3 Nostalgic Rock Ballads From the 1980s That Take You Back to the Era Every Time

There’s something about a rock ballad that stirs feelings of nostalgia even when the lyrics aren’t particularly wistful. The music of the 1980s arrived with heightened earnestness as the decade became known for both its emotional and commercial excess. As is the case with any time period, the cultural trends, when revisited, thrust us back to what may seem like another dimension. To a time when the VCR and the Sony Walkman helped revolutionize how people absorbed culture.

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Not every trip down memory lane ends at a happy or welcomed destination. We’ll begin with two sad rock ballads before ending with a tender song that was rejected by a Brooklyn icon.

“Nobody’s Fool” by Cinderella

Cinderella emerged from Philadelphia with an East Coast take on glam metal. Led by singer and guitarist Tom Keifer, the band combined classic blues rock with Bon Jovi’s sky-high choruses. They released “Nobody’s Fool” in 1986 to accommodate the genre’s power ballad requirement. Everything about the track, the arena-sized snare drum, glossy synthesizer, and Keifer’s dramatic howl and soaring guitar solo will immediately place you right back in the late 80s. Cue the fog machine.

“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” by Poison

Few rock ballads from the era are more recognizable than Poison’s hit, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”. This is what country-adjacent music sounded like on the Sunset Strip circa 1988. And if you stroll down Broadway here in Nashville on any given night, you will likely hear a band covering Poison’s signature tune. When you’re busy doing the “Unskinny Bop” while having “Nothin’ But A Good Time”, Bret Michaels reminds you of the emotional puncture that happens when all the dirty talk ends and a romantic partner finally moves on.

“Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx

As a child, Richard Marx sang commercial tunes for his father’s jingles company. He absorbed the lessons of earworm hooks and became one of the decade’s most successful songwriters. His second studio release, Repeat Offender, features his signature ballad, “Right Here Waiting”, though he didn’t initially intend to record it himself. Marx sent a demo of the song to Barbra Streisand, but she said she wouldn’t sing it without a lyrical change because she wasn’t going to be “right here waiting for anybody.”

It worked out well for Marx. But this anecdote only adds to Streisand’s already impressive legend.

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