Adult Oriented Rock (AOR), a brief genre overview

Adult oriented rock (AOR) is a music genre that is characterized by a rich, layered sound, slick production and a heavy reliance on pop/rock hooks (rateyourmusic.com). This genre had its heyday in the early 1980s, but luckily it never really left since.

The genre most defining bands are Journey, Foreigner, Toto and Survivor.

Journey‘s 7th studio album Escape (1981) is essential.

Foreigner‘s 4th one, fittingly called 4, that came out in the same year as Journey‘s Escape is another essential AOR album, as is its successor Agent Provocator. read more