Aor Album Oriented Rock

Album-Oriented Rock, or AOR, emerged in the early 1970s in the United States, when radio stations realised that listeners might prefer a full album's worth of epic jams over two-and-a-half minutes of sugar-coated pop. Characterised by lush production, guitar solos, and lyrics that often explore existential dread or romance, it sounds like a soundtrack to an extremely dramatic road trip, complete with emotional cliffhangers. It's no wonder AOR heads still relish the concept of vinyl, as if the slightly warped records somehow make the angst more authentic.