Ballads Old and New: Rock Ballads

Why 80s Monster Love Ballads Changed Music

2008-08-05T01:03:22-07:00

The world of music would be entirely different these days if it were not for the monster love ballads of the 80s. This is for so many reasons. But to really break down monster love ballads of the 80s, we need to take a good look at why they were so popular. The Beatles were the founders and true purveyors of rock love ballads, and being so, they paved the pathways for other great 80s bands that came along a few decades later. Sure they were cheesy they were even a bit bland at some times. But the one thing that monster love ballads did for us all was that they made us feel. And that was worth far more than any other sort of medicine. Feelings evoked feelings and monster love ballads made us dig deep into our hearts, helping us all to realize that we are indeed human and rock does not just have to be heavy metal. And in turn, love ballads today are just as cheesy just a touch bit more compressed and commercial.

The age old love ballad

2008-07-24T15:49:53-07:00

The love ballad has been around forever. Since the dawn of time, the number one topic of almost every story had to deal with love - either love lost or love reunited, and so on. Even today, the love ballad continues in the form of rap, hip hop, rock and roll, punk rock and many other genres. Every song you listen to on the radio is usually some sort of love song or love ballad.

But how did it all start?

Well, a ballad has been around for ages. It is simply a rhyming poem, usually in ABAB format (pairs of every other line rhyme) and has a refrain or chorus of some sort that repeats predictably between each group of lines. Love ballads have made their way through Egyptian times, to Greek and Roman times, Medieval courts and today into the diverse world of music we know of. It is an age old topic that never seems to get old, because the one constant thing about people is that they strive to be in relationships and to fill that other half.

One of the Best Monster Ballads from the 1980s

2008-07-24T08:32:00-07:00

One of my favorite monster ballads from the 1980s is Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It. This rock ballad comes from Tina Turner’s first solo album Private Dancer, which was released in 1984. Rumor has it that Tina Turner disliked this particular love ballad, but her manager persuaded her to record it for the album because he felt certain it would be a hit.
What’s Love Got To Do With It is one of my favorite monster ballads because it has attitude. It’s all about a woman protecting her heart during the courtship phase of a relationship, and being reluctant to let anybody in. I can understand this outlook perfectly. There was a time in my life when my attitude towards certain members of the opposite sex was highly sarcastic and very spiky. I have since mellowed out considerably, but I think many of us are inclined to put barriers up at the commencement of a relationship to guard ourselves against getting hurt, and this is precisely what Tina Turner is singing about in this love ballad.
I also enjoy the video for the love ballad What’s Love Got To Do With It. Although this video is somewhat dated now, I still get a kick out of watching Tina strut down the street like she owns it in that tiny black leather mini skirt.

I Don't Love This Love Ballad Anymore

2008-07-18T09:01:37-07:00

In the past there have been some love ballads that sounded great to me when they were released. However, my perception of these love ballads has often changed over the course of time. One such love ballad is Michael Bolton’s How am I Supposed to Live Without You. This song was released in 1989. At the time I loved this song, it sounded very contemporary and I though Michael Bolton had a wonderful voice.
I still think Michael Bolton has a great singing voice, but the love ballad How am I Supposed to Live Without You sounds really dated and cheesy to me now. The lyrics once seemed poignant, but only because I was twelve and had no experience of relationships. Now the words of the song seem overly sentimental. If I’d jus met someone I really liked and another man begged me to reconsider and said he couldn’t live without me, I would think he lacked pride and dignity. Women never respect men who beg and whine, and I think the opposite is also true. Even if the person you love leaves with someone else, you shouldn’t bleed about it in front of them. Instead you should lick your wounds in private. Michael Bolton’s most renowned love ballad had the power to move me when I was twelve. Now I just think it’s a bit gross and pathetic.

Contemporary Rock Ballads will Sound Dated in Twenty Years Time

2008-07-12T08:45:37-07:00

I’m not yet thirty-two, yet in my lifetime I’ve already enjoyed many rock ballads. For example, in the early nineties one of the rock ballads I loved was Sit Down by a band called James. You can watch the video clip for this song above. At the time I was fourteen years old and I thought that Sit Down was one of the coolest rock ballads I’d ever heard. The band James were a big part of the Manchester scene which was very popular in Britain at the time.
Now when I watch the video clip for Sit Down I think that it looks and sounds quite dated and frankly that makes me feel old. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been seventeen years since the song Sit Down was popular in Britain. It truly seems as though it were only five minutes ago and time has passed by without me realizing it.
To me watching video clips of older rock ballads is quite interesting because it shows how the music industry has changed and progressed over the years. In twenty years time when people listen to the rock ballads from 2008 they will undoubtedly seem just as dated as Sit Down does now.

Love Ballads that Make the Broken Hearted Feel Even Worse

2008-07-06T07:53:57-07:00

Listening to a certain type of love ballad when I’m in a specific sort of mood can be annoying. The type of love ballad I’m talking about is Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart. It’s one of those love ballads which has lyrics that imply that a woman’s life is over once she’s lost the man she loves, and I think there’s something rather pathetic about that. Don’t misunderstand me. I know that divorce and bereavement are painful for any person, but life goes on. Love ballad’s like Unbreak My Heart only make people feel worse and impede their recovery from a broken heart.
I had a look on the YouTube website for the original Unbreak My Heart video to accompany this post. Unfortunately I’m unable to upload it because the embedding has been disabled by request. The original video for the song features a very handsome male model called Tyson Beckford, who offers some respite from the gloomy lyrics. If you are female I recommend watching the video just for the eye candy.
Instead I found a video clip of Toni Braxton performing the love ballad Unbreak My Heart live, and it’s almost as amusing as the original video, but for different reasons. When I watch the clip above I can’t help but laugh at Toni Braxton’s facial expressions, which make her look ridiculous. The faces aren’t necessary to hit the notes of the song, which is sung at a low pitch. I’m therefore forced to conclude that Toni Braxton was in love with her own reflection when she released her signature love ballad.

A Most Beautiful Love Ballad

2008-06-30T09:50:24-07:00

Some people enjoy listening to a love ballad, other people hate them. With most love ballads I have to be in the right mood in order to appreciate them. However, there are a few love ballads that I can enjoy regardless of what frame of mind I’m in at the time. One such love ballad is Time to Say Goodbye. The lyrics to this classical love ballad, sung by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, are very beautiful. Some people think this song is about death or the end of a relationship, but I believe it is about a couple who are about to separate temporarily and will miss each other while they are apart. Although the lyrics to the love ballad Time to Say Goodbye are gorgeous, sometimes the music is so overwhelmingly moving that the meaning of the lyrics is of secondary importance. When you listen to this love ballad, which is sung in the Italian language, it has the power to move you even if you haven’t a clue what Bocelli and Brightman are singing about. The power of the human voice and the musical arrangement are what can make a love ballad with nice lyrics into something great.

A Not So Foreign Love Ballad

2008-06-19T21:28:04-07:00

For those of you who loved to listen to music during the eighties, you’ve all heard all the great love ballads that the decade offered, but there is one artist whose love ballads became our favorites. In the 80’ there was this awesome love band called Foreigner who became the manufacturer of many make out sessions and even marriages. One of their best love ballads was their 1988 hit I Don’t Want To Live Without You which made a home for itself in the top charts week after week. The 80’s where a hotbed for all the greatest love ballads to ever graze the music charts and this song is probably at the top of the all of them. This power of this love ballad is that it spoke to the broken hearted and the madly in love alike. A good love ballad won’t leave anyone out, you love the song because it makes you feel more in love or it empathizes with your melancholy. This love ballad made an art of including everyone in its melody and lyrics. Foreigner also came up with some rock ballads, but they always seemed to bend a bit towards the love ballads direction. I have not heard a love ballad like this in a long time and maybe I wont, but at least I can always close my eyes and immerse myself in the warm feelings and thoughts that this love ballad demands from us all.

A Wedding Love Ballad

2008-06-18T02:10:36-07:00

Want a love ballad for your wedding?

You may prefer a love ballad for your special day because in all honesty, nothing sounds more powerful than a metal head professing his love to the woman he loves. Rock ballads have the uncanny ability to hit that emotional chord, so considering rock ballads as the song for your wedding dance could be an iconic event. There are various monster ballads that can help accommodate your wedding.

How can you find the perfect love ballad for your first wedding dance?

Seek out love ballads with the specific lyrics that have the best ability to reflect your love for one another
Find love ballads that you could picture yourself dancing to. Some love ballads are so intense, they're not meant to be danced
If you plan on having a choreographed dance, like many wedding couples have, talk to your choreographer about the song that would best fit your dance

A love ballad can be an expressive song straight from the heart. It is possible to find the ideal song with a little time and research.

Love Ballads and Funerals

2008-06-11T10:10:50-07:00

Have you ever thought about the song you would like to be played at your funeral? Some people choose something light hearted because they do not want to add to the grief of the bereaved. Other more self-indulgent people prefer to choose the saddest love ballad they can think of.
This may sound terrible to an American who doesn’t get the sick and twisted British humor, but my father and I often joke about funeral songs. We like to pick out the most sentimental love ballads we can think of and impersonate the chins of the funeral goers trembling with emotion. In reality neither one of us is likely to choose a sentimental love ballad when our time comes. When you die the people that love you feel bad enough. Why make them feel worse?
In Britain a love ballad by James Blunt is very popular at funerals. The song, which you can hear in the above video clip, is called Goodbye My Lover. According to a survey conducted by the Bereavement Register in Britain, Goodbye My Lover is the most requested song at funerals in the U.K. One thing is for certain, that particular love ballad certainly wouldn’t be my first choice. Nevertheless, I’m still going to joke about it with my father the next time I see him.

Classic Rock Ballads: We Built this City

2008-06-05T10:29:48-07:00

The majority of classic rock ballads came from the 80’s which is where you will find Starship’s We Built this City mega hit. The band became popular in the 70’s when they were called Jefferson Starship after the release of Blows Against the Empire written by Paul Kantner who sang and played guitar. Jefferson Starship included David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and some previous members of Jefferson Airplane.

Kantner left the band and took the Jefferson name with him through legal action. Once called simply Starship the remaining band members created one of the most widely heard rock ballads in history called We Built this City written by Bernie Taupin in 1985.

The flagship Starship album was called Knee Deep in the Hoopla. By 1990 and a string of hits the band broke up and we were left with a hand full of rock ballads and the classic music video above. You have to love the low end late eighties graphics used in this video. I can’t help but laugh when I watch these guys and girls perform. The eighties were a rough time for hair and clothes.

My Favorite Love Ballad... The Rose

2008-06-01T09:19:49-07:00

The Rose

" The Rose" by Bette Midler is my favorite love ballad. Some my say that it isn't a conventional love ballad and that may be true but it is about love and hope that is eternal. At the least it is one of the monster ballads of all time. The lyrics speak to the heart of what love should be about. Read them carefully and they will teach you that love must be treated gently.

The Rose

Some say love it is a river
that drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razer
that leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love it is a hunger
an endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
and you it's only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
who cannot seem to give
and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been too long
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the sun's love
in the spring
becomes the rose.

A Love Ballad with a Dangerous Video

2008-05-24T08:51:17-07:00

James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful is one of the most memorable love ballads of the 21^st century. It is also a very popular love ballad. When I fist heard this song, I wasn’t sure if the singer was male or female. James Blunt has an ambiguous voice. I like this love ballad very much. Most of us have been strongly attracted to a person on first seeing them and that’s what the love ballad You’re Beautiful is all about.

However, I find the video for this love ballad ridiculous. Who commits suicide over a person they have seen only once in their lives? I don’t actually believe in love at first sight. To me You’re Beautiful describes lust and infatuation, not love. One could even argue that it describes an obsession. The video for this love ballad implies that a person could, or perhaps even should, take their own life over a single experience with another person. The very idea seems absurd to me. Some viewers will think the video romantic but I think it cheapens human life and could put dangerous ideas into the minds of adolescents.

Sweet Child of Mine is Still One of the Best Rock Ballads

2008-05-18T08:06:23-07:00

I enjoyed rock ballads in my early teens. In fact rock was the first type of music I ever loved. My favorite rock bands were Def Leopard, White Snake, and Guns N’ Roses. I especially liked Guns N’ Roses. At the age of thirteen I thought Sweet Child of Mine was better than all rock ballads that had preceded it. I also felt certain that no future rock ballads would ever surpass it. Usually we laugh at most of our childhood opinions. However, I have to give my thirteen year old self credit,. As far as I’m concerned Sweet Child of Mine is still one of the best rock ballads ever written. Of course I’ve since learned to appreciate other music, but Guns N’ Roses are still one of my favorite rock bands. What I like most about Sweet Child of Mine is the guitar solo. Slash is a very talented guitarist. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I think my childhood taste showed I had a sound musical ear, even back then. The above You Tube clip shows the Gun N’ Roses video for Sweet Child of Mine. I hope watching it makes you feel nostalgic. It definitely takes me on a trip down memory lane.

Love Ballads and Victim Mentality

2008-05-12T07:13:15-07:00

The older I get the less I like love ballads. I don’t know precisely why love ballads appeal to me less than they once did. I think it might be because I’m less idealistic than I was during my youth. I stopped believing that a handsome prince would whisk me away on his trusty steed many years ago. There is no Prince Charming and even if there were I would take one look at his garb and assume he preferred men to women.
That doesn’t mean I hate all love ballads. There are some that I like a lot. It’s simply that most love ballads are too slushy for my taste. An example of a love ballad that gets on my nerves is My Immortal by Evanescence. This love ballad has a beautiful piano sound yet the lyrics irritate me. If a friend of mine held such an attitude after breaking up with her man, I would probably tell her to get over it, get on with her life, stop with the self pity and spare me the victim mentality. Don’t imagine that I’m heartless. I know that break ups are difficult. However, I’m also aware that crying in your bedroom while listening to love ballads and feeling sorry for yourself is pointless because it prolongs the agony unnecessarily.

Some Rock Ballads Speak for a Generation

2008-05-06T10:37:15-07:00

There are many rock ballads on the You Tube website. Of all the rock ballads on You Tube, Alanis Morisette’s You Oughta Know describes the person I was in my late teens and early twenties most succinctly. In fact, I think it is one of those rock ballads that speaks for a whole generation. When this song was released in the mid 1990s, it was very popular with the crowd I associated with. You Oughta Know is a song that describes the bitterness and angst a young person feels when a relationship ends. The lyrics to the song are a very honest description of the raw anger and hurt a person who hasn’t quite matured feels at the end of a relationship. The lyrics show that the betrayed individual doesn’t quite know how to process the hurt, which therefore manifests itself as a bitterness that is not psychologically healthy. This song differs from most rock ballads because it candid and outspoken. The sting in the lyrics reflects reality. Unlike other rock ballads about lost love, there is nothing sappy or sentimental about this song.

Rock Ballads from the 70's and 80's Spoke to Enduring Love

2008-04-30T09:19:03-07:00

Listening to a love ballad from the 70's or 80's can be a nostalgic trip to the past, or it can just be a way to listen to a really good song. The music from the early days of rock and roll broke all existing musical paradigms, with both the musical style and the lyrics. The rock and roll era produced some really great music, some of in the form of a love ballad, others in the form of protest songs. The enduring ones are the love ballads that came to mark this era as one of peace and love. It's interesting that this era hailed these ideals, and yet the divorce rate really started climbing once baby boomers were old enough to marry, and sadly, divorce each other too. The lyrics of the rock ballads that expressed the intensity of love and desire were transitory feelings for some, but a lucky few were able to find and spend their lives with the mate of their dreams, as the lyrics to the rock ballads suggested were possible.

The Genius of Rock Ballads

2008-04-24T07:36:39-07:00

Listening to rock ballads can be soothing experience. Some rock and roll tunes are pretty loud, but generally the rock ballads are slower, quieter, and have interesting lyrics. According to one web site, the top three rock ballads are Imagine, by John Lennon, Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel, and Let it Be by the Beatles. These are truly gorgeous rock ballads, and still played today over the airwaves. All of us know these songs well. They are truly beautiful songs that transcend the mundane and beckon the listener to feelings of a higher level.

The makings of great rock ballads are a combination of the lyrics and the music, and it seems like magic when you listen to a love ballad that seems like puts the music and words together in a way that will take your consciousness to a new level. There is always room for great rock ballads, and the people who write and perform them have gifts to share with us, indeed. Music writers and lyricists who put these songs together deserve every dime they make from sharing this genius with us.

Have You Ever Written Lyrics for a Love Ballad?

2008-04-18T07:58:27-07:00

Have you ever had such an intense and perceptive feeling toward your partner that you wrote the feeling into a love ballad? A love ballad is a song that embodies intense feelings of love, whether they are toward a partner or a child, and many classic songs in all genres are written as love ballads. These songs are really beautiful, and if you have come up with some great poetry that you wrote for your beloved, it would be nice to find someone who could write the music for it so that you could submit it to a music producer.

Musicians are always looking for new material, and many of them love to sing a love ballad. If you have written a great poem, consider researching how to submit your poem to a song writer so that they can turn it into a song that might be recorded by a singer. There are musicians and lyricists out there who work with this kind of material, and wouldn't it be nice to be able to create a love ballad about your mate, and have it recorded for all time?

Monster Ballads: Music from an Era

2008-04-05T14:06:49-07:00

What happens when you have hardcore heavy metal bands sing love ballads?

You get monster ballads, a subgenre that seems to be self contradictory, but somehow works.

It may be difficult to imagine, but these tough, hardcore rockers with long hair and rough edges are also great at singing memorable love ballads. These songs are able to show a softer side to these artist's hardened image. These rock ballads include heavy metal, glam metal, hard rock, and rock. Monster Ballads is also the name of a compillation CD which includes famous bands like Poison, Warrant, and White Snake.

The popularity of monster ballads lies in the fact that they produce a powerfully emotional sound in combination with romantic lyrics and passionate rock music.

Most songs from Monster Ballads are able to capture the honest rawness of human emotion. Monster Ballads are able to reveal the soft side of tough heavy metal singers. Many of these songs are extremely dynamic with solid definitive pieces that define an era.

Monster Ballads are typically from the mid '80's to the early 90's. Many of these songs are considered classics of that time.