In Praise of Moody Midtempo AOR

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