Power Ballads

Today at lab we had a discussion about the genre of popular music known as the Power Ballad. A couple members of the lab (one in particular) argued the the Power Ballad is still a viable musical entity and that it should get the props it deserves. He cited such classic bands as Cinderella, Journey and Warrant to prove his point. My argument is that the Power Ballad genre reached its zenith in the mid to late 1980's since there do not seem to be any recent smash-hit Power Ballads. However, I could be very wrong about this... (Seriously though, can you name the last recent Power Ballad? I can't. The most recent one we came up with was Guns n Roses' November Rain).

We then searched Amazon.com for "power ballad" and found, to our surprise, 12 different compilations of Power Ballads. Some were better than others, but they got us thinking, what actually comprises a Power Ballad? There were several selections that none of us would classify as Power Ballads. "Nothing Compares 2 U" is a Power Ballad? And who is the "McAuley Schenker Group" featured on "Feelin' Like Makin' Love: Romantic Power Ballads"? One co-worker thought that R.E.M.'s Losing My Religion was one, to which I disagreed because it prominently features mandolin.

I thought about it a bit, and there are certain characteristics that I think automatically puts a song into Power Ballad territory. Most have to do with lyrics, but musically, I would say most, if not all, Power Ballads use Power Chords and are a bit down-tempo. Late in the song, there will be a dramatic key-change-for-effect, which will be immediately preceeded by a small bit of silence. Lyrically, it helps to write a song about flowers or plants that can hurt you (thorns on roses are most popular, but I think a Power Ballad about a Venus Flytrap would be pretty cool) or about birds soaring high and then falling. Basically, nice images gone awry. The word "love" is usually in the title, or some statement about how I (the singer) was dumb and should have known you were spiffy while we were an item.

What does everyone think about Power Ballads? Can anyone name some more characteristics of them? I'm doing this quickly so I'm sure I forgot many. Can anyone name a recent one?