 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mainstream rock" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Mainstream rock (also known asheritage rock) is aradio format used by many commercialradio stations in the United States and Canada.[1]
Mainstream rock stations represent a cross betweenclassic rock,active rock andalternative rock on the programming spectrum, in that they play more classic rock songs from the 1970s and 1980s and fewer songs from emerging acts than active rock and alternative rock stations, and only rarely play songs on the softer edge of the classic rock format or the harder edge of the active rock format. They program a balanced airplay of tracks found on active rock, alternative rock and classic rock playlists, but the music playlist tends to focus on chartinghard rock music from the 1970s through the 2000s.
Mainstream rock is the true successor to the widespreadalbum-oriented rock (AOR) format created in the 1970s. However, mainstream rock can be used as a modernized update of classic rock if any radio station playlist has to cut back on some active rock artists and songs due to ratings and popularity demand, which is an absolute variable in each local market by each state and each franchised or locally owned radio company operation. To this day, there are a select few mainstream rock programmed stations that will purposely play any new rock artist while keeping the classics involved, which sits on a borderline scale being influenced byactive rock strongly. Meanwhile, some stations consist of playing all 40 years worth of rock hits, ranging from classic hard rock and hair metal artists all the way to 2000s hard rock and metal artists, the format is an open variable. Acts that receive heavy airplay on classic rock stations, includingthe Beatles,Elton John,Fleetwood Mac,Eagles, orSupertramp receive some airplay on mainstream rock stations, albeit less frequently than acts likeGreen Day,Nirvana,Pearl Jam,Foo Fighters,Red Hot Chili Peppers, orAlice in Chains. Classic hard rock artists of the mid to late 1970s to the late 1980s as well as all of the 1990s alternative and grunge artists completely highlight what mainstream rock is. It is less common to hear many newer rock artists.
Mainstream rock has evolved into a sequel for the classic rock radio format. It has begun to remove hard rock and metal artists that are from the early 2000s as well as the 2010s on some rock radio stations, to avoid overlapping into the active rock format. This is a following trend since almost all classic rock stations rarely play harder songs and artists within their format.
Outside the United States and Canada, mainstream rock refers generally to rock music deemed "radio friendly". It very rarely is referred to as a specific radio format.
| Components | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genres by decade of origin (sub-subgenres not included) | |||||||||||||
| Regional scenes |
| ||||||||||||
| Radio formats | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||
