Raised on Radio

A massively entertaining oral biography of the golden era of radio rock, when Journey, Boston, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Toto, and more ruled the airwaves

Paul Rees’ Raised on Radio is, remarkably, the first biography of AOR (“Album-Oriented Rock”), critically derided at the time but massively popular during its 1976-1986 heyday when artists such as Journey, Boston, Foreigner, Toto, REO Speedwagon, Heart, Pat Benatar, Bryan Adams, and Styx sold many millions of albums and toured stadiums. Today, those very same songs are streaming in record numbers and many of the artists continue to play to sell-out audiences around the world. They may have been dismissed at the time as terminally uncool by elitist rock critics in thrall to punk and new wave, but their music was, and is still, the soundtrack to so many people’s lives.

Who hasn’t pumped their fist to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” (even before The Sopranos made it cool), played air guitar to Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”, had their heart broken to the strains of REO’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling”, or bellowed along to Toto’s “Africa” at one time or another? Truly, these songs are national–and international–anthems.
The stories behind their making, and of the AOR era in general, are as eye-opening as any from the annals of rock ‘n’ roll history. For better or worse, AOR’s prime movers lived life to excess and in the fast lane. Cocaine use was rampant, egos were unchecked, and intra-band fighting became par for the course. What’s more, their influence stretches across generations and through the fabric of popular American music. AOR invented the power ballad, and the sound of it has travelled on through hair metal, pop-rock, and right up to Taylor Swift.

Fittingly, Raised on Radio is a stadium-sized, massively entertaining oral and pop-cultural history in the bestselling tradition of Meet Me in the Bathroom, Nothin’ But a Good Time, and Please Kill Me, capturing a time and place that was as big, booming, and unabashed as the music that provided its soundtrack.