So when did AOR really start?

I think Ivan's still right. Billy Joel did have a few song on Album Oriented Rock. But that's from The Stranger and 52nd Street. Once he got oh a roll of radio hits, he became more Adult contemporary/top 40/MOR.
The fact that Steely Dan & the Doobies were on Adult stations just shows the variety of their music. Both still play on "Classic Rock" stations AND Oldies, but they aren't Zep, Floyd, Donny Osmond, or Christopher Cross.
Album Oriented Rock, once it faced stiffer competition from  AM Radio, and more commercially minded FM stations, started narrowing its programming to keep & increase market share. Eventually, the programming became so constricted that it could have been called TOP 40 FM, with very few "deep" album cuts being played. Add to that that many acts that had benefited from the original concept, like Styx, Supertramp, Queen, Kansas, Foreigner, Boston et al, were starting to put out a string of actual hit singles, in the sense of topping sales charts. And being that many songs were of the "softer" type, the stations morphed into Adult Rock. There were several versions for sure. Adult Oriented Rock was one, but typically it was called Adult Contemporary, MOR (Middle of the Road), Adult Pop, but AOR as being Adult Oriented Rock didn't stick as a description too long.
Eventually you had the emerging "Classic Rock" programming, which tended towards more of the hard rock/metal end of things; with a lot of the classic 60s & 70s bands (the Doors, Beatles, Floyd, Zep etc). It also included a fair amount of prog like Yes, Tull, Supertramp, Genesis, early Gabriel. And what had briefly gone from Album to Adult oriented became Adult contemporary, Soft/Light/ heck even Office Rock (the station everyone can agree to ).

But Adult Oriented Rock was at best a very transient description of the musical programming an FM station offered. It was more a media term used as the old Album bands mentioned above moved into more pop music. And, for those who remember, there were some "sensitive listeners" who thought that Album Oriented Radio meant hard rock music. So while switching, you kept the acronym to keep some, changed the music to attract others, then called it something different to draw in a new target market - the "older" crowd who couldn't stand loud guitars or raucous music anymore.
You could see the same marketing contortions to differentiate a period's mainstream "commercial country music - the Nashville Sound, Urban Country, New Country/New Tradionalists and finally today's Contemporary Country. Each one had no interest in the previous radio and sales successes of the artists, and each eventually lost out to the next "wave".




Edited by debrewguy - July 29 2008 at 20:51

zicIy wrote: Billy Joel´s music is AOR. He´s albums as Streetlife Serenade, Turnstiles, The Stranger, and 52nd Street  are very nice examples what adults (not only them, of course) were listening in 70´s. AOR was the perfect music for so many of  40 yrs old successfuly guys and gals , who were listening music for relax when they came to some bar or to home from their jobs  .i think  i mentioned good AOR style albums on this thread, includes these by Joel- which completly catalogue is AOR. so, imho, i think that AOR really start 1975-1976.     btw, i think that David Bowie´s Young Americans is great AOR album, although this album had to be some kind of parody at original, as i read an article about the album aswell.    my fav AOR album is Steely Dan´s Gaucho.

Edited by Sean Trane - July 29 2008 at 10:41

Ivan's got it pretty much settled. The misconception that AOR means Adult Oriented Rock is based on the actual tag that should be applied to the music mentioned - Adult Contemporary, or in some cases MOR (Middle of the Road).
As Ivan states, prog and many of the early 70s rock heavyweights (Zep, Floyd, et al) were there when the nascent FM stations were playing music beyond the hit singles. Indeed, many of these bands' "hits" are seen as such in hindsight (Roundabout, Wish You Were Here, Aqualung), as they weren't top 40 material.
So AOR meant that you got to hear Brain Damage, Karn Evil, Toys in the Attic, Flirtin' with Disaster, Close to the Edge, Smokin', StarRider,  Another Brick in the Wall parts I, II, AND III all together; along with many other non-hits.
You may see that some were from bands that enjoyed mainstream platinum success. But the point was really the chance to hear something other than, for example - Foreigner - the top 40 stations played Cold as Ice, AOR might play I Need You and Long Way From Home.
And until it became over-programmed as with any money making proposition, it did break many an act that couldn't get airplay on more mainstream stations.
Too bad that we don't see the same "experimentation" today other than on services like XM, SIrius, Internet Radio (can't get it in my car, eh), or college/community stations. In all these cases, though, the programming is usually niche. Which means that there's less of a chance for a music fan to stumble across a song or band that they normally wouldn't have listened to.

You may notice that

paolo.beenees wrote: I have a problem with the shortening AOR: sometimes it is explained as "Adult Oriented Rock", some other times as "Album Oriented Rock". That makes a difference!

I have a problem with the shortening AOR: sometimes it is explained as "Adult Oriented Rock", some other times as "Album Oriented Rock". That makes a difference!

i agree. i think, it fall in the time of Punk Hysteria. Adults were like to listen, for example, Jefferson Starship´s Red Octopus the album, but not Punk at all (appart from some adult Punk fans who were ....  ).

Edited by zicIy - July 28 2008 at 02:35

I though AOR refered to the way radio stations played non-hit singles and instead played other songs from the same albums? What does this have to do with the artists themselves?

I have heard this from many poster "this sounds AOR and that sounds AOR" so I am wondering when do you all think AOR started?  I actually hear that statement mostly from Euro posters although there are some American posters expressing the same sentiment regarding American late 70's bands that received airplay.  My point is Kansas and Styx get lumped into this even early Journey that in my mind have nothing to do with later Journey, 80's Styx and Kansas, Boston or Foreigner (which was an English group).