Can somebody please explain to me why AOR/MHR material is not as popular in the US as it once was? I'm from the States, and it's comforting to hear that AOR/MHR is still popular overseas, but it's barely holding on here stateside, and it really pisses me off. I hate to generalize, but it seems that the US population seems to go for the "flavor of the day" (i.e. Britney, N' Suck, etc.), because MTV is overloading that crap on our TV's, thereby overloading it on radio as well. I realize there's still a huge US fanbase for AOR/MHR material (thank God), but why is it that the overseas markets like Japan and Europe support this genre more than the US? I'll bet there are more markets around the world that support AOR/MHR material (let me know- I'm curious!!), but the fact that the US doesn't support this style of music as much doesn't make sense to me. Two theories of mine: A) In regards to Japan: In the mid (to late) '70's, Cheap Trick's "Live at Budokan" was one of the best-selling albums for the band (if not *the* best-selling album). Before that album came out, CT was having a rough time trying to "break the barrier" after several albums, but once the "Budokan" album came out, everybody around the world (including the US) started to take notice, once they realized how much reaction the band was getting overseas. That was the breakthrough they needed- thanks to the Japanese fans. B) In regards to Europe: In the early '80's, Dokken couldn't get a label deal to save their lives in the US (and they were from Los Angeles- a hotbed of musical talent in the early to mid 80's). Frustrated, the band decided to record and tour in Europe, since they couldn't get the support stateside. As soon as the labels realized that there was a buzz about the band overseas, Elektra picked them up instantly- thanks to the European fans. Bottom line of my theories: The European and Japanese fans know their shit about music, and the US labels screw around and wait for the "next big thing", while they're watching MTV. I don't understand... Okay, I'm ranting here, but I would love to know what everybody has to say about this topic. Sorry about the long post. I'm not trying to make the "Longest Post of the Month" here, but I wanted to make a point. Thanks.http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,121#msg-121Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:55:54 +1000 Phorum 5.2.16 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,163#msg-163 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,163#msg-163

Susumu wrote:
-------------------------------
Hi, I am glad that this sort of topic is raised by melodic rock fans in the U.S.

The difference between U.S. and the rest of the world I believe is that U.S. is so wide in area and so varied in music taste unless strong force such as radio network and music label do something you have no way of knowing the artist exists at all. Ordionary music fans in the U.S. may not even know such things as melodic rock. Unfortunately both lost dominance in the 90s and visual media took over and the music style depended so much on both media lost popularity as well.

But I am hopeful that melodic rock will return to the U.S. If you do not believe me just take a look at amazon. com and search for Journey. Journey's Greatest Hit
is ranked between 200 to 600 in amazon.com sales rank. What is more important is who are buying this. College students. Given more knowledge they will be led to what they really want such as ,say, Heartland, Harem Scarem, or Ten. Maybe they get interested in sales ....]]> CR NoticeboardSat, 15 Apr 2000 17:21:58 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,140#msg-140 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,140#msg-140
c dog wrote:
-------------------------------
Can somebody please explain to me why AOR/MHR material is not as popular in the US as it once was?

I'm from the States, and it's comforting to hear that AOR/MHR is still popular overseas, but it's barely holding on here stateside, and it really pisses me off. I hate to generalize, but it seems that the US population seems to go for the "flavor of the day" (i.e. Britney, N' Suck, etc.), because MTV is overloading that crap on our TV's, thereby overloading it on radio as well.

I realize there's still a huge US fanbase for AOR/MHR material (thank God), but why is it that the overseas markets like Japan and Europe support this genre more than the US? I'll bet there are more markets around the world that support AOR/MHR material (let me know- I'm curious!!), but the fact that the US doesn't support this style of music as much doesn't make sense to me.


What it kinda boils down to is the rush to sign everybody in the late 80s based on looks rather than musical talent. Bands that shouldn't have gotten a deal did, and as a result, you had a market overflowing with cds that had a few good songs but a lot of filler material--and the bands couldn't reproduce the success of the 1st cd. In addition, all the bands kinda sounded the same and the originality of bands was less than it had beenseveral years before.

To replace essentially a stagnant scene, the labels decided to clean house and grunge became popular overnight. At that time, it was probably a good idea, but it also buried rock in the minds of the general public into a deep grave from which it is only begininng to show signs of resurfacing.

Journey's 196 Trial By Fire cd sold over a million copies--a fact that was fairly impressive for a band that had been dead for 10 years and DID NOT TOUR TO SUPPORT THE CD!!!! It probably could have sold 2-3x if they had toured, which might have begun to make a dent. It will be interesting to see how well the new cd with Augeri on vox sells since most people associated Perry with the band.

The recent success of Aerosmith though has helped rock also, IMO. You have the teenagers that are appreciating the music and it is only a matter of time for another rock band to capture the imagination of that generation. As they say, "build it and people will come", and I think that applies to this situation. Like 'em or not, the "boy bands" are a LOT closer to melodic rock than anything that has been heard on US radio in the last ten years. The Latin resurgance is also helping to bring rock back, so to speak. Who knows what will happen, but the next 5-10 years will be pretty interesting to see what direction music takes.

Kevin]]> Kevin NoticeboardSat, 15 Apr 2000 01:27:40 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,134#msg-134 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,134#msg-134
So the important things is let the music fans know that there are such wonderful music. Since many DJs do not believe in charts any more. They trust only their ears. All I can do is pick one great track from the album and recommend it to the DJs so that they can easily pick up the song.

I also write on-line reviews on amazon com. to give anyone including amazon.com staff basic information about the album and the artist.

So don't dispair. You can do something.

Best regards

Susumu]]> Susumu NoticeboardFri, 14 Apr 2000 23:17:22 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,131#msg-131 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,131#msg-131
I totally agree with you, but i think that there is again a bigger fanbase for AOR/MHR.

1. Print medias notice that there´s something else than Korn and Black metal they also begin to feature "our" music. Just look at the publications we´ve got here in Austria or Germany, like RockHard magazine or BREAK OUT, which has got MHR as their main content and is the 4-5 biggest Metal Magazine in the german speaking areas. Also a few Fanzine´s are out like "melodic Journey" in Germany.

2. Of course you´re right with saying :" today kids wann hear N´sync, Korn or whatever. (except for me..;-) ) But thats REALLY cause MTV blockades everything that doesnt fit into their programme., e g. AOR/MHR, "real" Punk Rock , Prog rock ( look at those band tey´ve all got huge fanbase´s and their albums go int the charts on high positions and still NO Airplay, example Spocks beard, DT..), "true" metal or whatever.

I think in the 80ies MTV played everything song that had a video and commercial potential (...mainly because they had to do so...they also where new onto the scene...?), but today they play what they want and not what the viewer wants to see, cause no one can tell me that top 10 act, in that case Dream theater ( was on 8 in the first week in Germany..) doesnt want to get airplay on a worldwide availabele TV-channel when they ´ve got the chance to. Same goes for PC69 they also have beem on 58 ithink on german charts (poorly not here in Austria...;-( ... )


Just imagine turning on MTV and watching Dare and Jaded heart right after Korn or Harem Scarem on the news or (--would be a dream come true,......;-)

thats it

ALEX]]> Alex siedler NoticeboardFri, 14 Apr 2000 22:36:32 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,130#msg-130 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,130#msg-130
Thanks
PBF

John Q wrote:
-------------------------------
C dog, where do you get this notion that there is still a 'huge fanbase' for AOR/MHR in Europe and Japan? Because that is most definitely not the case. Most bands on N&T, Escape, MTM, and Z sell less than 3000 copies in Europe and maybe a few hundred in the US. Japan is undergoing major changes as we speak: Not only is the market share for music shrinking due to video games, play stations, etc., melodic hard rock/metal especially is taking a beating because now that the Japanese kids have access to the Net, Burrn! can no longer dictate what people buy. Look at the Burrn! charts - Manson, Korn, Rage ATM, NIN, etc. are tops and have been making huge inroads, squashing traditional hard rock in the process. Burrn! itself are having major problems - their circulation has been cut in half in recent months from what it was only a few years ago.

Classic AOR/MHR will never recover - it will linger and continue to be an underground thing. It has nothing to do with quality although I b....]]> Pretty Boy Floyd NoticeboardFri, 14 Apr 2000 22:18:33 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,125#msg-125 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,125#msg-125
Classic AOR/MHR will never recover - it will linger and continue to be an underground thing. It has nothing to do with quality although I believe the genre has peaked long ago - it's simple a matter of evolution. Music and what people like constantly changes, even moreso now where trends come and go in a matter of months. No generation wants to listen to the previous generation's music - that's a fact and completely natural. The kids today want Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and Ricky Martin on one hand or Limp Bizkit, Korn, Kid Rock or Manson on the other. Give it 5 or maybe 10 years and these acts, too, will be the subject of late night 30 minute commercials and packaged as 'Remember when we listened to blah blah' compilations like Skid Row, Poison, and Bon Jovi are now.

We can all rant and rave about MTV but you gotta remember that they simply cater to a teenage audience. 15 years ago a big part of the teen population listened to Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, and Iron Maiden and none of us complained because it was our music that got all the exposure. Now we're older and on the outside looking in while today's teens get their fill. To get upset about these 'injustices' is a waste of time. There are many alternatives if you want to find new music in any genres now with the Net and all.

Anyway, didn't mean to get off on a tangent there...]]> John Q NoticeboardFri, 14 Apr 2000 19:50:29 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,122#msg-122 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,122#msg-122
The difference between U.S. and the rest of the world I believe is that U.S. is so wide in area and so varied in music taste unless strong force such as radio network and music label do something you have no way of knowing the artist exists at all. Ordionary music fans in the U.S. may not even know such things as melodic rock. Unfortunately both lost dominance in the 90s and visual media took over and the music style depended so much on both media lost popularity as well.

But I am hopeful that melodic rock will return to the U.S. If you do not believe me just take a look at amazon. com and search for Journey. Journey's Greatest Hit
is ranked between 200 to 600 in amazon.com sales rank. What is more important is who are buying this. College students. Given more knowledge they will be led to what they really want such as ,say, Heartland, Harem Scarem, or Ten. Maybe they get interested in sales ranking which shows up to No.300,000. Very cool. Even the artist with little popularity can be given space there. Internet is so interactive if you think some album is great you can review it. In a few years or so cybernet will change the music industry itself.

My conclousion is if major labels do not promote them, you do it. Let the presence of the artist you love known by using interactive means.

I hope this might help

Best regards

Susumu
]]> Susumu NoticeboardFri, 14 Apr 2000 19:17:03 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,121#msg-121 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,121,121#msg-121
I'm from the States, and it's comforting to hear that AOR/MHR is still popular overseas, but it's barely holding on here stateside, and it really pisses me off. I hate to generalize, but it seems that the US population seems to go for the "flavor of the day" (i.e. Britney, N' Suck, etc.), because MTV is overloading that crap on our TV's, thereby overloading it on radio as well.

I realize there's still a huge US fanbase for AOR/MHR material (thank God), but why is it that the overseas markets like Japan and Europe support this genre more than the US? I'll bet there are more markets around the world that support AOR/MHR material (let me know- I'm curious!!), but the fact that the US doesn't support this style of music as much doesn't make sense to me.

Two theories of mine:
A) In regards to Japan: In the mid (to late) '70's, Cheap Trick's "Live at Budokan" was one of the best-selling albums for the band (if not *the* best-selling album). Before that album came out, CT was having a rough time trying to "break the barrier" after several albums, but once the "Budokan" album came out, everybody around the world (including the US) started to take notice, once they realized how much reaction the band was getting overseas. That was the breakthrough they needed- thanks to the Japanese fans.

B) In regards to Europe: In the early '80's, Dokken couldn't get a label deal to save their lives in the US (and they were from Los Angeles- a hotbed of musical talent in the early to mid 80's). Frustrated, the band decided to record and tour in Europe, since they couldn't get the support stateside. As soon as the labels realized that there was a buzz about the band overseas, Elektra picked them up instantly- thanks to the European fans.

Bottom line of my theories: The European and Japanese fans know their shit about music, and the US labels screw around and wait for the "next big thing", while they're watching MTV. I don't understand...

Okay, I'm ranting here, but I would love to know what everybody has to say about this topic.

Sorry about the long post. I'm not trying to make the "Longest Post of the Month" here, but I wanted to make a point.

Thanks.]]> c dog NoticeboardFri, 14 Apr 2000 17:01:27 +1000