adult contemporary music

Adult contemporary (AC) is a category of popular music catered to adult demographics, including record charts and radio formats that are focused on such music. The exact assemblage of adult contemporary music is influenced primarily by the popular music trends of a given era, and which trends and genres appeal more heavily to youth and young adults. It was originally established as a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock sounds from the 1960s and 1970s, acting as a counterbalance for the hard rock of the era, and later heavy metal and hip-hop: it initially focused on songs with varying degrees of influence from easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet storm, and rock. In the 1990s, adult contemporary began to accommodate a hotter sound more inclusive of contemporary pop, and developed sub-categories devoted towards specific genres. In radio broadcasting, adult contemporary formats typically target the demographic of adults 25–44, as they are favored among advertisers. They are differentiated primarily by their playlists, with "hot AC" stations usually focusing on uptempo mainstream music (including dance-pop, contemporary R&B, as well as pop, alternative, indie, and soft rock, while excluding more specialized types of hip-hop, hard rock, teen pop, and electronic dance music that do not appeal as strongly to older audiences), "mainstream AC" having a balance between current music and established hits from past decades, and "soft AC" having a more conservative sound.¶

1960s: Early roots; easy listening and soft rock

Adult contemporary traces its roots to the 1960s easy listening format, which adopted a 70–80% instrumental to 20–30% vocal mix. A few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. The easy listening format, as it was first known, was born of a desire by some radio stations in the late 1950s and early 1960s to continue playing current hit songs, but distinguish themselves from being branded as "rock and roll" stations. Billboard first published the Easy Listening chart July 17, 1961, with 20 songs; the first number one was "Boll Weevil Song" by Brook Benton. The chart described itself as "not too far out in either direction". Initially, the vocalists consisted of artists such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, and others. The custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or pop hit songs, a move intended to give the stations more mass appeal without selling out. Some stations would also occasionally play earlier big band-era recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s. After 1965, differences between the Hot 100 chart and the Easy Listening chart became more pronounced. Better reflecting what middle of the road stations were actually playing, the composition of the chart changed dramatically. As rock music continued to harden, there was much less crossover between the Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart than there had been in the early half of the 1960s.¶

1970s: Soft rock forms as a radio format

By the late 1960s, hard rock had been established as one of the rock genres leading hard rock and soft rock to became distinct popular forms in the rock scene, and 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, James Taylor and Bread. In the early 1970s, softer songs by the Carpenters, Anne Murray, John Denver, Barry Manilow, and even Barbra Streisand, began to be played more often on "Top 40" radio. Top 40 radio stations played the Top 40 hits regardless of genre. As the texture of much of the music played on Top 40 radio began to soften, the Hot 100 and Easy Listening/AC charts became more similar. Easy Listening radio began playing songs by artists who had begun in other genres, such as rock and roll or R&B. Much of the music recorded by singer-songwriters such as Diana Ross, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Carole King and Janis Ian got as much, if not more, airplay on AC stations than on Top 40 stations. AC stations also began playing softer songs by Elvis Presley, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, and other rock-based artists. Soon after, the adult contemporary format began evolving into the sound that later defined it, with rock-oriented acts as Chicago and the Eagles, becoming associated with the format. In addition, several early disco songs also did well on the Adult Contemporary format. Soft rock reached its commercial peak in the mid-to-late 1970s with acts such as Toto, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Air Supply, Seals and Crofts, Dan Fogelberg, America and the reformed Fleetwood Mac, whose Rumours (1977) was one of the best-selling albums of the decade.¶

1980s: Adult contemporary succeeds as radio format

On April 7, 1979, the Easy Listening chart officially became known as Adult Contemporary, and those two words have remained consistent in the name of the chart ever since. Adult contemporary music became one of the most popular radio formats of the 1980s. The growth of AC was a natural result of the generation that first listened to the more "specialized" music of the mid-late 1970s growing older and not being interested in the heavy metal and rap/hip-hop music that a new generation helped to play a significant role in the Top 40 charts by the end of the decade. Mainstream AC itself has evolved in a similar fashion over the years; traditional AC artists such as Barbra Streisand, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, John Denver, and Olivia Newton-John found it harder to have major Top 40 hits as the 1980s wore on, and due to the influence of MTV, artists who were staples of the Contemporary Hit Radio format, such as Richard Marx, Michael Jackson, Bonnie Tyler, George Michael, Phil Collins, Laura Branigan and Journey began crossing over to the AC charts with greater frequency. Collins has been described by AllMusic as "one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond". However, with the combination of MTV and AC radio, adult contemporary appeared harder to define as a genre, with established soft-rock artists of the past still charting pop hits and receiving airplay alongside mainstream radio fare from newer artists at the time.¶

The amount of crossover between the AC chart and the Hot 100 has varied based on how much the passing pop music trends of the times appealed to adult listeners.¶

1990s: Subgenre formations/radio crossovers

The early 1990s marked the softening of urban R&B in the shape of new jack swing, at the same time alternative rock emerged and traditional pop saw a significant resurgence. This in part led to a widening of the market, not only allowing to cater to more niche markets, but it also became customary for artists to make AC-friendly singles. At the same time, the genre began adopting elements from hard rock as tastes were shifting towards louder music, while AC stations in general began playing more rock acts.¶

2000s – present: AC music goes mainstream and mainstream music goes AC

During the 2000s, the AC market gained an increased presence in the music industry,…¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Adult contemporary music”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

adult contemporary music is radio format and music genre, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 7 external registers, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶