# Sorry, we don't do ballads **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729 "2019-11-20T21:32:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/21 "2019-11-21T01:35:45Z")
Gojira Tool ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/22 "2019-11-21T01:57:42Z")
Big Black and Ministry immediately come to mind. Can’t think of either of them doing anything that could even be loosely described as a ballad. Oh, or Sleep. Unless slow ass doom rock somehow qualifies as a ballad. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/23 "2019-11-21T07:48:34Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Megadeth? Slayer? Black Sabbath? Judas Priest? Avenged Sevenfold? The Beastie Boys? I am only familiar with early **Judas Priest** but back in the day they did loads of ballads including **Last Rose of Summer, Here Come the Tears** and **Dreamer Deceiver.** From their better known tracks there is **Beyond the Realms of Death** which on the live Album **Unleashed in the East** lead singer **Rob Halford** introduced as “_A beautiful ballad_.” For those unfamiliar with it, the track combines slow crooning accompanied by light guitar mixed with louder full metal guitars and **Halford’s** trademark screams but I suspect he was sincere in calling it a ballad. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/24 "2019-11-21T08:07:12Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > 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. It is (quite) a bit of a stretch but the **Sid Vicious / Sex Pistols** version of **My Way** is fairly iconic and the beginning of a track has **Sid** attempting to croon over an orchestral backing. Balladeering if you are generous. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/25 "2019-11-21T08:20:15Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > 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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFUGvdxuQGQ) or [Night Prowler](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX93gmyya7c), 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)? I vaguely remembered a slower \*\*AC/DC \*\*track from the **Who Made Who?** soundtrack. A check reveals it’s **Ride On** (originally from the **Bon Scott** era **Dirty Deeds Done Cheap** album) which you mention and which you dismiss as not a ballad. I’m not confident enough to define what is or isn’t a ballad but I note on Wiki the track is described as having a _'Sad, slow blues, almost ballad-like feel to it_.’ TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/26 "2019-11-21T12:14:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Lodi might be considered a balkad. Also ‘I Put a Spell on You’, ‘Long as I Can See the Light’ and Suzie Q’ might be considered ballads. I thought of CCR, but the song that made me rule them out was I Wrote A Song for Everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/27 "2019-11-21T13:34:27Z")
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem? Oh, wait, [I guess they do do tender love ballads.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY8K2bevwj0) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/28 "2019-11-21T16:18:47Z")
Not a big fan, but I have never heard anything ballady from **ZZ Top** ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/29 "2019-11-21T17:36:16Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Not a big fan, but I have never heard anything ballady from **ZZ Top** [Rough Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_4ULKpkLNc). Hit #22 in May of 1986. Not one of their better songs. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/30 "2019-11-21T19:48:58Z")
Motorhead has a least a couple, 1916 and Don’t Let Daddy Kiss Me are both slow. Judas Priest has a number of slower songs, I would say close to one on every album except maybe one or two. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any metal bands that don’t have some sort of ballad or slower song. Even Anthrax and Armored Saint had a few. Scrolling through my music I see ones that I do not know off the top of my head that might not have any: Dethklok and Overkill are the only two that I see that might not have any, but even there I don’t know enough about their output. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/31 "2019-11-21T19:53:50Z")
How about Iron Maiden? I can’t think of anything slow or ballady off the top of my head, though I’m not thoroughly familiar with their stuff post-1990. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/32 "2019-11-21T19:57:38Z")
Lots of metal bands don’t do ballads. Dying Fetus, Annotations of an Autopsy, Cumbeast, Abhorrent Decimation, Necrophagist, Absu, Bolt Thrower, Ringworm, Slayer… not a ballad in any of their catalogs, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/33 "2019-11-22T00:58:01Z")
Joan Jett covered The Replacements’ “Androgynous,” which I consider a particularly beautiful ballad from a band you might think never did ballads either, except for, y’know, “Androgynous.” Nice vid, too. When I bought me a tenor saxophone at age 34, my wife treated me to jazz lessons at the Brooklyn Conservatory. My teacher started me off on Charlie Parker tunes. A couple weeks in I said “Jesus, these are fuckin’ HARD. Shouldn’t we have begun with some ballads?” He gave me a look and replied “You think BALLADS are EASY?” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/34 "2019-11-22T01:13:16Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > The Clash - can’t think of anything off the top of my head I know almost everything the Clash recorded, and I also cannot think of a downright ballad they made. They had slower songs like “[Straight To Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7SvtikTkrM)”, “[Corner Soul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H8nr8J-WF4)” or “[Broadway](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnaJ6YzGV4w)” (maybe my favorite Clash track), but they’re all no ballads for me. ---
**Author:** ![Caldris\_bal\_Comar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Caldris\_bal\_Comar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caldris_bal_Comar)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/35 "2019-11-23T22:55:31Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > How about Iron Maiden? I can’t think of anything slow or ballady off the top of my head, though I’m not thoroughly familiar with their stuff post-1990. “Journeyman” off of the 2003 album _Dance of Death_ is an acoustic ballad. If you think that sounds awful you would actually be wrong, I love it. “Coming Home” from the 2010(?) album _The Final Frontier_ is kind of a power ballad too. Edit: “Wasting Love” from _Fear of the Dark_ is another one that would probably qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Cell\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Cell\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cell_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/36 "2019-11-23T23:16:56Z")
Anthrax has one no doubt ballad: [Dallabnickufesin (N.F.B)](https://youtu.be/dzYGd37HowY) It may be tongue-in-cheek but it’s definitely a ballad. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/37 "2019-11-24T01:04:29Z")
I think I found a technicality for **Rancid**. They did a cover of the Theme from Gilligan’s Island, which, if I recall correctly was titled, _The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island_. So… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/38 "2019-11-24T01:50:48Z")
Van Halen (Roth era) had Jamie’s Cryin, I’ll Wait, Feel Your Love Tonight, Could This Be Magic, Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now, all of which may qualify as ballad-y just as much as other songs in this thread. Sunday Afternoon In the Park is one of my faves tracks, but it’s no ballad! ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/39 "2019-11-24T02:01:25Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > I vaguely remembered a slower \*\*AC/DC \*\*track from the **Who Made Who?** soundtrack. A check reveals it’s **Ride On** (originally from the **Bon Scott** era **Dirty Deeds Done Cheap** album) which you mention and which you dismiss as not a ballad. I’m not confident enough to define what is or isn’t a ballad but I note on Wiki the track is described as having a _'Sad, slow blues, almost ballad-like feel to it_.’ > > TCMF-2L I just listen to that. If it’s not a ballad - in the late 50s, early 60s style - I don’t know what is. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729/40 "2019-11-24T03:06:56Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Van Halen (Roth era) had Jamie’s Cryin, I’ll Wait, Feel Your Love Tonight, Could This Be Magic, Big Bad Bill Is Sweet William Now, all of which may qualify as ballad-y just as much as other songs in this thread. > > Sunday Afternoon In the Park is one of my faves tracks, but it’s no ballad! Disagree with Feel Your Love Tonight. It’s pure pop hard rock. May as well call In A Simple Rhyme a ballad. And the lyrics of Feel Your Love Tonight have a rapey feel to them that I didn’t acknowledge as a kid. Big Bad Bill is more of a jazz standard done for the benefit of having Jan Van Halen play on the record. I’ll give you Could This Be Magic and I’ll Wait are close. All of those you listed just show the versatility of Van Halen on the first six records. I’ve got nothing against ballads, but there’s got to be a line somewhere. I will acknowledge that you noted that they “may qualify as ballad-y” when compared with other songs in this thread, and I think you’re probably right about that. But when considering traditional ballads, I don’t think they do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-we-dont-do-ballads/843729.md?page=3)