10 Best Hard Rock Ballads
2. November Rain - Guns N Roses
Towards the end of the 1980's, Guns N Roses were everything you wanted to see in a new rock band. With attitude to spare and songs that hit like a sledgehammer, GNR's songs were always unfiltered hard rock. Once the band went into the 90's with the double record Use Your Illusion, it was time to expand.
While the band had flirted with the ballad structure on songs like "Sweet Child O Mine," the song still sounded like a hard rock powerhouse by the end. As the band threw every style at the wall for this record, Axl Rose brought a song he had started writing before the band's inception. When the band started to work on it, "November Rain" quickly turned into an emotional journey of a song, spanning 9 minutes and climaxing with a bluesy guitar solo for the outro.
On its own, the song's melody is breathtaking as Rose talks of his lover's uncertainty about their future. While Slash's solo is spectacular, the song is really a showcase for Axl, as he directs the band while transforming this humble ballad into a cinematic musical vision. It may be tough to hold a candle, but "November Rain" is an artistic feat that remains unmatched in GNR's catalog