8/31/2018

Eddie Trunk, Dee Snider and More Than Words - A Twitter Thread

Turns out you can have a civil discussion on Twitter, if that discussion involves power ballads, Dee Snider, and More Than Words not being one.



4/20/2018

Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated Power Ballad Rankings 1988-1992

Over at Sports Illustrated, Andy Staples in his April 16th Punt, Pass and Pork column responded to a tweet ("Have you ever done 1988-1992 power ballads as a random ranking?") picking his top fifteen from this period.

At first glance, it's a very good list. Lots of favorites sprinkled with a few lesser-known but worthy selections (i.e. Alias and Vinnie Vincent Invasion - nice!).

It also includes the two most common power ballad related mistakes - including "More Than Words" by Extreme (it's just an acoustic ballad, there is no power) and "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses (it's too long, it changes from ballad to midtempo).

Another quibble is with the Bon Jovi selection. "Living In Sin" is a fine song, but it's not the best of this era, or even the best off this album. For me, that goes to "I'll Be There For You." I might even argue that "Bed of Roses" off the 1992 album Keep The Faith is a better choice. Here's Andy's full list:

1. “November Rain”, Guns N’ Roses
2. “High Enough”, Damn Yankees
3. “I Remember You”, Skid Row
4. “Heaven”, Warrant
5. “To Be With You”, Mr. Big
6. “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)”, Cinderella
7. “More Than Words Can Say”, Alias
8. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, Poison
9. “Love Song”, Tesla
10. “Living In Sin”, Bon Jovi
11. “Fly To The Angels”, Slaughter
12. “Love Kills”, Vinnie Vincent Invasion
13. “More Than Words”, Extreme
14. “Love Bites”, Def Leppard
15. “Wind Of Change”, Scorpions

I'd swap Cinderella into first position (because as mentioned previously, that's my choice for favorite power ballad of the era), add "House of Pain" by Faster Pussycat into #6, and then "Don't Close Your Eyes" by Kix at #13, but that's just me.

2/28/2018

March Shredness 2018! Hair Metal Edition!

March Shredness 2018 starts tomorrow, and this year it is all about Hair Metal! Click the link to learn all about the tournament, and make sure to vote for your favorite power ballad!


2/01/2018

Power Ballad Audio Book?

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what this is. Autogenerated? Proof of concept? It's kind of weird.

1/28/2018

Free Kindle Day - Sunday January 29th

For today only, the book is available for free digitally via Amazon Kindle. That's right, free!