CELEBRATING AXL ROSE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY WITH A TRIBUTE TO THE POWER BALLAD
By Rock Mayock 9:50 p.m. | Believe it or not 80’s hair metal icon Axl Rose celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday. Crazy how the lead man of the FOOTBALLPHDS’ favorite band has changed, and expanded, throughout the years. The one thing that has neither changed nor compromised for Axl is his unwavering dedication to making great music.
As we know one of the hallmarks of any great 80’s or 90’s metal/rock band was the incorporation of the power ballad into their album. The power ballad was originally intended to be a throw away track designed to pull a female audience to a predominately male buying demographic. The net result from this marketing strategy was some of the most kick ass songs ever.
Through the magic of the power ballad the emotions of love, longing and anger were all combined into one melodic symphony. No band successfully captured the essence of the power ballad like Rose’s Guns N’ Roses. Sweet Child O’Mine, Patience, November Rain, and Estranged were all smash hit power ballads for the quintessential hair metal band that created the genre. While GnR cranked out some classics, their contemporaries produced some mega hits of their own. Here is the FOOTBALLPHDS list of the best power ballads. So unroll your sleeping bag in the back of your El Camino, break out a 12 pack of Natural Light, grab your old lady and get down to the baby making with these jams.
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A moving story about East Germany trying to break free from Communist control, this song will get you going no matter what. You know the song is deep because of the whistling in the beginning. Rumor has it that DoubleTap made his first trip to second base in the back seat of his mom’s Ford Taurus while listening to this song.
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Before the introduction of Slash to Guns N’ Roses the band was centered around lead guitarist Tracii Guns and front man vocalist Axl Rose, hence the name Guns N’ Roses. After a brief stint together with GnR Guns tested the waters of the Hollywood club scene with his own band, L.A. Guns. While L.A. Guns never enjoyed the success of GnR they did manage to crank out this gem. Don’t pretend like it’s not on your iPod.
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Motley Crue, better known as “The Crue,” have churned out more hits than Tommy Lee has inches below the belt. Kick Start My Heart, Shout at the Devil, Girls Girls Girls are all anthems for anyone born between 1970-1977 and spent at least 2 weeks in Los Angeles during the pre/early teens. This track still resonates strongly with the FOOTBALLPHDS as it is our theme song come the end of college Spring Ball and pre draft pro days.
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YES! Another pinnacle of 80’s cheese made so outrageously good. The kick ass combination of Steve Whiteman, Ronnie Younkings and Donnie Prunell brought is this masterpiece. Do close your eyes, sit back and soak in this 1988 classic.
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This list wouldn’t be complete without a GnR track. With so many to choose from we had to go with the very best, Patience from the Lies album. Slash on the acoustic, Axl writhing like a snake, the hinas in corsets, the whistling... this song has it all. If you’re were not a fan of this song you should be now. Happy belated birthday Axl.
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February 8th, 2012 - 08:19
Dude where is Poison? Every Rose Has Its Thorn, I got mopre ass with that song than any other. Post the link to the youtube clip
August 6th, 2012 - 20:45
Lazy SOB
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2r2nDhTzO4
February 8th, 2012 - 10:11
Holy moly that dude got fat.
February 8th, 2012 - 10:47
Aging like a fine wine…not……
February 8th, 2012 - 15:30
Aging like Jose’s hot sister…not!
February 12th, 2012 - 10:05
Why no Queensryche, is this 80′s only?
February 13th, 2012 - 15:41
If people were sad about Whitney dying, wait until Axl kicks the bucket. 200,000 groupies and 200,000,000 fans will mourn.
March 7th, 2012 - 22:55
Holy cow Axl looks terrible. It’s like he’s melting from the inside out.