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: 2024-01-02
Newly added names are in Red
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. .38 Special 22. Kenny Loggins (1980-1988 output) 23. Peter Frampton 24. Kansas (1980-1988 output) 25. Bad Company (1986-1993 output) 26. Richard Marx 27. Rainbow (1979-1986 output) 28. Blue Öyster Cult (1977-1985 output) 29. Cher (1982-1992 output) 30. Michael Bolton (1983-1989 output) 31. Europe 32. Triumph 33. Bonnie Tyler (1983-1991 output) 34. April Wine 35. Yes (1983-1991 output) 36. Roger Daltrey (1980-1992 output) 37. John Farnham (1984-1991 output) 38. Jimmy Barnes 39. Corey Hart 40. John Waite 41. Petra 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
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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.Cellarful of Noise 200. Diving for Pearls
201. Drive, She Said 202. Novo Combo 203. Talisman 204. Device 205. Phenomena 206. Greg Lake 207. Lake 208. The Arrows 209. Paul Dean 210. New England 211. Valentine 212. Aviator 213. Erika 214. Eric Martin 215. Alien 216. Alexa 217. Judie Tzuke 218. Gregg Rolie 219. Margaret Becker 220. Grand Prix 221. DeGarmo & Key 222.Black Rose 223. G-Force 224. Keats 225. Boulevard 226. Joe Lamont 227. Romeo's Daughter 228. The Producers 229. Airplay 230. Barry Goudreau 231. Dan Lucas 232. Planet 3 233. Robby Valentine 234. Kane Roberts 235. Mastedon 236. Crown of Thorns 237. Arc Angel 238. Trillion 239. Jimi Jamison 240. Kerry Livgren / AD 241. Airrace 242. Santers 243. Tim Feehan 244. Only Child 245. Casanova 246. Robin George 247. Missouri 248. Zeno 249. Russ Taff 250. Joshua 251. Heartland 252. Fate 253. RPM 254. Teaze 255. Orphan 256. Lisa Hartman 257. Tobruk 258. Paul Laine 259. Michael Thompson Band 260. China Sky 261. Mitch Malloy 262. Skagarack 263. Beau Coup 264. Prophet 265. Alaska 266. Sweet Comfort Band 267. B.E. Taylor Group 268. Adrenalin 269. Return 270. Rik Emmett 271. Buck Dharma 272. Stingray 273. Stone Fury 274. Blue Tears 275. Martin Briley 276. Glass Moon 277. Cannata 278.The Innocent 279. Fandango 280. Piper 281. Stan Meissner 282. Lone Star 283. Jim Jidhed 284. Myles Goodwyn 285. Steve Lukather 286. From the Fire 287. Allies 288. Idle Cure 289. Fahrenheit 290. Wall of Silence 291. Jerusalem 292. Chrissy Steele 293. Steve Walsh 294. Roadmaster 295. Nantucket 296. Evenrude 297. Airkraft 298. Wrabit 299. Zon 300. Brian Spence
Honorable Mentions:
• Airborne • Alpha Centauri • Aviary • Baby Grand • Craaft • Da Vinci • Fotomaker • Glory • Robert Hart • Lionheart •Mayday • Melidian • Nite City • Nuclear Valdez • Preview • Raw Silk • Refugee •Richrath • Riggs • Rio • David Roberts • Sugarcreek / The Creek • Wiggy Bits • Wildlife • Ya Ya
Top 60 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.Bruce Springsteen 12. Restless Heart 13. UFO 14. Grand Funk Railroad 15. Akina Nakamori 16. S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe 17. Kiss 18. Fleetwood Mac 19. Nazareth 20. Meat Loaf 21. Whitesnake 22. Status Quo 23. Huey Lewis and the News 24. Sammy Hagar 25.Robert Palmer 26. Bachman-Turner Overdrive 27. The Outfield 28. Manfred Mann's Earth Band 29. Y&T 30. The Alan Parsons Project 31. Stevie Nicks 32.Ambrosia 33. Saxon 34. Wishbone Ash 35. The Tubes 36. David Lee Roth 37.The Gregg Allman Band 38. Tygers of Pan Tang 39. Juice Newton 40.The Power Station 41. Rick Derringer 42. Dokken 43. Warrant 44.Player 45. Winger 46. Lita Ford 47. White Lion 48. Vixen 49. Utopia 50. Damn Yankees 51. John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band 52.Vandenberg 53. FireHouse 54. The Firm 55.McAuley Schenker Group 56. King Kobra 57.Lucifer's Friend 58.Point Blank 59. TNT 60. Bonfire