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To comprehend how the power ballad diluted and ultimately undermined metal music in the late 80's, an understanding on the variety of influences in music and in economics that shaped the period needs to be achieved. Since the 70's were heavy metal's embryonic years, the examination should begin in that tumultuous decade.

Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath share the distinction of fathering the metal genre churning out long-form albums that were composed on the power chord backbone. The groundwork laid by these bands established the sound and the mythical themes found throughout metal music in the 80's and today.

Big arena bands of the 70's can attribute much of their success to two key background influences: a persistent economic recession that characterized the decade; and a fierce dedication particularly among young males to the tenets of rock and roll music in the face of a disruptive challenge from disco and the dance culture.

The economic turmoil of the 70's demonstrated most dramatically by the OPEC oil embargo set a general unrest in motion among the decade's youth, and their rebellious appetites were fed at stadiums across the country. The economic discontent was further amplified in the social and political attitude that raged out of the 70's punk scene.

While it can be said that punk embodied an inevitable divergence from rock and roll, disco represented the first truly threatening fracture in its establishment of a new platform in pop music. More importantly than an alternative choice in popular music, disco was significantly more appealing to young females.

This demographic departure would play itself out in the 80's and would directly contribute to the birth of the power ballad. In order to pack arenas, metal bands would have to be palatable to young women. The amplifiers and riffs would keep the boys, and the love lyrics and tight pants would draw the girls.

A formula for robust commercialism was in the making.

The same push for demographic inclusion was happening in punk and new wave music took shape. Cosmetic influences from The Cure, The Thompson Twins, Depeche Mode, Boy George, and many others crept into 80's metal. The result was more about outrageous hairstyle and lipstick applications than it was about the music, but it succeeded in keeping the female listeners content.

The 80's also enjoyed another kind of inclusion an economic prosperity that touched almost every corner of American society. However, strength in the U.S. economy contributed to a watering down in popular music. The times were too good for young people to buy music with lyrics that addressed anything other than trivial matters and lighter fare.

So, the power ballad was a result of hyper-commercial necessity against a backdrop of increasingly fissured musical diversity. While metal would make a major comeback in the 90's, the power ballad of the late 80's drove many metal enthusiasts underground to the alternatives that would define the next decade. It never killed the genre outright, but it came close.

Learn more about this author, Michael Krebs.
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