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 began in the early 1970s with bands like Bread and Fleetwood Mac. It became hugely popular later in the decade. By 1977, some radio stations, like New York's WTFM, had switched to an all-soft-rock format. ^* 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". In the early 1990s, soft rock began to be known as "adult contemporary".

Artists and their song^* considered soft-rock are:

• Air Supply - "Here I Am", "All Out of Love"
• Aerosmith - "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing"
• Ambrosia - "How Much I Feel"
• Barry Manilow - "Even Now"
• Bee Gees - "Alone."
• Billy Joel - "This Is The Time", "We Didn't Start The Fire", "Tell Her About It"
• Billy Vera and The Beaters - "At This Moment"
• Bread - "If"
• Bruce Springsteen - "Hungry Heart"
• Bryan Adams - "Heaven", "Every Thing I Do (I Do It For You)"
• Carole King - "So Far Away"
• 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?", "You're The Inspiration"
• The Commodores - "Still"
• The Eagles - "Take It To The Limit"
• Eric Carmen - "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again"
• Elton John - "Crocodile Rock", "Your Song"
• 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"
• The Righteous Brothers - "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin"
• Seals and Crofts - "Summer Breezer", "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"

External Links

• MajikRadio.com Adult Contemporary internet radio featuring popular soft rock, mellow pop and R&B hits from the past four decades, as well as today.

Rock music genres | Radio formats

Soft rock | ソフトロック | Soft rock | Soft rock