Real musicians don’t sign autographs, date models, or fly in private jets. They spend their lives in practice rooms and basement clubs or toiling in the obscurity of coffee-shop gigs, casino jobs, and the European festival circuit. The ten linked stories in Power Ballads are devoted to this unheard virtuoso: the working musician. From the wings of sold-out arenas to hip-hop studios to polka bars, these stories are born out of a nocturnal world where music is often simply work, but also where it can, in rare moments, become a source of grace and transcendence, speaking about the things we never seem to say to each other. A skilled but snobby jazz drummer joins a costumed heavy metal band to pay his rent. A country singer tries to turn her brutal past into a successful career. A vengeful rock critic reenters the life of an emerging singer-songwriter, bent on wreaking havoc. The characters in Power Ballads—aging head-bangers, jobbers, techno DJs, groupies, and the occasional rock star (and those who have to live with them)—need music to survive, yet find themselves lost when the last note is played, the lights go up, and it’s time to return to regular life. By turns melancholy and hilarious, Power Ballads is not only a deeply felt look at the lives of musicians but also an exploration of the secret music that plays inside us all.

A collection of candid, surreal, and wickedly funny poems and prose.

Power Ballads is a term that derives from the 1970s and especially from an era when Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and other associated acts conquered the airwaves with their electrified ballads. Millions of listeners were attracted to the songs that were a mix of slow tempo and electric guitar outbreaks to satisfy the fans. This book features exclusive interviews with rock artists that composed or performed in the recordings of popular Power Ballads. The artists discuss the stories behind the songs that were recorded in 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and beyond... You can read interviews with current or former members of: ALIEN, ARC ANGEL, ARGENT, ASIA, AXE, AXXIS, BRIGHTON ROCK, EVERY MOTHER'S NIGHTMARE, FIONA, GOTTHARD, GREAT WHITE, HARDLINE, HOOTERS, JEAN BEAUVOIR, LETCHEN GREY, LIONHEART, LITA FORD, MARTIN BRILEY, MR. BIG, PINK CREAM 69, PRAYING MANTIS, Q5, ROBERT TEPPER, ROBIN BECK, KEEL, STAGE DOLLS, STAN BUSH, STARZ, TALISMAN, TOUCH, TRIXTER, TYKETTO, WARRIOR SOUL, WHITE LION, Y&T and many more!

This unique ballad was written as a result of the execution of William Christian, generally called William Donn. He was shot at Hango Hill shortly after the Restoration for alleged betrayal of the Derby family.

"Damage Incorporated" is the first book about the legendary heavy metal band Metallica that provides a detailed exploration of the group’s music and its place within the wider popular music landscape. Written with a broad readership in mind, it offers an interdisciplinary study that incorporates a range of topics which intersect with the band’s music and cultural influence. For students of popular culture, mass media, and music, "Damage Incorporated" will be necessary reading, and sets a new standard for the study and exploration of metal within the field of popular music studies.

The first book to explore the ballad's history and emotional appeal, surveying seventy years of the genre in modern America.

Power Ballad: A Definitive Guide to Hard Rock's Softer Side Volume One revisits the decade of decadence like no other before, putting the big hair and spandex rockers' most significant pop culture contribution under the microscope. In Power Ballad, author Timothy D. Minneci dissects the history of the genre and the defining essential criteria before diving in track-by-track to determine the songs worthy of the title "Power Ballad." Born out of frustration with an internet culture that had allowed Celine Dion and other non-rock pop stars to be placed alongside Every Rose Has Its Thorn and When I See You Smile, Power Ballad seeks to reclaim the mantle for the worthy, deconstructing songwriting, influences and band histories with perceptive insight and biting humor. Because all Power Ballads were not created equal, even those who successfully survive the cut are not spared honest critiques, whether it's Aerosmith's heavy reliance on outside songwriters and Alicia Silverstone, Jon Bon Jovi's desire to write a Western concept album, or Great White's knack for writing cringe-inducing lyrics. Multi-platinum selling acts such as Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Whitesnake receive as much love (and scorn) as obscure lesser-knownand less successful bands like Craaft, Tyketto or Southgang, with every song getting a chance to prove its mettle. Fans of classic and hard rock can finally settle the age old debate of which songs are truly worthy of being called a Power Ballad.