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

[Tony Cloninger]

Originally Posted by Revering4Blue

Spot on. Also, the preponderance of Modern/Alternative Rock stations and Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative--A mixture of Non-Rap/Bubble Gum Pop, Rock, and Alternative) Stations contributed the demise of traditional AOR Radio.

Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder, who actually received quite a bit of AOR airplay before the advent of Disco, would be relegated to Triple-A Rock stations today.

They had a Classic Rock station here in LA until about 3-4 years ago.......that thought Billy Joel's "Piano Man" was rock or playing Classical Gas every other hour was cool..... while turning down their noses when they read aloud about how "Born in the USA" was #2 to......Prince? "Let's Go Crazy" which rocked way more than Bruce's song. BUt it was the stereotypical Rock is white guys playing it with a message.... BS. Instead of playing some good rock....it was rock that your parent's ...parent's would have said it was ok to listen to with you.

[gilpdawg]

FWIW, I've always thought that the live version of that Maiden tune was the definitive version. The studio version is too plodding. The live version gives it new life. The legend goes that Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris butted heads about that song because Harris thought it should be faster so they compromised by doing Steve's version live. I guess Bruce was vindicated, since the studio version was their only radio hit in the States.

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by Revering4Blue

Spot on. Also, the preponderance of Modern/Alternative Rock stations and Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative--A mixture of Non-Rap/Bubble Gum Pop, Rock, and Alternative) Stations contributed the demise of traditional AOR Radio.

Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder, who actually received quite a bit of AOR airplay before the advent of Disco, would be relegated to Triple-A Rock stations today.

Actually, I wish we had a decent Modern/Alternative Station around here in Northeast Ohio. Right now, the slot is filled by 88.9 WSTB, which is a high school station with weak transmitter, so you can only really get it in Northern Summit and Portage Counties. Meanwhile, we've got a numerous classic rock stations, plenty of pop, hip-hop, and country stations, a few adult contemporary and a couple of christian stations. Alternative music is shockingly absent from Cleveland radio, despite being the home to Alternative Press magazine and Northeast Ohio being the birthplace of new wave-alt rock acts such as Devo, The Waitresses, Nine Inch Nails, the Black Keys, Marilyn Manson, Pere Ubu, Filter, Mark Foster of Foster the People, and a number of other acts I'm sure I'm forgetting. Cleveland and Akron have produced so many talented musicians from schools like Oberlin and Kent State that Cleveland could have easily been the music mecca that cities like Seattle and Portland have become, but unfortunately, the general lack of support from Cleveland and Akron radio stations forced a lot of these bands to seek their fortunes in other cities. The rule here is that, unless you're Chrissy Hynde, Joe Walsh or local hero/one-hit wonder elsewhere Michael Stanley, Cleveland radio doesn't know you.

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by gilpdawg

FWIW, I've always thought that the live version of that Maiden tune was the definitive version. The studio version is too plodding. The live version gives it new life. The legend goes that Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris butted heads about that song because Harris thought it should be faster so they compromised by doing Steve's version live. I guess Bruce was vindicated, since the studio version was their only radio hit in the States.

I've always been a big fan of Iron Maiden and felt they don't really get their due when it comes to airplay on the radio. I often wondered if it was because people really misunderstood "The Number of the Beast" and felt they were too "satanic." I've always felt they were one of the more intellectual metal acts from the 1980s, much more interesting than popular hair bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard and the like. But then again, maybe people just prefer songs about sex, booze and drugs rather than the story of Icarus and Daedelus, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Doomsday Clock, European Colonization of America, the Battle of Britain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

[Revering4Blue]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

I've always been a big fan of Iron Maiden and felt they don't really get their due when it comes to airplay on the radio. I often wondered if it was because people really misunderstood "The Number of the Beast" and felt they were too "satanic." I've always felt they were one of the more intellectual metal acts from the 1980s, much more interesting than popular hair bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard and the like. But then again, maybe people just prefer songs about sex, booze and drugs rather than the story of Icarus and Daedelus, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Doomsday Clock, European Colonization of America, the Battle of Britain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Unfortunately, I believe that many judged Iron Maiden unfairly based on the Album cover artwork. It is a shame.

As for airplay, I also recall Sanctuary and 2 Minutes To Midnight receiving significant airplay, as well. Surprisingly, Run To The Hills didn't chart on the Top Rock Tracks Chart at all, and no such chart existed when Sanctuary was released. The Wicker man clocked in at #19 and 2 Minutes to Midnight at #25.

[marcshoe]

Originally Posted by Yachtzee

I've always been a big fan of Iron Maiden and felt they don't really get their due when it comes to airplay on the radio. I often wondered if it was because people really misunderstood "The Number of the Beast" and felt they were too "satanic." I've always felt they were one of the more intellectual metal acts from the 1980s, much more interesting than popular hair bands like Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard and the like. But then again, maybe people just prefer songs about sex, booze and drugs rather than the story of Icarus and Daedelus, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Doomsday Clock, European Colonization of America, the Battle of Britain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

When I taught senior English a student brought in Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner and presented it to the class. Man, that's one long song.

[gilpdawg]

Originally Posted by tixe

When I taught senior English a student brought in Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner and presented it to the class. Man, that's one long song.

I did that too. Unless you were my senior English teacher.

[marcshoe]

Maybe. Your profile says you were born on 78, so uou would have been 31 at the time. That sounds about right for some of my classes.

[gilpdawg]

Originally Posted by tixe

Maybe. Your profile says you were born on 78, so uou would have been 31 at the time. That sounds about right for some of my classes.

Now that's funny.

[Yachtzee]

Originally Posted by tixe

When I taught senior English a student brought in Iron Maiden's Rime of the Ancient Mariner and presented it to the class. Man, that's one long song.

I think that's one of those songs a DJ might play if they needed a bathroom break. When I was a college DJ, our go-to song for bathroom breaks was the album version of the B-52's "Rock Lobster," clocking in at almost 7'. "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" would have given us time for a potty break, a snack and a smoke. But I didn't have the metal show.

We had a music class in middle school where Fridays were called "Music Appreciation Fridays." We were allowed to bring in our own music to play for the class. However, the teacher was a hard-core born-again Christian and forbade music from groups she deemed "satanic," which basically meant no heavy metal (she claimed metal bands used drum beats from African voodoo cults). Well, one of my classmates recorded Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" over a Barry Manilow cassette to play in class. He explained how the lyrics of the song referred to the struggle between Native Americans and European Colonists without mentioning the name of the band or the album (the teacher just said she wasn't familiar with that Manilow song). When she played it, she started flipping out after a few seconds and yanked the plug to the cassette deck out of the wall. The whole class ended up having a talk with the principal, where everyone had to explain the song and the fact that Iron Maiden wasn't any more "satanic" than the people who made the Exorcist or authors like Edgar Allen Poe or Dante. Needless to say, that was the end of Music Appreciation Fridays.

[Captain13]

Being born at the end of '74, I am too young to remember the golden age of AOR, you know AM radio. But the station that I would really like to hear, is one that would play anything "rock based". In my opinion, that could include pop, soul, heavy metal, classic rock, etc. Loosely, I believe rock based music is ampliphied and played with real instruments. It would include Prince, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Metallica, The White Stripes, Mumford and Son, Queen, Heart and many others. If I could create my own station it would be 20% current, 40% 2000-2011 and 40% everything else. Everything else would be mostly 1970-1999, but would include some of the better and more influencial bands from the 50's and 60's (ie Chuck Berry and The Beatles). I know a lot of young people would have trouble jumping genres and eras, but if this station was done correctly it would be very enjoyable and educational. I think at one point in the mid-80s WEBN may have been close to this format, but hair metal and then grunge changed everything.

[Revering4Blue]

This week's edition of Lost Rock Tracks Of The Week features radical departures in style from two exceptionally well known acts--though, the latter is a foray into traditional Rock from a 60's dance icon.

You'll not believe your ears.

Led Zeppelin - Hot Dog (1979)

As a 6th grader in the fall of '79, I remember how immensely popular the In Through The Out Door LP was. Little did we know that it would prove to be the band's last studio LP, as the unfortunate death of drummer John Bonham ultimately ended the band one year later.

While this song didn't receive as much AOR airplay as mainstays All My Love, Fool In The Rain or In The Evening--it still was in heavy rotation for a while. To say that this track is a change-of-pace is putting it mildly. It has a Country/Western feel to it and sounds like something straight out of a hoedown. Thus, it became sort of a cult favorite among Led Zep fans.

Led Zeppelin-Hot Dog - YouTube


Chubby Checker - Harder Than Diamond (1982)

Yes, it is the Chubby Checker, the one who popularized the Twist dance craze in the '60s. This was his only foray into Mainstream Rock--well, what was considered Mainstream at the time--and IMHO, he didn't embarrass himself at all. I, of course, was surprised to find out, at the time, that it was, in fact, Chubby Checker. I still believe that if the artist had not been, icon that he was/is, associated with a totally different style of music, that this song would have received even more AOR Rock airplay than it did. Even though it obviously was a radical departure in style for Chubby Checker, it certainly wasn't a radical departure from Mainstream Radio Rock at the time.

Chubby Checker - Harder Than Diamond - Friday Live! - YouTube

[Revering4Blue]

Originally Posted by Captain13

Being born at the end of '74, I am too young to remember the golden age of AOR, you know AM radio. But the station that I would really like to hear, is one that would play anything "rock based". In my opinion, that could include pop, soul, heavy metal, classic rock, etc. Loosely, I believe rock based music is ampliphied and played with real instruments. It would include Prince, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Metallica, The White Stripes, Mumford and Son, Queen, Heart and many others. If I could create my own station it would be 20% current, 40% 2000-2011 and 40% everything else. Everything else would be mostly 1970-1999, but would include some of the better and more influencial bands from the 50's and 60's (ie Chuck Berry and The Beatles). I know a lot of young people would have trouble jumping genres and eras, but if this station was done correctly it would be very enjoyable and educational. I think at one point in the mid-80s WEBN may have been close to this format, but hair metal and then grunge changed everything.

Real Rock Variety....What a concept!

You make some really good points.

[gilpdawg]

I don't like Hot Dog at all. I respect the fact that they tried something out of the box though.

[camisadelgolf]

Music is as good as ever, but you might never know that. This is what happens when you let corporations take control. They're turning art into business, and music-listeners are the victims. Fight back.