AOR

As the record-buying public grew in the early 1970s and rock became a major industry, the sales of full-length albums exceeded that of hit singles. Musicians began to explore the possibilities of extended song structures, sometimes expanding one musical idea over the span of an entire album. "Album-Oriented Rock" or "Album-Oriented Radio" filled the FM dial and coliseums with a lighter version of Hard Rock. Bands like Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner and the Steve Miller Band appealed not only to kids, but to the baby boomers who were raised on rock 'n' roll and were now eager for slightly less radical sounds as they donned suits, signed up for mortgages, and started raising families.