Background: Adult-oriented rock (AOR), also known as "melodic rock" and, derisively, "corporate rock," and sometimes used synonymously with "arena rock," is a genre of rock that was at the peak of its success between the mid-1970s and early-1990s. It is known for its sleek, shiny, glossy, polished, slick, well-produced, radio-ready, commercially-friendly sound. Despite this, it is a distinct genre from pop-rock and power pop (although some artists overlap with these genres). This hook-heavy genre almost always takes a sincere, unironic, earnest, sentimental, and played-straight approach to rock music and its subject matter. Other features of AOR/melodic rock are hard rock anthems, soft rock power ballads, arena rock aesthetics, sing-along choruses, heavy use of keyboards/synthesizers (most of the time), and smokin' guitars. Adult-oriented rock (AOR), a genre of music, is different from album-oriented rock (also abbreviated AOR), a radio format. This list only includes artists who released albums during the classic era of the genre. We somewhat arbitrarily used 1993 as the last year for album releases to accept nominations. Nonetheless, an artist's post-1993 output was factored into their position.
Criteria: These artists were chosen on their popularity, acclaim, and influence.
Edited By: Area Man (with input from Bruno, Ryan, Spawn of Lilith, and Zach)
Last Updated: 2023-01-03
AOR/Melodic Rock Artists
1. Journey 2. Boston 3. Foreigner 4. Styx 5. REO Speedwagon 6. Toto 7. Heart (1983-1993 output) 8. Pat Benatar 9. Chicago (1980-1991 output) 10. Eddie Money 11. Survivor 12. Jefferson Starship / Starship 13. Bryan Adams 14. ZZ Top (1983-1992 output) 15. Loverboy 16. Billy Squier 17. Rick Springfield 18. Asia 19. Night Ranger 20. Cheap Trick (1983-1991 output) 21. Kansas (1980-1988 output) 22. .38 Special 23. Kenny Loggins (1980-1988 output) 24. Peter Frampton 25. Bad Company (1986-1993 output) 26. Rainbow (1979-1986 output) 27. Blue Öyster Cult (1977-1985 output) 28. Cher (1982-1992 output) 29. Michael Bolton (1983-1989 output) 30. Europe 31. Triumph 32. Bonnie Tyler (1983-1991 output) 33. April Wine 34. Yes (1983-1991 output) 35. Roger Daltrey (1980-1992 output) 36. John Farnham (1984-1991 output) 37. Jimmy Barnes 38. Corey Hart 39. John Waite 40. Petra 41. Richard Marx 42. Gary Moore (1982-1989 output) 43. The Babys 44. Donnie Iris 45. Honeymoon Suite 46. Red Rider 47. Kim Mitchell 48. Aldo Nova 49. Trooper 50. Bad English
51. Glass Tiger 52. Lou Gramm 53. Steve Perry 54. Mike + the Mechanics 55. Saga 56. Harlequin 57. Mr. Mister 58. Magnum 59. Peter Cetera 60. Head East 61. Cutting Crew 62. Prism 63. Alannah Myles 64. The Johnny Van Zant Band / Johnny Van Zant 65. Chilliwack (1978-1984 output) 66. Uriah Heep (1978-1991 output) 67. Nelson 68. Little River Band (1983-1990 output) 69. John Parr 70. Zebra 71. Platinum Blonde 72. Gowan 73. Tommy Shaw 74. Russ Ballard 75. Robin Beck 76. Quarterflash 77. Harem Scarem 78. Benny Mardones 79. Tony Carey 80. Giant 81. Angel 82. FM 83. Scandal 84. Sheriff 85. Giuffria 86. Toronto 87. Autograph 88. Frozen Ghost 89. Dennis DeYoung 90. Streetheart 91. Axe 92. Le Roux 93. Icon 94. Michael Stanley Band 95. GTR 96. Shooting Star 97. Streets 98. White Sister 99. Strangeways 100. Henry Lee Summer
Journey
Boston
Foreigner
Styx
REO Speedwagon
Toto
101. Paul Janz 102. Praying Mantis 103. Alias 104. Noiseworks 105. Jon Butcher 106. House of Lords 107. Patty Smyth 108. Southern Sons 109. Ian Moss 110. Trevor Rabin 111. Franke and the Knockouts 112. Joe Lynn Turner 113. Planet P Project 114. Sherbet (1976-1979 output) / Sherbs 115. I-Ten 116. Mark Free / Marcie Free 117. Sad Café 118. Daryl Braithwaite 119. Gamma 120. Coney Hatch 121. Sniff 'n' the Tears 122. Jude Cole 123. Ian Thomas 124. Andy Taylor 125. Stan Bush 126. Max Webster 127. 1927 128. Blackfoot (1983-1990 output) 129. Sharon O'Neill 130. RTZ 131. Danger Danger 132. Desmond Child 133. Fiona 134. Tyketto 135. Unruly Child 136. Duke Jupiter 137. Spider 138. Charlie 139. The Law 140. Roxus 141. Benjamin Orr 142. Lee Aaron 143. Ted Nugent (1982-1988 output) 144. Saraya 145. City Boy 146. Doucette 147. Orion the Hunter 148. Haywire 149. Hardline 150. Signal
151. Shadow King 152. Fortune 153. Michael Morales 154. Dakota 155. Touch 156. Red Dawn 157. Paul Carrack 158. Jean Beauvoir 159. Dare 160. Shy 161. The Storm 162. Opús 163. Tone Norum 164. David Foster 165. Witness 166. Fair Warning 167. Treat 168. Dominoe 169. Danny Spanos 170. Voyager 171. John Hall Band 172. Steel Breeze 173. Mick Jones 174. Robert Tepper 175. 707 176. Van Zant (1985 output) 177. Marilyn Martin 178. White Heart 179. Balance 180. Stage Dolls 181. Headpins 182. Hughes / Thrall 183. Robin Zander 184. Legs Diamond 185. Jeff Paris 186. Sabu 187. Zinatra 188. Taxxi 189. Tycoon 190. Greg Guidry 191. Blackjack 192. Billy Satellite 193. Eddie Schwartz 194. Virginia Wolf 195. Cobra 196. Stabilizers 197. Van Stephenson 198. Spys 199. Diving for Pearls 200. Drive, She Said
201. Novo Combo 202. Talisman 203. Device 204. Phenomena 205. Greg Lake 206. Lake 207. The Arrows 208. Paul Dean 209. New England 210. Valentine 211. Aviator 212. Erika 213. Eric Martin 214. Alien 215. Alexa 216. Judie Tzuke 217. Gregg Rolie 218. Margaret Becker 219. Grand Prix 220. DeGarmo & Key 221. G-Force 222. Keats 223. Boulevard 224. Joe Lamont 225. Romeo's Daughter 226. The Producers 227. Airplay 228. Barry Goudreau 229. Dan Lucas 230. Planet 3 231. Robby Valentine 232. Kane Roberts 233. Mastedon 234. Crown of Thorns 235. Arc Angel 236. Trillion 237. Jimi Jamison 238. Kerry Livgren / AD 239. Airrace 240. Santers 241. Tim Feehan 242. Only Child 243. Casanova 244. Robin George 245. Missouri 246. Zeno 247. Russ Taff 248. Joshua 249. Heartland 250. Fate
251. RPM 252. Teaze 253. Orphan 254. Lisa Hartman 255. Tobruk 256. Paul Laine 257. Michael Thompson Band 258. China Sky 259. Mitch Malloy 260. Skagarack 261. Beau Coup 262. Prophet 263. Alaska 264. Sweet Comfort Band 265. B.E. Taylor Group 266. Adrenalin 267. Return 268. Rik Emmett 269. Buck Dharma 270. Stingray 271. Stone Fury 272. Blue Tears 273. Martin Briley 274. Glass Moon 275. Cannata 276. Fandango 277. Piper 278. Stan Meissner 279. Lone Star 280. Jim Jidhed 281. Myles Goodwyn 282. Steve Lukather 283. From the Fire 284. Allies 285. Idle Cure 286. Fahrenheit 287. Wall of Silence 288. Jerusalem 289. Chrissy Steele 290. Steve Walsh 291. Roadmaster 292. Nantucket 293. Evenrude 294. Airkraft 295. Wrabit 296. Zon 297. Brian Spence 298. Da Vinci 299. Airborne 300. David Roberts
Honorable Mentions:
• Alpha Centauri • Aviary • Baby Grand • Craaft • Fotomaker • Glory • Robert Hart • Lionheart • Melidian • Nite City
• Nuclear Valdez • Preview • Raw Silk • Refugee • Riggs • Rio • Sugarcreek • Wiggy Bits • Wildlife • Ya Ya
Top 50 Artists Who Touched on the AOR/Melodic Rock Sound During the Classic Era of That Genre, but are Generally Better Classified as Something Else:
1. Van Halen 2. Queen 3. The Who 4. Deep Purple 5. Def Leppard 6. Rush 7. Bon Jovi 8. Genesis 9. Dire Straits 10. The Cars 11. Restless Heart 12. UFO 13. Grand Funk Railroad 14. Akina Nakamori 15. S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe 16. Kiss 17. Fleetwood Mac 18. Nazareth 19. Meat Loaf 20. Whitesnake 21. Status Quo 22. Huey Lewis and the News 23. Sammy Hagar 24. Bachman-Turner Overdrive 25. The Outfield
26. Manfred Mann's Earth Band 27. Y&T 28. The Alan Parsons Project 29. Stevie Nicks 30. Saxon 31. Wishbone Ash 32. The Tubes 33. David Lee Roth 34. Tygers of Pan Tang 35. Juice Newton 36. Rick Derringer 37. Dokken 38. Warrant 39. Winger 40. Lita Ford 41. White Lion 42. Vixen 43. Utopia 44. Damn Yankees 45. John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band 46. FireHouse 47. The Firm 48. King Kobra 49. TNT 50. Bonfire
