AOR?

When did the term AOR come to mean a genre that encompasses bands like Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon etc... and not an acronym for Album Oriented Rock? I am assuming that the two became conflated at some point because Album Oriented Rock format radio stations played a lot of those artists and the acronym became the name of a genre. Is that right?

I remember when those types of bands were known variously as "Stadium Rock" or "Corporate Rock." I didn't start hearing AOR as a genre until the last 10 years or so. Weird.

AOR now stands for "Adult Oriented Rock", it has no relation to the old radio term for "Album Oriented Rock".

Yes, it's f'ckin' stupid...

I call stuff like that "Cheese Rock" personally, but it's probably just me.

S.D. wrote:

AOR now stands for "Adult Oriented Rock", it has no relation to the old radio term for "Album Oriented Rock".  

Yes, it's f'ckin' stupid...

So when people say AOR bands now they mean "Adult Oriented Rock" or is "Adult Oriented Rock" still a radio station format and AOR bands mean stuff like Journey? Or both?

Witchfinder wrote:

So when people say AOR bands now they mean "Adult Oriented Rock" or is "Adult Oriented Rock" still a radio station format and AOR bands mean stuff like Journey?  Or both?  

AOR only means "Adult Oriented Rock" now (again...stupid)

The term "Album Oriented Rock" became "Classic Rock".

S.D. wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

So when people say AOR bands now they mean "Adult Oriented Rock" or is "Adult Oriented Rock" still a radio station format and AOR bands mean stuff like Journey?  Or both?  

AOR only means "Adult Oriented Rock" now (again...stupid)

The term "Album Oriented Rock" became "Classic Rock".  

But people on this very board talk about "AOR bands" all the time and they are referring to Freddy's "Cheese Rock" bands. So I guess it has various meanings.

Also, what is "Classic Rock?" Does that mean 70s rock? Does that mean anything 20 years old and older? What are Oldies? Does that only mean 50s and 60s "Hot Wax?" So many labels and so much confusion. My brain hurts!

The original term AOR (for radio) came into play with FM radio, to distinguish it from the usual 3 minute single AM radio stations.  FM stations would play Stairway To Heaven, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Life's Been Good and other songs much longer than your traditional AM radio singles.

When people on the board talk about AOR they are referring to Adult Oriented Rock.  

The term Classic Rock started in the 80s, at that point it was 60s and 70s rock.  When Clear Channel bought basically every radio station in the country they replaced the term "Album Oriented Rock" with "Classic Rock"...it's the exact same songs/albums/artists as AOR, they just decided to use the term Classic Rock instead.

Classic Rock is loosely defined as music released between 1967 and 1983 (or thereabouts), though it has been expanding later recently as you'll hear some Metallica and Nirvana played on classic rock radio stations.  I believe the peak year was 1972.

Anything earlier than 1967 is usually described as "Oldies".

It is ridiculous that everyone wants a "tag" on certain things,like music.Yet they want tagless shirts and underwear.Haha.
Sorry,it's late or early however you look at it!

Back in my youth, we used to joke that AOR stood for Any Old Rubbish!

I still dislike the genre now.

AOR was to describe bands like Boston, Foreigner, Survivor, Journey, bands critics dubbed corporate rock, but I agree its one of the worst terms ever to describe a genre.

I think it is funny, that the music magazine - CLASSIC ROCK - now has two spin-off magazines - PROG ROCK & A O R. I haven't bought a copy of the A O R but it looks like it mostly covers bands like Boston, Journey, Foreigner, and others of that ilk.

Can we just bring back John Lennon's derogatory term for Paul's Beatles songs: "Granny music?"

AOR and Classic Rock are terms without personality.

I don't have a problem with the term AOR referring to bands like Survivor and Journey. But when I first heard the term, it was in reference to bands like those, so I never thought of it as anything different.

Nomadic Drifter wrote:

I think it is funny, that the music magazine - CLASSIC ROCK - now has two spin-off magazines - PROG ROCK  &  A O R.  I haven't bought a copy of the A O R but it looks like it mostly covers bands like Boston, Journey, Foreigner, and others of that ilk.

I bought a copy of AOR magazine & loved it.

bass63 wrote:

Nomadic Drifter wrote:

I think it is funny, that the music magazine - CLASSIC ROCK - now has two spin-off magazines - PROG ROCK  &  A O R.  I haven't bought a copy of the A O R but it looks like it mostly covers bands like Boston, Journey, Foreigner, and others of that ilk.

I bought a copy of AOR magazine & loved it.  

Does the magazine AOR offer a clear definition of AOR?

Nomadic Drifter wrote:

bass63 wrote:

Nomadic Drifter wrote:

I think it is funny, that the music magazine - CLASSIC ROCK - now has two spin-off magazines - PROG ROCK  &  A O R.  I haven't bought a copy of the A O R but it looks like it mostly covers bands like Boston, Journey, Foreigner, and others of that ilk.

I bought a copy of AOR magazine & loved it.  

Does the magazine AOR offer a clear definition of AOR?

I don't know about that. But I read it from cover to cover. Lot's of bands that I like.

"AOR" (and even "Melodic Rock") has become a genre tag...much like "Alternative" or "Grunge". It has come to encompass a wide variety of bands from 70s Corporate Rock (38 Special, Journey, Toto, Foreigner, Boston, REO, Styx, even Kansas), to late 80s/early 90s bands like Giant, Firehouse, 21 Guns, Bad English, Harem Scarem. Even artists like Bryan Adams, John Waite, Starship and Rick Springfield are under this umbrella...and bands as heavy as Pink Cream 69. Many AOR fans are also fans of 80s "Hair Metal" (another far-reaching genre tag).

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

"AOR" (and even "Melodic Rock") has become a genre tag...much like "Alternative" or "Grunge". It has come to encompass a wide variety of bands from 70s Corporate Rock (38 Special, Journey, Toto, Foreigner, Boston, REO, Styx, even Kansas), to late 80s/early 90s bands like Giant, Firehouse, 21 Guns, Bad English, Harem Scarem. Even artists like Bryan Adams, John Waite, Starship and Rick Springfield are under this umbrella...and bands as heavy as Pink Cream 69. Many AOR fans are also fans of 80s "Hair Metal" (another far-reaching genre tag).

Just shows that the genre tags change all the time - I remember the 80's stuff like Giant was called either pop metal or arena rock..... Hair Metal wasn't a term until the 90's to poke fun at the glam/pop metal bands..... kind of like in the 80's some people called classic rock (what was considered classic rock in the 80's) "classic rot"

So, does AOR mean that certain radio stations would play the entire songs, without cutting?