Modern AOR needs to learn from the first Giant record. The unashamed look at melodic rock.

It's not "adult" and has never been adult, it's "album".

Album-oriented rock (abbreviated AOR) is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.

There is Adult Contemporary but that's another animal entirely.

I don't agree. We are talking about different things here. For me it means 'Adult Orientated Rock' and has nothing at all to do with radio.

 

That's hilarious. Guess I better call up the college I went to and inform them that they can no longer use that term that has been in constant use since the 1970s.

If "this" AOR really does stand for adult-oriented rock then it's even dumber than I thought it was.

Believe it or not, the terms can co-exist. If you are referring to a genre as is the case here, it is Adult Orientated Rock. Don't believe me? Argue your case here

Can we all agree to just stop using AOR for any music, anytime, ever, and use some other term that actually makes sense?

Better still, let's just stop using descriptors altogether. After all, there are only two types of music, good music and bad music

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

Can we all agree to just stop using AOR for any music, anytime, ever, and use some other term that actually makes sense?

MOTRCFSM&S

"Middle Of The Road Crap For Soccer Moms & Suburbanites"

 

Yeah, but today's soccer moms refer to grunge as the golden era, so that won't work.

I'll just shorten it to Middle Of The Road Crap, works for all eras.

S.D. wrote:

I'll just shorten it to Middle Of The Road Crap, works for all eras.

I guess that's why you're so keen to distance the term AOR from the style of music referred to here. Wouldn't want MOTRC getting confused with your 60s/70s grandad rock now would you?

Spoiler:

I have to agree with SD.  I always understood AOR to mean "Album Oriented Rock",as in songs that weren't necessarily radio-friendly because they were longer than (as Billy Joel stated) "3:05".

It was also a radio format where the DJ would basically drop the needle on an album and just play whatever was there whether it was the "single" or not. That's how I discovered the genius of Queen. Back in the day my local AOR FM radio station decided to play "Great King Rat" instead of "Keep Yourself Alive" from Queen's S/T.

snooloui wrote:

S.D. wrote:

I'll just shorten it to Middle Of The Road Crap, works for all eras.

I guess that's why you're so keen to distance the term AOR from the style of music referred to here. Wouldn't want MOTRC getting confused with your 60s/70s grandad rock now would you?

Spoiler:

Plenty of MOTRC from that era as well.  After all, look at the record sales for The Eagles and Bread.

cruedevil71 wrote:

"you know whats lacking in death metal?..there is not enough songs about bunnies"

Best. Quote. Ever.  

I have issues with the whole genre deal as well. I prefer Rock,Metal,Country,Blues,Jazz,Prog, and Classical. Plenty for me.

[/quote]I remember being VERY STONED the first time I heard that album. It didn't help it none. And then straight. I never listened to that album...again. You're right in the biggest let down department. [/quote]
Ready To Strike is one of my all time favorites from the mid 80's. Mark/Marcy's vocals are f*cking phenomenal and the tunes.....damn, no filler, all killer. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Although, Signal came close as far as songwriting and musicianship.

The band Trillion is put into the pomp category.

bgsully wrote:

cruedevil71 wrote:

"you know whats lacking in death metal?..there is not enough songs about bunnies"

Best. Quote. Ever.  

I was baked.

What I call AOR is recent Michael Bolton and crap like that. One of my fave bands "Ten" gets called AOR, and I don't have a problem with that because Gary Hughes always has about two Bolton-like songs on every album (extremely skip-worthy despite the excellence of the rest of his stuff). The AOR songs are just pure pap with no hooks or riffs, just pure sentiment. You have to have something wrong with you such as being in love to enjoy those songs. The power ballads on the other hand have riffs and hooks despite being mellow or slow so I call them melodic rock or melodic hard rock. Bolton's first s/t album was probably less AOR than melodic rock though. It's his only album that I ever listen to.

Bolton's frst two albums were AOR.The third still has a share of AOR tracks, but is mostly known for soft rock/adult contemporary/blue-eyed soul stuff Bolton became known for. The fourth album was mostly in that style, but still had an AOR song or two.

Also

AOR = Album-oriented rock = radio format
AOR = Adult-oriented rock (aka melodic rock) = music genre

I used to loathe AOR bands, other then Journey and Foreigner, but honestly the genre name makes no sense, every band we listen to on this board for the most part are album oriented bands, the exception being bands like Journey and Foreigner who really seemed to push for hit singles.

As I have gotten older I have somewhat appreciate bands such as Jefferson Starship that featured Mickey Thomas, Boston (if they count) but overall not a genre I spend a lot of time listening to.

S.D. wrote:

It's not "adult" and has never been adult, it's "album".

Album-oriented rock (abbreviated AOR) is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.

There is Adult Contemporary but that's another animal entirely.

Depends on who you ask, honestly...Adult Oriented Rock may have never been an official, chartable format, but neither has Hair Metal.

manny wrote:

every band we listen to on this board for the most part are album oriented bands, the exception being bands like Journey

I wonder, without even being alive just yet at the time, if Journey got put in this category based on their actual music at the time, before they start producing radio hits.

Journey had hit singles, but they also produced varied, layerd records that were solid all the way through...