Music Blogs

Author's Note: I have found that most discussions of AOR get easily sidetracked unless it's made clear which definition of the AOR acronym we're using. The original meaning--"Album-Orientated Rock"--tends to make people think of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Whereas I'm going by the late '70s definition--"Adult-Orientated Rock", i.e. catchy, immediate, radio-friendly arena rock with heavy keyboards, restrained but melodic guitar, and passionate irony-free vocals of the kind made famous by Boston, Journey, REO and Foreigner. So here goes…--MH

20: "Is This Love?"--Whitesnake: The last classic song released during AOR's Golden Age of 1976-1987. Often mistakenly described as a "power ballad," it in fact has a mid-tempo, late-night groove to it, the song representing a departure for the band in terms of the glossy production and the sensitivity displayed by the singer David Coverdale. Previously known for lyrics such as "Are you woman enough / To take a man like me" and "I'm gonna slide it in / Right to the top," Coverdale portrays himself here as the guy "waiting by the phone" for his girlfriend to call. The video reassures us that the girl in question is unbelievably beautiful; and just in case this didn't compensate enough for his vulnerability, Coverdale cast his own girlfriend, a model, in the video too. But he needn't have worried. The scenes of this proud-haired man looking stylishly forlorn in his loft apartment deliver what every AOR fan is looking for: the concept that it is somehow heroic to indulge in self-pity and melancholia.

19: "Only You Can Rock Me"--UFO: Recorded in a derelict postal depot in Los Angeles, this song has a rough and spontaneous feel--so it's remarkable that it hasn't been expelled from the list for this very reason. Surely an AOR track needs to have that sheen only months of overdubs and massive expenditure can create? Ordinarily, yes--but the producer of "Only You Can Rock Me" was AOR svengali Ron Nevison and you have to marvel at the sheer scale of the sound he captures here. In many respects this is a straight-ahead hard rock track but the stirring, pop-orientated vocal and guitar harmonies of the chorus ("We can't wait from day to day / Cuz we've got something to say"...) and the majesty of Michael Schenker's solo send it soaring into AOR territory. Rarely has the combination of melody and bombast been so intoxicating.

18: "Don't Want To Wait Anymore"--The Tubes: These former avant-garde performance artists from San Francisco had started veering toward mainstream rock in the late '70s and in 1982 they really went for it by signing up with AOR visionary David Foster, who along with Trevor Horn and Ron Nevison would shape the sound of an entire decade. As an homage to their surrender to corporate rock the band wore business suits for the album photography. Yet despite this and the over-the-top, satirical lyrics ("Lost / Trapped in the freezing cold / Barely alive / Have to make love to survive..."), "Don't Want To Wait Anymore" is a ballad so immense it even includes a firework display toward the end. Yet no matter how many times the singer Fee Waybill tries to ham it up with the refrain "I've waited so long / Forgot what I'm waiting for," you just know you can't deliver AOR of this quality without loving it really.

17: "Innocent Days"--Giant: Giant couldn't have released their debut album at a worse time. Although they were eventually swept aside by the alternative rock backlash in the early '90s, their problems in the late '80s were entirely due to the consequences of Bon Jovi's success rather than the arrival of Nirvana. For it was Jovi more than any other band who killed AOR by acting as the catalyst for the rise of "pop metal." By 1989 the market was saturated with rabble-rousing choruses and lumpen by-numbers power ballads. Enter Giant with their glorious single "Innocent Days"--which despite not being entirely free of Jovi-esque influences did mark a return to sophisticated production and soaring vocals. It also has one of the most euphoric choruses of the decade. Unfortunately, no one cared.

16: "Home By The Sea"--Genesis: Although "In The Air Tonight" scores high AOR points for being a ballad with an absurdly disproportionate drum sound (and also for featuring on that most AOR of TV shows, Miami Vice), it does ultimately feel part of Phil Collins' pop career. "Against All Odds" is another strong contender for the list but today that song sounds too Celine Dion to really make the final cut. No, it's Collins' work with Genesis between 1980 and 1986 which really deserves the applause, and not just because of his double drum solos in concert with Chester Thompson. Take his extraordinary rock vocal on "Home By The Sea" from the band's self-titled album in 1983. Although the lyrics start out with trusty clichés such as "stealing thru the dark of night," it quickly becomes clear that the song is about ghosts in an old people's home; not very AOR at all, but Collins brings it back into line with a vocal display of pure fist-clenching righteousness.

15: "Boys Of Summer"--Don Henley: Nostalgia for the lost summers of youth is a must-have theme for any self-respecting AOR artist. Take Journey's "Stone In Love," among other classics. And here Don Henley shakes off his country-rock past and steps up into the '80s AOR arena. Set against an atmospheric and innovative keyboard and drum machine dominated backdrop Henley delivered the most passionate and affecting vocal of his career.

14: "I Need You Tonight"--ZZ Top: The long beards and comedy dance moves of these veteran Southern rockers was never likely to draw the AOR crowd. So this hidden gem from 1983's Eliminator rarely gets the credit it deserves. Opening with the lines "It's three o'clock in the morning / And the rain begin to fall..." and taken forward by a moody, hypnotic rhythm this is late night AOR at its finest. Yes, there is a blues element throughout but given the expensive widescreen production here this can be over-looked. And it's worth having for the Billy Gibbons solo alone, which like all classic AOR solos somehow manages to be restrained and transcendent at the same time.

13: "Stone Cold"--Rainbow: When the American vocalist Joe Lyn Turner joined the British hard rock band Rainbow, veteran fans of the band's mystical hard rock era nicknamed him "The Poof." This was due to a certain fruitiness to his stage moves but also reflected a mounting resentment that Ritchie Blackmore had embraced AOR in such a big way in the early '80s. But Turner was quite the discovery and became one of the outstanding talents in the genre, even though he was rarely able to record material which did his voice justice. "Stone Cold" was one of the exceptions. Although it never quite had the crowd-pleasing appeal of "I Surrender," "Stone Cold" was like a classic Foreigner ballad but with backbone--and despite one spell-breaking moment when he ad libs "You put me in the deep freeze!," Turner puts in a career-best performance to rival those of the true greats, such as Steve Perry and Lou Gramm.

12: "Broken Wings"--Mr Mister: "Take these broken wings / And learn to fly again / Learn to live so free / And when we hear the voices sing / The book of love will open up and let us in." It's just too spiritual to even discuss..

11: "Dreams"--Van Halen: From the keyboard intro, "Dreams" seems at first like an imitation of "Jump." But while "Jump" was a one-riff pony, "Dreams" builds and builds into one of the most soaringly optimistic anthems of the Reagan era, complete with a promo video showcasing the fighter jets of the US Navy. "Reach for the golden ring / Reach for the sky / Baby just spread your wings..." Who could resist this awesome show of can-do spirit? Well, in the UK with its tyranny of post-punk gloom and musical ineptitude "Dreams"--like so many AOR classics--failed to make an impression. "Dreams" entered the UK chart at Number 62 and disappeared from view. But in the US, "Dreams" continued to inspire beyond the 1980s. It became a crowd favorite at Van Halen concerts and gave John Kerry brief moment of glory when it was played after his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004.

Tune in for the Top 10 next week!