The very first Power Ballad...who did it?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

:shrug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERhvqJzmZAY

[denbot]

1. Where does a song about a woman end and power ballad begain?

Would Cinnamon Girl qualify?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdtUDaBfRA

[Common Sense Party]

2. I don't think it can qualify as a POWER ballad if it doesn't have an

electric guitar solo. Drums are nice, but a guitar solo is essential, IMHO. That Nilsson song doesn't even have audible guitars at all. I'd call it a ballad.

[The Midway Rebel]

3. Ray Charles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thls_tMuFkc

Most influential musician of the last half of the 20th century.

[mikeytherat]

4. Vandenberg's "Burning Heart" from 1982?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGSrv1GnXMM

Might have to go with a classic like "Stairway to Heaven," though.

mikey_the_rat

[Beer Snob-50]

5. imho dream on was one of the first power ballads

nillson was more of a ballad. power ballad would have electric guitars, some serious bass, and of course drums.

[Richardo]

6. I'd nominate "Oh! Darling" by those crazy loveable moptops

[Dr Morbius]

9. That's heavy blues. Not a ballad at all, I'd say.

Oh, Darling and I Want You seem to me almost like early metal. Very heavy stuff. Stylistically, Oh Darling seems almost like a throwback to the early (pre-Beatle) 60's, especially when he sings about having "...nearly broke down and die-hi-eye-ee-ied." But it is accompanied by such heavy guitar. Great, great song, but not a ballad methinks.

I don't know the first power ballad, but the first one by Black Sabbath - the first metal band - was on Vol. IV: Changes. That's a power ballad if ever I heard one. It came out in 1973.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. this is what wiki says:

Power ballads
Simon Frith identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles and the adaption of this style by figures such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones and Joe Cocker to produce slow tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars and sometimes choirs.<34> According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences.<35> He argues that the power ballad broke into the mainstream of American consciousness in 1976 as FM radio gave a new lease of life to earlier songs like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971), Aerosmith's "Dream On" (1973), and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (1974).<35> Other notable examples include Nazareth's version of "Love Hurts" (1975), Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is",<34> Scorpions "Still Loving You", (all from 1984), Heart’s "What About Love" (1985)<36> and Whitesnake's "Is This Love" (1987).<37>

with that said, maybe this then:
:shrug:
Eric Burdon - The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNEiZhpinY

[guitar man]

8. Righteous Brothers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhs3Rj71gpo