Power Ballads, who doesn’t love them? As we fondly remember the 1980s, we remember love songs, oversaturated with heavy guitars and BIG hair.

This list however features UNDERRATED Power Ballads – Those that were overshadowed, overlooked, underappreciated and underrated.

We all remember the obvious Power Ballad Champs- Def Leppard- Love Bites- Poison- Every Rose Has It’s Thorn, Night Ranger- Sister Christian- Motley Crue- and Hime Sweet Home– BUT there are some fantastic underrated rock ballads, that may not have made MTV’s “Heavy Rotation”, but surely made the 80’s mixtape for our boom boxes.

What Is A Power Ballad

A beautiful love (or sexy) song with powerful guitars and quite a bit of PUNCH!

I always think of “Power Ballads” as an 80s thing, but the 70s had some great ones too. Aerosmith was notorious for with songs like “You See Me Crying” (Toys In the Attic) and “Home Tonight” (Rocks)

In the 1980’s you didn’t have a rock album without a power ballad somewhere on it, they were everywhere. And it seemed every guitar player was rocking their solo high atop a mountain!

Why Did I Choose To List The Underrated?

I LOVE the underdog! That’s why!

Some of the songs on my list below (especially numbers 1, 3, 4, and 6,) are some of my favorites and I want to give them some TLCD (tender loving -get out your CD) and bring them back for my 80’s lovers!

And I’m featuring Underrated Power Ballads for the WDHA Coffee Break this week, so it’s perfect

As you know I am all about New Jersey too, so for more of my Jersey content stories check out the links I hope you enjoy the list below!

• 10 Jersey Rock Friends That Have Made Us Proud , 
• 10 Classic Jersey Rock Songs That Should Have Been Big Hits , 
• Why Jersey Metal Rules , 
• Do You Remember Jamming At These NJ Rock Clubs? , 
• 20 Of TC’s Favorite Rockers From New Jersey

Rock On Jersey Family! 

• 1. Great White- Save Your Love

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZrwysCjnnU 1987 gave us “Once Bitten” – From “Great White” and “Save Your Love” was the album’s second single. “Save Your Love” has dynamic vocals from the late Jack Russell, and the angst that makes a power ballad great.

• 2. Kix- Don't Close Your Eyes

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeM3CmMA9K0 Not only is the song underrated, but the band Kix is criminally underrated! 1988 gave us this incredible Power Ballad which wasn’t the biggest rock love song of the decade- but man…it was solid!

• 3. Cinderella- Heartbreak Station

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuegke22rdA I am still “squeaking” this one in,  even though it came out in 1990. NOW- “Cinderella” has had so many awesome Power Ballads.- “Don’t You Know What You Got Til’ It’s Gone”, “Nobody’s Fool” and more – however this one- the title track from their 3rd release is quite the masterpiece, showing off Tom Keifer’s fantastic songwriting talents and bluesy influences.

• 4. Bon Jovi- Silent Night

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HjC6T2HDI4 From the highly underrated 7800 Fahrenheit, Silent Night is a beauty and I could never understand why it wasn’t a massive 80’s hit. Jon shows off his songwriting chops on this one, predicting how many awesome hits were to come.

• 5. Ozzy Osbourne - Goodbye To Romance

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoStxN3EXMQ Ozzy and Randy together- This is a stand out track from “Blizzard Of Ozz” and Ozzy delivers a beautiful, poignant vocal, which makes this song special.

• 6. Vandenburg - Burning Heart

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGSrv1GnXMM This is one if my personal favorite power ballads of ALL TIME! Guitar legend Adrian Vandenberg had his own band (before joining Whitesnake) in the early 80’s and this tune is so great. Much in part due to the phenomenal vocals of Bert Heerink.

• 7. Journey- Send Her My Love

  Journey are the kings of 80’s Power Ballads. “Faithfully”, “Who’s Crying Now”, included, but the lesser known “Send Her My Love” from Frontiers is my favorite. It’s gorgeous and Steve’s vocals mixed with Neal’s guitar is phenomenal on this one.

• 8. Scorpions- Holiday

  I LOVE the Scorpions and “Wind Of Change” wasn’t their only downtempo masterpiece- Check out “Holiday” from “Lovedrive” if you haven’t already. So GOOD!

• 9. Whitesnake- The Deeper The Love

  Tawny Kitaen made her Whitesnake video swan song, in this beautiful love ballad. She had often said it was her favorite Whitesnake song too.

• 10. Foreigner - Girl On The Moon

  “Waiting For  A Girl Like You”, “I Want To Know What Love Is”, the incredible Foreigner is no stranger to dynamic Power Ballads, but this sleeper from the brilliant “Foreigner 4” is a beautiful, eerie song that many may not know or have forgotten about. 

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