AOR (Adult Oriented Rock): Significado - descripción

La descripción más completa de AOR (Album-oriented Rock) la encontramos en inglés en la wikipedia:

Album-oriented rock (sometimes referred to as Adult-oriented rock), abbreviated AOR and originally called album-oriented radio, was originally an American FM radioformat focusing on album tracks by rock artists. This format developed and popularized the repertoire of music currently associated with Classic Rock.
The roots of the Album Oriented Rock (AOR) radio format began with programming concepts rooted in 1960s idealism. The Freeform or Progressive formats developed the repertoire and set the tone that would dominate AOR playlists for much of its heyday.(...)
(...)The "Rock" in Album-oriented Rock came in the late 1970s when AOR music libraries and playlists discarded the wide range of genres embraced earlier on to primarily focus on a rock-centric sound. The occasional folk, jazz, and blues selections became more rare and most black artists were effectively eliminated from airplay. Where earlier soul and R&B artists like Stevie Wonder, War, Sly Stone and others had been championed by the format, AOR was no longer representing these styles, and took a stance against disco. In 1979 Steve Dahl of WLUP in Chicago destroyed disco records on his radio show, culminating in a notorious Disco Demolition at Comiskey Park. Steve Slaton of KISW in Seattle had a similar on-air bit which was included on the station’s Epic Rock record album.
What links the Freeform, Progressive, AOR and ultimately the Classic Rock formats are the continuity of rock artists and songs carried through each phase. Programmers and DJs of the Freeform and Progressive phases continued to cultivate a repertoire of rock music and style of delivery that were foundations of AOR and now Classic Rock. Those AOR stations, which decided to stay "demographically-rooted", became classic rock stations by eschewing newer bands which their older listeners might tune out. Those that didn't fully evolve into classic rock generally attempt to hold onto their older listeners through careful dayparting -- playing large amounts of classic rock during the 9-5 workday with more adventurous, newer songs "baked into the mix" as the listener base skews younger at night.

En la Wikipedia en español encontramos:

Estilo musical dentro del rock melódico. Su nombre (Adult Oriented Rock) en castellano quiere decir "Rock orientado a los adultos". Se caracteriza por sus trabajados estribillos y melodías, su armonía vocal e instrumental. Bebe del rock pero con la comercialidad característica del pop. Es un rock apto para casi todos los públicos sin la aspereza del rock puro. También se le conoce como Soft Rock.

Tuvo su auge en el período que va desde 1985 a 1993 aproximadamente. En este período muchos grupos conocidos coquetearon con este género para desvincularse de él por motivos comerciales cuando así se lo dictaron sus compañías de discos. Entre estos últimos destacan Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, Michael Bolton y Whitesnake. Sus más genuinos representantes entre otros, son los grupos norteamericanos: Toto, Journey, Boston, Foreigner y el canadiense Harem Scarem.

Por último, en la web de jordi, este hace otra descripción también sencilla pero que está muy bien:

Si lo que os interesa es la música AOR o el Hard Rock, ahora trataremos un poco el tema. Para la gente que no le suene, A.O.R. (rock orientado a adultos) son unas siglas con las que se calificó al Hard Rock más melódico en Estados Unidos, aquel tipo de música que era demasiado dura para sonar junto al pop-rock pero demasido suave para considerarla heavy metal (como principales precursores de este tipo de música estarían grupos como Boston o Journey).

Para que os hagáis una idea, citaré mis grupos favoritos: Harem Scarem, Signal, House of Lords, Shy, Crown of Thorns, King Kobra, Eyes, Fair warning, Winger, The Storm, Stage dolls, Pretty maids, Bad English, Drive she said, Phenomena, Blue tears, Giant, TNT, etc.