Ok, I'm hitching this thread now for an own purpose. Hope that's ok, GreatDuck...

Could anybody point me towards bands/artists playing some kind of cheese-filled, uplifting (very important, so no love ballad songs please) "AOR-meets-80s-pop-rock" stuff. You know all this positive "keep on" stuff, often found in (mostly action) movies of the 80s etc.

Songs like Kenny Loggings "Danger Zone", John Parr's "Man in motion (St. Elmo's Fire)"
and mostly these tracks:
King Kobra - "Never say die "Iron Eagle"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZwsCIfo9n8

Stan Bush - Dare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htL9bFyaACU

songs from Galaxy Rangers cartoon show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLplMEa5kuw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGT6j2c- ... re=related
(performed by guys from FM and Refugee afaik)


doesn't matter if full albums or only single songs (many of those artists in the 80s were some kind of one-hit-wonders in terms of popularity)

Thanks!

^^

Hot Pursuit - Fire With Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKg9OR1EQLA

From the uber-crappy Rambo rip-off movie "Steele Justice."

Sammy Hagar - Winner Takes It All

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUbwSdnL ... re=related

From the Stallone movie "Over the Top."

the S. Hagar song I know, the other not. Thanks, going to listen to it when back home. And the title and mentioning of an über-crappy Rambo rip-off sounds sweets for my 80s mind, hehe! Thanks!

Alright - listened to that song and DAMN, this is exactly what I'm looking for!!!! Unfortunately the sound quality is rather bad but I will see if the band only appeared in the movie (happened quite often back then) or if they released albums etc.
Thanks again, Fred!

Hey, you're welcome! You may know these, but...

"You're the Best" by Joe Esposito from The Karate Kid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBktYJsJq-E

"Angel Of The City" by Robert Tepper from Cobra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4CCg4dYe0A

"Fight To Survive" by Stan Bush from Bloodsport:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYLOGDT4VEk

"Never Surrender" from Kickboxer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci9zoyV2M_M

yeah, know both (spending my child and teen days in that golden era ) - awesome stuff for sure and also perfect examples of what I'm looking for...

edit: found out that Hot Pursuit did a 4 track EP back then but couldn't find it anywhere to buy or sample... :-/

I just found this blog:

http://80ssoundtracksaor.blogspot.com/2 ... movie.html

He's got tons of this crap. Enjoy!

Have you heard this one then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIf8qHMZ398

@DRD: sweeeet! great stuff (only knew "You're the voice" before) - exactly what I need!

Yeah i remember hearing a lot of John Farnham in the 80s but he was one of the only AORists i didn't like. I dunno - maybe i just hated him coz he's Australian. Anyway, i tried downloading some of his stuff, but it's not really the same as his awesome movie soundtracks/some of his hits. Kinda disappointing. might have to look into it some more. By the way, that movie RAD, where that song is taken from has some other good tracks on it too - Farnham done most of them i think. That movie was parodied on American Dad where they had Stan & Frnacine on BMX's and that song playing in the background - pretty rad.

American Dad is sooo damn great - esp. because of the many 80s influences/parodies
Gonna check out the RAD soundtrack, thanks!

It is an underrated show, i've mentioned this all in the TV thread previously though, so won't repeat myself here.

I'm really after some AOR in the Europe/Niagara/Alien (SWE)/Joe Lamont vein. Can someone offer me any suggestions? My favourite subgenre of AOR for sure.

Maybe Dalton would suit your request?
Also,the Spanish band Jupiter (who started their career as the heavy metal band Goliath,and sing in Spanish,btw) is kinda similar to the bands you mentioned.

hehe, Grauer - you need (and surely know) this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5C0G9Ol7_Q

"...masked crusaders working all the time
fighting crime..."

Can somebody recommend me some West Coast AOR stuff?

@GreatDuck: surely you know of John Parr and Richard Marx, right? some more unkown stuff would be The Arrows, Agent, swedish band Go For It and Regatta. All of them playing quite sweet pop/rock in the westcoast style. Just recently I discovered Michel Sembello who has some nice songs with westcoast approach.

@PengPeng: Hell yes - surely I remember that one. Great tune and full of action spirit! How come that you as a girl know of that series (sorry, dumb question maybe). I mean it was mostly a boys thing, wasn't it?

Here's another Swedish band in that vein, Pride:

http://www.aor-fm.com/Bands/336_pride_sweden.aspx

Will check out - though for some reason i'm sure i've heard that band before.

Eh, there's probably not a lot you haven't heard. But that website is kinda neat.

Yeah seems rather nice to look at - and has sample tracks and youtube links which is nice. A lot better than some of the other source/encyclopaedia sites out there for sure. Will give em a listen now.

Can somebody please recommend me some good AOR albums that came out in the past decade and half (doesn't matter if they're by old or new bands)? The less alternative/modern rock influences present,the better.

think so, too But as me and my brother always watched TV together I saw all these cartoon shows together with him

Not sure if I already recommended this band called SHOGUN. Anyway - this is some awesome little gem from the 80s with great rocking guitars, anthemnic synth tapestry and insanely contagious choruses.
Have a listen here and rejoice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY3eANOK2To

I just found out about the new Rob Moratti album "Victory." Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tqlsvA3 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iqsC45E ... re=related

I'm looking for some female fronted AOR right now,so what would you recommend me out of that stuff?

after just throwing in SHOGUn some time ago (look a bit further above) here's another rec just for anyone who might be interested in it

KARO - a fantastic band from germany playing sth between AOR/Hard Rock and partly (veeeery partly) Metal. Thier album "Heavy Birthday" is a fantastic one and here are some of the tracks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYH1PcBKkfI (probably the most aor-ish on the album)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8vYhHxbe-M (slightly odd beginning but the chorus is just sooooo awesome)

oh, and another great band is REFUGEE (some may know Myles Hunter). Catchy AOR, highly recommended!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBY8QWeOgMA

Do you know an all-female American band Vixen?

Groundstar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT4uYtEAnec

I found this one today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV9gc1-cllk

Apparently the movie itself is awful.

Thanks, going to check that song in the next minutes

Maybe you can try Dire Straits, Bad English, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Pat Benatar, Eddie Money and Damn Yankees.

Has anyone here heard Phenomena:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz9UNyEKBjg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJRHvZGA-c8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV643qT4Vhk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbcpmRmNx8c

Great stuff.

Will have to check it out. Any fans of Virginia Wolf here? Just finally got round to getting their stuff. SOme really boss tracks like 'Livin' on a Knife Edge' - really commercial 80s movies stuff. Anyone like Airrace or Dare Force?

@DeatHRiderDoom: sorry for not replying when I read your post some weeks ago - I knew already of Virgina Wolf's music but the other two were new to me and what I youtube'd and googled up sounded pretty good, so, yeah, thanks a lot!

ok - found some new old stuff recently I though I'd share with you - here we go:

Mastedon (this song being froma movie soundtrack and not from an off. album though)
powerful, catchy and just great:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77gXDSkKi94

Vice (again from a soundtrack)
uplifting, rocking stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p__Q0q5sXQ

Sharp Edges
rather pop/rock with AOR touches but a great tune full of 80s action spirit somehow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEVcV1-tFkM

Rescue
great synths and overall a fantastic tune (and album)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhFnRpHj7fo

Red Dawn
great melodic rock/AOr with lots of power in it, superb!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFCdKZmIWJY

Dominoe
again poppy AOR Rock, this special song may be known to many kids of the 80s from a Renault commercial in 1988 (at least here in germany)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM6rUxWm2eo

Already familiar with Mastedon & Dominoe, but have yet to hear the others. Man, i've been listening to a lot of Winger lately - that's easily some top notch AOR - i've had their 2nd album for years, but i got their debut only a few months ago and i love that one too. Really polished, classy, emotive, catchy as hell AOR.

Winger is a band I still have to check out. For whatever reason I know their name and even the covers since my childhood days but just never heard a single song from them. After my recently playing audio-book is finished I think I finally will change this blind spot on my music map

Since you guys are talking about Winger, have you guys heard 'Pull'? My dad has had their CDs for ages but I never got around to listening to that one until just now, and right now I'm surprised at how much I'm liking it. The first two were solid, but this one is really diverse and also a lot heavier (there are some songs that are undeniably metal; this is coming off as their Dogman). Are there other AOR bands that went in a harder/heavier direction in the early 90's, and did so well? Something that would exist a couple steps closer to mainstream rock than Symbol of Salvation or Edge of Thorns, I guess.

I came here to share this amazing shit. It's Mike Eriksen from Circus Maximus + the guitarrist from Leprous in a new AOR project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cu3htyMjJI

I watched the James Remar action flick "Quiet Cool" last night and the ending song is awesome:

http://youtu.be/8KZmFmcZEQg

Damn! that was great! Thanks a lot!