Pop Ballads (1970s, 1980s and 1990s)

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Where does it come from?

  • - The first form of ballad was a folk song - a story sung to a simple melody
  • - Now known as a sentimental, popular song.
  • - Pop ballads of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s is usually a slow song, with sentimental or romantic lyrics.


Musical features of the pop ballad

- Usually in 4/4 time signature

- Slow tempo

- Verse - chorus structure

- Often includes piano or electric piano

- Sustained "lush" chords in the instrumental accompaniment

- Drum pattern usually accents beats 2 and 4 on the snare drum

- Opportunities for the vocalist to express emotion through rubato, ornamentation and melisma

- The lead singer often provides ornamentation and melisma at the climax of the song

- Harmonic language strays a little beyond the primary chords but it remains firmly in the key. Inversions of chords are popular, which often create descending and rising bass lines (by step)

- A typical ballad usually increases in instrumentation and dynamics, arriving at a climax during a "big" chorus or an instrumental section

- Sentimental/romantic lyrics

- There is often a lot of reverb added to the lead vocals and backing vocals, especially in ballads from the 1980s


Famous Artists

- Bette Midler - Wind Beneath My Wings

- Elton John - Candle In The Wind

- Take That - Back For Good

- Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

- Lionel Richie and Diana Ross - My Endless Love

- Billy Joel - And So It Goes

- Richard Marx - Right Here Waiting

- Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven

- Bob Dylan - Make You Feel My Love

- Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On