In Search Of: Power Ballads

Hello. I'm Leonard Nemoy, and tonight I'll be your host as we go in search of...power ballads.

Yes, power ballads, those exquisite combinations of three-string chords and tender sentiment, beloved of adolescents everywhere. They have come to occupy a prominent position in our muscial landscape, recieving the ultimate affirmation of pop culture relevance - a VH-1 special.

But what exactly is a power ballad? What are the elements to go together to make up those deliciously melodic compositions that have flicked ten thousand bics? Under the direction of In Search Of's production team, our crack researchers turned up the following definition:

Power ballad is a name given to love songs that were predictably included on heavy metal albums in the 1980s. The power ballad was frequently slower in tempo and much less aggressive in lyrics than the remaining music on the album. The songs were often crafted in a hope of scoring a Top Forty hit, and were particularly associated with bands in the hair metal genre.

Power ballads have to be about yearning and need, commitment and loss. Listening to one should make your heart soar or sink. Its sentiment should linger long after the last chord. It should make you feel.

While it is true that power ballads reached the full noontide of their glory during the 1980s, specific elements were pioneered earlier than that decade.

Thunderous music... The Hammer of the Gods... Gotterdamerung... Devil worship... Debauchery... all of these words add up to one thing: Led Zeppelin. Yet it was this band, that made us bang our heads in unison for the first time, that blazed a trail and demonstrated that hard rockers could play... softly. A generation of teens danced the last dance to Zeppelin's epic ballad Stairway to Heaven. Though Robert Plant sang about some mystic jiggery-pokery, not love, a precendent was set. Even rock n' roll vikings could slow it down. Boston's own Aerosmith followed suit with Dream On, exhorting fans to sing for the laughter or sleep soundly. And when Bad Company showed their soft romantic side in Feel Like Makin' Love the stage was set... for a power ballad explosion.

Hair spray... Jack Daniels... spandex... groupies... pyrotechnics... yes, you guessed it - I'm talking about the hair metal renaissance of the 1980s. Dressed to thrill and reaching millions through MTV, the boys of the hair bands spread their creed of sex, drugs and rock n' roll. But in the medium of the power ballad, the hair bands found a way to show a tender side and sing about life after the party: broken hearts, seperation from loved ones and the loneliness of the road.

Power ballads mean so much to me. Whenever I'm working on a Star Trek script, or preparing for yet another one of those endless sci-fi conventions, I find escape and solace in these moving songs. I'd like to share them with you, so that you too can seek them out and find comfort in these outpourings of the heart. The following titles are from my favorite mix-tape, that Bill Shatner made especially for me:
1. Alone Again - Dokken
2. Still Loving You - Scorpions
3. Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue
4. I Remember You - Skid Row
5. When The Children Cry - White Lion
6. I Won't Forget You - Poison
7. Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
8. Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone - Cinderella
9. Bringing On the Heartbreak - Def Leppard
10. Love Song - Tesla

The time of the power ballad is over; they vanished as suddenly and inexplicably as the dinosaurs. Yet their legacy lives on, and for every broken heart there remains an Every Rose Has It's Thorn. For every political prisoner Winds of Change stands like a beacon of hope.

I'm Leonard Nemoy, your host for tonight's In Search Of. I've seen a million faces... and I've rocked them all. Thank you, and good night.