AS90030 V2

Album-Orientated Rock

Originally designed to describe a radio format that emphasises various album tracks rather than hit singles only. When broadcasters began to apply structured formatic techniques to the co-called “free form” underground radio of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, the result was the more commercial and more profitable album-orientated rock. The format became even more restrictive, scrapping the various-album-tracks approach in favour of concentrating airplay on one “emphasis track” at a time from an album, and the term album-orientated rock was replaced in the ‘90s by “rock” or “rock tracks.”

Album-orientated rock has also come to describe a certain style of rock, usually the mainstream or “corporate” brand as opposed to more extreme styles. A caution – British writers frequently interpret the acronym to stand for “Adult-Oriented Rock,” and thus misuse album-orientated rock to describe pop artists whom Americans would more commonly describe as “adult contemporary” or even “middle of the road.”

Music Television
The first full-time music video network on cable television, signed on in the United States in 1981. Music television immediately made the visual image of an artist as important as the music itself, resulting in huge success for groups that were telegenic enough to appeal to viewers. Duran Duran, Culture Club and George Michael were some of the first performers to feel the impact of music television on their careers. In the long run, videos became an essential promotional tool for virtually all rock artists, and many artists embraced video as another avenue for artistic expression.

Detractors, however, say that pervasiveness of music videos means that listeners no longer conjure up their own images when listening to songs; the images have already been conjured for them, eliminating the pleasure – and responsibility – of using one’s imaginations.

Source © 1996 Microsoft Music Corporation and/or its suppliers.

(still can not put pictures in)