Which Maiden songs we should consider as a ballads/power ballads ?

Spaldy said:
The songs I've highlighted aren't power ballads.

I would counter by saying that your definition is too wide. Poison is 100% not a power ballad or a ballad of any kind. It's a hard rock anthem.
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I'd say 18 and Life is a borderline case. I'd categorise it as a power ballad by gut, but I can see why people wouldn't.
 
Prowler said:
Poison isn't a power ballad, but I can see why some people might say it is.
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Eh, like Spaldy said, if you widen the goalposts enough then yeah, it's got calmer verses and big, powerful, anthemic choruses like most power ballads, but the feel is totally different.
 
Edington said:
Eh, like Spaldy said, if you widen the goalposts enough then yeah, it's got calmer verses and big, powerful, anthemic choruses like most power ballads, but the feel is totally different.
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And that's the issue as there seems to be some who think that soft verse + big chorus = power ballad. Well, if that's the case then basically every 90s grunge song is a power ballad.
 
Music categorization works by approximation. It's a spectrum with, sometimes, quite heavy doses of potential leeway. Call it power ballad, call it semi-ballad, call it a non-ballad. It all works.
 
Yax said:
Music categorization works by approximation. It's a spectrum with, sometimes, quite heavy doses of potential leeway. Call it power ballad, call it semi-ballad, call it a non-ballad. It all works.
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the proof of which is none of what we're talking of here has much of a resemblance to a folk music ballad
 
Mosh said:
My 2 cents is that “power ballad” is a pretty narrow term that refers to songs from the MTV era in the 80s and the very early 90s. There should be a big chorus, some acoustic guitar, and probably a music video. I don’t think Prodigal Son or Out of the Shadows fit any of the criteria there. But Wasting Love kinda does, so to me it’s as close as Maiden gets to a power ballad.
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Amen. The theme of a power ballad should be love/heartbreak or something emotional. Heaven by Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi's Always, Whitesnake, Poison, Skid Row, Alone by Heart, Dokken and so on.
IMO some Maiden songs that people refer to as power ballads are either to melancholy/folky or surreal. Same with other metal songs like Don't talk to Strangers, Fade to Black, Beyond the Realms of Death, Fear of the Dark - amazing and atmospheric songs but not power ballads
 
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