows are my Top 10 Favorites. Notice I didn't say "best". That's subjective. "Favorites" lets you know that it's subjective.

1. "I Remember You", Skid Row. This song perfected what the power ballad is supposed to be. A tame, acoustic opening. Hints of power in the verses. A bombastic, memorable chorus. The ramp up in the bridge before the guitar solo. Bring it down for the third verse before blowing out the final choruses with Sebastian Bach's soaring vocals.



2. "House of Pain", Faster Pussycat. Harmonica intro into acoustic verse. This one may not fit the classic definition because it actually has some real meaning behind the lyrics. Taime Down has, shall we say, an interesting voice. But it has the memorable chorus. Tasty electric guitar solo. It doesn't have the signature bridge. What can I say, it's one of my favorites and it's my list.



3. "Ballad of Jayne", L.A. Guns. Familiar acoustic start through the verse and chorus. This one, again, has more meaning behind it, being that it's about someone who has passed. Goes with the electric guitar solo. More subdued than others, before transitioning back to acoustic. And we get some strings towards the end.



4. "Heartbreak Station", Cinderella. I could probably put three Cinderella songs on this list, but I'm just going to stick with this one. Tom Keifer as a ballad writer is unmatched. You get the lap slide solo in this one. You get the piano ballad from "Don't Know What You Got" and the more pure power ballad in "Nobody's Fool", just to name a few.



5. "I Saw Red", Warrant. OK, I know most people, if they were to choose a Warrant song would choose "Heaven". Not me. This is just an old fashioned cheatin' song. And he's very nonchalant about it. He didn't see his face, but he saw hers and closed the door and now he's not going to love her anymore. So simple, yet so poignant. Then the bridge before the solo, we get the pain and anger.



6. "Close My Eyes Forever", Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. I'm not sure if this may not be the best song on my list. But it fails to make the top stop on the spirit of the list because it has too many epic qualities. It's a great song, but a bit over-produced and over-dramatic, but I can't not include it.



7. "Love's A Loaded Gun", Alice Cooper. Hey, if Ozzy and Lita can get into the power ballad game, why not Alice? Of course Alice puts his own twisted twist on the power ballad by making it about a call girl that he's in love with/stalking?



8. "Something To Believe In", Poison. OK, I know, "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" is the popular choice. I don't know, I like my power ballads to have some substance. And besides this is the superior song.



9. "Fly To The Angels", Slaughter. I think Mark Slaughter oversings everything, but that's just him. It doesn't take away from the greatness of this song. Again, this song has some meaning to it. I don't know, maybe it's just me getting older, but mostly I'm not here for the superfluous. Don't get wrong, I still like my nonsense, but don't give me meaningless fluff.



10. "Love Of A Lifetime", Firehouse. This is not a great song. Why do I include this? Because this is the kind of schlock that killed an era and led to grunge. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Number 10 should always be a wildcard, right? Or make a point? The previous nine are good songs. This is just what happened.

More Substance Than Bro Country, More Country Than Sam Hunt

On Sirius the other day I heard the d.j. say that she had heard The Eagles would be considered “country” today. Which is funny ’cause I have recently been thinking about that. I loved The Eagles. They’ve dabbled in country for years. The truth: they would NOT get played today because they are “too traditional.”

 That quote came from the comments section on an article on the website Saving Country Music from a user identified only as Justin.

It got me to thinking that a lot of 80's hair metal power ballads are more country than what you hear on mainstream country radio today. So of course I went down that rabbit hole. And then I got stuck on Cinderella. At their core, Cinderella was really more of a blues rock/Southern rock band than a hair metal band. But they had the look and played the part. But the music told a different story.

I could mine ten songs from the Cinderella catalog that would make a more country album than you could get from taking ten songs from eight hours worth of mainstream country radio.

But I digress from the main point. Taking individual songs (and yes I know, that's cherry picking) from artists such as Cinderella, Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, Guns n' Roses, and L.A. Guns, just to name a few, you can find songs more country than anything Sam Hunt has done.

And here's the real kicker. While the demise of the glam/sleaze rock scene was mired in misogyny and shallowness, there is more substance to be found there than in the bro country scene. Want proof? Glad you asked. I made a Spotify playlist of songs with more substance than bro country and more country than Sam Hunt.

Granted, none of these songs are really country in the true sense of country music. It's more of an exercise than anything else. And yes, I have an affinity for 80's hard rock, what I grew up with.  And yeah, I took some liberties including KISS and a Lita Ford cover of an Alice Cooper song. It's my playlist.

If you Spotify, enjoy:

Throwback Thursday: Cinderella: Heartbreak Station

Yeah it's cliche. All the kids are doing it. #tbt. Or maybe they've moved on. Whatever. This is a great song and would be considered too country for country radio in 2016. Go figure.

Artist Spotlight: Kara Clark

If you like any combination of Saraya, Cinderella, Miranda Lambert, Molly Hatchet, Halestorm, Whiskey Myers, 4 Non Blondes, Lita Ford and Alice Cooper, then I have the artist for you. And if you have to google or youtube any of the artists mentioned, thank me later and you're welcome.

Her name is Kara Clark and she will kick your ass. Musically, that is. And maybe physically. I don't know.

I have known this for a long time, but it's really become apparent while writing this blog: I don't really like a genre of music as much as I like a style of music. It needs to have real instruments played by real people. It needs to be gritty, dirty, swampy; not too slick, not too polished.

There should be more of Kara Clark here. But in the interim, enjoy this from her 2013 self titled album:



You can purchase music, including her new EP at and hear new music at KaraClark.com.

Hard Rock Playlist 1

This is by no means an original idea, but I thought I'd make a hard rock playlist. Not the ultimate hard rock playlist, just a hard rock playlist. That is why I called it "Hard Rock Playlist 1". This is my first and maybe last or maybe the first of many.

Spotify, for me, is the easiest way to make a playlist (and yes, I pay for premium) so I am limited to what is available on that service.

Now let me take you through the process.

1. I wanted it to come in between and hour and an hour and half. 16 songs seems to be a pretty good number, but between 14 and 18 would have worked.
2. I tried to make it semi-cohesive from one song to the next, like listening to an album.
3. I wanted to hit as many decades as possible from the '70's until now (think I did that, although I'm not sure about 2000-2009).
4. I wanted to run the gamut on the fringes of what I consider hard rock (subjective, I know).
5. I wanted it to be something you could put on in your car and drive for an hour and not want to skip anything (again success will be subjective).
6. I didn't want the songs to be obvious.

So here is the playlist with comments. The Spotify link is at the bottom.

1) "Overture/The Temples of Syrinx"  - Rush
I went with this because it is one of the best opening salvos of any record I know. "Overture" sets the mood and then "The Temples of Syrinx" just smashes the listener in the face.

2) "Queen of the Reich" - Queensryche
This continues the full frontal assault from Queensryche's debut EP. Most may know them from "Silent Lucidity" or the Operation:Mindcrime stuff, but before that Queensryche sounded much more like Iron Maiden.

3) "Legend of the Spaceborne Killer" - Crobot
This is the first song from a newer/current band in my attempt to dispel the myth that rock is dead. It's got a vibe that could have fit in '70's but doesn't sound dated. Just a good hard rock song.

4) "Rocket Queen" - Guns N' Roses
From Appetite For Destruction, one of the best hard rock albums ever, this is not an obvious choice. The hits have been overplayed, so I went with an album cut which is one of the best on the record.

5) "Gypsy Road" - Cinderella
Cinderella is one of the best bluesy hard rock bands to come out of the '80's and it's kind of a shame that they got lumped in with the "hair metal" moniker. While I think some of their slower blusier stuff better exemplifies them as a band, this song fits the vibe of this playlist.

6) "Wicked" - Million Dollar Reload
Hailing from Ireland, Million Dollar Reload is another current band with a new record due out in 2015. They would feel right at home among the '80's L.A. sleaze rock scene. Good song with a good hook.

7) "Apocalyptic" - Halestorm
More ammunition to dispel the rock is dead myth, this from the 2015 record Into the Wild Life. If you read this blog regularly, you know my affinity for Lzzy Hale and Halestorm.

8) "Two Minutes to Midnight" - Iron Maiden
Because it's Iron Maiden and you can never go wrong with Iron Maiden when talking about hard rock.

9) "Highway Star" - Deep Purple
The second of three songs from the '70's. Deep Purple was so influential on hard rock artists from the '80's up until today, I had to include them. "Highway Star" keeps the motor running on this playlist.

10) "Slide It In" - Whitesnake
While, again, this is not an obvious choice, this is from the album that preceded Whitesnake's 1987 record that catapulted them (and Tawny Kitaen) to the top of American consciousness.

11) "Rusty Cage" - Soundgarden
I never considered Soundgarden to be a grunge band. To me they were always more hard rock, as this song proves. There has never been any "yarling" in Chris Cornell's vocals and the instrumentation on this track is almost, almost thrash.

12) "Fire Woman" - The Cult
I don't know where The Cult falls in the grand scheme of genres, but "Fire Woman" is an excellent hard rock song.

13) "Heartless" - Heart
Again, if you read this blog at all, you know I love chicks that rock. And nobody did more to break ground for future generations of chick rockers than Ann and Nancy Wilson (apologies to Pat Benatar, but Ann & Nancy were first). While there are more obvious choices, this song fits the playlist.

14) "Rock Me Like The Devil" - Crucified Barbara
This, my first hard rock playlist, may be a little heavy on the female rockers, I think they get overlooked a lot of the time. Crucified Barbara is an all female current Swedish quartet who rock.

15) "I Hate Myself For Loving You" - Joan Jett
Because Joan Jett. That is all. Carry on.

16) "You Can't Stop Rock 'N" Roll" - Twisted Sister
What better song to end on. Rock is not dead.

Check out the Spotify playlist if you're at all intrigued.

Don't Compare Bro-Country to Hair Metal

I've read/heard it many times: Bro-Country is country music's version of Hair Metal.

Well, a tweet from @FarceTheMusic sent me down a Cinderella (the band, not the book/movie) wormhole that ended with a thorough exploration of the music of my high school years.

The actual tweet: Cinderella's "Heartbreak Station" is one of my favorite alt-country ballads ever.

Of course I went back and listened. He's right. And that's what sent me down the wormhole. There are many Cinderella songs that are very country-tinged. But what other 80's Hard Rock bands were doing the same thing? Not exactly the same thing, but stuff that would be considered a different genre 25-30 years later.

Here is Cinderella's "Heartbreak Station".



Cinderella was always more hard blues rock than Hair Metal anyway. They, along with some of the others I will post just kind of go lumped into the category, fair or not. I could post a few more Cinderella songs here, but I want to diversify.

LA sleaze rockers put out some really good Americana type songs in the 80s. One I really like is Faster Pussycat's "House of Pain".



Another sleaze rock band with this type of song was LA Guns. "Ballad of Jayne" is a great song.



Even the ultimate Hair Metal band had several songs of substance. Here is Poison's "Something to Believe In".



Great White got pegged into the same Hair Metal category, but like Cinderella, they were always more bluesy hard rock. I had a hard time choosing which song of theirs to go with, but I chose "House of Broken Love".



Did I cherry pick? Of course I did. But these songs were all released as singles. I didn't dig deep into album cuts. I just get tired of people dismissing Hair Metal and now referring to it as "Butt Rock". It's 80s hard rock and lot of it stands the test of time. I admit, there was a bunch of crap, especially towards the end, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And everyone should be reading Farce the Music. Funny, snarky and fantastic.

Cinderella Deconstructed

Cinderella, one of my favorite bands from the 80's, apparently have no plans of getting back together and making new music. But that hasn't stopped the individual members of the band.

Tom Keifer, lead vocalist, lead guitarist and chief songwriter for Cinderella put out a solo album a while back and has just released a new lyric video for the song "It's Not Enough". It sounds like Cinderella, well, because Tom had the voice of Cinderella and was the main songwriter. No mystery there. I like it.



Guitarist Jeff LaBar recently released his own solo project with a corresponding video for "No Strings". I'm guessing Jeff never got enough credit for the Cinderella sound because this is pretty good, except for the vocals. It's kind of akin to the Ace Frehley solo stuff. Good songs, suspect vocals. Maybe Jeff should lay off the cigs or hire a singer. That's my only qualm, otherwise it's a good song.



Bass player Eric Brittingham has teamed up with Tracii Guns (L.A. Guns) and Rikki Rockett (Poison) and some singer named Eric Gibbs to form an 80's glam supergroup of sorts called Devil City Angels. They have a single out called "All My People". Not great, not horrible. Would like to hear more from them before making a judgement.



I don't know what drummer Fred Coury is doing. I'll take what I can get, but personally would love to see all the guys get back together and record another album as Cinderella.

Artist Spotlight: Cinderella

Cinderella (the 80's hard rock band, not the Disney character/movie) had the unfortunate luck to come along just at the right time to become hugely successful.

That statement will confuse most people, but hear me out. Cinderella's debut album Night Songs came out in 1986  at the height of the hair metal explosion. And they played it up, initially. Just look at the album cover to the right.

They had the look, the hair (including bassist Eric Brittingham's perfect blonde waterfall 'do), the synchronized guitar spins, and the attitude. MTV ready and willing. But they also had the chops, especially lead vocalist/lead guitarist/bandleader Tom Keifer. And the songs. Cinderella was much more akin to AC/DC than Poison.

Cinderella was lumped in with the hair bands. And that was fair. Check out this video. They played the part.



What wasn't fair is that Cinderella and a handful of other quality bands from that era were swept under the rug with everything associated with Hair Metal. I've heard the story where Keifer was shopping new songs to labels and upon hearing the songs, the execs were intrigued. When they found out who it was, they dismissed it.

Had Night Songs come out 10 years earlier, or maybe even five, then the career narrative would have been different. Cinderella is much bluesier and much more diverse than the pigeon hole in which they've been relegated. Fortunately for us, Tom Keifer is still creating music and Cinderella is still performing.

"Shelter Me" is much more representative of what Cinderella was all about. Excuse the bad video and Little Richard cameo.