More Than a Feeling Edition

Summary

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Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

Episode: More Than a Feeling Edition
Date: June 13, 2026
Host: Chris Molanphy

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the fascinating legacy, evolution, and definition of the “power ballad” in popular music. With chart analyst Chris Molanphy at the helm, listeners are guided through a passionate, detailed journey of how power ballads emerged, crystallized, and endured across decades and genres. From early rock ballads to hair metal classics and on to modern pop torch songs, the episode digs into the musical, cultural, and commercial DNA of the power ballad, raising key questions: What exactly makes a power ballad? Who popularized it, and why has this melodramatic, soaring song form persisted—and changed—through the years?

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Defining the Power Ballad

[01:03]

• Chris introduces the episode with a timely link to John Carney's new movie Power Ballad and a friend's question: "What exactly is a power ballad?"
• “You may think you know what a power ballad sounds like. Usually it's something based in rock, but that definition is actually too limiting...There have been number one power ballads sung by pop stars, R&B queens, and yes, long haired dude rockers.” — Chris Molanphy [01:30]

[04:18]

• Cites a Cambridge University study defining the power ballad as,
  “Defined by the use of both a musical formula based on constant escalation and an expressive formula that combines the euphoric uplift created by rousing music with sentimental themes.”
• Boils it down: “A power ballad builds and builds and then builds some more.” — Chris Molanphy [04:31]
• Attributes: Soaring melodies, emotional drama, commercial aspirations, and chart success.

Early and Foundational Ballads

[11:19] – [14:30]

• Early influences: Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” [12:26] and “Love Me Tender” — romantic, but mellower than later power ballads.
• Roy Orbison given credit as an early “drama ballad king,” with “Crying” (1961) and “It’s Over” (1964) setting the standard for emotive, soaring vocals.
• The Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” is described as “basically a power ballad 25 years ahead of its time.” [14:50]

The Roots in R&B and Soul

[15:44] – [16:45]

• Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” and Diana Ross’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” highlighted for their dynamic, escalating arrangements—the essence of power ballad form.

Birth of the Modern Power Ballad: The 1970s

[16:45] – [22:35]

• 1971/72 as the “ground zero” for the modern power ballad.
• Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” as a prototype for the “long build” (but not a single, so not a pure chart power ballad).
• Harry Nilsson’s “Without You” (1972) and The Carpenters’ "Goodbye to Love" noted for blending gentle pop with “thunderous rock guitar” [19:40].
• Proto-power ballads: Styx’s “Lady” [21:28], KISS’s “Beth” [22:06], Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” [22:57], Kansas’s “Dust in the Wind” [23:49].

Notable Quote

“Goodbye to Love showed that even the gentlest song— with vocals by Karen Carpenter—could be surrounded by thunderous rock guitar.” — Chris [19:40]

The 1980s: Power Ballad Peak

[26:13] – [39:00]

• The rise of synthesizers: Foreigner’s “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” REO Speedwagon’s “Keep on Loving You” and “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” and Journey’s “Open Arms” codify the sound.
• “Faithfully” by Journey directly inspired Prince’s “Purple Rain,” with Prince calling Jonathan Cain over their shared chord changes. [29:10–30:13]
• Whitney Houston elevates R&B power balladry: “Greatest Love of All,” “Didn't We Almost Have it All”, “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” [31:19].
• Explosive vocal duets: Lionel Richie & Diana Ross’s “Endless Love,” Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald’s “On My Own.”
• Hair Metal’s embrace:
  • Def Leppard’s “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak,” Mötley Crüe’s “Home Sweet Home” [33:34] ("the template for the hair metal power ballad"), Bon Jovi, Whitesnake’s “Here I Go Again,” Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine,” Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” Cinderella.
  • Promotion strategy: “...You led the promotion of their album with a hard rocker, but then kept a ballad in waiting to deploy as the album’s second or third single. Often the power ballad was the biggest hit...” — Chris [38:02]
• Heart (“Alone” [38:57]) and other female-fronted bands defy the “dude-only” stereotype.

Notable Quote

"Power ballads are hits that soar... melodramatic, like a child in your arms..." — Chris Molanphy [10:04]

1990s and the Ballad’s Transformation

[40:45] – [47:46]

• Rock turns away from power ballads, but the form lingers:
  • Hair metal persists (Firehouse, Mr. Big), and “post-grunge” features power ballad DNA (Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open”).
  • Noted “power ballad tricks” in Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” and Collective Soul’s “The World I Know.”
• R&B and diva pop take center stage:
  • Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” Mariah Carey’s sequence of melodramatic chart-toppers (“Vision of Love,” “Hero”).
  • Celine Dion emerges as ‘queen’ of 90s power ballads: “The Power of Love” [46:30], “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” “My Heart Will Go On.”
• Anomaly: Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (their only #1 hit, from Armageddon) [47:31].
• General decline of classic ballad structure in mainstream after the 90s.

2000s – 2020s: The Form Endures, Evolves

[48:06] – [52:43]

• Ballads lose ground to hip-hop, pop-punk, consistent-tempo pop; structure changes (“no build, more persistent energy”).
• Outliers: Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” [49:27], Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and “Hello.”
• Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” revives the power ballad’s structure (“semi-traditional” [50:14]).
• 2020s: Modern pop stars invoke the spirit if not the letter of the power ballad:
  • Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” [50:44], Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” [51:04], and notably Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” and “Vampire” [51:15–51:54].
• The torch is passed—“Zoomers and Alphas” continue to write “stupid songs about their romances and heartaches...” [52:47]

Notable Quote

"...it’s encouraging to know they’re going to keep right on singing, as Olivia calls it, stupid songs about their romances and heartaches. Because those stupid songs, they’re the ones we remember." — Chris Molanphy [52:47]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I know it when I see it, and you know a power ballad when you hear it.” — Chris Molanphy, invoking Justice Potter Stewart's famous quote, relating to the intuition of recognizing a power ballad [10:04]
• “Power ballads are meant to be commercial. The charts matter... There’s no such thing as a power ballad deep cut.” — Chris [11:04]
• “The trick with a hair metal band is you led the promotion... with a hard rocker, but then kept a ballad in waiting... Often the power ballad was the biggest hit on the album.” — Chris [38:02]
• Prince calling Journey’s Jonathan Cain to admit “their chord changes were the same” between “Faithfully” and “Purple Rain.” [29:58–30:14]

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Timeline of Key Segments

• [01:03] — Introduction, personal anecdote, and posing “What is a Power Ballad?”
• [04:18] — Cambridge definition; translation for non-musicologists.
• [11:19] — Early prototypes: Elvis, Roy Orbison, Righteous Brothers.
• [16:45] — 1970s: Proto-power ballads, The Carpenters’ pivotal “Goodbye to Love.”
• [21:28] — Styx’s “Lady,” KISS’s “Beth,” Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” (episode namesake).
• [26:13] — Synths and the genre’s 80s peak, Journey, Whitney Houston, the rise of hair metal ballads.
• [38:45] — Women of power balladry—Heart and the subversion of the “dude” stereotype.
• [40:45] — 1990s: Ballad legacy in alternative, R&B, and pop.
• [46:15] — The rise of Celine Dion and the last great ‘90s ballads.
• [48:06] — Post-2000s: Decline, outliers, and modern mutations of power ballad DNA.
• [51:15] — Olivia Rodrigo, the Gen Z handoff, and the power ballad’s continuing evolution.

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Conclusion

This episode of Hit Parade delivers a nuanced history of the power ballad, from its roots in early rock and soul, through its towering 80s heyday, to reinterpretations in recent pop music. Chris Molanphy emphasizes that while the genre's formulas—and even its cultural meanings—change, the impulse that drives power balladry remains potent: melodrama, big emotion, and a desire to soar. In his words:

“Those stupid songs, they’re the ones we remember.” [52:47]

The episode is a celebration of both the over-the-top and the universal appeal of the power ballad, tracing how this song form continues to shape pop music—and our memories.

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Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Chris Melanfi]

Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series. On today's show, There's a new movie hitting theaters this month, directed by John Carney, the Man behind Once and Sing street, and its title is Power Ballad. I saw this movie last weekend and around the same time, one of my best friends from college asked me if Hit Parade had ever covered power ballads in an episode, which prompts the question, what exactly is a power ballad? You may think you know what a power ballad sounds like. Usually it's something based in rock, but that definition is actually too limiting. Power ballads have roots in earlier forms of rock and soul balladry as far back as the 50s and 60s. The modern history of the power ballad starts around the 1970s and there were not only rock power ballads, but also soul and even pop power ballads. Its peak happened in the 1980s, fueled by heavy metal and hair metal, but not exclusively. There have been number one power ballads sung by pop stars, R and B queens, and yes, long haired dude rockers.

[Song Vocalist]

I'm on my way home sweet home.

[Chris Melanfi]

While the quintessential power ballad singer is thought thought to be a dude, women have not only historically thrived with power ballads, They may be keeping the form alive. So in this episode, let's try to define what is a power ballad when did it command the hit parade? And will the power ballad survive deeper into the 21st century? Sucker, fame, leave me dry like a goddamn vampire. So before we dig into the history, let's just ask, what exactly is a power ballad now, with the caveat that I am not a musicologist. According to a study conducted by Cambridge University, United States. Yes, Cambridge. The power ballad is, quote, defined by the use of both a musical formula based on constant escalation and an expressive formula that combines the euphoric uplift created by rousing music with sentimental themes. Unquote. That's a whole lot of words to translate this for my fellow non musicologists. Basically, a power ballad builds and builds and then builds some more.

[Song Vocalist]

To. And now it chills me to the moon. How do I.

[Chris Melanfi]

As for my college friend Myra, she was inspired to ask me the question, what is a power ballad? When she heard the Australian pop act Air Supply on the radio.

[Song Vocalist]

You know you can't fool me.

[Chris Melanfi]

I thought that was interesting because Air Supply do have some power ballads. But not all of their hits are power ballads. For example, their breakthrough hit Lost in Love is pretty clearly just soft rock with some slight country music overtones. But as air supply became bigger 80s hit makers, by the way, they scored eight top five hits between 1980 and 1983, seven of those consecutively. The power ballad overtones in their music increased as they amped up the drama. For example, their only US Number one hit, the one that you love, is pretty power ballad light. And then their final US top 10 hit, which we discussed in our Jim Steinman episode of Hit Parade, making love out of nothing at all is total power. Now, before I go too deep down the Air Supply rabbit hole, let me digress and play you a little bit of an ad that you may have seen on television around the turn of the millennium. This ad is called Monster Ballads.

[Commercial Voice]

They taught us how to love.

[Song Vocalist]

Give me something to believe in.

[Chris Melanfi]

They taught us how to live. And now they're back.

[Commercial Voice]

Monster Ballads 30.

[Chris Melanfi]

This is what most people think of as the stereotypical power ballad. You might say that monster ballads are the dominant substrain of the power ballad. These are the songs that are attempting to retain rock cred while still delivering that romantic power ballad vibe. The monster form of the power Ballad is very 80s centric and early 90s and it's very gendered. It's believed that only a macho dude can sing these kinds of ballads. However, even on the Monster Ballads compilation they sold on TV in the early 2000s, they included hits by the likes of Hartz and Wilson with her 1984 Mike Reno duet from the Footloose soundtrack, Almost Paradise.

[Song Vocalist]

Oh, almost Paradise. We're looking on heaven's door Almost paradise.

[Chris Melanfi]

And even the Bangles, who had a number one hit with Eternal Flame. Now let's go back to the movie that just hit theaters last week. It's called Power Ballad, and it's debatable whether the titular song in this movie is even a traditional power ballad. For one thing, the lead character's name, played by Paul Rudd, is Rick Power. It's as if they're implying that this is a ballad written by a guy named Power.

[Song Vocalist]

Cause every song I ever wrote in

[Chris Melanfi]

my life,

[Song Vocalist]

it's about you. So good, so good.

[Chris Melanfi]

Okay, so do you have a bridge yet? However, the song is quite sturdy, and it's heard multiple times in the movie, both by the songwriter played by Rudd, and by the pop star played by Nick Jonas.

[Song Vocalist]

How to write a song without you how to write a song without you.

[Chris Melanfi]

And it does have that ramp up to the chorus. The climaxes are subtler, but it does qualify as a power ballad, even though it soars more than it rocks. In the end, I would say that power ballads are a little like Potter Stewart's old definition on pornography. He said, I know it when I see it, and you know a power ballad when you hear it. Power ballads are hits that soar. Power ballads are melodramatic, like a child in your arms.

[Song Vocalist]

Every now and then I get a little bit angry and I know I got to get out and cry.

[Chris Melanfi]

Often, but not always, power ballads, rock, And just as often, power ballads feature Olympic level vocals. And by the way, one more thing. Power ballads are meant to be commercial. The charts matter. Sure, there is such a thing as a fake, failed power ballad, a song that didn't make it all the way. But there's no such thing as a power ballad deep cut. These are songs that were intended for the marketplace. So in that spirit, why don't we walk through some examples? Across chart history, early rock and rollers mixed melodrama and rock instrumentation. For example, the king of rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. His most famous hit, can't Help Falling in love, a number two in 1961.

[Song Vocalist]

If I can help, Falling in Love

[Chris Melanfi]

with you did feature soaring vocals, but on the whole, Elvis Presley's ballads tended to be mellower, and he distinguished between his rockers and his romantic hits. The romantic hits tended to be slower.

[Song Vocalist]

Love Me Tender, Love for Me, Long Take Me.

[Chris Melanfi]

Arguably, the early rock and roller who Most consistently delivered power vocals in this era was Roy Orbison.

[Song Vocalist]

And you look lovely as can be Are you lonely just like me?

[Chris Melanfi]

In a review of 1964's It's Over, a number nine hit on the Hot 100, Billboard called Orbison quote the drama ballad king. That was 1960s code for a power vocalist. Other dramatic ballads from Roy Orbison included crying number two in 1961, And in dreams, a number seven hit in 63. By 1965, Roy Orbison's vocal fireworks were emulated by other singers like the Righteous Brothers. They worked with producer Phil Spector, and their big hits combined big vocals and Spector's wall of sound. Like the number one hit you've Lost that love and Feeling, Or the Righteous Brothers Unchained melody, a number four hit in 1965. You may recall that it made a big comeback in 1990 when it was featured in the Patrick Swayze movie Ghost. However, Unchained Melody also sounded appropriate on the radio of 1990 because it was basically a power ballad 25 years ahead of its time.

[Song Vocalist]

I need your love.

[Chris Melanfi]

Before the 60s were out, R B was also showing how ballads could have a different kind of power. Of course, the ultimate power vocalist of R b of the 60s was Ms. Aretha Franklin, but she generally started her songs already with guns blazing. However, on you Make Me Feel Like a Natural woman, a top 10 hit in 1968, she held back in reserve at the beginning of the song, then built to a power chorus. Or consider Diana Ross's first hit of her new solo career in 1970, Ain't no Mountain High Enough, a song that had already been a hit for Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell. In her innovative reboot, Diana Ross built to a climax and held back the hook until the very end of the song. But the power ballad really began to take shape in the 1970s. You might say the year 1972 was ground zero for the power ballad. The beta test, if you will. An obvious candidate is Led Zeppelin's Stairway to heaven from a 1971 LP, Led Zeppelin 4. It was on the radio by 1972, and certainly stairway perfected the long build.

[Song Vocalist]

Sam.

[Chris Melanfi]

The only problem with Stairway to Heaven is, first of all, it wasn't a single, and second of all, it was eight minutes long. A better example from 72 is Harry Nielsen's cover of Bad Fingers. Without you, This was a more prototypical power ballad. It reached number one in 72 and featured operatic vocals so operatic that Mariah Carey remade it 20 years later. But I would say the Shocker of the class of 72 power ballads came from the Carpenters. Yes, the Carpenters, who are best known for their gentle middle of the road ballads, but they made a huge contribution to the form of the power ballad in 72.

[Song Vocalist]

There are no tomorrow's for this heart of mine Surely time will lose these bitter memories and I'll find that there is someone to believe and to live for.

[Chris Melanfi]

The Carpenters had already amped up the melodrama in their hits, like on their number two 1971 cover of Leon Russell's Superstar, But their seminal power ballad was 72's Goodbye to Love. It was mostly a gentle Carpenter's ballad. However, Richard Carpenter specifically hired session guitarist Tony Peluso to provide a searing guitar solo much, much harder than the rest of the ballad surrounding it. Goodbye to Love showed that even the gentlest song, with vocals by Karen Carpenter, could be surrounded by thunderous rock guitar. By the mid-70s, the Hard Rock power ballad prototype, even beyond Led Zeppelin, was codified by two hits. In 1975, Styx finally had their breakthrough with the song Lady. It took more than a year to break. Recorded and released in 1973, it didn't reach the top 10 on the Hot 100 until early 75.

[Song Vocalist]

You gave all my love that I

[Chris Melanfi]

needed writer Dennis DeYoung has been called a power ballad forefather.

[Song Vocalist]

On your Lady.

[Chris Melanfi]

Lady showed that a pop band, albeit a progressive pop band, could sing a rock and love song. The other prototype was from Kiss. The song Beth,

[Song Vocalist]

Hear you calling but I can't come home.

[Chris Melanfi]

It's kind of a misnomer to call Beth Kiss's first top 10 hit, even though that's how it was credited. It was really a solo single by their drummer, Peter Chris. He is the only member of Kiss you hear on the record. Otherwise he's surrounded by an orchestra playing behind him.

[Song Vocalist]

What can I do?

[Chris Melanfi]

Beth grafted gravelly rock vocals to a string arrangement, another trope that would be common in power ballads for the rest of the 70s and 80s.

[Song Vocalist]

And you're always there alone just a few more hours.

[Chris Melanfi]

So some descendants of both lady and Beth include Boston's classic More Than a Feeling, a number five hit in late 76. It was a love song that featured a paradigmatic guitar riff and high keening vocals from Brad Delp, as well as an almost symphonic arrangement. And then in 1978 comes the number six hit dust in the Wind by Kansas. Like Kisses, Beth, it's orchestral, but it never rocks out. It's Kansas's only top 10 hit.

[Song Vocalist]

Dust in the wind.

[Chris Melanfi]

By the late 70s, this power ballad style was also infecting pop hit makers like Barry Manilow. And disco divas like Donna Summer.

[Song Vocalist]

Sing in the dark on the sweet green I think low it down. In the rain.

[Chris Melanfi]

We'll be right back.

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[Chris Melanfi]

The peak of the power ballad came in the 1980s, and the synthesizer played a role. Pop in general was using more Synths by the 80s, but by the time of Foreigners big hit Waiting for a Girl like you in 1981, synthesizers were essential to the sound of a hit record. Waiting for a Girl like you with synths played by Thomas Dolby, hit number two on the Hot 100 and stayed there for a record 10 weeks. That same year, REO Speedwagon helped codify the power ballad. There were keyboards and guitar riffs for prominent on both of their number one hits. Keep On Loving youg in 1981 is built around Kevin Cronin's piano and Gary Richrath's guitar solo, And four years later, in early 1985, the wagon went right back to number one with another power ballad, Can't Fight this Feeling, which featured a synthesizer melody and again, a rockin rich wrath guitar solo. Journey also brought both keyboards and guitars to the power ballad by 1981, 82 and 83. When people hear the name Journey, they Mostly think of Don't Stop Believing and certainly it's got elements of the power ballad, but that's really more anthem rock. That album Escape had two bigger hits and both are piano based power ballads. Who's Crying Now, a number four hit in 1981, And open arms, number two in 1982. The power ballad faithfully from their 1983 album Frontiers often tops rankings of power ballads.

[Song Vocalist]

I'm Forever,

[Chris Melanfi]

By the way. It also directly inspired Prince to write his 1984 hit Purple Rain. Prince called Jonathan Cain, keyboardist and songwriter for Journey, to confess that their chord changes were the same.

[Commercial Voice]

So you get Prince on the phone

[Chris Melanfi]

and I. I'm like, I have no problem with this or I understand your concern. But they're two different songs.

[Commercial Voice]

Faithfully and Purple Rain and it sounds

[Song Vocalist]

like a hit to me.

[Chris Melanfi]

We're completely cool.

[Commercial Voice]

I know the band would be cool.

[Chris Melanfi]

I'm cool.

[Commercial Voice]

Congratulations, you got a hit on your hands.

[Chris Melanfi]

While all this was going on, R and B and diva pop were also making the power ballad more athletic. We have to talk about Whitney Houston. She turned ballad singing into an Olympic sport, for example. Greatest Love of all, her number one hit from 1986 was a former 70s R B song, a pretty gentle song that she turned into an 80s power ballad. In fact, many of Whitney's number one hits are R B power ballads. Didn't we almost have it all?

[Song Vocalist]

Didn't we all have it All?

[Chris Melanfi]

Or Where Do Broken Hearts Go?

[Song Vocalist]

Where do broken hearts go? Can they find their way home?

[Chris Melanfi]

In general, the 80s had plenty of R B power ballads. Jennifer Holiday's and I Am Telling you, I'm not going, a number one R B number 22 pop hit has a positively explosive climax.

[Song Vocalist]

You gonna love me, You're gonna love me Yes, I.

[Chris Melanfi]

And it was a big decade for pop and be duets that followed the explosive power ballad form Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's Endless Love, a number one in 1981.

[Song Vocalist]

No one can deny this love I have inside.

[Chris Melanfi]

And patti labelle and michael McDonald's on my own, which topped the charts in 1986. But of course, the 80s sub genre that utterly codified the power ballad was hair metal. Right from the start of the decade. Producer Mutt Lang, who had just worked on Waiting for A Girl like you with Foreigner, produced some early power ballads for Def Leppard, like Bringing all the Heartbreak. But the quintessential 80s hair metal power ballad might be Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home.

[Song Vocalist]

You know I'm a dreamer.

[Chris Melanfi]

Here's the thing about Home sweet home in 1985. When it came out, it wasn't actually a big hit on the pop chart, it reached number 89. Even on the album rock chart, it only reached number 39. A remix in 1991 would crack the top 40, barely, but on MTV, it was the number one most requested video for months.

[Song Vocalist]

And you're watching MTV.

[Chris Melanfi]

The combination of sweet melody, snarling vocals from lead singer Vince Neil and a fist pumping live video proved a sturdy template for the hair metal power ballad, or let's call it the monster ballot. Some other late 80s hair metal hits in the Motley Crue model that juxtaposed bad boy vocals with metal gear and sweet melodies. Bon Jovi's Wanted, Dead or Alive, a number seven hit in 1987. Europe's carry, number three later in 87. By the way, most people think of Europe as the band that did the final countdown, but Carrie was actually a higher charting hit. White snake scored with two power ballads. They remade their 1982 deep cut Here I Go Again as a quintessential 87 power ballad and got it all the way to number one. And their follow up, is this love? Reach number two.

[Song Vocalist]

So I can hold you in my arms. Is this love that I'm feeling? Is this the love

[Chris Melanfi]

Cinderella reach number 12 with don't know what you got till it's gone. Guns N Roses, the bad boys of hair metal scored best with their ballads, including, of course, Sweet Child of mine, number one in 1988, And the gentle patience, a top five hit in 1989.

[Song Vocalist]

Little patience,

[Chris Melanfi]

Def Leppard scored their only number one hit with a power ballad, Love Bites in 88. Poison, their only number one hit was Every Rose Has Its Own Thorn in 1988 and 89,

[Song Vocalist]

Just like Every night has its D

[Chris Melanfi]

and Skid Row, fronted by Sebastian Bach, scored two top 10 hits in 1989 and 90 that were different forms of the power ballad. The sinister 18 in life 18 in

[Song Vocalist]

life 18 and laugh you know your crown is diamond, 18 and laughs you go.

[Chris Melanfi]

And the sweeter I remember you.

[Song Vocalist]

Through the sleepless night.

[Chris Melanfi]

The trick with a hair metal band is you led the promotion of their album with a hard rocker, But then kept a ballad in waiting to deploy as the album's second or third single. Often the power ballad was the biggest hit on the album.

[Song Vocalist]

Guess you never know.

[Chris Melanfi]

And by the way, 80s hard rock power ballads weren't only sung by men. Heart scored with songs like what about love in 1985.

[Song Vocalist]

What about love? Don't you want someone to care about you. What about love? Don't let it slip away

[Chris Melanfi]

and alone a big number one hit in 1987. More in a moment.

[Song Vocalist]

Always got.

[Commercial Voice]

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[Song Vocalist]

Foreign.

[Chris Melanfi]

Rock gradually started to turn away from the power ballad in the 1990s, but not right away. And some of the 90s power ballads are debatable as power ballads. Feel free to write me at Hit Parade, slate.com if you have opinions about what these 90s songs sound like. At first. Hair metal did keep the power ballad alive in the early 90s, before and even after grunge broke. So there were hits by Firehouse, Mr. Big.

[Song Vocalist]

To be with you, Deep inside, I

[Chris Melanfi]

hope you feel it, and yes, the dreaded Bon Jovi. When grunge blew up, it did have ballads and slow songs, but they weren't necessarily power ballads that built to a crescendo. Some exceptions that qualify as grunge are Soundgarden's Black Hole, Sun. Candle, Boxes Far behind, which is basically hair metal in grunge clothing,

[Commercial Announcer]

And pearl

[Chris Melanfi]

jam's soaring better man. But post grunge was more unabashed in its adherence to the power ballad formula. The hits by Creed, even their uptempo hits, pretty much all sounded like power ballads, Especially their 2000 number one hit with arms Wide Open. Other post grunge hits that sounded like power ballads included Collective Souls, the World I Know, And especially Gugu Doll's deathless top ten hit Iris. All of these hits leveraged power ballad tricks but cloaked them in grunge aesthetics. Arguably, in the 90s R B and diva pop were doing more to keep the power ballad alive. Whitney Houston had already set the bar in the 80s, and in the 90s she kept upping the ante. What is I will always love you but another power ballad on steroids. But then Whitney's main competitor, Mariah Carey, doubled down on the power ballad. She led off her career in 1990 with a traditional soul ballad infused with power ballad energy, Vision of love number one. In the summer of 1990, Mariah's follow ups also followed the power ballad template, such as 1991's I don't want to

[Song Vocalist]

Cry,

[Chris Melanfi]

1993 three's hero. And 1995's one sweet day. Then blowing in from Canada in the 90s, Celine Dion brought the athletic vocal approach to pop, starting with her very first hit Where Does My Heart Beat Now.

[Song Vocalist]

Now,

[Chris Melanfi]

most of Seline's biggest hits were power ballads. The 1994 number one hit the Power of Love.

[Song Vocalist]

And you are my.

[Chris Melanfi]

1996's number two hit it's all Coming Back To Me now, written and produced by Jim Steinman.

[Song Vocalist]

Baby, baby, baby when you touch me like this and when you hold me like that he was gone with the Wind, but it's all coming back to

[Chris Melanfi]

Me and Of course, the 1998 number one hit from Titanic, My Heart Will Go On,

[Song Vocalist]

There's nothing I feel and I know.

[Chris Melanfi]

Perhaps the most anomalous 90s power ballad came from Aerosmith, who scored their only career number one hit in 1998 with the schlocky Diane Warren power ballad I Don't want to Miss a Thing, I

[Song Vocalist]

don't want to close my eyes I don't want to fall asleep Cause I miss you baby and I don't want to miss a thing.

[Chris Melanfi]

In general, ballads as a form fell off in the aughts, and the dominant strains of pop like hip hop and pop, punk and emo, tended toward more consistent tempos. They didn't have the build. Beyonce's ballads, for example, tend to be either on the mellower side, like irreplace.

[Song Vocalist]

Don't you ever for a second get to thinking irreplaceable.

[Chris Melanfi]

Or are full of fireworks throughout like Halo. Probably the closest Beyonce came to a traditional power ballad was 2008's number three hit if I Were a Boy. In the middle of the decade, when the hard rock band Hinder scored a very traditional old school school power ballad with Lips of an angel, It was a total fluke. A number three hit on the Hot 100 in 2006, and then hinder never came close to the top of the pop charts again that hearing those words,

[Song Vocalist]

it makes me weak.

[Chris Melanfi]

In the 2000 and tens, the Queen of the power ballad was arguably Adele, who crossed British soul with vocal fireworks on hits like 2011's Rolling in the Deep. And 2015's hello. In 2013, Miley Cyrus revived a semi traditional power ballad structure on her number one hit Wrecking Ball.

[Song Vocalist]

I came in like a wrecking ball I never hit so hard Fall in love all I wanted was to break

[Chris Melanfi]

you by the 2000 and twenties, an eclectic mix of acts were keeping power ballads alive, but they move very differently now. The tempos don't modulate in the same way. So for example, Lewis Capaldi's late 2019 number one hit someone you loved, I

[Song Vocalist]

need somebody to know, Somebody to hear, somebody to have Just to know how it feels. It's easy to say but it's Never

[Chris Melanfi]

or in 2024, Benson Boone's explosive semi ballad Beautiful Things, a number two hit.

[Song Vocalist]

Don't.

[Chris Melanfi]

Among Zoomer pop stars, the closest thing to a power ballader is Olivia Rodrigo, who launched her hit making career with a piano ballad called of course Driver's License. Olivia kicked it up a notch with her number one hit from 2023, Vampire Dream Crusher, Bleed Me Dry Like a Damn Vampire. The day we release this Hit Parade episode, Olivia Rodrigo released her latest album, you Seem pretty Sad for a girl so in love. While there's no song on there quite as melodramatic as Driver's License or Vampire, Rodrigo is still playing around with ballads that rock out, and she is as self aware as ever. One rocking ballad is even called Stupid Song. New York City's Never look so Blue, My friends are smoking blondes in the bathroom. They say that honest love is a

[Song Vocalist]

cage that makes you feel free.

[Chris Melanfi]

Maybe the Zoomer and Alpha generations aren't doing power ballads exactly the way Gen X and Millennial Heroes did them, but it's encouraging to know they're going to keep right on singing, as Olivia calls it, stupid songs about their romances and heartaches. Because those stupid songs, they're the ones we remember. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was conceived, researched and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Our supervising producer is Joel Meyer, and we had help from Ben Richmond. The executive producer of Slate Podcasts is Mia lobel. Check out Slate's roster roster of [e-mail] podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the hit parade back your way. We'll have a brand new episode for you in two weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the One. I'm Chris Melanfi.

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