Soft rock
Soft rock, also referred to as
light rock, is a style of
music which uses the techniques of
rock and roll to compose a softer, supposedly more ear-pleasing sound for listening, often at work. Soft rock is usually sung with higher-pitched
vocals, and the lyrics tend to be non-confrontational, focusing in very general language on themes like love and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of
pianos,
synthesizers and sometimes
saxophones. 'Soft rock' is an ambiguous term used for popular music as well.
Soft rock as a genre distinction has come to refer specifically to a style of rock that emerged in the early 70's, both as a reaction against the increasingly heavy music that dominated rock at the time, and also as a reflection of the changing priorities of the
Baby Boom in the early 70's. What set 70's soft rock apart from its 60's counterpart, which for lack of a better word is usually just called "pop", is that in the 60's pop existed for those who simply didn't like rock; the 60's pop artists usually were vocalists who were stylistic throwbacks to the pre-rock era. Soft rock developed organically to suit the needs of those who did have rock listening experience; as such, it can be considered a bona-fide rock genre.
Soft rock became hugely popular later in that decade. By 1977, some radio stations, like New York's
WTFM, had switched to an all-soft-rock format. [
1] Around that same time,
Chicago, which had previously been a
jazz-rock band, switched to soft rock and reached their biggest commercial successes. Even
Led Zeppelin, considered by some to be standard bearers of
hard rock, flirted with the genre at the time in songs like 1979's "
All My Love". By the 1980's, tastes had changed and radio formats reflected this change; the genre evolved into what became called "
adult contemporary", a pop categorization that bore less overt rock influence than its forebear.
Artists and some of their songs considered soft-rock are:
*
Air Supply -
"Here I Am",
"All Out of Love",
"Lost In Love"*
Aerosmith -
"I Don't Want To Miss A Thing"*
Ambrosia -
"How Much I Feel"*
Barry Manilow -
"Even Now",
"Mandy"*
Bee Gees -
"Alone.",
"How Deep Is Your Love?"*
Billy Joel -
"This Is The Time",
"We Didn't Start The Fire",
"She's Always A Woman" *
Billy Vera and
The Beaters -
"At This Moment"*
Bread -
"If",
"Everything I Own"*
Bruce Springsteen -
"Hungry Heart"*
Bryan Adams -
"Heaven",
"Every Thing I Do (I Do It For You)"*
Carole King -
"So Far Away"*
The Carpenters -
"We've Only Just Begun",
"Close to You",
"Top of the World"*
Celine Dion -
"It's All Coming Back To Me Now"*
Chicago -
"I Don't Want To Live Without Your Love",
"What Kind Of Man Would I Be?",
"If You Leave Me Now"*
The Commodores -
"Still"*
The Eagles -
"Take It To The Limit"*
Eric Carmen -
"Never Gonna Fall In Love Again"*
Elton John -
"Crocodile Rock",
"Your Song",
"Bennie and the Jets"*
Firefall -
"You Are The Woman"*
Fleetwood Mac -
"Landslide",
"Gypsy"*
Foreigner -
"I Want To Know What Love Is"*
Gordon Lightfoot -
"If You Could Read My Mind"*
Hall & Oates -
"Sara Smile"*
Journey -
"When You Love A Woman",
"Open Arms"*
Michael Bolton -
"How I Am I Suppose To Live Without You"*
Orleans -
"Still The One"*
Paul Davis -
"I Go Crazy"*
Paul Simon -
"Slip Slidin' Away"*
Peter Cetera -
"One Good Woman",
"Glory Of Love"*
Phil Collins -
"Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)"*
The Police -
"Every Breathe You Take"*
The Raspberries -
"Go All The Way"*
Rod Stewart -
"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You",
"Maggie May"*
REO Speedwagon -
"Keep On Loving You"*
Seals and Crofts -
"Summer Breeze",
"Closer"*
Smokey Robinson -
"Just To See Her"*
Steve Perry -
"Foolish Heart"*
Steve Winwood -
"Valerie",
"Higher Love"*
Stevie Wonder -
"I Just Called To Say I Love You"*
Sting -
"Fields of Gold"*
Wings -
"With A Little Luck",
"Silly Love Songs"*
Yacht rock
