127 - Raised On Radio - Power Ballads, Cocaine & Payola: The AOR Glory Years 1976-1986 with Paul Rees

This week we take a deep dive into the AOR scene of the 1980s, re-appraising some often overlooked bands & music.

We start with the story of Boston, where an MIT graduate named Tom Scholz spends 7 years practicing & making demos before coming up with ‘More Than a Feeling’ & achieving huge success.

Meanwhile Ann & Nancy Wilson form the female fronted band Heart - scoring several number 1 singles.

Journey are put together in a different way, assembled by manager Herbie Herbert. Initially there is resistance from the existing band embers when Herbert brings in lead singer Steve Perry, finding him working on a turkey far in California. But that stance softens once commercial success appears.

Meanwhile in the midwest of the US bands such as REO Speedwagon & Styx are forging their own path based largely on work ethic - playing a lot of gigs & building a local following.

Toto come together via the Los Angeles session musician scene & have previously played on Michael Jackson’s Thriller amongst hundreds of sessions.

The producers are significant part of AOR, specifically Mutt Lange who brings Def Leppard to prominence & is instrumental in Foreigner’s huge fourth album.

Bands like Van Halen & Bon Jovi are on the periphery but manage to sustain their success beyond some of the others as the scene fades once drugs, changing fashions, song doctors & a well worn formula bring one end to the glory days of AOR.

In 2007 David Chase chooses ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ to close the final episode of The Sopranos, opening the song & the genre open t a whole new audience. As of today the track has 2.9 billion streams on Spotify.

Toto also find a new audience via the track Africa appearing in Stranger Things.

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Music by Andy Maxwell

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