Ode to the Power Ballad
Happy Valentine's Day!
10 years ago, my friend Tyler Snodgrass shared a series of posts to Facebook he called “A Fortnight from the Heart.” Tyler’s premise: power ballads are essentially Valentine’s Day Carols, and so, once a day from February 1 to 14, he would post a different power ballad to help us all remember “the reason for the season.”
As a deeply passionate fan of the hair metal genre, this really spoke to me, and I immediately got on board with what Tyler was doing. And so, since 2016 (sometimes quietly), I’ve been participating in my own Fortnight from the Heart every year, adding 14 new power ballads to a master playlist and using it pretty exclusively as my Valentine’s Day soundtrack (I refuse to date anyone who does not find this charming).
10 years in, it’s a real struggle to find 14 untapped power ballads that I enjoy (it’s not exactly a thriving genre these days), so I’m about ready to call my work here done. That being the case, I thought it would be a cool thing to share with you all, in case you too could use a reminder that Every Bad Boy Has His Soft Side (TM).
So Many Fortnights from the Heart on Spotify
(includes a handful of contributions from Tyler plus my friends Ben, Fin, and Vince, who all did their own fortnights. I cherry-picked all their songs that didn’t overlap with mine!)
What makes a power ballad? How do I know if a song belongs on my list? I imagine everyone has slightly different rules for what they consider a part of the genre. After 10 years of this, I feel like I have a pretty workable set of criteria:
You can slow dance to it. I don’t think it counts as a ballad if you can’t imagine wrapping your arms around your partner, getting so close your lips are almost touching, and then having to navigate what to do with both of your ridiculously permed hairdos. Fairly inarguable.
It comes from a band that’s largely known for doing more heavy, rock-oriented songs. True power ballads feel like sonic detours in their performers’ catalogs; they’re when heavier bands let their sensitivity show, cynically speaking with the intent of appealing to the women in the audience and scoring mainstream radio hits. For most of these bands, it worked. Pretty inarguable.
It has a bitchin’ guitar solo. Dudes don’t want to hear about feelings unless two-hand tapping is involved. Not set in stone, but bitchin’ solos are sick.
You know it when you hear it. Like pornography, but for the ears. Inarguable (and yet, so, so arguable).
As I reach the end of the road, I thought it would be interesting to catalog my 14 favorite tracks off my list (the Ultimate Fortnight, if you will). For comparison’s sake, here were my 14 favorite ballads back in 2016, when this compilation began:
More Than Words (Extreme, 1990)
To Be With You (Mr. Big, 1991)
Patience (live in Mexico) (Guns N’ Roses, 1988)
Song for Love (Extreme, 1990)
Still Loving You (Scorpions, 1984)
I Remember You (Skid Row, 1989)
Don’t Cry (Guns N’ Roses, 1991)
I Won’t Forget You (Poison, 1986)
Wind of Change (Scorpions, 1990)
When It’s Love (Van Halen, 1988)
Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone) (Cinderella, 1988)
When Love & Hate Collide (Def Leppard, 1995)
When I See You Smile (Bad English, 1989)
The Deeper the Love (Whitesnake, 1989)
As you’ll see, my tastes have both changed a lot and not changed at all over the last 10 years. (And, of course, diving into the genre really deepened my experience of it.)
Eric’s Ultimate Fortnight from the Heart, 2025 Ed.
(counting down, naturally, for the drama!)
14. Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are (Meat Loaf, 1993)
Shout out to How To with John Wilson; “How to Improve Your Memory” is already one of my favorite episodes of the series, but ending with this banger solidifies both the song and the episode as all-timers for me. Meat Loaf’s brand is basically theatrically overwrought drama, but for this epic about trying to leave trauma in the past, I think it really, really works. Super moving, with a lot of panache.
13. 18 and Life (Skid Row, 1989)
The combination of Sebastian Bach’s vocal heights and Dave Sabo’s absurdly good guitar work sets Skid Row up for an incredible set of ballads. I think Sabo, in particular, is a master of knowing the balance of flash vs. melody to put into a memorable power ballad solo. You’ll hear from them again.
12. Patience (live in Mexico) (Guns N’ Roses, 1988)
What a sweet song about holding out for a love to come through. I’ve felt like this a handful of times in my romantic life, so this is one that’s given me some real personal comfort. I like this live version over the album recording because of the addition of the electric section at the end — the song takes on a kind of Beatles-y singalong vibe that’s really infectious.
11. Faithfully - Live at the Budokan (Journey, 1983)
I’ve explained before about how “Faithfully” soundtracked one of the greatest performance experiences of my life. A truly anthemic piece; I like the live version because IMO you need to hear the crowd’s voices join in at the end.
10. In a Darkened Room (Skid Row, 1991)
This guitar tone. Oh my god, Dave Sabo, how do you do it? Slave to the Grind is one of my favorite albums of the ‘90s. So many hair bands tried to mix some grunginess into their sound, and it often ended up sounding like shit, but for Skid Row (who always felt a little grimier), they got a masterpiece out of it instead.
9. I Remember You (Skid Row, 1989)
Three Skid Row tracks! By volume, they dominate this list. It’s hard to imagine tastier power ballad perfection than Sabo’s classical-sounding solo at 2:47, or the heavens-piercing scream of Sebastian’s “I looooove YOUUUUUU” at 3:44. Just unstoppable.
8. I’ll Be There for You (Bon Jovi, 1988)
You know what really sells this song for me? Richie Sambora’s insane backing vocals. This dude is singing with more passion than a horny Shakespeare monologue. That interplay between him and Jon at 3:37 where they end up harmonizing on “I wish I’d seen you blow those candles out”… fuck, that’s power!
7. Listen to Your Heart (Roxette, 1988)
One of my greatest achievements as a Person On the Internet was convincing hundreds of media-loving teens to forever associate this song with She-Ra and the Princesses of Power1. I feel bad that this list is so dude-dominated, but that was kind of the genre, you know? But Roxette fucking kicks, and this is a beautiful, moving song.
6. Lord, I’m Discouraged (The Hold Steady, 2008)
Over the last couple years, the Hold Steady has rocketed to the top of my list of favorite bands. I was introduced to this song when I saw them perform it in concert a couple summers ago. During the second verse, I leaned over to my friend Melzer and said “This kind of feels like a power ballad.” By the time the two-hand tapping hits in the second half of the solo (their solos have parts!), there could be no doubt.
5. Without You (Badfinger, 1970)
Kind of like a proto-power ballad, if you consider the timeline. I first heard this song via Mariah Carey (what a wild choice for a cover!), and Harry Nilsson has a celebrated version too, but for my money there’s nothing matching the raw passion of the original.
4. To Be With You (Mr. Big, 1991)
So sweet, so simple, an incredible pop gem.
3. Song for Love (Extreme, 1990)
One of my most toxic traits is that I think Extreme is actually one of history’s greatest bands, and that their album cycle from their self-titled debut to III Sides to Every Story is brilliant metatextual rock criticism disguised as funk-metal. Perhaps even more outrageous of a claim: Extreme II: Pornograffitti is my favorite album of the ‘90s. Maybe one day I’ll write about all that here. For now, you’ll just have to enjoy the brilliant guitar of Nuno Bettencourt (one of the best to ever do it) and the sky-high vocals of Gary Cherone.
2. House of Pain (Faster Pussycat, 1989)
(Michael Bay directed this music video, btw.)
As much of a hair metal aficionado as I am, I never heard this song until James Gunn’s Peacemaker. All of a sudden, here I am listening to these tones as John Cena talks about how his dad made him beat his brother to death in their family fight club, and I’m in tears. Then I dive into this song a little more — according to the internet, frontman Taime Downe wrote it about his own broken home and his abandonment at the hands of his father. Taime would say that rock music was the only good thing his dad ever gave him; he even changed his name to not have to share one with the man.
“I’m not trying to fake it and I ain’t the one to blame.”
I wish I had this song earlier in my life.
The world would be a better place with less cruel men obsessed with strength.
1. More Than Words (Extreme, 1990)
I don’t remember the exact flow of this conversation or even who said what, but one time like 20 years ago I was driving somewhere with my friend Jim, and we were talking about how if all of our civilization was wiped out and aliens found one surviving musical artifact, they would think pretty highly of us if that artifact was “More Than Words.” I still agree with that sentiment.
And there you have it — 14 ballads sure to infuse <Tim Allen voice> more power into your Valentine’s Day. Hope you’ve got a great one ahead, pals. It feels more important than ever to celebrate love right now, in whatever forms you find it.
~~The Plugs Section~~
Tonight’s Mortified Chicago at the Athenaeum Center is just about sold out, but if you go, you’ll get to hear me sing one of the above songs — and lemme tell yeah, it’s gonna be a test of my vocal ability.
The story here: my friend Lauren and I did a pretty successful podcast about She-Ra, and in one episode I sort of lost my mind when some press called the 2019 show’s theme song a power ballad. A dance-pop anthem, sure, but a power ballad? I (responsibly) used my podcast platform to argue that if the show wanted to use a femme-centric power ballad for its theme, it could have optioned “Listen to Your Heart”. Lauren and I ended up using it as the closing song for our podcast, and a bunch of listeners mentioned to me how much they ended up loving the song. Hell yeah.
Seeing that you had Doro’s Dio cover on your playlist reminded me of one of my favorite 80s power ballads: “Für Immer” by her band Warlock.