I grew up listening to mainstream '80s metal: Journey, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Heart--the classics. It wasn't until a couple of years ago did I start listening to the pioneers of Christian rock. I was searching for rock songs--particularly power ballads--that sounded similar to their mainstream counterparts. What I found was pleasing to my ears. Here are seven classic power ballads that you can add to your iTunes or Spotify playlist. You can thank me later.

"I'll Come Out Fighting for You" by DeGarmo & Key
Together, Eddie DeGarmo and Dana Key released 17 albums in 20 years. The duo was also nominated for seven Grammy Awards and 17 Dove Awards. Unfortunately, Dana Key died at 56 in 2010 due to a ruptured blood clot.

"I'll Come Out Fighting for You," featured on DeGarmo and Key's 1992 album Destined to Win: The Classic Rock Collection, is a power ballad, which comprises mostly vocals and acoustic guitar. As the song progresses, more instruments join in to give the song a dramatic climax. The positive lyrics are interpretive--the message could be God speaking to his children, or a man giving words of encouragement to his significant other: "I'll come out fighting for you / With all of my might / I'll come out fighting for you / I am as near as your call."

"Forever and a Day" by Guardian
Guardian released "Forever and a Day," a classic power ballad from the album Fire and Love, in 1990, a time when the music industry began to shift from metal to grunge. This shift became apparent when grunge pioneers Pearl Jam and Nirvana topped the charts in '92 to '93, thus replacing their metal predecessors Guns N' Roses and AC/DC. 

"Forever and a Day" fits the vintage power ballad formula: soaring vocals, heavy guitars and drums and tender lyrics. The typical '80s arena ballad usually focuses on relationships, but "Forever And A Day" is a love song for God: "At times it gets a little bit crazy / Sometimes I get a little too far away / I know that times are really changing, but Your love, it stays the same." After a long sabbatical, Guardian returned in 2014 with Almost Home, their first album in over a decade.

"Patience" by Bleach
Featured on the 2003 album Astronomy, "Patience" is a heart-felt ballad relying mostly on vocals and piano. In fact, the song reminds me of "Hey There, Delilah," a popular song by mainstream alternative rock band The Plain White T's. 

Lyrically, "Patience" is mostly a love song: "I won't embrace the things that I have done / 'Cause patience waits for what we will become / And oh, it's so much more I know that it's so worth waitin' for." For those who appreciate relaxing and melodic songs without a lot of heavy guitars and instrumentation, this song is for you.

"Coming Down" by Skillet
Skillet is one of today's most popular Christian rock bands, so it is hard to imagine them as pioneers of the genre. However, Skillet has been releasing rock (and other music) for over 20 years. One of the band's earlier songs, the haunting "Coming Down," has a grunge tribal sound, music that could have easily come from the Nine Inch Nails catalogue of ballads. 

Skillet frontman John Cooper whispers--not sings--words of praise to God: "I will drink from the well of the One who gives me life / I will eat of the bread of the One sacrifice / I will breathe of the breath of the body of God / I will dive to the depths and raise a new man." 

This tune, from Skillet's 1998 album Hey You, I Love Your Soul, is a sneak peak into the Christian rock powerhouse who would later pump out rock hits "Awake and Alive" and "Whispers in the Dark." 

"Love" by Petra
Classic 80s rock bands always used staple ballads as love or break up songs, but Christian rock pioneers Petra use Corinthians 13:4-7 in "Love," a classic rock ballad included on the band's best-selling album Beyond Belief. Petra frontman John Schlitt paraphrases the passage, singing "Love is patient, love is kind / No eyes of envy, true love is blind / Love is humble, it knows no pride / No selfish motive hidden inside." Schlitt is now the lead singer of the Christian rock band, Union of Sinners and Saints.

"Desert Rose" by Whiteheart
For those who melt when they hear a Journey or Foreigner power ballad, "Desert Rose" is for you. The song from Whiteheart's 1990 album Power House exemplifies '80s rock in sound--soaring vocals, heavy guitars and drums, energetic keyboards--and early Christian rock in lyrics: "Sometimes holiness can seem like emptiness / When you feel the whole world's laughing eyes / But if it's a lonely day / Know you're on the Father's way." "Desert Rose" is a power ballad dedicated to God. 

Similar to many other Christian rock acts, Whiteheart has disbanded with its band members pursuing other endeavours. Billy Smiley, guitarist, singer, and founding member of Whiteheart, is now a part of the Union of Sinners and Saints.

"Honestly" by Michael Sweet
You cannot have a list of classic power ballads without including Christian rock pioneers Stryper. "Honestly" is one of their most famous power ballads. The original is great, but I want to feature Michael Sweet's version, which he released on his Touched album in 2007. 

The original song is classic '80s power ballad sound, while Sweet changed his version into a piano love song. Of all songs that I have heard from Sweet, this version showcases his fabulous vocals the most. Sweet recently released his new solo studio album, One Sided War, in August 2016. Stryper is also very much alive. The band's most recent album, Fallen, was released in 2015.