In Praise of Moody Midtempo AOR

Man, there's just something about the late night drive vibe of, for example:

Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
The Who, "Eminence Front"
Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why"
Alan Parson's Project, "Eye in the Sky"

(Or, more loosely/generously, Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold")

What else fits?

in the air tonight

maybe that one is too slow to be midtempo? idk

That's kind of the ur-one, a la the "Miami Vice" pilot.

the gold standard for this has always been the blue nile for me, but i'm american what do i know.

Michelob Rock iirc

Steve Winwood, “Don’t You Know What The Night Can Do”

Hmm, something like Clapton's re-do of "After Midnight" might indeed fit. The Winwood ... I'll have to think about it. Its chorus is kind of too big, which defeats the melancholy.

Self Control surely?

Ooh, good one! There are probably a lot more moody midtempo Italo disco jams in that vein.

"Live to Tell" for sure, too, duh. I was trying to think of some other Patrick Leonard stuff, like from that Peter Cetera album he did. "One Good Woman" has the same problem as the Steve Windwood song, in that the chorus is too big and disrupts the mood. But for example, the moody coda to "Glory of Love," I kind of wish the whole song was like that.

Hmm, maybe something like "Broken Wings" might fit the mold/mode/mood? Oh, but for sure, "Only the Lonely" by the Motels!

And Quarterflash, "Harden My Heart!"

10cc “I’m Not In Love”
Ace “How Long”
Cars “Drive”
Foreigner “I Want To Know What Love Is”

Self Control surely?

― Uptown Top Scamping (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, December 2, 2020 12:51 PM (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ooh, good one! There are probably a lot more moody midtempo Italo disco jams in that vein.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, December 2, 2020 12:57 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

To my ear "Tarzan Boy" is basically the same song as "Self Control."

xpost I considered the last two, which are practically perfect songs, but they seem, I dunno, more straight up ballads to me. And "I Want to Know" has that exultant chorus, too, though I have always detected a certain sadness to it.

"In the House of Stone and Light," aka the poor man's "In Your Eyes."

I've never heard that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIa9UEXd98Q

Mike + The Mechanics “The Living Years”

Though I guess while we are going down that road, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and "Sara" might both fit. Maybe "Oh, Sherrie" by Steve Perry?

Not sure if this is in the zone or just adjacent but my brain just suggested "Hazard" by Richard Marx. Feels musically similar but culturally different.

Don Henley “Boys of Summer”?

Another dark horse that comes to mind is Dalbello’s “Guilty By Association”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSfmLy54W8Q

Are Rhiannon and Don't Fear the Reaper too early to count?

The song that leapt to mind reading the thread title was Big Log by Robert Plant.

Curious what song would mark the end of this style, chronologically.

Living Years is totally this vibe, yeah.

"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and "Oh, Sherrie" seem a bit too strident to be called moody. "Sara" could work.

Not sure this is AOR but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1_2HhRe1Cc

"End of the Innocence" and probably "Mandolin Rain."

Not sure about "Boys of Summer."

I'd definitely include Big Log! Maybe include Boys of Summer, which pushes the bound of midtempo but is absolutely steeped in mood.

As far as Fleetwood Mac goes, something like "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" are closer in spirit than "Rihannon," imo. BOC is a solid no, though, since it's a bit too fast and has that psychedelic freakout in the middle.

"Burnin' for You" tho?

"Limelight"??

Burnin for You, That comes closer than "Reaper," but it's got that big fist-pumping chorus and key change that kind of throws it off. Limelight, the chorus for sure captures a mood.

Interesting, I'd call Little Lies and Everywhere AM pop instead of AOR. I guess I see AOR as incompatible with drum machines and Fairlight samplers.

"Games Without Frontiers"?

Springsteen’s I’m On Fire & Philadelphia

Jefferson Starship - "Miracles"

may have in fact invented the genre

Jim Capaldi - "That's Love"

Marty Balin - "Hearts"

I would think anything by Ambrosia or Firefall

"Philadelphia" but not "I'm on Fire."

Wait are we just describing sophistopop? In which case "Life in a Northern Town" and Spandau Ballet's "True" qualify

Hall & Oates - "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"

Bryan Ferry’s The Name of the Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvJ5VkOrz4w

Shares a lot of musical DNA with Live To Tell, then again it’s a Patrick Leonard co-write.

I'm actually not totally sure what we're describing. I first thought we were talking about songs that would have been on album-oriented rock radio stations in the early 80s with a driving beat but more atmospheric feel, combining guitars and synths (which would not include Spandau Ballet or Madonna) - but some of these seem like something p different from that.xps

Eric Carmen “Hungry Eyes”

Steve Miller “Abracadabra”

Hall & Oates again, with "One On One"

Alan Parson Project again, with "Breakdown"

Sund4r, I think "moody" is pretty subjective - you know moody when you hear it. Not sure "a driving beat" is essential; rather something that is good to drive to. Josh in Chicago's first examples were

Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
The Who, "Eminence Front"
Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why"
Alan Parson's Project, "Eye in the Sky"

"Eminence Front" is a fucking JAM with huge drums. "Eye in the Sky" has some rock edge as well, especially in the chorus. The other two are understated in terms of "driving beat."

All do have atmospheric feel, and combine guitars and synths, so perhaps that's part of the recipe. Ultimately only the OP can say if we're hitting the mark.

I think there is a lot of crossover with sophistipop. But I also think of stuff like, for example, Tina Turner's Mad Max song, which is not sophistipop.

Yeah, I think I was mainly thinking of "Eminence Front" and "Eye in the Sky".xp

those Hall & Oates songs are interesting examples as well I think. I don't think I would call them sophistipop, though they share some DNA.

"I'm Not In Love" strikes me as the epitome of this thread description, which reminds me:

Godley & Creme - "Cry"

And yeah, I am considering the presence of guitars with moody synths, nothing you would necessarily dance to, but not necessarily ballads either. Rock, but mushy. Blue eyed soul, but more robotic.

another good rule of thumb could indeed be that famous in the air tonight sequence from Miami vice. What other songs might fit that scene.

I'm chuckling about the idea of replacing "In the Air Tonight" with "The Living Years."

Not so much for the Miami Vice scene but for the scene in Risky Business where they fuck on a train.

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms (the song)

lol Tangerine Dream's scores are a good rule of thumb too!

hmm, maybe stuff like the momentary lapse of reason era of Pink Floyd fits too.

Mike & the Mechanics - Taken In
Michael Franks - Nightmoves
Michael McDonald - I keep forgettin’
Gerry Rafferty - right down the line
Emmett Kai - juicy
Sopwith Camel - Fazon

There's a lot of moody verses combined with bombastic choruses and codas in this quasi-genre.

right down the line is another good example, was that from the seventies?

Same LP as Baker Street, I think. 77?

That book "Rock and the Pop Narcotic"? I think we're looking for the Pop Narcotic here.

Al Stewart - "Time Passages", possibly "Year of the Cat"

"Song on the Radio" by Al Stewart too.

This compilation is what I keep returning to

https://www.allmusic.com/album/open-all-night-in-the-city-mw0000001216

It has the Freedy Johnston mentioned earlier plus "Under the Milky Way," which is surely on target

There are some good songs on that compilation, but not one artist (except maybe Smithereens) that I would call AOR. I guess my judgement on this is determined by my growing up in this era, and thinking about which radio stations would play which songs and artists.

Xpost right down the line is 1978. A couple of the others I posted might not be from the 70s tho

SENTIMENTAL LADY, a poll

another perhaps outlier that still might fit this mode is Bowie's ashes to ashes.

Echo & The Bunnymen “The Killing Moon”
Rod Stewart “Infatuation”

That's hilarious, I don't like rod Stewart but one of my earliest thoughts was of some of his '80s stuff too, like Love touch. but then I listen to it again and thought, nah.

someone mentioned under the Milky Way before but the church song that better nails this aesthetic IMO is blood money - no coincidence that it also appeared in Miami Vice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L9ORyLQTKU

feel like nosing around the music mentioned in the dedicated Miami Vice wiki (!) could be a productive resource for this thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKUfX9xcw0

Lovelock - Burning Feeling

Does this fit? Affectionate pastiche by Steve Moore from 2011. I admit to being amused by the very juvenile indeed double entendre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFhSnlR1Bo0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRnQbXApBqc

Eden - Free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym7H0Lvo9mQ

Fleetwood Mac - Over and Over

perhaps the chorus gets a bit strident but I feel I must post this Australian FM staple with it's deeply uncomfortable video clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu1GLEh3wO4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAK7B1bGIRM

Someone mentioned the Cars' "Drive," but maybe a better example is "Moving in Stereo," come to think of it.

Speaking of Aussies, something like "Send Me an Angel" kind of fits the bill at times. For sure everyone but the singer looks like they could have been on the set of Miami Vice, procuring drugs for everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R6WIbx8ysE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqUa_G1h3pw

good thread

^ xpost Great pick!

I made a Spotify playlist that has this kind of stuff in it towards the end kinda: Nightmoves

"midnight rider" is my jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCRS4DRmf_w

Yeah, talk about proto, that song does kind of capture a bit of the spirit/vibe.

Chromatics, Kill For Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0mxXrHowHQ

Funny, I was just thinking about that Italians Do It Better crew, and whatever people were calling it. Chillwave? Synthwave? That kind of draws from this nebulous, yeah, quasi-genre.

Berlin - Take My Breath Away ... or is this too slow?

I think it's the right neighborhood, but yeah, like "Drive" probably too slow. It's got the Giorgio connection, though, which helps!

I think there's a lot of Genesis/Phil Collins that fits. Like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H2IvoYdGd0

And:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E86cxhOTfFo

The best Moroder example has gotta be this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSHDiprQas

Bad Company – Bad Company

does Journey – Who's Crying Now qualify?

Running With the Night by Lionel Ritchie?

Does U2 - "Bad" fit? I think I get the connection here

Eagles, "I Can't Tell You Why"

The only Eagles song I outright love.

I'm still not 100% sure I understand but I think another prototype version of this niche is Classics IV "Spooky"

on the back of the Phil Collins prompt
for me the purest evocation of this is - could I imagine myself listening while driving through the LA twilight on the way to a) a drug deal that will go catastrophically wrong, or b) a romantic liaison that will go catastrophically wrong
ie minor key, lots of build-up and tension, foreboding - def. "Michael Mann rock"
but there's such a broad range of responses ITT that it appears there are a bunch of different feels within the "genre"

For me this stuff is very temporally located in the early to mid '80s; maybe late '70s for something like "Right Down the Line"

also agree that tension is important... if there's no tension you're bumping into yacht rock

David & David - Welcome to the Boomtown
Men at Work - Overkill

Perhaps?

"Boomtown" totally gets it, I think.

For sure, tension is vital. It's can't be feel good or breezy. It's got to have an air of melancholy, low-key despondency, or ... yearning? "Michael Mann rock" otm, which is also why I mentioned Tangerine Dream. And yeah, "could I imagine myself listening while driving through the LA twilight on the way to a) a drug deal that will go catastrophically wrong, or b) a romantic liaison that will go catastrophically wrong" totally otm.

As much as I don't like Journey, I think that Journey song totally fits.

not midtempo but "Brothers in Arms" was the soundtrack to an iconic Miami Vice sequence

Genesis “Follow You Follow Me”

So Far Away by Dire Straits might a good example, too. Or something from making movies.

Seems like War On Drugs’ whole sonic template is something like this.

this is basically my entire Spotify playlist

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World"?

Robert Plant – Big Log
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxSsol3Zd7k

oh it's already been mentioned!

Duncan Sheik - "Barely Breathing"?

ok i think I finally have some good contributions:

Rainbow

Stone Cold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hByGwgm_vRs

Robert Plant
Little by Little
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaL_3bdbbeQ

duncan shiek is not aor

Tom Petty – You Got Lucky

are we talking AOR as-in album-oriented rock or adult-oriented rock

Album oriented, early 80s maybe late 70s imo

big log totally nails it IMO

trying to think if Games Without Frontiers by Peter Gabriel counts

Bruce Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IX4gWkFqvU

you got lucky is perfect, that synth

seen a few Cars suggestions (quite rightly IMO) but maybe this one closest to the zone for me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKIJVKzgoSc

yeah that's a good one

Feels like there should be a Police song that fits. Invisible Sun maybe?

The closest I can think of off the top of my head may be ... "Wrapped Around Your Finger?"

Moody... Blues? Maybe Tuesday Afternoon for a start.

if a police song fits its “every breath you take”

not that I like it or anything

how about Lindsey Buckingham - Trouble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyONfX5bpyQ

yeah that’s the stuff

Bruce Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IX4gWkFqvU

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

It’s been so long since I listened to this one. Love it so much thank you for reminding me of its existence.

Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes”
Billy Idol “Eyes Without A Face”
Robert Plant “In The Mood”
Roxy Music “More Than This”
Level 42 “There’s Something About You”

Does "Lunatic Fringe" rock too hard?

Phil Collins - “One More Night”
John Stewart feat. Stevie Nicks - “Gold”
seconding The Cars - “Drive”
Alanna Myles - “Black Velvet”
REM - “Man on the Moon”

i'm basically adding a lot of this shit to my playlist , so thx

Paul young - come back and stay?

I mean that’s just straight up synth pop with aor vocals I guess

Bill labounty - nobody’s fool (seriously, this is an all time jam)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51dEUKCMyIk

Ultravox - Vienna

Love that "Nobody's Fool" -- hearing it for the first time now.

We can't forget Glenn!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TToLgW7zuc

This has made me accept that I don't know what is generally meant by "midtempo". My idea ws that it must of course be roughly the mid point between "slow" and "fast", but I was gauging that from a position of "fast" meaning jungle or thrash fast and I guess that's not quite right. LOL.

yeah "You Belong To The City" is essential here, as I understand the cluster. For me it comes from the 2nd half of the 80s, boomers having grasped the technology & wanting to go back to blues rock rather than new wave.

Like I think of this Leonard Cohen performance of "Tower of Song" from 1989. The tempo is mid, even if it doesn't chug like the songs in the OP. Maybe the vibe I'm fixed on is less about driving & more about cities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNPRpHkkGKM

"Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm is my favorite song in this genre

The tempo thing is tricky. I was counting out Phil's "Long Long Way to Go," and I guess you can count it as ballad slow, but you can also count it as faster eight notes, too. There's no drums in that one, but there is a pulse. "One More Night" seems more strictly a ballad, imo. "Midnight Blue" is incredible, but it's kind of like "Oh, Sherrie" (which I posted even though I'm not sure how or if it fits). It's a power ballad, but sort of an anthemic one, with a once again the release of an exultant chorus.

Context is key, too, which is partly why subjectivity plays a role. That "Tower of Song" does capture a certain something, though it might seem too ... ironic? in a Michael Mann/Miami Vice scenario. It's kind of know-it-when-you-hear-it nebulous.

"Nobody's Fool," I didn't know that one, either!

Sting's harmony on "Long Long Way to Go" is one of his least remarked on and best appearances.

It's great. He and Peter Gabriel are singing on "Take Me Home," iirc.

Btw, YMP, my doubts about Madonna and Spandau Ballet had to do with the "AOR" criterion, not "moody", which is obv subjective.

It seems like we're going for a broad lite rock/pop feel, though.

Twilight - Golden Earring - maybe slightly too many BPM to be midtempo, but nails the mood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1sf2CzEq0w

Yeah, Madonna was pop not AOR, for sure, but for the purposes of this thread I'm including her as classic rock cannon in the (other) AOR/lite (but weirdly dark!) sense. It's really just the Patrick Leonard connection, though, he's a master of this vibe.

This was on Miami Vice and has the drug deal/relationship about to go catastrophically wrong feel, but is it too far afield from the comforting pocket of AOR? You make the call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0bk6Hbz0ZU

Hmm, good question. Speaking of Michael Mann, it kind of works like this does/did in "Manhunter:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4U0KBvzi7g

Russ Ballard's classic "Voices" too.

Funny how U2's "With Or Without You" fits into this category on paper, but there's nothing evoking criminal activity or adult relationships, so it doesn't fit.

"Live to Tell" works for this, for me, because I think of these songs as effectively moody supermarket/hotel-lobby music and not just strictly in a radio format.

(wrt Michael Mann) almost too obvious to mention would be the stuff Wang Chung did for To Live and Die in L.A.

Mike & The Mechanics already mentioned upthread, but this one covers all the moody 80s tropes — menacing synth, vaguely political lyrics, batshit video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7W89I_V_g

I thought of that one yesterday! think it fits

love that it was sampled on a Killer Mike song lol

I had actually considered "With or Without You" but felt it didn't fit for similar reasons, despite fitting perfectly on paper. Definitely moody but maybe not spooky enough? But this one works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Re5fiSY8Y

Diana Ross - it’s your move

^^^^^^

Going down that U2 road also gets you to AOR adjacent stuff like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cit17Si-Vts

And I've never heard or heard of this, but despite being a little too self consciously new wave and quirky it's also sort of adjacent to the theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C_fVnE3xHY

I’m not a musician but I think I notice that most of these songs tend to have only two chords in the verses, songs mostly moving forward with textures and rhythms

Haha, Muchmusic played that Payola$ song endlessly in the late 80s iirc. Bob Rock's old band!

xpost I think there might be something to that, something that differentiates it from sophistipop or yacht rock. It's a kind of minimalist rejection of sophistication, mood over flash, cool but also cold, no doubt inspired/provoked by punk and new wave, which gave people permission to just have a synth patch or flanged guitar chord hang there menacingly.

I guess it works for synths to give a more atmospheric, moody feel. Too many chords doesn’t let the synth stay still and becomes more poppy.

Xpost: haha I was just posting and I just read that you also came to the conclusion that it allows certain instruments to hang in there.

mood over flash, cool but also cold

Son, life is simple. It's either cherry red

or MIDNIGHT BLUE

Re the Police: "King of Pain"?

All of Synchronicity feels like it captures this mood of 80s sophisticated dread, even the individual songs don't all fit.

Interesting that Clapton of all people didn't have an 80s single that fit this mood.

I thought of "Bad Love" but maybe the chorus is too anthemic?

I think Clapton's slow synthy remake of "After Midnight" - the beer commercial version - was discussed upthread.

Also too late 80s? xp

Corey Hart 'Sunglasses at Night' & The Eurythmics 'Sweet Dreams' also seem to fit (with similar riffs).

What was this "mood" about anyway? Anxiety over computers taking over?

That's got to be part of it. Also, adding an icy synth was probably the easiest way for even the most resistant (or even inept) rock band to try to change with the times.

This seems relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Mainstream_Rock_number-one_songs_of_the_1980s

the easiest way for even the most resistant (or even inept) rock band to try to change with the times.

see to me one of the interesting things about the 80s is that i didn't detect a lot of resistance from most older rock bands, i think a lot of them were really into the new technology

there were the keith richards of the world here and there but i dunno, i think they were enthusiastic

I agree, but they definitely often dumbed themselves down to the technology and leaned in to the minimalism. Tony Banks is a great example of a guy with classical chops who figured out really early the power of eerie synths doing little to not much.

By the way, totally tangential, but I've always been fascinated by this 1979 video as a document of a band whose various members are clearly at different phases of fashion evolution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P17ct4e5OE

You've got the bassist in a new wave suit, the singer with short hair, the drummer with track suit but also leather and studs and double bass kit, the keyboard player with banks of keys when he only needs half of one, lifer Blackmore looking bored/embarrassed to be there ...

AOR Rainbow rules (posted Stone Cold above)

I feel like the Greg Kihn Band should have had a single like this but I think they're all near misses — "Jeopardy" is too funky, "The Breakup Song" is too fast and heavy(!)

totally, Jeopardy is almost here but not quite

feel like "Run to You" by Bryan Adams is in the same boat

Once the kids are in bed Imma sit down with YouTube and a metronome and get to the bottom of the "what is midtempo" question. Speaking in terms of quarter-note pulses:

Waiting for a Girl Like You = 100
Eminence Front = 98 ish
Eye in the Sky = 100
I Can't Tell You Why = 85 (wow that's slow!)
In the Air Tonight = 98 ish
Self-Control = 110 (fastest so far!)

So far we're really clustered around 100 BPM as "mid-tempo."

Remember that 120 BPM (Stayin' Alive) has become somewhat solidified as rock's default tempo, and also ideal for CPR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKhmK_sD2uo
Gary Myrick's 'She Talks in Stereo' kind of has the feel, although maybe in a more new wave setting.

Especially when compared to the album version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STsL4y9Xi4k

you guys would all really like the westerman album

“Waiting for a girl like you” is honestly top 10 all time for me

eminence front always struck me as more “sleeves rolled up” muscular daytime AOR

wasn’t that destroyer album kaput all about this vibe? too bad about dude’s voice.

“Bringing’ on the Heartache” and “Hysteria” bring this vibe to a mostly empty strip club.

This is perhaps one of my favorite genres of music, and all of my faves have already been named.

I count "Stayin' Alive" around 104 bpm fwiw.

at least based on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNFzfwLM72c

"Just What I Needed" and "Satisfaction" are in the high 120s/low 130s, a lot of ballads are around the low 70s. "Mid-tempo" seems right for the neighbourhood of 100 bpm.

I mean, by v rough counting, not loading tracks into a DAW or anything

Has this one been posted yet, re: the Bee Gees?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZY9oYSSjFI

The first time I head that one, we were living with two tweakers, and one of them played this really loud on the living room speakers, and I rushed out of my room to see what it was, and it is perhaps the only good thing that came out of that whole period of my life.

Bit offbeat here but Kraftwerk's The Model kind of fits

Sorry I misremembered on "Staying Alive" as the ur-tempo. On further looking, it and "Dancing Queen" are in the low hundreds.

120 is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

I hang my head in shame

Dana donahue - “Casablanca”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BuGl1NcHbQ

You all heard of Seahawks? Their early stuff was all amazing spacey edits of this kind of stuff. Check out secrets of the deep and ocean trippin

Bit offbeat here but Kraftwerk's The Model kind of fits

I don’t know why I called it crunk, fp me

If John Stewart "Gold" fits, how about Gerry Rafferty's 1979 "Get It Right the Next Time":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXW-sL5gzHQ

Some other 1979-1980 tracks with (pick all that apply): steady drive, a little drama, keyboard swirls, tension, late night vibes, a little extra reverb.

Blondie - Union City Blue, Shayla, Do the Dark
Bob Dylan - I Believe in You
David Bowie - Fantastic Voyage, Look Back in Anger
Elvis Costello - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk (still my choice for the weirdest Top 10 hit of the '70s)
Led Zeppelin - In the Evening
Marianne Faithfull - Broken English, Witches' Song
Patti Smith - Frederick
The Roches - Hammond Song, Losing True (unearthly harmonies with a sprinkling of Fripp)
Supertramp - Take the Long Way Home (maybe?)
Paul McCartney & Wings - Arrow Through Me
The B-52s - Dirty Back Road
David Bowie - Up the Hill Backward
Elvis Costello - Riot Act
John & Yoko - Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him
Peter Gabriel - No Self Control
Pretenders - Lovers of Today, Mystery Achievement, Porcelain
Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue
Roxy Music - My Only Love
Steve Winwood - While You See a Chance or others from the Arc of a Diver album
U2 - An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart
Warren Zevon - Jungle Work

that list made me think of Marshall Hain's "Dancing In The City", from 1978. It's moody alright, but probably too breezy. More British yacht rock if anything I guess.

I'm still not 100% sure what the criteria is but I'll contribute Walter Egan - "Magnet And Steel"

At the core of Josh’s first examples and “You Belong to the City” is a kind of masculine grieving from someone who can’t emote through a full-on ballad and so maintains the mid-tempo and the rock groove. Maybe that’s why “With or Without You” doesn’t fit: it’s too open with its feelings.

"You Belong to the City" feels like a song you blast in your sports car en route to a drug deal.

Classic

Bill laBounty - livin it up

It Keeps you running - doobie brothers

I always assumed this song was about coke until I saw the verse lyrics. Just another love song

Drug deal, on the way to schtup someone who Isn’t your wife, something illicit like that.

I kinda get this vibe from the two big Robert Cray songs, minus the synths

a kind of masculine grieving from someone who can’t emote through a full-on ballad and so maintains the mid-tempo and the rock groove

brilliant description

figured Iggy pop would have one of these but can't quite find it - cry for love is really close but probably a bit too uptempo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI9vzh7CZIw

if you ran the numbers I also reckon a lot of these would feature some variation on Am-F-Am-F chord progression in the verses (is that i-IV?)

Fleetwood Mac - Mystified
Richard & Linda Thompson - Walking on a Wire
Most of Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love"

^ Tunnel is great but might be a little too...romantic? And the singles are uptempo

Bruce Hornsby - mandolin rain

Iggy's The Passenger fits in spirit but it's a little too rocking. Maybe something from The Idiot?

That description posted above is indeed a pretty brilliant encapsulation of this ethos!

Certainly female equivalents are fewer and far between, though I did post that Motels song "Only the Lonely," which fits perfectly. And "Self Control."

bruce’s voice is maybe a little too ragged for this thread, but “i’m on fire” and “one step up” totally fit imo

Xxxp

I was thinking “Tougher Than the Rest” and “One Step Up” but I agree there are some jumpier numbers that don’t fit.

Has anyone posted this article on AOR?

https://www.loudersound.com/features/inside-aor-the-most-under-appreciated-sub-genre-of-all-time

Icehouse's whole shtick was something akin to this, but having set out from the direction of new wave/synth pop rather than more authentic manly rock strains (LOL) they may be ever so slightly too, er, icy here. Moodiness, synths and frequent saxophone though...

eg.
Don't Believe Any More
Hey Little Girl
No Promises

They're massively indebted to Roxy Music, who imo don't really fit. *Too* cold and/romantic, at least the later stuff that fits closest.

does Journey – Who's Crying Now qualify?

― real muthaphuckkin jeez (crüt), Wednesday, December 2, 2020 3:49 PM (three days ago)

Running With the Night by Lionel Ritchie?

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, December 2, 2020 3:52 PM (three days ago)

Wow, these are the first 2 songs I thought of after reading the title (and they are listed back-to-back, nice)!

This thread has provided me with the linguistics to understand a style of pop/rock that has gradually taken over a chunk of my listening, especially amidst the pandemic. There's very specific building blocks that I just love:

-Sure, Moody Mid-tempo AOR is not *fast*, but there's still a rhythmic propulsion there

-The verses (and maybe the chorus) feature minor keys but not in a 'sad' way;

-the choruses don't get too intense. Hell, they sometimes feel more like a *pre*-chorus, such as Stevie Wonder's "Go Home", or Bardeux's "When We Kiss" (a song that sounds like what would have happened if Leonard Cohen departed the "I'm Your Man" sessions a little early one evening, then his backup singers decided to record a quickie rap pastiche over one of the backing tracks)

-the cold(ish) vocals involve less longing or serious emoting then storytelling, or expressions of disappointment/indifference

-the guitar solos fall more in line with the "Who's Crying Now" outro lead (which may have secretly influenced like 1/3 of the MMOAR universe from '83 to '88)

-the drums and bass are very 'in the pocket', not too bashy/thrashy

-and this might my favorite feature: they end with a fade-out instead of an abrupt close, because Moody Midtempo AOR is hypnotically comforting - you *need* that fade away, or it's too emotionally jarring have it all suddenly stop. You would be left asking "Where'd the music go - there has to be another verse, right?" It's the musical equiv of the 'vibe' movie that theaters would show at midnight, where the plot is less important than the character interactions.

This type of tunes is pretty much Chris Rea's style.

don't know him really, any particular songs?

great post pre-funk

Yeah, love the case for the fade-out there.

John Waite's "Missing You" is a fun version of this, with the unreliable narrator having written an AOR song and hired the backup singers, and then he realizes how much he really does miss his woman as the background singers stick to their charts and keep doing their job.

Certainly female equivalents are fewer and far between

that's interesting - I think Concrete Blonde played in this space a bit? Like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlg91FG9m5Y

but as suggested somewhere above the most potent words/music alchemy with this kind of track comes from the music being allied to a kind of "keeping a lid on my emotions but you can tell I'm suffering" masculine resolve

don't know him really, any particular songs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXm_1lWwD8Y

The Road to Hell is the tune I first heard by him back in the 90s. Similar territory to like some Dire Straits, but more weary voice and more lush soft rock backing at times. Never really hear much more until Youtube and by comments seems that Chris Rea is fairly popular in Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUUdQfnshJ4

ok wow the road to hell and especially that video gets to the core of this thread more than anything I've seen

Always wondered which came first: Rea’s “The Road to Hell” or Leonard Cohen’s “The Future” (with Dylan’s “Things Have Changed” coming later but similar too).

I always get Chris Rea confused with Chris Stamey. Probably because they both have the first name "Chris."

yeah that's a tough one, very uncommon name

I gather he's also a different person than Chris deBurgh? (Does "Don't Pay the Ferryman" fit this?)

Actually, the title track to Chris Stamey's It's Alright, from 1987, might fit this genre.

Ha, holy shit, I now remember hearing "The Road to Hell" in 1989 but don't think I've heard it since then. Not sure if I ever knew who it was by.

It might have just merged with "The Future" in my memory.

I think Chris Rea has a cool singing voice. He does some love songs kinda like later period Joe Cocker, who has some tunes that sound like they would fit this thread. Their singing voices have that gravitas just in the growl.

Don't Pay the Ferryman is like cocaine tempo, maybe 145 bpm?

Yeah, ha, I didn't listen just before posting.

Holy shit, that Chris Rea song is totally like Dire Straits covering "The Future."

It was released three years earlier, apparently.

Chris Rea has recently decided to form a band with Dire Straits; they're going to be called...

One of the truly great things about being middle-aged is being able to tell shit jokes with absolute impunity.

haha

After all these years, I finally learn it's pronounced "Ree Ahh", and not "Ray."

Plop of Life

I keep thinking an 80s Rush song should fit but Rush might be too distinctive, their inherent Rush-ness

"Subdivisions" kinda fits? But the message of the song is too apparent, too high school obviously, moody midtemp AOR more adult

I suggested "Limelight" upthread but I'm not sure it does fit with the direction the thread has gone in.

The closest might be something like Middletown Dreams from power windows.

yeah PW is probably the closest...Rush ultimately are too wholesome for this tbh

Surprised to see no mention of this, which is the moody midtempo AOR track that other moody midtempo AOR tracks refer to as The Guv'nor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRIKNINTFls

If we were to split this into sub-genres, this would be Moody Power Pop AOR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SCzVEUlqqA

Did anyone cover Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy" between 1978 and 1988?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxVlN-LzIks

driver’s seat definitely counts

Art bell played a lot of this stuff as bumper music

BOC was mentioned upthread and I just remembered the one that should be on this: "Shooting Shark"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsthsbbLfM

also -- jeeeeeez how could I have forgotten Mike + the Mechanics - "Silent Running" a classic of the genre

some of my favourites:

talk talk - living in another world
chris isaak - wicked game
robert palmer - you are in my system
pat benatar - love is a battlefield
the fixx - saved by zero

From the “Sunset Grill” comments, nailing the genre:

Mic Norton
..but it sounds like a place,, once you fit in you CAN'T LEAVE psychologically,, Henley sounds resigned to hangin "watching the basket people" lol but the synth seems to communicate MAROONED to me...just my opinion, y' understand...
1 year ago

Ooh, Wicked Game ... hmm. I wonder what that would sound like with a big compressed drum beat instead of brushes?

shit

“One Headlight” is a latecomer...and yes to “Saved By Zero” and “Love Is A Battlefield”!

okay getting spotify suggestions now this one is PERFECT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDcaYbeXeUI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANb1AA35o9I

Neanderthal OTM

HIM did cover "Wicked Game" with big compressed drums and distorted guitars, though, if you wanted to hear what that sounds like.

rare country song that touches on this feel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho3zVZe8Ksc

forgot that song, wow

Okay made Spotify playlist of the stuff I thought qualified on this thread. I'm prejudiced against anything with a 70s feel tbh so not much of that stuff made it, felt yacht rock to me mostly except Rafferty.

Tried to adhere to the Crockett Rule...can I imagine Sonny Crockett driving around to it at midnight in Miami

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/17ioxB7tYdJvbZFaMksZFi?si=uXxdwr1eTQa3RMGmVV0P5g

Thanks for putting that together! ^^

I wish B.B. King's contribution to the genre was better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krJrurPr3Yo

Ooh, Wicked Game ... hmm. I wonder what that would sound like with a big compressed drum beat instead of brushes?

I guess there's that xx song that sounds like Wicked Game, right?

Someone mentioned Robert Cray, and there's definitely some earlier stuff that sort of fits. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP2EvSNHqh0

Wow, that Rod Stewart song totally fits. And the Milsap, good find!

Yeah, I immediately thought of Milsap when I saw the "rare country track" descriptor.

That spotify list is great to have, too. There are a couple of other Zevon songs that might fit if they were a tad less agitated and the lyrics weren't so pointed and acidic, like "Play It All Night Long," or "Boom Boom Mancini."

yeah I was browsing through his 80s stuff a lot of almost there, but he's so strident a lot of times

Genesis deep cut!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMEhTI-jko8

Prob some Steely: "Do It Again," "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." "Pretzel Logic" for a start...once heard a radio station visit cover of "I'm On Fire" by Olafur Arnalds, think it became a staple of that tour, fits perfectly to me. Emmylou's version of "Tougher Than The Rest," original "Meeting Across The River," with
Bruce Springsteen – vocals
Roy Bittan – piano
Richard Davis – double bass
Randy Brecker – trumpet--- and that's all he needs, except the city night air.
Recent country example: "Cold," by Chris Staples, in the wake of original "The Thrill Is Gone," and he could do a good cover of Hydra's Southern Rock proto-power ballad, "Feel A Pain."

Chris Stapleton, of course (most of that album is frustrating, though).

But if 'tis more 80s ye be wanting: "Sister Christian" should fill the bill, it seems.

"Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

IIRC that was used in a driving scene... by the cuddly but crooked dad in "Say Anything."

Not exactly Crockett material

This kinda works. I'm surprised Crockett himself doesn't turn up in the video! Most everybody else from that era does.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaGfW2Ifuts

that...is a lot to process, wow

phil collins is a really great drum machine programmer

Sonically, "I'll Be Watching You" seems to fit, although words are not so much moody as straight-up sad stalker, esp. gratuitous burst of self-pity on bridge: "Oh can't you seeee", yeah we got it already.

i present here the world champeen of what Jarsch and all of you guys have been talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNrbrhQknLQ

I think I mentioned in another thread that when I was a kid I thought a lot of these moody songs, especially "Lunatic Fringe" "Burnin' For You" and "Voices" had to be by the same band

or perhaps this one is? we are after all talking about songs by, above, the former Argent dude and AOR hit doctor, or here the keyboardist terrorized out of his Rainbow gig by Richie B.…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT-K5hQl834

This may fit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqsTq3WsFZ4

A loose fit, maybe. It's definitely more in phase with post-"Avalon" pop.

I just realised how much it sounds like 'Wicked Game' also.

Massive thank you for putting that Spotify playlist together xps

Haven't seen this posted yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZR3KGKHH2U

Funny how the "Voices" video feels like the inspiration for The Limey.

This one's a bit smooth, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve3vqMg8xhk

a cheat cos it's another Miami Vice track but this from Steve Jones (!) is right in the pocket for foreboding plod & tough guy staring fixedly into the horizon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIWQhMjPblY

and apologies for despoiling this thread with more Australian filth but here is legendarily imcomprehensible ex-Australian Crawl singer James Reyne with his solo not-quite-smash Hammerhead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMmBwCSk6sw

This song might too canonical for this thread, but I can see this soundtracking the scene where some gangland killing in a mansion gets cross-cut with Crockett smoking in slow motion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySO-gryuO-c

I keep finding songs that seem nearly on the mark--

like Satana's (Russ Ballard penned) "Winning." Definitely mid-tempo, though the verses are a little too peppy maybe? But the moody synths undercut the chorus of repeated "I'm winning"s

yeah I was just going through that Santana album.... couple instrumental were close but yeah "Winning" is just too triumphant, really the whole concept of winning feels antithetical to the genre

Another Ballard song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=372436tJiaM

Not from the era but I think Cass McCombs - County Line suits the moody midtempo AOR tag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOcnITphyjk

Also the song is set while driving at night so there’s that.

That Frida song also produced by Phil Collins, casting a wide shadow 'oer this thread.

Russ and Phil, the real Crockett and Tubbs.

Also, interesting that the key song for the '06 Miami Vice was this Mogwai instrumental, which does feel like a 21st-century version of this genre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLFd6k1BHDk

Having mentioned "Only the Lonely" by the Motels, I can't believe I forgot to also mention their "Suddenly Last Summer"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Ox-lGm-wA

Guys, listen to the banjo wind!

Definitely too hi-BPM, but the feeling of Bob Seger's "The Fire Inside" is definitely fits this mood.

thread needs some atlanta rhythm section imo

'Fine Line' from Door to Door is another Cars song that fits, I think

'Taxi' by Rosie Vela

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjYmz8LjDOY

possibly not AOR enough, but some Yello tracks like 'Lost Again' and 'Desire' have a similar vibe to what's being described?

Now I'm in a Rosie Vela hole, I have never heard any of these songs.

I don't consider her music AOR either, but that is a great album. I hope that her subsequent recordings get released someday.

does anyone know a lot about italo disco? listening to a playlist now

nothing on this fits (way too dancefloor) but a lot of textures are the same and was thinking maybe some ID artist might have mixed it up with a slower, moody number

Valerie Dore - The Night

Mike Rogers - Just A Story

^ slow moody italo

Does this fit ums?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opGBw6qDWg
William Pitt - City Lights

Savage - Don’t Cry Tonight & Only You

also this cover of 'eyes without a face':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xDPw2SmWko
Roberto Sandrini - Occhi Su Di Me

Amin Peck "My Frames" might fit the moody mid-tempo Italo side of things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRgN3mqaJvI

oh man upper miss I have a ton for you

try Brian dalmini - can you tell me

magic sound - to haldrin

I think I already recommended "Tarzan Boy."

(Which bears a lot of similarity to "Self Control.")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0n9Dv6XnY

I haven't watched that video in a long time, and it makes me sad that the MTV awards didn't have a makeup category

could I imagine myself listening while driving through the LA twilight on the way to a) a drug deal that will go catastrophically wrong,

Substitite NJ for LA and you've described The Gasoline Age by East River Pipe, it's not strictly within the purview of this thread of course

It's almost too literal

what’s that one italo song where he sings “where did it all go wrong?”... that one fits I think

Think the original of Self Control should also be in this thread, especially the 12" version which has that ace rap towards the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w1Qo1awwI4

Also this Steve Bronski version of Smalltown Boy which is maybe a bit too slow but can totally imagine it being used to soundtrack a more melancholic moment of Miami Vice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXVzyaosPwA

Tempo's a bit fast, but here's Jethro Tull doing what they're not known for doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzJNTNR3_7U

Tom Petty has several. "You Got Lucky" is mentioned above, but also "A Woman in Love," "Runaway Trains," "Straight Into Darkness," "Dogs on the Run." I guess "Rebels" is a little too anthemic on the chorus?

This vibe was a big part of the radio and MTV landscape in my middle school/high school days, it really is a particular thing. I think glossy early '80s production is part of the key.

Moody Blues - "The Other Side of Life"

The Stones went for this a bit in the '80s;-"Emotional Rescue" the song and the Undercover lp come to mind-but were usually undercut by their Stones-ness. However, they nailed it on "Heaven" from Tattoo You.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-HuYUaSjNU

I think this was just an 80s stealth cigarette ad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TToLgW7zuc

I'd say this is up with 'Private Dancer' for some 80s sexy sax lines, which would also fit here.

^^^^ Glenn Frey expression unwittingly showing you his soul

The very title of this thread makes me think of Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland. Jerry and Bob had their had some dark songs as well, but I think Brent was darker. The moodiest of his songs, Just a Little Light, is too fast to qualify as mid-tempo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNaCFHgOgw

Blow Away is in the right range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOtFYt0Uhg0

Far From Me, maybe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4CkT8SosU

As with most later-era Dead, these songs aren't very well-served by their studio versions. And, of course, there are much more captivating - but probably too long - versions to be found out there. What do y'all think?

“how long” by Ace = moody uptempo AOR

"It isn't even lonely / when no one's ever there" in "Just A Little Light" definitely fits and has the right studio sound. If it's on a 45, would love to hear it at 33 1/3.

i'm no zz top expert so maybe there are better answers to this thread, but i had 'rough boy' stuck in my head the other day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_4ULKpkLNc

Steve Miller puts on some Ray-Bans

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-lSRww9S4c

Speaking of Moody Blues, I think "The Voice" might be a rare example of Moody Uptempo AOR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiPzKbT21Vc

But if you lower the speed to 75% it suits the thread surprisingly well.

R&B equivalent by way of Enya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCHgxoXv4g4

Not sure if this fits? Intro is very moody, then it turns into a mix of Dire Straits and i dunno... I don't know if this was big nationally, or just in the Midwest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxPtCADXqdc

ohh these are good ones. that mario one reminds me of the a rap version of this genre, one of my favs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B5uvm34CdE

^^^^^ yesssss such a good one

my vote for R&B equivalent would be Oran "Juice" Jones' "The Rain"

Maybe at least until it goes totally spoken word narrative nuts.

There are a lot of minor key electro sort of things that kind of fit. Even something sort of celebratory, like Shannon's "Let the Music Play," I feel has this pronounced tinge of spooky melancholy. Or something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWUpgzRK1vc

Strafe and Bruce Hornsby, together at last.

Hmm this may fit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41P8UxneDJE

I thought of this thread the other day when I heard Kenny Loggins' "This Is It" on the radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS52sEUqxMo

“These Dreams” definitely feels like a food court where aims have lunch during a mall-job shift, or a strip club mid-afternoon with only a few isolated patrons scattered around the place.

hell yeah, crut

Can I get a hell yeah to this spacey loggins epic?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAq0oonN9Kc

"This is It" was ruined for me (relatively speaking) because I think it was used as the theme to some news show in Philadelphia when I was a kid.

That's exactly the reason why the song is iconic to me.

I can't find it right now but didn't we have a list thread somewhere of songs that are about giving it your all, going for it, reaching for the stars, not givin' up, etc.?

Like "Man in Motion," "This is It," and other inspiring songs that go well over the training montage in an 80s action movie?

oh wait, now I found it

Cheesy '80s Songs About Heart and Soul and Overcoming and Winning and Givin' it All That You Got (RIYL Action Movies and Training Montages and Cocaine)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMKZ5Zto2Q

Ooh, that's a good one. Just moody enough.

These Dreams is one of my favorite Heart songs.

the gold standard for this has always been the blue nile for me

I wouldn't classify the blue nile as AOR

I like These Dreams a lot.

This track was a pretty big FM radio tune (at least where I was at) that Mark Sandman really did not get with Morphine. (Although Morphine was a pretty hip group seemingly loved by NPR and college stations somewhat even today I suppose.)

I had not heard for a long time until I heard it in the piped music at the local Redi Mart (which plays all sorts of wacky stuff that you would not expect in a small town in KY - LOTS OF Depeche, New Order and Cure...deep cut 80s stuff).

Treat Her Right - I Think She Likes Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyOo-aheGIU

That blues harp dude is inexcusable.

i'll submit player, "baby come back"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLtmmFjxSoc

occurs to me now that it could as easily have been a hall n oates jam.

for rnb equivalents, I'll submit jermaine jackson, do what you do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sneQ1AaIbC0

ozark mountain daredevils, "jackie blue"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xuW-aI-haw

I don't know if "Holdin' on to Yesterday" ever got played on AOR; it didn't on my local station. I don't even remember it much on Top 40, though it charted at #17 on US Billboard. Love this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1jeVdUo1-I

This genre can feel creepy or spooky in a good way, especially if you're out in the middle of nowhere and all you have to listen to is a classic rock station.

Was never much of a Journey fan, but in recent years, I discovered "Who's Cryin' Now" as kind of creepy.

A favorite of mine has always been Pat Benatar's "I'm Gonna Follow You".

xp The Ambrosia song got played a lot on the AOR stations I listened to up until the mid Eighties.

Yeah, in retrospect maybe it got played on mine back then, but it's now been focus-grouped off the playlist.

Firefall's "Strange Way" fits in with "70s AOR that stayed around in the moody mid-80s."

38 Special, "You Got The Deal":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLsEm8pku_M

I lived my life one way too long
Deal me straight, I can't go wrong
A gambler's fate's in the cards he takes
And now I know it's just a mistake

Noel emits posted “burning feeling” earlier but this is my fav lovelock jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8tJDPoknXA

Speaking of .38 Special, does this fit the bill, too?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkaPdfjzEk

Very bittersweet montage/end-credits ballad vibe, but the tempo might be just mid-tempo enough to work.

BTW, lovely youtube comment:

My Girl and I had just split prior to my 3rd deployment to Iraq. Friends of mine acquired tickets to see 38 Special in Dallas. what I didn't know was they had managed to meet with band members and during the concert my Girl and I were called on stage and they played this song for us while we danced. We have been married for 16 years now. I proposed that night. A night I will never forget.

That is lovely, but it also reminds me of @IraParks from Twitter who tweets out fake YouTube comments that have exactly the same kind of rhythm as that.

Well I got shagged to this song in the bathroom of a Wendy's

how was the baked potato?

You should have seen the salad bar.

Right in front of my salad bar.

I might be stretching to meet the criteria, and I'm not sure these are worthy of praise, but here are a few I thought of. Purposely not embedded...

Emerson Lake & Powell - Touch & Go
The Hooters - All You Zombies
The Firm - Satisfaction Guaranteed

Olivia Newton-John “Magic” is core curriculum for me in this area, so smooth and ominous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8thfhpKzYg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbHiY-DvMg0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3soJBmu_cFI

thread desperately needs a spotify playlist.

surprised there's not an AI tool that can scrape the text and youtube links and uh, do that for us.

Pet Shop Boys - "Later"
Duran Duran - "Save A Prayer"

I made one a while back

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/17ioxB7tYdJvbZFaMksZFi?si=HZzWmro3Sd-SDfWn985Q2A

Benjamin Orr "Stay the Night"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ySLmwsfP4Q

Foreigner "Waiting for a Girl Like You", similar vibe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIdfPBmUAXc

Walter Egan - "Hot Summer Nights"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oZyT9z9Fmc

I can't tell you why

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odcn6qk94bs

Electric Light Orchestra – Sorrow About To Fall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAbyd8oT-E

surprised benny mardones "into the night" had never been mentioned

Pedo anthem

Too croony, not moody.

"Waiting for a Girl like You" and "I Can't Tell You Why" mentioned in the first post

My bad, President K. Both tracks still rock tho

added egan, elo, eagles (which i missed somehow), and benjamin orr to the playlist - all great picks

that Orr song rules. a childhood favorite that I only rediscovered a year ago

I really like "Skyline" off that Orr album - that one's too optimistic-sounding for this thread though

Atlanta Rhythm Section – Alien

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHvTXJzNpTk

i love ARS. would also totally pay for a tee with that album design on the front.

Benjamin Orr's reputation has suffered only because he was the second most talented member of a world-class, top-tier band.

He's the 80s version of George Harrison. He would have been the standout star performer of almost any band he joined... except for the band he was actually in.

thread needs some atlanta rhythm section imo

― budo jeru, Sunday, December 13, 2020 2:09 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

Schmit has to be among the top ten tenors of all time. His voice in that video co-stars with his luxuriant hair and the 'stache of Joe Walsh.

The music is good, sure. But let us please reflect that this was a truly epic period for Eagles hairdos.

He would have been the standout star performer of almost any band he joined... except for the band he was actually in.

Reminds me of Mike Mills saying that he's a good singer who just happens to be in a band with one of the greatest rock singers ever.

Prez K yep but there is more to being a frontman than singing.

A hypothetical nonBeatles fronted by George Harrison goes exactly as far as Badfinger.

A hypothetical nonREM fronted by Mike Mills goes exactly as far as Poi Dog Pondering.

A hypothetical nonEagles fronted by Timothy B. Schmit goes exactly as far as Poco.

A rock band fronted by the Edge goes as far as Big Country.

A folk group fronted by Art Garfunkel goes nowhere.

A new wave act fronted by Andy Summers goes nowhere.

A soul group fronted by John Oates goes nowhere.

Ego is a hell of a drug, but a lack of it is also, apparently, fatal. Major acts seem to need at least one person with messianic dreams

Is "Fast Car" to slow?

You want moody, looks at any song with a video directed by Matt Mahurin.

Great post, YMP.
Would be a fun thread (reminds me of Imagine if John Lydon had died in 1980 and Ian Curtis was making adverts for Country Life butter)

How far would Genesis have gone if they let the drummer sing?

it's fun to think about what happens to zeppelin if page got his wish and terry reid was the singer

A solo John Oates could have written and sung a handful of hits in the late 70s, think of all the comparative non-entities who had moderate success in that era.

I love Oates but he is not an ambitious fellow.

What if, in 2007, Journey hired a 40-year-old Filipino cover band singer to replace Steve Perry?

it's fun to think about what happens to zeppelin if page got his wish and terry reid was the singer

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, May 11, 2023 3:24 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i remember reading an itw with Tony Iommi in some guitar mag c. early 90's and he said Phil Collins was the singer he most wanted to work with, he loved Phil's voice and wanted him to sing for Black Sabbath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3pbQAqnpbc

My grasp of cosmology is shaky but it stands to reason that if there are any alternate universes, the logical conclusion is that there are an infinite number of alternate universes.

So there is either precisely one reality, or an infinite number of realities. Once you get past one, there is no reason to cap the number of universes. If there are a hundred, why not five hundred? If there a thousand, why not twenty thousand?

This is a long way of saying that maybe there's a universe in which Phil Collins is the lead singer of Black Sabbath.

And Queen is fronted by George Michael. For some reason, Whitesnake never existed and the Chicago River always flows eastward.

The only dipping sauces available for McNuggets are ranch and guacamole.

I would like to hear the first Queen album fronted by a 10 year old George Michael

but I won't live in a world without Whitesnake

Don't worry, ums, in that reality Coverdale starts a band with John Mellencamp and they call it CougarSnake.

Picturing Coverdale singing “Suckin’ on a Chili Dog”

i just wanna get close to you
taste your lovin' hog
and i just wanna make love to you
suck on yr chili dog

Here I go again on my own
Suckin on the only dog I've ever known

^^^ loooool!

Crumblin' down slow and easy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Fy7NhD_co

Phil Manzanera - Listen Now

not sure what song this Seahawks edit is of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEHX-Hp2GbA

Sanford Townsend Band - Moolah Moo Mazuma (Sin City Wahh-oo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBIi5AEiN9A

(not a response to brimstead)

A dollop of Michael Franks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IytymyhQxLk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g_3Ffo0MHA
The Comsat Angels - I'm Falling

Aax Donnell and Eric Malone - “Golden Cage”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFkXyEWXX

pants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y43Ia8Ettqc

*searches YouTube on "icehouse no promises extended mix" and looks for longest one*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgudWMZcSFw

Icehouse were never played on any AOR station in my neck of the woods (we have a classic rocker and a more metal leaning one) but they WERE played quite a bit on a AAA that was new here in 1984. They featured a mix of progressive rock, alternative rock, jazz and new-age music, an approach similar to stations such as WXRT in Chicago and KBCO in Denver. Other influences reach back even farther, to progressive FM rock stations from the 1960s and 1970s. (thanks, wiki.)

"Man of Colours" by Icehouse got played a lot, along with a couple others below; maybe more downtempo than mid, but certainly moody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtWjYRNL9uE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swUdXb94LB0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXWypJvmO_g

Three Dog Night – Easy Evil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j3IKMUQe1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Hm5mrHFsA

Listen to the build up on this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQl62w71Ets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnpwuRlXbhk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmslaEudR3M