History
From the late 1960s it became common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock, with both emerging as major radio formats in the US. Soft rock was often derived from folk rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody and harmonies. Major artists included Carole King, Cat Stevens and James Taylor.
It reached its commercial peak in the mid-to-late 1970s with acts like Billy Joel, Elton John, Chicago, America and the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was the best-selling album of the decade. By 1977, some radio stations, like New York's WTFM and WYNY, had switched to an all-soft-rock format. By the 1980s, tastes had changed and radio formats reflected this change, including musical artists such as Journey.
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 categorisation.
Read more about this topic: Soft Rock
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Indeed, the Englishman’s history of New England commences only when it ceases to be New France.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)