Has anybody been listening to radio recently??What I have seen and heard recently is a resurgance of the aor power ballad , albeit this is 2000 , not 1988 so everything is dressed a little differently.Gone are the big hair , tight leathers, cowboy boots,and bright clothing (incidentally all of which I personally miss) and in its place comes Lone Star and in the past week or so Jennifer Simpson.What we have here is a new breed of performer, dressing differently to appeal to a new generation of fans.Sure neither of the above are 'pure' aor , but they have all the hallmarks and really all they are short is a decent guitar sound and it could be '88 all over again.Why are we having a resurgance???well my personal opinion is that after grunge killed off the aor/melodic scene in 92 & 93, the kids were subjected to either angry grunge or dance for the next 7 or 8 years and now as both artists and record companies alike are looking for the next happening thing they are returning to the melodic sound which a lot of younger fans had never heard.Look no further than Portrait and Kalodner who are constantly checking out new (and old ) talent in the hope of breaking them big.Velocity are currently on a demo deal with them and both Danny Danzi and Rattlebone have showcased for them.Firehouse are now signed to WEA , Ten to Mercury Japan,and many more bands signed to subsidiaries of majors.Surely an indication that the majors are again looking at melodic rock as a viable and vibrant genre.I am not for a minute suggesting that mr will rule the charts as it once did , but it is returning slowly through established artists and new artists alike.OK , perhaps as I said earlier the newer artists that are charting are not necessarily pure , but really it is AOR just presented slightly differently to suit a newer generation of fans.The great sonwriters of the 80's(D Child , DIanne Warren, Dann Huff,Jim Steinman, M Bolton and Jack Ponti )are all operating primarily outside the genre as songwriters for either new /country artists or as in house writers for majors.Bit by bit these guys are realising there is a huge market for melody and they are now beginning to write for it and steer new artists in that direction.It won't happen overnight but what we are seeing is melody and harmony returning , next it will be guitars and huge production., I mean lets face it the BSB , Westlife, and some more are only short the big guitars and production (not to mention a whoa whoa chorus or two!!) and its aor.If the music is good I don't mind them having black leather box jackets and goatee beards instead of long hair and studs.Anybody else out there got an opinion on any of the above ???
Chers
Kieran