Greatest Billboard Top 40(-ish) (Song That Is Reminiscent Of A) Ballad (1990 edition)

Nikki is Martika's husband! They started a goth group together in the '00s!

yeah...fuck that guy

Did all of you people who aren't voting for (or at least shortlisting) "Joey" just not notice that "Joey" is on this list?

I didn't! I can't believe I voted for Lou Gramm!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Hall & Oates hate the original version of "So Close" because, according to Hall, the label forced Hall to accept Jon Bon Jovi's production and songwriting doctoring. I don't hear much difference: the song ain't that exciting anyway. But I prefer the Bon Jovi job b/c of the opening hook.

1991 has been kind of a bummer year for ballads, sad to say.

Could find it in my heart to vote for at least two-thirds of these.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Lotta fans of meh-period Aerosmith 'round these parts...

That's my favorite Aerosmith song.

It's pretty harmonically complex (esp the bridge) for a twangy power ballad. I think it changes keys 4-5x.

You have too many strong opinions about other people's tastes to admit something like that. xp

It's a good Aerosmith song, but it's still distinctly lower-tier compared to sooooo much of the other stuff here.

I have strong opinions about my own tastes too, to be fair.

oh cool Skid Row beat Madonna.

Bummed I couldn't have given a vote to these zero-netters:

Babyface - 'Whip Appeal'
Taylor Dayne - 'Love Will Lead You Back'
After 7 - 'Ready Or Not'
Poison - 'Something To Believe In'
Gloria Estefan - 'Here We Are'
Mariah Carey - 'Vision Of Love'
Maxi Priest - 'Close To You'

Especially the Estefan.

She was starting to bellow. I prefer "Can't Stay Away From You" and "Falling in Love (Uh Oh)."

Luther Vandross is a god and "Here and Now" still appalls me.

Janet Jackson - Come Back to Me
Jody Watley - Everything
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2U
Lisa Stansfield - All Around The World
Roxette - It Must Have Been Love
Madonna - Oh Father
Babyface - Whip Appeal

man my radio station played Michael Damian's "Was It Nothing At All" as much as "Rock On," after which they flushed it down the memory toilet.

Oops meant to vote for "Whip Appeal" or "Vision of Love"

What's your radio station, Alfred? I have no idea what its range is/was, but I was a WAPE devotee until my family moved away from FL in the summer of '90, so it's entirely possible that that was the last time I heard that oft-played Michael Damian song (or any number of its contemporaries) on the radio. The pop stations in Indiana couldn't hold a candle to what I was listening to in Jacksonville.

I voted for Janet, but here are the rest of the correct answers to this poll:

Sinead O'Connor - 'Nothing Compares 2U'
Concrete Blonde - 'Joey'
Madonna - 'Oh Father'
Lou Gramm - 'Just Between You And Me'
Tesla - 'Love Song'
Regina Belle - 'Make It Like It Was'
Taylor Dayne - 'Love Will Lead You Back'
After 7 - 'Ready Or Not'
Gloria Estefan - 'Here We Are'
Brent Bourgeois - 'Dare To Fall In Love'
Faster Pussycat - 'House Of Pain'
Mariah Carey - 'Vision Of Love'
Maxi Priest - 'Close To You'
Nikki - 'Notice Me'
Whistle - 'Always And Forever'

Voted Lisa Stansfield, because ultimately that's the most correct answer to this poll.

I left Lisa Stansfield off of my finalist list because apparently it's not a ballad or whatever people were complaining about upthread. It would've definitely been a contender otherwise.

figured Sinead would have plenty of votes, so I went with the one Henley song I genuinely love.

What's your radio station, Alfred?

at the time Y-100 or Power 96.