Power ballad

The term "power ballad" is a colloquialism used to describe a type of song performed (but not necessarily written) by a hard rock or heavy metal band that is atypical of the songs defined by the hard rock and heavy metal genres. Typically, a power ballad is characterized by having a slower tempo, longer voiced notes, acoustic guitars generally in place of electric guitars, and deemphasized percussion and bass; but some sections of the song may include strong percussion and bass that are more typical of the hard rock and heavy metal genres for increased emotional effect, and often the electric guitar comes back in the song's climax in order to give more emotional emphasis and charge to the song. Common power ballad themes include (but are not limited to) emotional heartache, need, love and loss.

In some cases, the power ballad may become the hard rock or heavy metal band's signature song.

History

It is believed (but not necessarily documented) that power ballads first came into existence in the 1970s at the insistence of record company executives who may have coerced their signed hard rock and heavy metal bands to include a powerful ballad on an album, reasoning that the power ballad would attract a larger listening audience than the bands' typical music. The potentially larger listening audience could then lead increased album sales. The number of power ballads (and their albums) that have achieved Top Forty status over the hard rock or heavy metal bands' more typical album oriented music shows how widespread this belief is.

A possible precursor for the power ballad form was The Carpenters' "Goodbye to Love" single in 1972, which featured a fuzz-tone screaming guitar solo (by Tony Peluso) situated next to a "middle of the road" vocal. ["Popular Musicians" by Steve Hochman/Mcrea Adams page 168 Book]

Today power ballads are still diffuse and have a certain popularity, both in rock/pop groups (for instance, "Zombie" by The Cranberries) and metal groups (for instance, "Departure Plan" by Soilwork or "Angel" by Judas Priest).

ee also

* Ballad

References