American Songwriter looks back at 1982, a year when slow songs of every stripe — rock power ballads, R&B quiet storm tracks and sentimental duets — dominated pop radio and MTV. The piece highlights four ballads that either topped the US charts or came close, using them to illustrate how varied and commercially powerful the slow song had become at the time.

The four selections are Chicago's No. 1 hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", which leaned heavily on members of Toto and producer David Foster and featured Peter Cetera's lead vocal; "Up Where We Belong", a chart-topping film duet by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes written by three different writers and tied to an iconic movie scene; Lionel Richie's "Truly", the lead single from his self-titled solo debut after leaving The Commodores; and Journey's "Open Arms", written largely by new member Jonathan Cain, which reached No. 2 to become the band's biggest chart hit.