@Lee Prosser

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Created with FreeYourMusic.com where you can transfer playlists to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and others

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

Whether it’s a weekday morning or Saturday night, get going with this personalized mix of upbeat music. Refreshed every Monday.

Songs to help you relax and unwind. Updated every Sunday.

The ‘80s maximalist ideal helped make its softer songs a little more grandiose. Hard rockers, synth-poppers and soul singers all released ballads and meditations that accompanied their deep feelings with dramatic musical gestures—sparkling pianos, weepy guitar solos, slick saxophones, vocals that went the extra octave. While some artists, like Bruce Hornsby and Phil Collins, used their pop-star platforms to take on social issues, and others like The Police and Don Henley examined humans’ darker sides in their biggest soft-rock smashes, the inspiration for a lot of the decade’s best mellow gold was love. It didn’t always result in happy endings, as the wrenching vocals laid down by the likes of George Michael and Heart’s Wilson sisters showed. But no matter the emotion being conveyed, the soft rock dominating playlists often led to pure pop bliss.

Meeting in the Illinois bar band scene of the late ‘60s, REO Speedwagon slowly made a name for themselves in the world of blues-based hard rock alongside groups like Bad Company and Foreigner. They released a prodigious nine albums between 1971 and 1979. By the ‘80s, they'd established themselves as purveyors of hooky riffs and bombastic anthems. The band crossed over to achieve mainstream success with a string of epic ballads released throughout the ‘80s, blurring the line between hard rock and soft rock. Speedwagon have slowed down their recording, but continue to tour successfully today.

A dreamy, moony-eyed middle ground between the strident earnestness of ’60s folk and the lusty funk and soul grooves that dominated the latter part of the ’70s, soft rock offered listeners stories of love lost, found and longed for, set to lush arrangements. Characterized by incandescent vocals (wistful falsettos from Boston, Peter Frampton, and Bread; golden purrs from Carole King and Stevie Nicks), rich harmonies (Hall & Oates; the Eagles), warm, pure guitar tones, and laidback synth chords, these tunes offered a mellow, melodic haven in a world undergoing tremendous social and political change.

After a stint as Winnipeg's biggest garage rock heroes in the mid-'60s, The Guess Who brought on board a new lead singer, Burton Cummings, and changed their sound. Adopting a softer feel akin to The Zombies, the group scored international hits with ballads like "These Eyes" and "Undun." Reintroducing hard rock into the mix via Randy Bachman's heavy guitar, 1970's "American Woman" became the first U.S. No. 1 single by a Canadian act. Even after Bachman split to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Guess Who scored hit singles like "Clap for the Wolfman" into the mid-'70s.