Raised on Radio
There is no form of American-made music that has been as critically derided, or shunned, as AOR. The blues, punk, hip-hop, alt-rock, country-rock, R&B, jazz, rock 'n' roll and soul. All are canonised. Trad country and disco have long since been re-appraised. Even hair metal has its champions. Yet there has hardly been a positive critical word published about AOR. But this speaks far more to the prejudices and blind spots of music critics than it does about the actual music. The plain fact is, AOR artists were responsible for some of the hugest selling and timeless records of the era.
Five bands stand tall as AOR's leading lights: Journey, Boston, Foreigner, Toto and REO Speedwagon. Between them, they have to date sold over 335 million records worldwide. Aside from these five bands, there is then a second tier of multi-platinum AOR acts and including the likes of Styx, Survivor, Pat Benatar, Heart, Kansas, Bryan Adams, Loverboy, Night Ranger, Billy Squier and more.
During the period covering 1976-1986, AOR was inarguably the music of the American heartland. AOR stood out by its luxurious productions, its sumptuous harmonies, and its lovelorn ballads. Then again, by its lyrical pre-occupations - essentially, the heartbreak of unrequited love, and/or pumped-up anthems to American positivity. Typically, AOR songs are set on long, hot summer nights, or else to a backdrop of glittering city lights. They evoke vivid technicolour images of gleaming cityscapes and roaring down sun-scorched freeways in an open-top convertible.
Like disco, but not punk, AOR was inclusive, uplifting, and appealed equally to both sexes. Its sheer romanticism, its cinematic sense of possibility, resonated as much with a huge audience of women as it did with men. It was positive, never nihilistic. Music to be sung along with, not to break stuff to. Its songs were made to soundtrack the best of times, or at least to soothe the bad.
It's time for a definitive music history of AOR, told through some of the genre's finest contributors.