Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

AOR

Music business merchandising term, originally FM radio in USA: 'Album Oriented Rock', 'Album Oriented Radio', then 'Adult Oriented Rock'. A good idea in early '70s when 'progressive' rock was 'underground' music; playing longer cuts from LPs was a move away from singles mentality at a time when more LPs were being sold and singles were less important. But it soon became a formula, sold by consultants to stations that couldn't do it themselves; now regarded as boring because pop music has acquired sameness, but also because FM radio has reached big commercial success: disc jockeys are not allowed to exercise personal choice, which is where we started from. Now stands for 'All Over the Road' (or same as MOR, 'middle of the road', another merchandising term).