Album Oriented Rock (AOR)--A dying radio format.

[Revering4Blue]

This is the day of the expanding man...

Great sig. I never tire of "Deacon Blues" or Steely Dan, for that matter.

[Revering4Blue]

In this expanded edition of lost rock radio tracks, even though the tracks have disappeared from rock radio, the featured artists are legendary, Therefore, no commentary is necessary. Without further adieu....

Eric Clapton - Ain't Going Down (1983)
Album: Money And Cigarettes



Eric Clapton - Behind The Mask (1987)
Album: August



George Harrison - Blow Away (1979)
Album: George Harrison



George Harrison - Devil's Radio (1987)
Album: Cloud Nine



Elton John - Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding (1973)
Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road



Elton John - Goodbye Marlon Brando (1988)
Album: Reg Strikes Back



We'll do this again in two weeks with at least three tracks.

Adieu from R4Blue.

[marcshoe]

I tend to have all three of those George Harrison tracks in and out of my playlist.

[Revering4Blue]

I tend to have all three of those George Harrison tracks in and out of my playlist.

I figured that some would recall one of the Harrison tracks, but not both. "Devil's Radio" was/is frighteningly prophetic about the oncoming information age. George Harrison was just one of many rockers with careers resurrected by Jeff Lynne's production. I love the Cloud Nine album, and, if I'm not mistaken, Eric Clapton plays guitar on several tracks, including the one that I posted.

[marcshoe]

I'm not sure why I said all three. Some strange switch flipped in my head and played "All those years ago" or "Wreck of the Hesperus" I think.

[Revering4Blue]

If you're ever going to hear the following artists on classic rock radio today, you will only hear the crossover hits, and in the case of one act, that amounts to only one song. To that end, I'll throw the following former AOR hits out there in the event that you'll remember at least some of them, as they were all well-known artists at one time.

Asia - Sole Survivor (1982)
Album - Asia



Asia - Go (1985)
Album - Astra



Big Country - Look Away (1986)
Album - The Seer



Big Country - King Of Emotion (1988)
Album - Peace In Our Time



RIP, Stuart Adamson.

Men At Work - Be Good Johnny (1983)
Album - Business As Usual



Men At Work - High Wire (1983)
Album - Cargo



RIP, Greg Ham.


Note: The only track to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart was Asia's "Go" and it didn't fare well there. Nevertheless, all aforementioned tracks were as popular on AOR radio - in some cases, more popular - than the Rock/Pop crossover hits.

Due to the constraints of school - I recently began embarking upon a Cyber Security degree as a 47 year old - I haven't been able to post entries in a timely manner, but will whenever I get a chance.

Adieu from R4Blue.

[marcshoe]

I hadn't heard that Greg Ham died. That's depressing. I was living in Sydney when Men at Work hit, then the same songs were hits here as soon as I came back. Colin Hay and Greg Ham were constant promotional presences in those days.

fwiw, Be Good Johnny got a bit more airplay there than here.

Edit--I looked it up and saw that he died three years ago. I had no idea.

[Revering4Blue]

Out of all three artists in this entry - coincidentally, all peaked in popularity in the United States in the year 1983 - I'm still, over thirty years later, the most baffled by the short shelf life of Men At Work because their first two albums contained all key components for sustained impact on not only AOR radio but also Top 40 pop radio, which was almost required for sustained U.S success in the pre-digital era.

It's really not that surprising that Asia and Big Country couldn't sustain success here, mostly due to lack of support from Pop radio: Asia had a tough time making in a dent on pop radio, too following the resounding crossover success of "Heat Of The Moment" "Only Time Will Tell" and "Don't Cry." And, in the opinion of many, Big Country was dismissed as somewhat of a novelty act due to the band's name included within the title of the band's biggest hit here. Theoretically, Men At Work would not have had to face obstacles such as Asia and Big Country, but, IMO, three factors led to their fleeting success here:

1)Miss-handling by Columbia Records, the band's record label.

Apparently, the follow album to Business As Usual, Cargo, was delayed in release here due to the success of Business As Usual. My question is why wasn't the success of Business As Usual milked even further by releasing "Be Good Johnny" as a single here? It actually received a decent amount of pop airplay here, anyway. "Underground," the fourth AOR hit from the album here also had hit potential. Cargo, too, was mishandled. "High Wire" would have been a much better choice as a third single than the hokey "Dr. Heckyl And Mr. Jive." Actually, on both albums, several tracks jumped out at me as possessing hit - both Rock and Pop- potential. Had the successes of both LPs been spread out for a longer period of time, the second issue wouldn't have been so significant.

2)Long layoff (Band Hiatus) killed momentum.

Not much to elaborate with here, but two band members quit during the time and the band was reduced to a duo of Colin Hay and Greg Ham and didn't release another album until the Spring of '85.

3)The new album, Two Hearts, sounded nothing like the first two albums.

The witty lyrics, reggae-influenced hooks...gone, replaced with, frankly, quasi-Lite FM material for the most part. No single made the Top 40 and only one, "Everything I Need" received moderate-to-heavy AOR radio rotation. The band broke up shortly thereafter.

And, of course, there was the Grammy for best new artist curse, too. It's a shame, and still baffling, that the band died out commercially here so quickly, particularly when their influence on other bands - The Dave Matthews Band, for one - is apparent. Men At Work could have been a factor for a long time.

[marcshoe]

I heard an interview with members of INXS in the nineties in which they said that Men at Work achieved success too fast, that they were a new band that wasn't even sure what they wanted to be, and this led to their downfall. I also remember hearing an interview with Hay and Ham in Sydney, after Business had been out for a while. The host asked about their second album and they gave completely non-serious answers, saying that they were each going into the studio alone and laying down part of a track without listening to what any of the others had done, and it could be good, or it could be terrible. I've always wondered whether they gave a silly answer because they had no real idea what their new album would sound like.

Then again, they could just have not been able to take all the Vegemite sandwiches people were giving them. I know I wouldn't be able to handle that.

btw, I love Colin Hay's acoustic version of Overkill and keep it on high rotation.

[Simon Rhymon]

How about Little Feat..

[RichRed]

I heard an interview with members of INXS in the nineties in which they said that Men at Work achieved success too fast, that they were a new band that wasn't even sure what they wanted to be, and this led to their downfall. I also remember hearing an interview with Hay and Ham in Sydney, after Business had been out for a while. The host asked about their second album and they gave completely non-serious answers, saying that they were each going into the studio alone and laying down part of a track without listening to what any of the others had done, and it could be good, or it could be terrible. I've always wondered whether they gave a silly answer because they had no real idea what their new album would sound like.

Then again, they could just have not been able to take all the Vegemite sandwiches people were giving them. I know I wouldn't be able to handle that.

btw, I love Colin Hay's acoustic version of Overkill and keep it on high rotation.

Whether it's intentional or not, I love the irony of an understated version of a song called "Overkill". It also happens to be beautifully done.

[Revering4Blue]

Whether it's intentional or not, I love the irony of an understated version of a song called "Overkill". It also happens to be beautifully done.

It's every bit as powerful as the original and really captures the spirit of it, especially the final verse in a higher key. "Overkill" just happens to be my favorite Men At Work single. In fact - and this may turn into fighting words - I'd rate the singles in this order:

1)Overkill

2)It's A Mistake

3)Who Can It Be Now?

4)Down Under

5)Dr. Heckyl And Mr. Jive

I still believe that "Underground," "Be Good Johnny" and "High Wire" should have been released as singles.

[RichRed]

It's every bit as powerful as the original and really captures the spirit of it, especially the final verse in a higher key. "Overkill" just happens to be my favorite Men At Work single. In fact - and this may turn into fighting words - I'd rate the singles in this order:

1)Overkill

2)It's A Mistake

3)Who Can It Be Now?

4)Down Under

5)Dr. Heckyl And Mr. Jive

I still believe that "Underground," "Be Good Johnny" and "High Wire" should have been released as singles.

I listened to "Be Good Johnny" so many times on the record album, it felt to me - and probably to my parents - like it was released as a single. I wore that one out.

[Revering4Blue]

I listened to "Be Good Johnny" so many times on the record album, it felt to me - and probably to my parents - like it was released as a single. I wore that one out.

Didn't we all. It was all over radio in both AOR and Pop formats. It probably equated with a top 10 pop hit based on airplay alone. But, in those days, only physical singles charted on the top 100. It did, however, peak at #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks. The video was in high MTV rotation, too. Side-note: Both Colin Hay and Greg Ham provided voices for the characters in the song.

[Revering4Blue]

[QUOTEHow about Little Feat..][/QUOTE]

They were literally left for dead following the untimely death of Lowell George in '79, just before "Down On The Farm" was all over AOR radio, but had a nice little resurgence in popularity there in the late 80's early 90's with Craig Fuller, former founding member - He sang "Amie" - of Pure Prairie League, as frontman. Said resurgence forced the hand of AOR radio to revisit their catalog at that time.