Today as I was driving around town, I heard the song, "I remember you" by Skid Row.  I turned up the volume and enjoyed the song.  I like the way that the song builds up to the high note in the end of the song. 

(I wonder whether Sebastian Bach was able to hit that note at most of Skid Row's concerts.  I saw them perform that song when they opened for Bon Jovi in 1988, but I didn't know their body of work well enough at that time to pay any particular attention to it.)

Since it has been quite a while since I have written in here, I have been considering a few topics to write about over the past few days.  After the song, I found a pen and wrote "Power Ballads" on my hand.

I graduated from high school in 1990.  My high school years and my first couple years of college saw the absolute height of the hair band "power ballad."  Unfortunately, (due to incessant overplay) the power ballad trend burned itself out.  I think that I had enough with MTVs overplay of "Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche, and "Signs" by Tesla.  (Neither necessarily "power ballads" in the traditional sense, but definitly examples of the "fall of the hair band.")

Now that we are a few years removed from the trend, I can look back and reflect on what were my favorite power ballads.  I will present them in a top-ten list, although the rankings may not necessarily reflect an order of preference.  (The Skid Row is conspicuously absent as I re-read this article.  Let it be known that a reference in the opening paragraph is equal to a listing in my top-ten.)

Jamie Burnside's Weblog's Top Ten Power Ballads:  (minus the afforementioned Skid Row song which I mistakenly omitted.)

10- "Fly To The Angels" by Slaughter.  I liked the video.  Mark Slaughter had a cool jacket and nice hair in the video. 

9- "Heading for a Heartbreak" by Winger.  Winger has some decent songs if you can get past their image as a wimpy band.  Stuart wearing a "Winger" t-shirt on Beavis and Butthead wasn't really good for their hipness factor, was it?

8- "Heaven" by Warrant.  This one was a lot better than that "I Saw Red" song.

7- "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns and Roses.  It is a song that you think you can succed with in karaoke, yet utterly fail.

6- "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue.  A much more doable karaoke song.  The first power ballad that really impressed me.

5- "Winds of Change" by the Scorpions.  This was a nice "feel good" song about the collapse of communism.  Even though the song is extra cheesy, once-in-a-while it still brings me chills.

4- "Fade to Black" and "One" by Metallica.  The ballads are what got me started listening to Metallica.  They were to heavy for me initially.  I needed to be "eased into them" via the sweet progressing-to-heavy ballads.

3- "I'll Never Let you Go" by Steelheart.  A.k.a. "Angel Eyes."  Steelheart was the epitome of a "one hit wonder."  After being terribly impressed with the initial power ballad, I eagerly awaited the release of their debut album (released a few weeks after the single.)  That was quite the letdown!  The one song is awfully good though.

2- "The Ballad of Jayne" by L.A. Guns.  If you haven't heard this song for a while, I bet that it will be a refreshing listen.  I might go up into the attic and see whether I can dig this one up later today!  (The lead singer looked really cool in the video.)

1- "Love is on the way" by Saigon Kick.  (Did those guys have anything to do with Vietnam even though there is the word "Saigon" in their name?)  The first time I was really impressed with this song was while watching a guy doing an ice skating routine while using this song.  Saigon Kick was another group that we haven't heard all that much from outside of this one ballad, but they were at least mildly successful.

*I bet that I've forgotten a bunch of good ones, but let this list serve as a tribute to the 1980s and 1990s era hair bands and their power ballads.