Metal Ballads

I couldn't find a thread on this.

I'm really digging dark ballads lately (I know shit about metal except for liking a few bands in high school).

Here are some I have been digging:

W.A.S.P. Hallowed Ground
Helloween - In the Middle of a Heartbeat
Kix- Don't Close Your Eyes
Cinderella-Nobody's Fool

Being a goth lover how could I miss this stuff? Doh.

Dokken- Alone Again

I remember seeing the Dokken guy saying in a documentary "does anyone like ballads?" as if they were an obligation he didn't like

In the recent Nothin' But a Good Time hair metal oral history book, a lot of the bands talk about the ballads that way.

I think some of that is the misogyny that, while not being unique to hair metal, did manifest itself in a fairly unique way: Ballads were for the girls and the bands wanted to attract girls. They likely considered this pandering. Maybe not all of the bands but a lot of them, I'd bet.

Although now that I think about it, there's nothing unique about not taking what teenage girls liked seriously, even among those who were creating for them. It's a common thread throughout time really.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_X5A-BYjO8

How good were these ballads on average? They can't all have succeeded at writing these songs grudgingly?

Judas Priest - Dreamer Deceiver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjMizl3qQGE

Bath (maudlin of the Well) is pretty ballady in a surreal sense: you can choose from Geography, Heaven and Weak, or Birth Pains of Astral Projection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBjQv1hZLoY

yeah I was gonna say I dig dreamer deceiver and also “before the dawn”

IM GOING THROUGH CHANGEHHHHEHEHEZZZ

"Victim of Changes" was the big "You think he can still pull it off?" moment when I saw Judas Priest in 2007. (Yes, he could.)

Actually the best metal ballads are dark and scary, about suicide or death or unrelenting misery Those are the ones I love.

Example: Accept -Can't Stand the Night

"Oceans filled with tears / mountains of pain..."

scorpions “in trance” is about being hungover

Savatage - When the Crowds are Gone, Believe, Strange Wings
W.A.S.P. - Hold On to My Heart
Queensryche - Open Road (this is post-Tate Ryche but pretty fantastic), Take Hold of the Flame
Iron Maiden - Remember Tomorrow, Blood Brothers
Judas Priest - Before the Dawn (i sang this at a a fundraiser once, lol)
Pantera - Hollow
Type O Negative - Everything Dies
Souls at Zero - Inside a Scream
Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black
Rage - Vanished in Haze
Black Sabbath - Solitude, Changes
Blind Guardian - Nightfall
Helloween - A Tale That Wasn't Right
Ghost - He Is

dammit I duped a few

Great thread! One song that I feel has "ballad" at its heart even though it doesn't musically stay within the mold is Danger by Motley Crue. Even though it jumps into mid-tempo rocker territory pretty quickly, it definitely starts off as a ballad, so maybe it's kinda a hybrid. It has dramatic lyrics reminiscing about dead friends from the perspective of an older Hollywood street punk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugu2ClSV5ew

Spotify playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7M47VwnybM4Clib9QLSDPC?si=DgVcFm3zSLa_M-EpoOKteA

Def Leppard- love bites
Ozzy- Goodbye to Romance
Enuff Z’nuff- Fly High Michelle
Scorpions- Still Loving You

Wow, “hallowed ground” really rocks

Ozzy + Lita Ford - If I Close My Eyes Forever
Queensryche - I Dream In Infrared
Judas Priest - Night Comes Down
Whitesnake - Is This Love
Scorpions - Lady Starlight