Typical instruments Acoustic guitars | ||
Stylistic origins Pop
pop rock
Brill Building Cultural origins Early 1970s, Southern California | ||
Soft rock (or lite rock) is a subgenre of pop music that largely features acoustic guitars and slow-to-mid tempos. Originating in the early 1970s in southern California, the style smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. Soft rock dominated radio throughout the 1970s and eventually metamorphosed into the synthesized music of adult contemporary in the 1980s.
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The term "yacht rock" appeared in the 2000s as a catch-all term for for anything "soft" and reminiscent of the 1970s, although not all yacht rock can be characterized as "soft".
Late 1960s–early 1970s
Hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre by 1968. From the end of the 1960s, it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. By the early 1970s, softer songs by the Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and even Barbra Streisand began to be played more often on "Top 40" radio and others were added to the mix on many adult contemporary stations. Also, some of these stations even played softer songs by Elvis Presley, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, and other rock-based artists.
Major artists of that time included Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Bread.
The Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts became more similar again toward the end of the 1960s and into the early and mid-1970s, when the texture of much of the music played on Top 40 radio once more began to soften. The adult contemporary format began evolving into the sound that later defined it, with rock-oriented acts as Chicago, the Eagles and Elton John becoming associated with the format. The Carpenters' hit version of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was released in the summer of 1970, followed by Bread's "Make It with You", both early examples of a softer sound that was coming to dominate the charts.
Mid–late 1970s
Soft rock reached its commercial peak in the mid-to-late 1970s with acts such as Toto, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Air Supply, Seals and Crofts, America and the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was the best-selling album of the decade. By 1977, some radio stations, notably New York's WTFM and NBC-owned WYNY, had switched to an all-soft rock format.
In the mid-to-late 1970s, prominent soft rock acts included Billy Joel, Elton John, Chicago, Toto, Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Paul Davis, Air Supply, Seals and Crofts, Captain & Tennille, America, and Fleetwood Mac. By the 1980s, tastes had changed and radio formats reflected this change, including musical artists such as Journey.
1980s
In the early 1980s, the radio format evolved into what came to be known as "adult contemporary" or "adult album alternative", a format that has less overt rock bias than its forebear radio categorization. Although dance-oriented, electronic pop and ballad-oriented rock dominated the 1980s, soft rock songs still enjoyed a mild success thanks to Sheena Easton, Amy Grant, Lionel Richie, Christopher Cross, Dan Hill, Leo Sayer, Billy Ocean, Julio Iglesias, Bertie Higgins and Tommy Page. No song spent more than six weeks at #1 on this chart during the 1980s, with nine songs accomplishing that feat. Two of these were by Lionel Richie, "You Are" in 1983 and "Hello" in 1984, which also reached #1 on the Hot 100.