From Yesterday by the Beatles to Straight From The Heart by Bryan Adams to November Rain by Guns N’ Roses, power ballads are slow, emotional rock songs that have been a popular music mainstay since the 1970s. With expressive lyrics and instrumental prowess, these classic rock tracks are a cornerstone of the genre.
While music taste is subjective, Gerard Zappa Wooster says that there is no denying the impact such songs have on the emotions and made on the wider rock genre.
Defining Classic Rock Ballads
Rock ballads are slow-paced, often featuring soft, yet exceptionally performed, instrumentation combined with lyrics that allow the singer and/or artist to express strong emotions.
Each one is as unique as the story they tell, but they tend to follow a verse-chorus-verse structure, with an instrumental solo or bridge in the middle and a 4/4 time. Although, they’ll range from full-blown electric tracks to simpler acoustic tracks.
Unlike the general theme of the genre, rock ballads are a more melodic, slower, and softer side to the fist-clenching, vein-popping appearance of the overarching category. As such, they’ve been popular for years, resonating with listeners just as much today as they did then.
The Emotion-Touching Significance of Classic Rock Ballads
Typically seen as a type of catharsis, classic rock ballads allow people to express and share their emotions through music and lyrics. Their job is to touch emotions, and it appears they do just that — they appear in movies, TV shows, and commercials, proving their ability to encapsulate a feeling and deposit to the sometimes-unsuspecting watcher.
But that isn’t where the hard-hitting tracks leave their emotion-meddling powers. Over the years, such songs have cemented their places in weddings, anniversaries, and plenty other special occassions, offering a powerful and incredibly emotional soundtrack to life’s biggest moments.
Often written by artists who’re going through or have gone through a tough time, classic rock ballads hit home, resonating emotionally (and spiritually) with listeners. Evoking feelings like no other, concerts playing these powerful tunes elicit the iconic lighter-in-the-air scenario as fans are catapulted to a whole new dimension of feeling. Lump-throated reactions are a given.
The question is: how do they bring out such emotions? The answer lies primarily in the tempo; being slower than traditional rock songs gives them the chance to create an emotional response. However, the combination of pop, country, R&B, folk, and other genres help attain a beautiful, melodic sound that tells a feeling-filled story.
Experiencing the Power of Rock Ballads
Weakening the knees of any hard-as-nails tough guy who listens to them, rock ballads are some of the most powerful songs the world has been blessed with, eliciting tears from people of all walks of life who know love and struggle of some kind.
Music lovers wanting to take a trip down dewy-eyed lanes have a fantastic backlog to get to, including the likes of Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler, Always by Bon Jovi, and I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meat Loaf.
