favorite rock ballads

Donate To GopherHole

cncmin said:
Indeed. Bad call by Stocker.

Joe Elliott sings The Flame?
Click to expand...

Journey, Def Leppard, and Cheap Trick played Target Field last year. Cheap Trick sounded in their prime, Joe Elliott did not.
 

saintpaulguy said:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nPtorZ2k7Ak" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Old School
Click to expand...

Now you're speaking my language.
 

i think queensryche was a band that did ballads better than anything else

 

i don't get the hate for hair metal. what is the rationale?
 



bigtenchamps1899 said:
i don't get the hate for hair metal. what is the rationale?
Click to expand...

There is a class element to it. Hair metal was party music favored by white, working class males. Listen, drink, blow off steam. Not smoke opium and stare at the lava lamp while reciting Beat poetry.
 

Or frat rock, ala 311, Jack Jones, Dave Matthews...
 




stocker08 said:
It's bad.
Click to expand...

Tons of them still filling arenas over 30 years later, yeah, just terrible stuff.

You're young, most of us get that, and for that you continue to get a free pass on a whole lot. Be thankful.
 

saintpaulguy said:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gmrh42foUsg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Crue!
Click to expand...

Yes!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

saintpaulguy said:
There is a class element to it. Hair metal was party music favored by white, working class males. Listen, drink, blow off steam. Not smoke opium and stare at the lava lamp while reciting Beat poetry.
Click to expand...

Man, if those are the only choices, I'll pick the opium.
 

If you do a carload of coke, you can produce this, and it is awesome.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_xFc86tzFG4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 



bigtenchamps1899 said:
i think queensryche was a band that did ballads better than anything else
Click to expand...

That's a great song, but I'm not sure it's what I'd consider a rock "ballad". Silent Lucidity, on the other hand...

bigtenchamps1899 said:
i don't get the hate for hair metal. what is the rationale?
Click to expand...

There was a certain stigma attached to it because of the way they looked and because grunge and their flannel shirts was supposedly the anti-rock to the hair bands, such that it was "uncool" to listen to it anymore. I don't get it. One can like all of it, like myself. Good music is good music, period, anything and everything that has a good melody.

On that note, of all the "hair" bands to get the short end of the stick, one of the very best of them was Hardline. Their Double Eclipse album is still one of the best albums I've ever heard, to date. But their timing was horrendous - they came out ca. 1992...just as Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins began taking over the hard rock airwaves. As for ballads, Double Eclipse had three excellent ones on that DE album. Neil Schon (of Journey fame) on lead plays some of the most beautiful guitar I've ever heard, with some excellent solos to boot.
 
Last edited:

cncmin said:
That's a great song, but I'm not sure it's what I'd consider a rock "ballad". Silent Lucidity, on the other hand...



There was a certain stigma attached to it because of the way they looked and because grunge and their flannel shirts was supposedly the anti-rock to the hair bands, such that it was "uncool" to listen to it anymore. I don't get it. One can like all of it, like myself. Good music is good music, period, anything and everything that has a good melody.

On that note, of all the "hair" bands to get the short end of the stick, one of the very best of them was Hardline. Their Double Eclipse album is still one of the best albums I've ever heard, to date. But their timing was horrendous - they came out ca. 1992...just as Nirvana and Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins began taking over the hard rock airwaves. As for ballads, Double Eclipse had three excellent ones on that DE album. Neil Schon (of Journey fame) on lead plays some of the most beautiful guitar I've ever heard, with some excellent solos to boot.
Click to expand...


I think they get the bad name because no one really considered them to be true rock n’ roll. I remember that time well, and there was a lot of discussion around the fact that real rock was dead. All that was left on the music scene were hair bands and Garth Brooks. Now hair bands and Garth make good music, but neither is true rock n roll.

Then came, as you said, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, etc. welcome back real rock n roll
 

DEGopher said:
I think they get the bad name because no one really considered them to be true rock n’ roll. I remember that time well, and there was a lot of discussion around the fact that real rock was dead. All that was left on the music scene were hair bands and Garth Brooks. Now hair bands and Garth make good music, but neither is true rock n roll.

Then came, as you said, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, etc. welcome back real rock n roll
Click to expand...

OK, fair take. So I ask, in what way was 80's hair/hard rock not "real rock n roll"? Was Metallica "real rock n roll"? Because they remained popular through grunge. Was Aerosmith? Was GNR? If Metallica was still OK, then why did Megadeth and Iron Maiden go down with the others? If Aerosmith remained OK, then why did Bon Jovi and Warrant and Tesla fall? I maintain their fall had little to do with the music, rather the perception of what was "in", or "cool". James Hatfield remained cool. Steven Tyler has always been an enigma. GNR...well they were just f'ing awesome. If they were "cool" enough, they weren't shunned like the others.
 
Last edited:

cncmin said:
OK, fair take. So I ask, in what way was 80's hair/hard rock not "real rock n roll"? Was Metallica "real rock n roll"? Because they remained popular through grunge. Was Aerosmith? Was GNR? If Metallica was still OK, then why did Megadeth and Iron Maiden go down with the others? If Aerosmith remained OK, then why did Bon Jovi and Warrant and Tesla fall? I maintain their fall had little to do with the music, rather the perception of what was "in", or "cool". James Hatfield remained cool. Steven Tyler has always been an enigma. GNR...well they were just f'ing awesome. If they were "cool" enough, they weren't shunned like the others.
Click to expand...

Well, this is just my opinion, but I think it had to do with the “ballads” and not the hair. Ballads aren’t real rock n roll. The more ballads, the less claim a band had on rock n roll. Between 89-92, it was mostly Ballads and Garth.

Metallica had no ballads as I recall, so they were always true rock in my mind.
 

DEGopher said:
Well, this is just my opinion, but I think it had to do with the “ballads” and not the hair. Ballads aren’t real rock n roll. The more ballads, the less claim a band had on rock n roll. Between 89-92, it was mostly Ballads and Garth.

Metallica had no ballads as I recall, so they were always true rock in my mind.
Click to expand...

Yeah, some of the hair band stuff was pretty soft at times, and I think that contributed to the turn to being "uncool" as grunge became popular.
 

DEGopher said:
Well, this is just my opinion, but I think it had to do with the “ballads” and not the hair. Ballads aren’t real rock n roll. The more ballads, the less claim a band had on rock n roll. Between 89-92, it was mostly Ballads and Garth.

Metallica had no ballads as I recall, so they were always true rock in my mind.
Click to expand...

i think the thing with hair metal was that it wasn't seen as true metal by metal heads, and it was really closer to rock and roll than metal. but rock and roll has always had ballads: rolling stones, led zeppelin, aerosmith all had ballads well before hair metal was a thing.

metallica is an interesting case cuz they were very popular with metalheads until and justice for all, which had some slower and more melodic songs and then they were the band that metalheads loved to hate when the black album came out and metallica went mainstream. and finally, they turned their back on metallica when they cut their hair and released load. which does have ballads on it.


so much of this comes down to image and aesthetics.
 

cncmin said:
OK, fair take. So I ask, in what way was 80's hair/hard rock not "real rock n roll"? Was Metallica "real rock n roll"? Because they remained popular through grunge. Was Aerosmith? Was GNR? If Metallica was still OK, then why did Megadeth and Iron Maiden go down with the others? If Aerosmith remained OK, then why did Bon Jovi and Warrant and Tesla fall? I maintain their fall had little to do with the music, rather the perception of what was "in", or "cool". James Hatfield remained cool. Steven Tyler has always been an enigma. GNR...well they were just f'ing awesome. If they were "cool" enough, they weren't shunned like the others.
Click to expand...

I would not say that 80's hair flair isn't "real rock". It just isn't for me. Guns N' Roses isn't for me. Van Halen could disappear and I would not care. Many of the late 80's/early 90's metal bands mentioned do not do anything for me either. Metallica and Megadeth included.
 

stocker08 said:
I would not say that 80's hair flair isn't "real rock". It just isn't for me. Guns N' Roses isn't for me. Van Halen could disappear and I would not care. Many of the late 80's/early 90's metal bands mentioned do not do anything for me either. Metallica and Megadeth included.
Click to expand...

Well, in full disclosure you should probably let everyone know that you are a big Kenney G fan.

Just kidding. :D
 

bigtenchamps1899 said:
i think the thing with hair metal was that it wasn't seen as true metal by metal heads, and it was really closer to rock and roll than metal. but rock and roll has always had ballads: rolling stones, led zeppelin, aerosmith all had ballads well before hair metal was a thing.

so much of this comes down to image and aesthetics.
Click to expand...

That is a fair point, about ballads always being present and written/performed by groups that are undisputed rock n roll bands. That being said, what I recall from the hair metal days was a complete dearth of the rock n roll songs while being completely inundation with ballads. Groups like Winger, and Nelson, what song did they have that were Rock n Roll?
 


Stocker, wow. VH and GnR? I wouldn't even really call them hair bands. Poison is a hair band. Warrant. A whole bunch of mediocre bands who still had some good tunes and were fun.

VH and GnR are just rock bands.
 

DEGopher said:
That is a fair point, about ballads always being present and written/performed by groups that are undisputed rock n roll bands. That being said, what I recall from the hair metal days was a complete dearth of the rock n roll songs while being completely inundation with ballads. Groups like Winger, and Nelson, what song did they have that were Rock n Roll?
Click to expand...

Winger's first two releases:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1IOJs6H9qg
 





By the way, after Hamm’s, the east side brewery brewed Olympia before Stroh’s...
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom