AOR — Album-Oriented Rock
tagStarted 1975Peak 1978-1986Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Craftsman's arena rock as defined by FM radio: smooth, session-tight playing, lush keyboard pads, immaculate vocal harmonies and mid-tempo hooks built to slot between deep cuts on rock radio. Less raw than hard rock, more muscular than soft rock — the polished melodic center of late-'70s/'80s commercial rock.
History
Named for the late-'60s US radio format that played full albums, AOR became a music style in its own right by the mid-1970s as program directors favored melodic, focus-track rock. Toto, Foreigner, Boston and Journey perfected it; the term later became a genre label, especially in Europe and Japan, for slick melodic rock.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album-oriented_rock
- https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/aor/
- https://www.allmusic.com/style/aor-ma0000011892