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: 2024-06-17
Newly added names are in Red
AOR/Melodic Rock Artists
Journey
Boston
Foreigner
Styx
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. Peter Frampton 19. Asia 20. .38 Special 21. Night Ranger 22. Cheap Trick (1983-1991 output) 23. Kenny Loggins (1980-1988 output) 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
101. Paul Janz 102. Praying Mantis 103. Alias 104. Noiseworks 105. Jon Butcher 106. House of Lords 107. Patty Smyth 108.Boy Meets Girl 109. Southern Sons 110. Ian Moss 111. Trevor Rabin 112. Franke and the Knockouts 113. Joe Lynn Turner 114. Planet P Project 115. Sherbet (1976-1979 output) / Sherbs 116. I-Ten 117. Mark Free / Marcie Free 118. Sad Café 119. Daryl Braithwaite 120. Gamma 121. Coney Hatch 122. Sniff 'n' the Tears 123. Jude Cole 124. Ian Thomas 125. Andy Taylor 126. Stan Bush 127. Max Webster 128. 1927 129. Blackfoot (1983-1990 output) 130. Sharon O'Neill 131. RTZ 132. Danger Danger 133. Desmond Child 134. Fiona 135. Tyketto 136. Unruly Child 137. Duke Jupiter 138. Spider 139. Charlie 140. The Law 141. Roxus 142. Benjamin Orr 143. Lee Aaron 144. Ted Nugent (1982-1988 output) 145. Saraya 146. City Boy 147. Doucette 148. Orion the Hunter 149. Haywire 150. Hardline
151. Signal 152. Shadow King 153. Fortune 154. Michael Morales 155. Dakota 156. Touch 157. Red Dawn 158. Paul Carrack 159. Jean Beauvoir 160. Dare 161. Shy 162. The Storm 163. Opús 164. Tone Norum 165. David Foster 166. Witness 167. Fair Warning 168. Treat 169. Dominoe 170. Danny Spanos 171. Voyager 172. John Hall Band 173. Steel Breeze 174. Mick Jones 175. Robert Tepper 176. 707 177. Van Zant (1985 output) 178. Marilyn Martin 179. White Heart 180. Balance 181. Stage Dolls 182. Headpins 183.Tané Cain 184. Hughes / Thrall 185. Robin Zander 186. Legs Diamond 187. Jeff Paris 188. Sabu 189. Zinatra 190. Taxxi 191. Tycoon 192. Greg Guidry 193. Blackjack 194. Billy Satellite 195. Eddie Schwartz 196. Virginia Wolf 197. Cobra 198. Stabilizers 199. Van Stephenson 200. Spys
201. Cellarful of Noise 202. Diving for Pearls 203. Drive, She Said 204. Novo Combo 205. Talisman 206. Device 207. Phenomena 208. Greg Lake 209. Lake 210. The Arrows 211. Paul Dean 212. New England 213. Valentine 214. Aviator 215. Erika 216. Eric Martin 217. Alien 218. Alexa 219.Glen Burtnik 220. Judie Tzuke 221. Gregg Rolie 222. Margaret Becker 223. Grand Prix 224. DeGarmo & Key 225. Black Rose 226. G-Force 227. Keats 228. Boulevard 229. Joe Lamont 230. Romeo's Daughter 231. The Producers 232. Airplay 233. Barry Goudreau 234. Dan Lucas 235. Planet 3 236. Robby Valentine 237. Kane Roberts 238. Mastedon 239. Crown of Thorns 240. Arc Angel 241. Trillion 242. Jimi Jamison 243. Kerry Livgren / AD 244. Airrace 245. Santers 246. Tim Feehan 247. Only Child 248. Casanova 249. Robin George 250. Missouri
251. Zeno 252. Russ Taff 253. Joshua 254. Heartland 255. Fate 256. RPM 257. Teaze 258. Orphan 259. Lisa Hartman 260. Tobruk 261. Paul Laine 262. Michael Thompson Band 263. China Sky 264. Mitch Malloy 265. Skagarack 266. Beau Coup 267. Prophet 268. Alaska 269. Sweet Comfort Band 270. B.E. Taylor Group 271. Adrenalin 272. Return 273. Rik Emmett 274. Buck Dharma 275. Stingray 276. Stone Fury 277. Blue Tears 278. Martin Briley 279. Glass Moon 280. Cannata 281. The Innocent 282. Fandango 283. Piper 284. Stan Meissner 285. Lone Star 286. Jim Jidhed 287. Myles Goodwyn 288. Steve Lukather 289. From the Fire 290. Allies 291. Idle Cure 292. Fahrenheit 293. Wall of Silence 294. Jerusalem 295. Chrissy Steele 296. Steve Walsh 297. Roadmaster 298.Hybrid Ice 299. Nantucket 300.Urgent
Honorable Mentions:
• Airborne • Airkraft • Alpha Centauri • Aviary • Baby Grand • Brian Spence • Craaft • Da Vinci • Evenrude • 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 • Wrabit • Ya Ya • Zon
Top 75 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.Belinda Carlisle 25. Sammy Hagar 26. Robert Palmer 27.Laura Branigan 28. Bachman-Turner Overdrive 29. The Outfield 30. Manfred Mann's Earth Band 31. Y&T 32. The Alan Parsons Project 33. Stevie Nicks 34. Ambrosia 35. Saxon 36. Wishbone Ash 37. The Tubes 38. David Lee Roth
39.Jennifer Rush 40.Christopher Cross 41. The Gregg Allman Band 42. Tygers of Pan Tang 43. Juice Newton 44.Helloween 45.Pablo Cruise 46. The Power Station 47. Rick Derringer 48. Dokken 49. Warrant 50. Player 51. Winger 52. Lita Ford 53. White Lion 54. Vixen 55.Starz 56.Gentle Giant 57. Utopia 58. Damn Yankees 59. John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band 60. Vandenberg 61. FireHouse 62.It Bites 63. The Firm 64. McAuley Schenker Group 65. King Kobra 66. Lucifer's Friend 67.Starcastle 68. Point Blank 69.HSAS 70. TNT 71. Bonfire 72.Hurricane 73.220 Volt 74.Doc Holliday 75.Target
Journey
Boston
Foreigner
Styx