Stadium Rock largely passed me by.

December 2, 2001 3:20 AM

Stadium Rock largely passed me by. Bit of Bon Jovi, that's my lot. But I can't help but love the scale of the concerts -- big walled off field with thirty thousand people baying for the blood of a group of men collectively called 'Scorpion'. But even the hardened rockers I suspect (I think) arn't too enamoured with these power ballads. I do have a soft spot for Poison's 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' though.
posted by feelinglistless (18 comments total)

Cheap, gaudy, disposable hair bands.
posted by pracowity at 4:31 AM on December 2, 2001

I have a soft spot for Bret Michaels's grammatically erroneous: "Every rose has it's thorn".
posted by jennyb at 6:18 AM on December 2, 2001

For goofy grammar, nothing beats McCartney's "But if this ever changing world in which we live in."
posted by pracowity at 6:50 AM on December 2, 2001

Stadium rock began long before the big-hair bands came on the scene and I would definitely trace the history of the power ballad back farther than Scorpion or Poison. Arena-rock outfits like Bad Company, Aerosmith, Styx, and Blue Oyster Cult all had their biggest hits with tunes that were substantially softer than what was in their standard repertoire. Rock Economics 101: if you want to get played on the radio, you better have some less threatening material to offer up to the gods of clearchannel radio.

As for fond nostalgia for stadium acts, I was a teenager in LA during the 70s, and we were regularly subjected to massive concerts that lumped acts like Yes, Peter Frampton, Gary Wright, Genesis, and Gentle Giant together on the same bill. These events were basically cattle calls. The sound was crummy and the bands appeared antlike on massive stages (there were no banks of bigscreen monitors back then). After a couple of these festivals, I swore off stadium rock and started frequenting clubs in Hollywood thereby exposing myself to bands like the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Dictators, Television, the Damned, X, and a whole slew of other emerging LA, British, and New Yawk punk bands. Best move I could have made in retrospect.
posted by MrBaliHai at 7:37 AM on December 2, 2001

Hello! I omitted a word and completely omitted the point of my post up there.

It should read:

"I have a soft spot for Bret Michaels's grammatically erroneous tattoo: 'Every rose has it's thorn'."

It's one thing to slip an extraneous apostrophe into a MeFi post, but a whole other ball of wax to have one permanently tattooed on your forearm (and to then have it captured for posterity in a number of your videos).
posted by jennyb at 7:42 AM on December 2, 2001

"Arena-rock outfits like Bad Company, Aerosmith, Styx, and Blue Oyster Cult all had their biggest hits with tunes that were substantially softer than what was in their standard repertoire."

Kiss' sappy, syrupy "Beth" was their biggest hit, but their rabid fans booed them when they'd try to play it in the arenas...rightly so, I think.
posted by StOne at 8:32 AM on December 2, 2001

Good point, StOne -- I was about to mention that the author of this column neglected "Beth."

Also, I think the basic structure of the power ballad was originally built by The Carpenters. Seriously.
posted by Dirjy at 8:58 AM on December 2, 2001

I was just thinking of Beth! What a romantic ballad:

"Beth I hear you calling
But I can't come home right now
Me and the boys are playing
And we just can't find the sound"

(sniff)
posted by billder at 9:48 AM on December 2, 2001

pracowity:

I always thought it was "world in which we're living". But I've never investigated.
posted by mccreath at 10:07 AM on December 2, 2001

McCreath: According to several sites which have the lyrics, including this one, pracowity is correct. I always thought it sounded like Paul wrote the lyrics in about ten minutes.
posted by raysmj at 10:44 AM on December 2, 2001

For goofy grammar, nothing beats McCartney's "But if this ever changing world in which we live in."

Not even Jim Morrison's "If they say I never loved you / You know they are a liar"?
posted by kindall at 10:53 AM on December 2, 2001

Since we're on the topic of grammar and the lack thereof in Rock & Roll...

With all due respect to the passing of George Harrison, I have heard of many candlelight vigils being held all over the world.

vigil n 1: a period of sleeplessness 2: a devotional watch (especially on the eve of a religious festival) [syn: watch] 3: a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe.

Isn't it wrong to call this a vigil? None of the above three definitions seem to properly describe the exercise...It seems that calling it a vigil just sounds serious enough for the scale of the events, rather than their purpose...
posted by BentPenguin at 1:53 PM on December 2, 2001

I do have a soft spot for Poison's 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' though.

And every thorn has its prick.
posted by KLAX at 2:59 PM on December 2, 2001

Can anybody here name a Pantera ballad? Is such a thing possible?

If it were, would it be a no-hair ballad?
posted by Bixby23 at 7:38 PM on December 2, 2001

Pantera Ballads (or the closest you'll get):

Cemetary Gates
Hollow

Not soft, but far more ballad-y than "Cowboys from Hell" or "Snake Eyes." I think the guys from Pantera would probably hurt me for suggesting they wrote ballads, however.

I happen to love all of the songs I have mentioned here.

If it were, would it be a no-hair ballad?

If I recall correctly, Philip Anselmo (lead singer of Pantera) had several locks of long hair (mohawk?) at the time "Cowboys from Hell" was released.
posted by chiheisen at 9:44 PM on December 2, 2001

As for Pantera you can see their hypocrisy revealed here.

Arena-rock outfits like Bad Company, Aerosmith, Styx, and Blue Oyster Cult all had their biggest hits with tunes that were substantially softer than what was in their standard repertoire. Rock Economics 101: if you want to get played on the radio, you better have some less threatening material to offer up to the gods of clearchannel radio.

I take issue with this statement for two reasons. The only band that was even close to having what could be termed 'threatening' material was Aerosmith. There is absolutely nothing threatening about Styx, BOC was lucky to ever have a hit in the first place, and while Bad Company wrote some great songs, they were not trying to push buttons either. So, more or less, all the bands mentioned could easily be put on the 'lite' pile of hard rock.

The second thing is, at the time these bands were in their heyday, radio was much more album friendly, hence the term AOR or Album Oriented Rock/Radio. So, they were already packing stadiums without the 'hit single'. The crossover hit only managed to get them a wider and more varied audience.

Oh, and just for clarification, it's 'Scorpions' not 'Scorpion'.
posted by mikhail at 7:19 AM on December 3, 2001

Mikhail -- you give love a bad name ....
posted by feelinglistless at 10:04 AM on December 3, 2001

there are some good melodies behind many of those power ballads, goofy as they are. Scorpions: "Still Loving You" is my favorite.
posted by edlundart at 3:44 PM on December 3, 2001