Thursday
Apr282011
Top 10 Best Glam Songs That Feature Keys
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 12:01AM Ever think about the ten best Glam songs that feature either a keyboard or a piano? Here are my choices for the ten best...in no particular order.
The debate over keys in metal has raged for decades now. Generally, I'm not a huge fan -- but when the arrangement is right, well, the song just rocks. I think I picked some awesome examples of that today.
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Winger - Headed for a Heartbreak
Night Ranger - Sister Christian
Great White - Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Styx - Come Sail Away
Heart - Alone
Cinderella - Don't Know What You Got ('Til It's Gone)
Kix - Don't Close Your Eyes
Guns n' Roses - November Rain
Van Halen - Jump
Do you agree with my list?
Reader Comments (21)
Regardless!!, Main Attraction by QR has some awesome keyboards as well Dreams, Why Can't This be Love and When Its Love By Van Halen. Heck Turbo has its synth greatness, The intro to Out in the Cold is chilling in itself, pun intended.
Bottom line Synth and Keys are great additions to songs IF... used to the proper effect.
Fish beat me to the punch...
"Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue should be #1!
Random Kiss Keyboard Trivia:
When Gene $immons signed Greg Giuffria (Glam keyboardest extraordinaire), he made him change the name of his band to House of Lords and had his original singer replaced.
Upon visiting Giuffria in the studio, $immons remarked, "Keyboards? That's not very Rock'n'Roll."
I guess he forgot about "Beth", Kiss' biggest hit which also neither $immons nor Stanley wrote. Indeed, it was Kiss drummer, Peter Criss, who wrote (and sang!) with the piano as the central instrument!
And what about Italian disco king/producer and keyboardist Giorgio Maroder's collaboration with Kiss on "I Was Made For Lovin' You"?
And, still later, what about Kiss' keyboard-laden 80's hits like such as "Reason To Live"?
Gene $immons = Hypocrit!
p.s. Many Glam Metal bands who consistently deploy keyboards are also often described as Melodic Hard Rock, but c'mon, keyboards or not, they're still Metal in my book. As long as you've got nice, clean sustained E-chords or a killer guitar lead crunchin' 'em out at some point in a song's arrangement, I love power ballads and such that are awash in keys. In fact, my ex-lead guitarist and I always get all Beavis and Butthead when the crunch chords or lead come traipsing on in the middle of a power ballad, crushing the keys and strings!
Check them out with Def Lep this summer. You WON'T be disappointed!
Runaway - Bon Jovi - Who can forget the pounding keyboards at the start.
Another great one is Under the Gun by Danger Danger. Seriously cool keys throughout the tune.
@ War Machine - Good call. That could quite possibly be the most "epic" of all glam/AOR in terms of key lines that the general public knows by heart.
original version on the Saints and Sinners album is far superior IMHO. I wouldn't consider "Come Sail Away" a glam song. Late
70s era Styx is hard to categorize. They were a little hard rock, a little pop, and a little progressive, but not what I
would call glam. Great White's cover of "Once Bitten Twice Shy" is a good call. Love the song, and love their version. As for
"Jump", I can't adequately put into words just how much I hated that song when it came out. I had been a VH fan since '78,
and hearing those cheesey synth chords gave me douche chills! Even in 2011, I still can't stand that song.
Sadly, especially in glam, a piano or keyboard usually signals a power ballad. Personally, I don't much care for power
ballads so that automatically eliminates my liking about 80% of glam tunes that use keyboards. For glam tunes that aren't
power ballads that use keyboards, i generally like the songs as long as the keyboards are used for color as opposed to being
the dominant instrument. IMHO, when the keyboards are too dominant, especially when the sound is very synthesized, the song
ventures into softer AOR territory.
Loverboy is an example of a band that used keyboards to excellent effect in many of their songs. two other songs mentioned
in the comments: "Runaway" and "the final Countdown" are both great examples of songs in which the keyboards are used to
great effect.
Now, one keyboarded instrument that is almost universally awesome is the Hammond B3 organ. Sadly, 80s glam bands almost never
used it. In fact, Whitesnake went out of their way to hide their Hammond B3 sound from the American market when "Slide it In"
came out. On the American version of the "Slide It In" album, the organ solo in the middle of "Hungry for Love" is edited
out. This abandonment of the B3 in 80s glam is unfortunate because, when played properly, a Hammond B3 can be equally as
vicious as an electric guitar.
Okay, I've rambled on long enough. :)
Al really came up with a HUGE TOPIC with this one.
Europe's opening keyboard riff really is iconic, as War Machine points out.
Heart were Glam-ish in the 80's but were really more AOR/Melodic Hard Rock, than anything.
Interestingly, Heart's "If Looks Could Kill" was pretty heavily keyboarded up and would have been way more kick a*s if it had been produced sans keys.
Love that Hammond B3 sound. A lot of "Glam" bands in the 80's used that from time to time to capture a more retro sound.
And think about pne of your faves, Al...
Aerosmith!
They did a lot of stuff through their prime in the 70's and 80's. "Dream On" is way up there, if you're willing to consider the 70's. One of my absolute FAVES is "Home Tonight" off Rocks.
Though I really only like one song from their entire 80's catalogue ("Shut Up And Dance") not counting material from their comeback album, "Done With Mirrors", which I love. They were masters at keyboard laden power ballads during that era.
p.s. Cannot stand that keyboard intro to "Runaway". Gag me with a spoon! I even thought the keyboardest looked like a total doofus playing it and still do!
The Final Countdown vs. Home Sweet Home
IMHO...
The winner is...
Home Sweet Home!
Here's why...
I used to think "The Final Countdown" was SO UNROCK! Now I like it because I find it nostalgic and cheesily amusing in a kind of Spinal Tappish way.
"Home Sweet Home", for all it's cheesiness... is LESS CHEESY than "The Final Countdown". I contend it has a REAL emotional value deep down under all the production just in terms of songwriting.
"The Final Countdown", not so much, as it really relies on a keyboard riff that is actually quite annoying as h*ll. It's NERD ROCK if it's Rock at all.
"Home Sweet Home" is just plain more definitive of Glam Metal as "The Final Countdown" really is more AOR, not even Melodic Hard Rock. I actually like "Carrie" better, which I think was the bigger hit of the two and I rate that right up there as one of THE BIGGEST POWER BALLADS OF ALL TIME.
I rate "The Final Countdown" as easily THE CHEESIEST 80's AOR SONG OF ALL TIME.
"The Final Countdown" may win for MOST ICONIC 80'S KEYBOARD OPENING OF ALL TIME, but "Home Sweet Home" wins it for being the "GREATEST POWER BALLAD OF ALL TIME", in my view, and therefor, it is the de facto winner as THE BEST GLAM SONG FEATURING KEYS.
"Home Sweet Home" is just instantly more accessible on a purely human emotional level. And it Rocks A*s when the guitars kick in and Mick Marrs cranks out one of THE GREATEST POWER BALLAD GUITAR LEADS OF ALL TIME!
And check out this video on YouTube:
Motley Crue 2005-09-10 CMT Studios, Nashville, TN - ReAct Now Music & Relief - Home Sweet Home
An incredible video featuring Chester Bennington joining Crue in a Desmond Child produced live performance as part of a televised benefit concert that aired on one of the major networks in the immediate aftermath of the Katrina disaster.