"Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

written by

Tom Keifer Carl Thomas Keifer (born January 26, 1961, Springfield, Pennsylvania) is an American singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the rock band Cinderella. Early life Tom Keifer grew up in a musical family and began playing guitar at a young ...

and performed by the

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...

band

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

, from their second album ''

Long Cold Winter ''Long Cold Winter'' is the second studio album by American glam metal band Cinderella. It was released in July 1988 on Mercury Records. The record reached No. 10 in the US and became double-platinum for shipping two million copies in the US by ...

''. Released in August 1988, it was their most successful single, peaking at number 12 on US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in November 1988. The music video for this song was filmed at

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alk ...

Critical reception

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' and ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', British musical periodicals, reviewed the song ironically. The Stud Brothers (Melody Maker) first supposed that the band penned a Coca-Cola anthem. Simon Williams of NME, on the other hand, suggested that Kiefer's husky voice came from touring too much, implying the band needed a break.

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 1980s ballads 1988 singles 1988 songs Cinderella (band) songs Glam metal ballads Mercury Records singles Songs about heartache Songs written by Tom Keifer