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Posted by: playaxeman Oct 6 2009, 08:29 PM

Hi GMC,

What is the best rock ballad you have ever heard?


My top 3:(was a hard choose)

1) Triumph "in the night"
2) Thin Lizzy "still in love wih you"
3) Yngwie Malmsteem "Dreaming"

Check them out here:
One of the finest ballads I ever heard was Triumph "in the night" From the album "Progressions Of Power" from 1980.



I also love this one : Thin Lizzy "still in love wih you" form live and dangerous



3) Dreaming Yngwie Malmsteem great neo classic track

Posted by: rokchik Oct 6 2009, 10:28 PM

Interesting topic...

Just some amazing bands came to mind when I saw this. I mean, The Beatles, Elvis, Eric Clapton, Zeppelin, Nazareth the list goes on and on for some amazingly epic ballads. But since you only mentioned 3 so will I

Imagine by John Lennon - not sure if you'd consider it a "ballad" per-say but it's one of the greatest songs of love and hope I can think of (Can't embed youtube link for some reason )

Tears in Heaven

Again not sure if falls into the "ballad" category but just a simply beautiful song.

November Rain

Amazing is all I can say

Ok I have to say 4 cause you can't have a ballad thread and not mention Stairway to Heaven

Posted by: superize Oct 6 2009, 10:33 PM

No more needs to be said

Posted by: rokchik Oct 6 2009, 10:35 PM

QUOTE (superize @ Oct 6 2009, 06:33 PM)

Posted by: ZakkWylde Oct 6 2009, 10:48 PM

obligatory:

Posted by: Keilnoth Oct 6 2009, 10:57 PM

To follow with rokchik, Estranged is for me one of the best ballad from Guns & Roses :



Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird, really cool :



This is more blues than rock ballad but I love it



And that's more probably some psychedelic :

Posted by: tonymiro Oct 6 2009, 11:03 PM

A few others -

Scorpions 'Still loving you'
Heart 'Alone'
Boston 'More than a feeling'
Fleetwood Mac 'Sara'
Toto 'Rosanna'
Kansas 'Dust in the wind'

Posted by: Joruus Oct 6 2009, 11:38 PM

First thing to come to my mind is November Rain, really one of my favorite songs aswell.
All the others posted in here are great aswell !

Posted by: UncleSkillet Oct 7 2009, 12:03 AM

Good thread! Here is one that a lot of you may never have either heard before or its been a very long time.

Vandenberg : Burning Heart


And I guess what is a balid thread without this favorite

Journey : Faithfully

Posted by: playaxeman Oct 7 2009, 08:04 PM

Really some great rock ballads have been added.

Posted by: Frederik Oct 7 2009, 08:30 PM

What an amazing difference in control and phrasing when yngwie swtiched from the spanish to the electric

Posted by: Eat-Sleep-andJam Oct 7 2009, 08:55 PM

Skid Row -18 and life. Really like this one.

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Oct 7 2009, 09:15 PM

I entered to say "November Rain" but it already has two votes. so +1!

Posted by: Boson Oct 7 2009, 10:37 PM

Here is one that is a bit different to the rest but in my opinion a proper "rock" ballad




Sorry but I hate the Malsteem thing above, nothing more than elevator music to me.

Posted by: arctic1234 Oct 7 2009, 11:28 PM

Some of my favorites:

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody



Deep purple - When a blind man cries



And Led Zeppelin - Stairway to heaven (I count the ending as rock... )

Posted by: Santiago Diaz Garces Oct 8 2009, 07:27 AM

My votes goes for I Remember You by Skid Row, Confortably Numb by Pink Floyd and Always by Bon Jovi

Posted by: Koopid Oct 8 2009, 07:34 AM

Shine on you crazy diamond - Pink Floyd

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Oct 8 2009, 02:07 PM

Oh man, so many awesome rock ballads, rock has the best ballads!

Here are just some of them: November rain, When the blind man cries, Wind of Change, Child in time, Still got the blues, black magic woman...

Posted by: Marcus Siepen Oct 8 2009, 04:42 PM

God, there are so many great ones in Rock history... here are some of my picks... (random running order)
Child in time (deep Purple)
When a blind man cries (deep purple)
Holiday (Scorpions)
Confortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits)
The Sun goes down (Thin Lizzy)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Children of the Damned (Iron Maiden)
Going Blind (Kiss)
Coil (Opeth)
Soldier of Fortune (Deep Purple)
and many many more...

If you don't know any of those songs then shut down your computer immediately, run to the next record store abd buy some cds...

Posted by: Gus Oct 8 2009, 08:15 PM

There are so many good ones, but if I had to choose only one I would go with November rain.

Epic combination of orchestra, ballad and a rock explosion in the end.
Awesome (though sad) lyrics and video. The third solo is a strong candidate for best solo ever.

Posted by: Artemus Oct 8 2009, 08:26 PM

Alice Cooper had ballads on almost all of his albums.
For example, Only Woman Bleed, Take It Like A Woman, Every Woman Has A Name, Might As Well Be On Mars, Only My Heart Talkin', Hell Is Living Without You, The Song The Didn't Rhyme, Killed By Love..etc

And what about Meatloaf? The king of the rock ballads, no?

Here are few others I'll add:

Bumblefoot - Girl Like You (the BEST ballad written, ever.. PERIOD!)
In fact, here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpf-pOULX_4

(some of these may be debated as to whether they come order the heading of "ballad")

Extreme - Tragic Comic. And those other two from Pornograffitti I guess...
Opeth - To Bid You Farewell, Benighted
Anathema - One Last Goodbye
Pain Of Salvation - Second Love
Aerosmith - Crazy (my fav), Dream On, Cryin', Angel etc etc etc
Def Leppard - I might say Love Bites or Photograph, but I prefer the likes of Pour Some Sugar On Me
Dio - Between Two Hearts
Sisters Of Mercy - Under The Gun
Iron Maiden - Infinite Dreams
Led Zep - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You
Rammstein - Ohne Dich
Kamelot - Abandoned, Love You To Death, A Sailorman's Hymn
Rhapsody - Wings of Destiny
Testament - The Legacy
Ozzy Osbourne - Goodbye To Romance, Revelation, See You On The Other Side, Dreamer etc etc etc
Pantera - Cemetery Gates
Subterranean Masquerade - Kind of a Blur
Winds - Realization
Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever, My New World
Queen - Somebody To Love, Love Of My Life
The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero, Galapogos, Mayonaise, Luna
Steel Panther - Community Property (don't go looking this one up if you're easily offended)

Posted by: Staffy Oct 8 2009, 08:51 PM

I could nearly have copied Marcus list:

Child in time (deep Purple)
When a blind man cries (deep purple)
Confortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits)
Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Soldier of Fortune (Deep Purple)

but adding:
Parisienne walkways (Gary Moore/Phil Lynott)
Right here waiting for you (Richard Marx, even though it's not actually ROCK)
Rainbow Child (Dan Reed Network)
Catch the rainbow (Rainbow)

//Staffay

Posted by: playaxeman Oct 8 2009, 09:49 PM

Quit a long list with great rock ballads people,

lot of great taste here at GMC

Posted by: johnvg Oct 8 2009, 10:35 PM

Here are a few of my favorites from the Japanese Ballad Masters X Japan.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Oct 9 2009, 01:03 AM

QUOTE (Marcus Siepen @ Oct 8 2009, 05:42 PM)

Posted by: SensE Oct 9 2009, 03:58 AM

+1 to X-JAPAN!
I vote Bon Jovi - Always! Live in London was great!

Posted by: Gary Oct 9 2009, 04:03 AM

Couple tunes worthy of mention

Nazareth



Cheap Trick




However for my money.. vocals on ballads go to Steve Perry..that dude can belt it out.

Cheers!
Gary

Posted by: The Farmer Oct 9 2009, 10:42 PM

Great ballads mentioned here!

esp, november rain and estranged

dont know if The Prophet Song by Queen is a ballad, but if so its in my opinion one of the best songs ever made. and i have always thought that the prophet song would be an epic cover if made by blind guardian.....just imagine Hansi singing ahhhahhh people of the earthllland so on.

so Marcus if your reading this grab your guitar and start copying Brian May

Posted by: David Wallimann Oct 9 2009, 10:53 PM

My all time favorite is Cry for you.
Andy Timmons is such an accomplished musician, so much feeling!!!