7.) Rolling Stones – “Wild Horses”
6.) Alice Cooper – “Me & You”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqejWdOKPWE
5.) The Beatles – “Something”
4.) Def Leppard – “Love Bites”
3.) Nazareth – “Love Hurts”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_1LP3Z6pW4
2.) The Hollies – “The Air That I Breathe”
1.) Scorpions – “Still Loving You”
Click to visit the TBP Store for Great TBP Merchandise
Another perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4hzVpYAP-U
Probably a thousand for this list from the “sappy 70’s” ( although I actually have a whole playlist made of those sappy songs– think, “Baby Come Back” or “I Go Crazy” by Paul Davis… Firefall, Ambrosia, The Babys, America etc etc
Air Supply – was like catnip to the babes.
I’m all out of love for you, Unprotected. Please leave. What’s next – Bread?
REO Speedwagon…ABBA….the Captain and Tennillee…here, for the Chihuahuan music critic, because I just KNOW you’ll love this….
What’s next – The Carpenters?
Well, well, well. Look who the cat dragged in after a mysterious sabbatical. Glad to see your still kickin’. Stucky and EC in one day. Why, it’s like old times around here.
Para todo roto hay un descosido dept: Looks like Big Red and Unsolicited were made for each other.
Yep, same here. My compilation was called my “RGS” tape — really great slows!
What part of ‘Rock Ballad’ did you not understand?
Pshaw, follow the rules? What rules? You no likee music, cover your tiny little viejito ears….
That hurts, guerita.
Yesterday has been and gone
Tommorow will I find the sun or will it rain?
Everybody’s having fun except me, I’m the lonely one
I live in shame
[Chorus]
I say; goodbye to romance
Goodbye to friends
I tell ya
Goodbye to all the past
I guess that we’ll meet, we’ll meet in the end
[Verse 2]
I’ve been the King, I’ve been the clown
Now, broken wings can’t hold me down
I’m free again
The jester with the broken crown
It won’t be me, this time around, to love in vain
[Chorus]
I say; goodbye to romance
Goodbye to friends
I tell ya
Goodbye to all the past
I guess that we’ll meet, we’ll meet in the end
[Bridge]
And I feel the time is right, although I know
That you just might say to me:
“What you gonna do
What you gonna do”
But I have to take this chance
Goodbye to friends and to romance
And to all of you
And to all of you
Come on, now
[Randy Rhoads Solo]
[Chorus]
I say; goodbye to romance
Goodbye to friends
I tell ya
Goodbye to all the past
I guess that we’ll meet, we’ll meet in the end
[Verse 3]
And the weather’s lookin’ fine and I think the sun
Will shine again
And I feel I’ve cleared my mind
All the past is left behind again
[Chorus]
I say; goodbye to romance
Goodbye to friends
I tell ya
Goodbye to all the past
I guess that we’ll meet, we’ll meet in the end
No song with a Randy Rhodes solo is ever bad.
So here is the version with Randy playing:
I picked the above video because of the children that ran up onstage to join Ozzy. Yes, Randy was pretty damn good.
Nothing wrong with that, but for a BOC ballad I’d go with I Love the Night or Then Came the Last Days of May.
Since you said ROCK ballads I’ll assume you are precluding the singer/songwriter 70’s and Motown stuff…
I wasn’t sure. I was just messing around. Had I extended the list, Journey & REO were on deck. Motown would definitely include some of the best love songs ever; and, at the top of that list, would be “Unchained Melody”?
Actually, Unchained Melody was Righteous Brothers. Those are what I know. More of a rocker I guess. “Three Times a Lady” by the Commodores?
From the 1955 movie: UNCHAINED
Unchained Melody
Written by Alex North and Hy Zaret (lyrics)
Thus the song name…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnKbImRPhTE
That’s not even a ballad. You might have tried, LLL.
That is a perfect ballad. A ballad is a narrative set to verse…this is a perfect ballad as well….
But that one’s not rock. Here’s something that definitely fits your definition, and rocks. Also, not a love song — it’s about a drug deal gone wrong:
I never could color in the lines, I don’t follow orders or directions so well either….so, here’s a ballad….not a rock and roll ballad but some great bottleneck ballad…Americana music….special
And a Texas ballad instrumental….
Is that Billy Jack?
Stevie Ray Vaughan….but you knew that, hopefully…
okay– since “ballad” does not technically mean love song, I’m going with this haunting classic………
[youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KREx9fxFsas
Tears of the dragon-Bruce Dickinson (solo without Iron Maiden)
Sorry. I hate every one of those unmelodic, trite, trashy songs. For God’s sake listen to Van Morrison, Tom Petty or Steely Dan!
Throw in some Doobie Brothers “Another Park Another Sunday” too.
When people inquire as to my taste of music, I will usually say something like: “Anymore, I’m kind of Van Morrison type of guy“.
But, yesterday, I was in sort of a 70s hair band mood.
In retrospect I could have included “Brown Eyed Girl”. Or…
How about 20 top of the charts tunes from CCR….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DibevdT56pQ&list=LLHRZCDNvYAsuUC_QdpCkaAw&index=2&t=0s
Suzie Q qualifies for this article, the rest do not. So solly.
I was looking for “traveling man” and came upon this video. It must have been “Bring Your Kids to Work Day” at the recording studio for the Silver Bullet Band.
Grrrrr. Sorry it is banned here?
What in tarnation, Bon Jovi? Don’t make me pull your man card.
Here, little chihuahua, just for you chico…
Hey, güerita (werita), top this…
Good guitar licks in that Skid Row song, and that lead singer, screaming at very high notes near the end, NAILS IT without faltering. Impressive.
Can only imagine the strain on his vocal chords every time he sang that. Tis a good one, agreed, FM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHkojuUSDO8
Good choice, FM
It was on my short list, but if he really loved Beth, don’t you think he would have left the boys in the band in his rearview mirror (like I did my motorcycle)? I mean can there be love with no sacrifice?
♪ “squeeze my lemon til the juice runs down my leg” ♫
I’m such a romantic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyhu2ysqKGk
Francis, you must be my soul brother. Great picks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teqpxpMAJWY
Off the top o me head, from memory…
-Tupelo Honey
-Lady by Styx
-Romeo and Juliet (Dire Straits)
-Telephone Line (ELO)
-She’s Always A Woman (Billy Joel)
-Sarah Smile (Hall & Oates)
Got stuck at 6.
After posting , sure to have a few more come to mind.
Another Sara tune. Must be something sappy about Sara’s.
There’s also Bram Tchaikovsky’s Sara Smiles (not a H&O cover), but I don’t think that counts as a ballad. Great song, though.
https://youtu.be/u1z4vkPWkLQ
@ GCP,
For that vid on YouTube, the top comment is by a guy named George Hand. He wrote:
?
Nice try, spaghetti brain. You missed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_EBAzIPJM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHkojuUSDO8
I like this song, but… ballad? Beth, yes… Sharona, no.
Don’t be chicken, you know My Sharona is a great ballad.
May the fleas of a thousand camels attack whoever posts Layla. Seriously. I have already commented on that POS song.
They’ve got you on your knees eh?
Scorpions #1? What will you say to Gene Simmons when he confronts you?
Those guys look like chicks. Obviously an 80’s group.
Oh wow, yeah.
I question your wisdom. This is neither rock nor a ballad.
Angie by the Stones
Cinderella by Firefall
Baby Come Back by Player
I’m Not In Love by 10cc
I Can’t Tell You Why by The Eagles
Operator by Jim Croce
Fool (If You Think It’s Over) by Chris Rhea
I see he hid 10CC in the list. HF is almost predictable. I appreciate the Angie song! Your list is great, despite my snark.
I don’t know if any of these are the best…but I do enjoy them anyway.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Meatloaf – I Would do Anything for Love
Steelheart – Angel Eyes?
Poison – Every Rose Has Its Thorn?
Bryan Adams – Everything I Do?
Extreme – More Than Words?
Not saying these are the quintessentials, but perhaps under consideration?
A younger Ozzy’s high end vocals shine in a simple haunting ballad of lost love.
Very nice.
One of my old time favorites!
This one is quite good …
Anon is gay.
Nothing by Steve Perry registers? WTF?
“Send Her My Love”, Perry and Neil Schon at their best.
Ditto
Here’s a tune you may have heard.
Whenever I listen to Lynyrd, I think of roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over an open fire. Don’t know why.
exile kiss you all over
poison every rose has its thorn
bob night moves
journey loving touchin
boston more than a feeling
trooper janine
april wine like a lover like a song
cheers
how do u guys imbed the proper link?
trooper janine
Just the link per line with no other text
I right click and
copy url at current time
, then paste to the post
There is no such thing as a good rock ballad. They all suck. Now, hey, I love a little Percy Faith as the next guy, and Roxy Music’s “Avalon” is one of the greatest soft-pop tunes ever, and I still love Ambrosia after all these years. Soft rock? Yep! Rock ballads? No effin’ way! The worst of the worst? Motley Crue ballads. Fuck me runnin’. Make mine Lefty Frizzell, Joe Henderson, The Damned, Pantera, The Church, Tommy Dorsey, Wagner or Scruggs and Flatt any time. Throw in a little Nashville Pussy for good measure.
TURN IT UP YOU FUCKERS!
Attitude
HERE’S ONE.. A BIT SLOWER…
This is a little on the possessive, sinister side. Kind of a stalker’s lullaby, if you ask me.
I just watched/listened to it and have decided it might be a candidate for the NSA and FBI team spirit song to the U.S. Citizenry.
Always thought this was the “ballad” of the 70s. I know so many who “got xxxx pregnant and man that was all she wrote…”
A union card (factory job) and a wedding coat.
I was the piano player more than a few times for those “happily not-so-ever-after” weddings.
Babysat a lot of their offspring too. Know who their REAL daddies are.