Arena Rock - A Style Refined to Near Perfection During the '80s

Although stadiums first began to rock in earnest during the '70s, with epic, bombastic hard rock as the main event, the concept of arena rock didn't become fully formed until the following decade. That was a mixed prospect for '70s mainstream rock music, which sometimes lacked cohesion but simultaneously benefited from the free-form nature of a genre still being invented. The '80s, on the other hand, turned almost inevitably to commodification once the opportunity for successful commerce became undeniable. That translated into homogeneity if not poor quality at times, but not without defining the sound of mainstream rock for more than a decade. Still, who could imagine '80s music without Journey, Def Leppard or Bon Jovi, three of the artists that demonstrated the most savvy when it came to adapting seamlessly the disparate forms of progressive rock, glam rock, mainstream pop and heavy metal. Check out my Introductory Genre Profile of Arena Rock, which merely scratches the surface of a form that may have occasionally succumbed to the more cynical elements of the music business but never did so without style and flair.