Best Hair Band ballads from the 1980s
By Joel Wagler
No. 6: "Wanted Dead or Alive" - Bon Jovi
Like the previous entry, "Wanted Dead or Alive" is a ballad about the travails of living life on the road for long periods of time. It was one of many hits from the band's third album Slippery When Wet.
Few rock bands have enjoyed as much success as Bon Jovi for as long. Loudwire lists them as the sixth all-time highest-selling Hard Rock or Metal artist with almost 150 million in sales throughout the years.
Slippery When Wet is the band's most popular album ever and spawned three top 10 hits, including two number-one songs. "Wanted Dead or Alive" reached as high as number seven on the charts.
Their next album New Jersey produced the number one charting ballad "I'll be There for You," but for raw emotion, "Wanted Dead or Alive" is the stronger song. The former is very much a romantic song and some may prefer it to the latter, but "Wanted..." featured some of Jon Bon Jovi's strongest vocals and Richie Sambora's best little guitar riffs.
Bon Jovi has been on of the few hair bands that has continued to make music oveer the last 40 years and it is songs like this that keeps audiences dialed in.
No. 5: "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" - Def Leppard
Before Hysteria, there was Pyromania, and before Pyromania, there was High 'n' Dry. This 1981 release was much rawer and unpolished compared to the next two albums, though it did deliver one truly fantastic track.
Hysteria was an incredible album, producing six, count them, six (!!!) top 20 hits, including the raucous "Pour Some Sugar on Me," which reached number two, and the ballad "Love Bites" which hit number one. Pyromania featured three top thirty hits, including two top 20 smashes.
What makes this so interesting is that during the craze that was Pyromania, "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" charted as high as 61 in 1984, three years after its album High 'n' Dry was released. It still has to be considered one of Def Leppard's best songs. It's powerful and gut-wrenching. and it rightfully received some attention when the band hit it big.
Def Leppard has a number of pretty good ballads, but "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" stands above the rest.