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: 2022-03-21
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. Asia 18. Night Ranger 19. Cheap Trick (1983-1991 output) 20. Kansas (1980-1988 output) 21. .38 Special 22. Kenny Loggins (1980-1988 output) 23. Peter Frampton 24. Bad Company (1986-1993 output) 25. Rainbow (1979-1986 output) 26. Blue Öyster Cult (1977-1985 output) 27. Cher (1982-1992 output) 28. Michael Bolton (1983-1989 output) 29. Europe 30. Triumph 31. Bonnie Tyler (1983-1991 output) 32. April Wine 33. Rick Springfield 34. Yes (1983-1991 output) 35. Roger Daltrey (1980-1992 output) 36. John Farnham (1986-1991 output) 37. Jimmy Barnes 38. Corey Hart 39. John Waite 40. Petra 41. Richard Marx 42. The Babys 43. Donnie Iris 44. Honeymoon Suite 45. Red Rider 46. Kim Mitchell 47. Aldo Nova 48. Trooper 49. Bad English 50. Glass Tiger
51. Lou Gramm 52. Steve Perry 53. Mike + the Mechanics 54. Saga 55. Harlequin 56. Mr. Mister 57. Magnum 58. Peter Cetera 59. Head East 60. Cutting Crew 61. Prism 62. Alannah Myles 63. The Johnny Van Zant Band / Johnny Van Zant 64. Chilliwack (1978-1984 output) 65. Uriah Heep (1978-1991 output) 66. Nelson 67. Little River Band (1983-1990 output) 68. John Parr 69. Zebra 70. Platinum Blonde 71. Gowan 72. Tommy Shaw 73. Russ Ballard 74. Robin Beck 75. Quarterflash 76. Harem Scarem 77. Benny Mardones 78. Tony Carey 79. Giant 80. Angel 81. FM 82. Scandal 83. Sheriff 84. Giuffria 85. Toronto 86. Autograph 87. Frozen Ghost 88. Dennis DeYoung 89. Streetheart 90. Axe 91. Le Roux 92. Icon 93. Michael Stanley Band 94. GTR 95. Shooting Star 96. Streets 97. White Sister 98. Strangeways 99. Henry Lee Summer 100. Paul Janz
Journey
Boston
Foreigner
Styx
REO Speedwagon
Toto
101. Praying Mantis 102. Alias 103. Noiseworks 104. Jon Butcher 105. House of Lords 106. Patty Smyth 107. Southern Sons 108. Trevor Rabin 109. Franke and the Knockouts 110. Joe Lynn Turner 111. Planet P Project 112. Sherbet (1976-1979 output) / Sherbs 113. I-Ten 114. Mark Free / Marcie Free 115. Sad Café 116. Daryl Braithwaite 117. Gamma 118. Coney Hatch 119. Sniff 'n' the Tears 120. Jude Cole 121. Ian Thomas 122. Andy Taylor 123. Stan Bush 124. Max Webster 125. 1927 126. Blackfoot (1983-1990 output) 127. Sharon O'Neill 128. RTZ 129. Danger Danger 130. Desmond Child 131. Fiona 132. Tyketto 133. Unruly Child 134. Duke Jupiter 135. Spider 136. Charlie 137. The Law 138. Roxus 139. Benjamin Orr 140. Lee Aaron 141. Ted Nugent (1982-1988 output) 142. Saraya 143. City Boy 144. Doucette 145. Orion the Hunter 146. Haywire 147. Hardline 148. Signal 149. Shadow King 150. Fortune
151. Michael Morales 152. Dakota 153. Touch 154. Red Dawn 155. Jean Beauvoir 156. Dare 157. Shy 158. The Storm 159. Tone Norum 160. David Foster 161. Witness 162. Fair Warning 163. Treat 164. Dominoe 165. Danny Spanos 166. Voyager 167. John Hall Band 168. Steel Breeze 169. Mick Jones 170. Robert Tepper 171. 707 172. Van Zant (1985 output) 173. Marilyn Martin 174. White Heart 175. Balance 176. Stage Dolls 177. Headpins 178. Hughes / Thrall 179. Robin Zander 180. Legs Diamond 181. Jeff Paris 182. Sabu 183. Zinatra 184. Taxxi 185. Tycoon 186. Greg Guidry 187. Blackjack 188. Billy Satellite 189. Virginia Wolf 190. Cobra 191. Stabilizers 192. Van Stephenson 193. Spys 194. Diving for Pearls 195. Drive, She Said 196. Novo Combo 197. Talisman 198. Device 199. Phenomena 200. Greg Lake
201. Lake 202. The Arrows 203. Paul Dean 204. New England 205. Valentine 206. Aviator 207. Erika 208. Eric Martin 209. Alien 210. Alexa 211. Gregg Rolie 212. Margaret Becker 213. Grand Prix 214. DeGarmo & Key 215. G-Force 216. Keats 217. Boulevard 218. Joe Lamont 219. Romeo's Daughter 220. Airplay 221. Barry Goudreau 222. Dan Lucas 223. Planet 3 224. Robby Valentine 225. Kane Roberts 226. Mastedon 227. Crown of Thorns 228. Arc Angel 229. Trillion 230. Jimi Jamison 231. Kerry Livgren / AD 232. Airrace 233. Santers 234. Tim Feehan 235. Only Child 236. Casanova 237. Robin George 238. Missouri 239. Zeno 240. Russ Taff 241. Joshua 242. Heartland 243. Fate 244. RPM 245. Orphan 246. Lisa Hartman 247. Tobruk 248. Paul Laine 249. Michael Thompson Band 250. China Sky
251. Mitch Malloy 252. Skagarack 253. Beau Coup 254. Prophet 255. Alaska 256. Sweet Comfort Band 257. B.E. Taylor Group 258. Adrenalin 259. Return 260. Rik Emmett 261. Stingray 262. Stone Fury 263. Blue Tears 264. Martin Briley 265. Glass Moon 266. Cannata 267. Fandango 268. Piper 269. Stan Meissner 270. Lone Star 271. Jim Jidhed 272. Myles Goodwyn 273. From the Fire 274. Allies 275. Idle Cure 276. Fahrenheit 277. Wall of Silence 278. Jerusalem 279. Chrissy Steele 280. Steve Walsh 281. Roadmaster 282. Evenrude 283. Airkraft 284. Wrabit 285. Zon 286. Brian Spence 287. Da Vinci 288. Airborne 289. David Roberts 290. Robert Hart 291. Sugarcreek 292. Rio 293. Refugee 294. Glory 295. Aviary 296. Melidian 297. Raw Silk 298. Riggs 299. Wiggy Bits 300. Wildlife
Top 25 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. Deep Purple 3. Def Leppard 4. Rush 5. Bon Jovi 6. Genesis 7. Dire Straits 8. UFO 9. Meat Loaf 10. Whitesnake 11. Huey Lewis and the News 12. Sammy Hagar 13. The Outfield
14. Y&T 15. Stevie Nicks 16. The Tubes 17. David Lee Roth 18. Dokken 19. Warrant 20. Winger 21. White Lion 22. Vixen 23. Damn Yankees 24. FireHouse 25. King Kobra
