Which Maiden songs we should consider as a ballads/power ballads ?
- Thread starter Kalata
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R@inmaker
Educated Fool
indeed! dokken wrote some great power ballads but that one is one of the best imo. and george's searing solo is the epitome of shred and feeling combined!
WildRanger
Nomad
If Metallica's "Fade to black" is widely considered a ballad then Maiden's "Remember Tomorrow" is a ballad no less.
"Wasting love" is a ballad 100%.
"Wasting love" is a ballad 100%.
Belshazzar
Yer Mum Can't Come
Thank Christ, someone who understands
JudasMyGuide
The incorrigible papist
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
Wasting love. Thats the only one,and yourneyman but its different. I can stand wasting love but i skip it always. The other one i dont listen to it in decades.
Spaldy
Ancient Mariner
Wasting Love isn't a power ballad. Absolutely not. Would you play it at a wedding? No, of course not, and that's the benchmark.
Is This Love by Whitesnake, Always by Bon Jovi or I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner. Those are power ballads. Songs your mum wants to slow dance to.
Your mum isn't dancing to Wasting Love.
Is This Love by Whitesnake, Always by Bon Jovi or I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner. Those are power ballads. Songs your mum wants to slow dance to.
Your mum isn't dancing to Wasting Love.
So songs like Sleeping in Fire (W.A.S.P) and Touch of Evil (Priest) aren't power ballads? Because my mum wouldn't slow dance to them at a wedding.
JudasMyGuide
The incorrigible papist
My Mum dances to November Rain, Estranged and A Tale That Wasn't Right. I definitely can imagine her dancing to Wasting Love.
I actually had When the Wild Wind Blows played at my wedding. The very ceremony, not just the reception. Meaning, Maiden have a power ballad after all
Diesel 11
As you scream into the web of silence...
I wouldn't play "Close My Eyes Forever" by Lita Ford, or "Poison" by Alice Cooper, or "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" and "Nobody's Fool" by Cinderella, or "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison, or "Love Hurts" by Nazareth, or "Alone Again" by Dokken, or "18 and Life" by Skid Row, or "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" by Def Leppard, or "Don't Cry" by GNR, or "Wind of Change" by Scorpions at a wedding, and yet these are all power ballads.
I think your definition is too narrow. "Wasting Love" is a power ballad, and it's the only Maiden power ballad (maybe "Blood Brothers" comes close). Songs like "Children of the Damned" are semi-ballads, and "Journeyman" is a full-on ballad, no power.
JudasMyGuide
The incorrigible papist
"Being played at weddings" is a really weird criterion, from both sides - a lot of actual power ballads don't get played at weddings for one reason or another,
being the most obvious, but there are weird songs played at weddings that probably shouldn't be ("Every Breath You Take" being primarily about a stalker, U2's "One" being about divorce, "I Will Always Love You" about a breakup, so is technically Robbie Williams' "Angels", James' Blunt's "You're Beautiful" is about suicide, "Hallelujah" is about Cohen, Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years" about syphillis, "Tears in Heaven", well... and for some inexplicable reason, people have started playing Imagine Dragon's "Demons" at wedding, which is just awful all around, probably worse than Perri etc.), that definitely aren't automatically power ballads.
Once again
if it wasn't apparent from the meme - if Wasting Love is, then Out of the Shadows is as well at least.
Strange World and Prodigal Son are also technically power ballads and anyone outside Maiden fandom would identify them as souch upon a listen.
The two Blaze ballads - 2AM and Como Estais are borderline cases - I feel like people consider also the quality of the song (i. e. - "this is too good to be a power ballad", which shouldn't be the case).
Remember Tomorrow is an odd one - it is technically a power ballad (its nearest template would be Zeppelin's Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You), but it's not a "power ballad", as the term started to be used in the 80s (somewhat pejoratively as well) for sentimental songs with soaring guitars.
I'd argue the same about Children of the Damned and No Prayer for the Dying.
being the most obvious, but there are weird songs played at weddings that probably shouldn't be ("Every Breath You Take" being primarily about a stalker, U2's "One" being about divorce, "I Will Always Love You" about a breakup, so is technically Robbie Williams' "Angels", James' Blunt's "You're Beautiful" is about suicide, "Hallelujah" is about Cohen, Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years" about syphillis, "Tears in Heaven", well... and for some inexplicable reason, people have started playing Imagine Dragon's "Demons" at wedding, which is just awful all around, probably worse than Perri etc.), that definitely aren't automatically power ballads.
Once again
if it wasn't apparent from the meme - if Wasting Love is, then Out of the Shadows is as well at least.
Strange World and Prodigal Son are also technically power ballads and anyone outside Maiden fandom would identify them as souch upon a listen.
The two Blaze ballads - 2AM and Como Estais are borderline cases - I feel like people consider also the quality of the song (i. e. - "this is too good to be a power ballad", which shouldn't be the case).
Remember Tomorrow is an odd one - it is technically a power ballad (its nearest template would be Zeppelin's Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You), but it's not a "power ballad", as the term started to be used in the 80s (somewhat pejoratively as well) for sentimental songs with soaring guitars.
I'd argue the same about Children of the Damned and No Prayer for the Dying.
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.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
Ok. Maybe just a ballad
Edington
Last Son of The Miracle
In what world is Poison a power ballad? It's nothing like the other songs you listed.
JudasMyGuide
The incorrigible papist
On the other hand, "It's Me" is based on the Pachelbel's Canon progression, IIRC, so I can vividly imagine it being played at a wedding...
Same goes for Cryin' by Aerosmith and Walking on the Milky Way by OMD ... which for one would actually be a really good fit.
Spaldy
Ancient Mariner
Yes. Especially Touch of Evil. Calling that a power ballad is like calling Hammer Smashed Face smooth jazz.
Spaldy
Ancient Mariner
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.