1991: The Year AOR Ate Itself

We've discussed one album from 1991 each month here on the podcast and that still leaves a lot of great records on the table. Jeff and Matt circle back for a free form discussion regarding some of their favorites. They welcome a special guest from Columbus, Ohio's own Watershed, who put out their debut major label release on Epic Records in 1991. Guitarist Colin Gawel sits in with Matt and Jeff to share stories about Spin Doctors, touring with Insane Clown Posse, the Smithereens and lots more...

We round out our look at the AOR of 1991 with a discussion of U2's blockbuster Achtung, Baby album — a set of songs from one of rock's most popular acts that pointed the way toward what was about to happen at the format. For this episode, Matt and Jeff are joined by the witty and charming Jordan Stepp!

The 1991 album release calendar closed out with a flurry of new records from major rock acts — and few were more highly anticipated than Genesis' We Can't Dance LP. Join Matt and Jeff as they dig into this era-capping effort from the prog stalwarts-turned-Top 40 kingpins, with an assist from special guest Jason Hare!

Why are we here? Because we're here ... to discuss Rush's Roll the Bones. Why does it happen? Because this album happened to be released in 1991, of course! For this episode, Ted Asregadoo, co-host of the Planet LP podcast, joins Matt and Jeff to discuss the Canadian power trio's 14th studio album — and how it fits into the coming AOR upheaval that was only beginning to be felt.

You knew this episode was coming — after all, it's nearly impossible to talk about AOR in 1991 without discussing the year's most highly anticipated two-album set. In fact, there's so much to get into here that Matt and Jeff don't even have a special guest this time around. Listen in for a look back at Guns 'N' Roses' Use Your Illusion.

What do you get when you put the broken pieces of Journey and the Babys together and use them to make a brand new supergroup? Bad English, of course — and although the band's first album was a huge hit, that was absolutely not the case for their 1991 followup, Backlash. How did it go so wrong, so fast? Jay Kumar joins Matt and Jeff for a look at this jinxed sophomore effort — and how it fits into the year AOR ate itself.

Ultimate Classic Rock head honcho Matthew Wilkening sits in with Jeff and Matt for this fond look back at one of the biggest — and most highly anticipated — rock records of 1991. Grab a power drill and join us for a look back at Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge!

Foreigner sold records by the fistful during the '70s and '80s, racking up a string of AOR and Top 40 singles with singer Lou Gramm at the mic. After he left, the group soldiered on with new singer Johnny Edwards — but the end result, 1991's Unusual Heat, ended up being the band's first flop. What the hell happened, and how does it fit into the year AOR ate itself? Singer, songwriter, author, and podcaster Ben Arthur joins Jeff and Matt to figure it out.

Cher's Love Hurts album continued in the same vein she'd explored to multiplatinum success in the late '80s, but this time out, audiences weren't as eager to embrace the new material. Join us as we investigate what went down with Cher's 20th(!) studio outing, joined by our special guest, culture writer and author Annie Zaleski!

There have been numerous Yes lineups over the years, to put it mildly — but only one Yes album has attempted to squish together as many members and former members of the band as humanly possible. We're talking about 1991's "Union," of course! Steve Cunningham joins Jeff and Matt for this episode and an in-depth discussion of how this record came together...and how quickly it fell apart.

Mr. Big rode mainstream rock's last gasp onto the top of the charts in early 1992 with their hit single "To Be with You," but further success largely eluded them (at least in the United States). How was their career trajectory altered by AOR eating itself? Is there a world in which they had a few more platinum records in them? Maura Johnston and Michael Parr join us for a discussion about all this and more.

Chicago reinvented its sound in the '80s, scoring a slew of big hit records along the way — and then it all came to a screeching halt with their Twenty 1 album. What the heck happened? For this discussion, co-hosts Jeff Giles and Matt Wardlaw are joined by Ultimate Classic Rock editor Nick DeRiso

After leaving Van Halen, Diamond Dave soared to the top of the charts as a solo artist — at least until A Little Ain't Enough, which may have offered an early sign that AOR needed to evolve in a major way. For this discussion, co-hosts Jeff Giles and Matt Wardlaw are joined by their old pal (and frequent collaborator) Rob Smith.