I’m looking for bands/artists who never do ballads. First that come to mind are AC/DC. I heard a long time ago an atrocious early ballad (which was certainly suggested by their record company) of theirs with their first forgotten singer Dave Evans on youtube , but after Bon Scott joined they never recorded anything you could call a ballad. They had slow blues like Ride On or Night Prowler, but you can’t call that a ballad IMHO. A similar case is Motörhead, but I only know their first six albums and don’t know if they later recorded ballads.
Who else is there, can be any genre (though I suspect most will come from metal, punk/hardcore or industrial)?
The soft stuff is generally buried deep within the album, but Joan Jett has done a few.
Ronnie James Dio once said, “I don’t write love songs. I leave those to people who have no imagination.” Now, “love song” and “ballad” are not synonyms, and I don’t know enough of Dio’s work to say for certain, but he might be a contender.
I can’t think of a ballad unless you consider a slow song like Have You Ever Seen the Rain. I don’t think it’s a ballad? Midnight Special is a old country song CCR covered.
Sex Pistols - definitely no ballads on their one album.
The Clash - can’t think of anything off the top of my head
Rancid - not that I know of
David Lee Roth-era Van Halen, but Hagar-era had several.
I too am uncertain about the definition here of “ballad”. Is it love song? Slow/quiet song? Off the top of my head, I think anyone who’s never recorded a slow, quiet song is probably lacking in some basic musical skills (turn it lower, slow it down). Ted Nugent comes to mind, but even he did “Sasha”.
I’m reminded of an overeducated/underemployed radio DJ I once heard back announcing “Ode to Billie Joe”: “I’ve been playing songs all day, but that was the first ode”.