(Finished August 14th, 2026) Part 2 of The Best of Album Oriented Rock: 1976 to 1986

Hello,

Paul Rees’ music history book “Power Ballads, Cocaine, and Payola Raised On Radio 1976-1986 The AOR Glory Years” was released a few months ago.

AOR stands for album oriented rock. What bands would be included in this genre? Musicians included in AOR include- in almost alphabetical order- Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Asia, Pat Benatar, Berlin, Bon Jovi, Boston, Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, Dire Straits, Lita Ford, Foreigner, Genesis, Heart, Honeymoon Suite, Kansas, Kiss, Lou Gramm, Kenny Loggins, Loverboy, Eddie Money, Steve Perry, Robert Plant, Night Ranger, The Police, Prism, Quarterflash, Starship, Survivor, Tommy Shaw, Toto, Bonnie Tyler, Van Halen and other bands.

I think the dividing line between AOR and Hair Metal is pretty clear although I can’t quite point out that line. Some bands have songs that are both AOR and Hair Metal. The book mentioned covers 1976 to 1986, but I’m not going to stick strictly to that period of time. If a song fits and its within a year or two of 1976 to 1986 I’ll include it here.

I also realized reading this book how much I loved this era of music and all those great AOR songs.

18) Journey “Lay It Down”:

Still sounding great and hitting the spot about 50 years of it’s original release. 19) Boston “More Than A Feeling”:

20) REO Speedwagon “Keep Pushin’”:

21) Loverboy “Turn Me Loose”:

22) Steve Perry “Oh Sherrie”:

23) Aldo Nova “Fantasy”:

24) Bryan Adams “Straight From The Heart”:

25) Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear The Reaper”:

26) Billy Squier “Everybody Wants You”:

27) Europe “Final Countdown”:

28) Quarterflash “Harden My Heart”:

29) The Cars “My Best Friend’s Girl”:

30) Dire Straits “Sultans of Swing”:

31) Stevie Nicks and Don Henley “Leather and Lace”:

32) The Doobie Brothers “Takin’ It To The Streets”:

33) Tom Petty “American GIrl”:

34) Genesis “Follow You Follow Me”:

themusicaddict