Rockin' Love Song

Long, poofed out hair, eyeliner, and skin tight pants (of spandex, leather, denim, whatever), it’s not hard to understand the 80's metal hair band boys getting in touch with their feminine sides. When the sappy and ever-so-spectacular power ballad was born, there was no cause for shock. The hairband love song, complete with whiny lyrics and high pitched dragged-out guitar solos, was no stretch of the imagination. The videos were equipped with blue lights in dark rooms, and close-ups of the crooning faces. With long-strapped guitars hanging right over their junk, playing a guitar solo was just an extension of playing something else. Power ballads were really just tools to lure in the sex kittens, and those girls and women who wish they were, in order to sell records (yes, I said records). Seriously ladies, who among us never stood in a concert venue or in front of MTV longingly singing back to the sexy front man, feeling as though he was singing right to you? Guilty.

Image retrieved from eBay.com

The 80's are long gone now, and music has changed quite a bit since then. There’s a different kind of rock ballad out there. It’s not even a thing. It's really just love song lyrics to a really good hard rock song. I haven’t truly loved a rock band in twenty or so years. I grew up listening to classic rock, and will always love the bands of the 60’s and 70’s. Led Zeppelin is probably my favorite. But I was an unabashed hairband chick in the 80's and early 90's. For me it wasn’t the made-up faces and giant hair-sprayed coifs of bands like Poison and Motley Crue. It was just really hard rock and equally long hair. I loved the heavy metal guitar and I was smitten for the head banging, swinging long hair of the performances. I adjusted with the alternative rock bands of the 90's and took a liking to Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and a few others. But since then, it’s been a few songs here and there, and outliers like Los Lonely Boys who can’t be classified or labeled really, beyond calling them rock. I struggle to find anyone this side of the millennium when I’m asked what my favorite band is.

I admit, my taste in music has softened a little over the years. When I want hard rock, I revert to my old favorites like Tesla and some of the others. More recently I have sought after the singer-songwriter genre, some country. But not too long ago, my husband introduced me to a band he thought I’d like. He forced me to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. Black Stone Cherry has a combination I like: really good guitar, a deep-voiced singer- who can sing, and some solid songs. Which brings me back to the rockin’ love song topic. When my husband had the song Please Come In on his iPod during a lengthy drive somewhere, I felt like I had heard it before. It wasn’t like it sounded unoriginal or ripped off from someone else. It wasn’t that kind of familiar. I just instantly liked it and felt like I knew it. There’s nothing lyrically exceptional about it, and it’s actually a pretty simple song.

Here’s why I think I like it so much. In contrast to the power ballad of the 80's when the bands’ looks were gender bending and the songs were high pitched and love songy (yes, I made that word up), Please Come In is different. It’s just some solid rock, with a masculine-sounding singer, singing about lost love, and asking for honesty. They easily could change all the lyrics to something everyday and the song would still stand as a rock tune. Similarly, they could put the lyrics to a whiny power ballad melody and it might stand up to that genre. There’s something sexy about the matter-of-fact way the singer wants the real deal, no pretending. The music is solid and not sappy. And coincidentally, if you know me it won’t surprise you that I love the optimism of the line There’s a new day out there where the sun will always shine. So he sings of angels and love and not wanting to be hurt again, and there’s not a single high pitch note, or a long dragged out whine. There’s nothing particularly sexy about the singer or any of the guys in the band, and that’s ok. The music stands up. At least I think so.