dance mixes and AOR

Trying to determine if any AOR stations played the 12" dance mixes of some of the big "rock" hits back when they were hits. One that immediately comes to mind is "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones. I remember that the old 104 in Jackson, TN (back when they were a rocker) played that one back when it was a hit. Of course, this was considered the Stones' foray into "disco," but not so much that rock stations couldn't play it.

But it seems to me that there were more rock dance mixes in the '80s that rock stations probably could have played if they had wanted to. The first one that comes into my mind is the blaster mix of "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen. That would have been a great one for a few spins on rock radio, but I cannot specifically recall any stations that played it. Did any AOR stations play it, and did they play any other rock-oriented "dance" mixes that were out there at the time? Granted, most "dance" mixes would not have been appropriate for "rock" airplay, so the rock-oriented "dance" mixes would have been an extremely small subgenre. Still, it seems like there were a small handful of them out there that rock radio could have played, if they had wanted to.

Did any stations play them back then? And do any rock stations out there still play them now?

Stations played them, but playing the disco remix of a rock song takes the station out of the category "rock station" and puts it in the category "disco station", or whatever the current euphemism is for what we knew as disco back in the day when disco versions of rock songs were being made.

This fits here.

I remember ZZ Top's "Legs" having a certain sound when it was first popular. I heard the same version on a "We play anything" station. However, it has been years since I heard anything other than what sounds like a dance remix of the song on classic rock radio.

Avid Listener said:

Stations played them, but playing the disco remix of a rock song takes the station out of the category "rock station" and puts it in the category "disco station", or whatever the current euphemism is for what we knew as disco back in the day when disco versions of rock songs were being made.

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Well, there was that angle, and then there was the fact that the "A" in "AOR" stood for album oriented rock. Playing something from a single (regardless of the type of single) did not really emphasize the "album" aspect of "album oriented rock." (And I should point out that Jackson is a relatively small town (five-figure population) but managed to hold on to AOR on that station for almost three more years.) However, that said, some groups (and indeed the Stones were one of them) muddied the waters somewhat by producing a long-form single.

But 12" singles far outlasted the disco craze and were produced well into the '80s, if not the '90s as well. I like longer-form songs, and I am guessing that some of these are no longer commercially available. With the transition into CDs, some of these were deleted from the record company's catalogs, while others saw the light of day as "bonus tracks" on CDs.

"R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." by John Mellencamp was one that I was aware of in which the 12" single was exactly the same as the 45 (and for that matter, the album version). I am guessing that it was produced strictly for the benefit of club djs and was never really intended for wide public consumption.

vchimpanzee said:

I remember ZZ Top's "Legs" having a certain sound when it was first popular. I heard the same version on a "We play anything" station. However, it has been years since I heard anything other than what sounds like a dance remix of the song on classic rock radio.

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I was told (from reading another thread here) that there are about FOUR different versions of that one floating around out there. Being only a casual ZZ Top fan myself, I cannot verify that.

firepoint525 said:

Well, there was that angle, and then there was the fact that the "A" in "AOR" stood for album oriented rock. Playing something from a single (regardless of the type of single) did not really emphasize the "album" aspect of "album oriented rock." (And I should point out that Jackson is a relatively small town (five-figure population) but managed to hold on to AOR on that station for almost three more years.) However, that said, some groups (and indeed the Stones were one of them) muddied the waters somewhat by producing a long-form single.

But 12" singles far outlasted the disco craze and were produced well into the '80s, if not the '90s as well. I like longer-form songs, and I am guessing that some of these are no longer commercially available. With the transition into CDs, some of these were deleted from the record company's catalogs, while others saw the light of day as "bonus tracks" on CDs.

"R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." by John Mellencamp was one that I was aware of in which the 12" single was exactly the same as the 45 (and for that matter, the album version). I am guessing that it was produced strictly for the benefit of club djs and was never really intended for wide public consumption.

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From what you just posted, I can see you recognize the difference between a 12" single and the "dance mix" (aka "disco") songs you referred to in your launch post. All dance mix songs are 12" singles, but not all 12" singles are dance mix songs.

Avid Listener said:

All dance mix songs are 12" singles, but not all 12" singles are dance mix songs.

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That was (kinda sorta) what I was trying to say. The 12" singles were a subgenre of (all) the dance mixes. At any rate, I am wondering if rock radio stations were even serviced with the long-form singles, as they (apparently) played so few of them. And again, the bummer (for me, anyway) is that these long-form versions are apparently no longer commercially available anywhere.

firepoint525 said:

I was told (from reading another thread here) that there are about FOUR different versions of that one floating around out there. Being only a casual ZZ Top fan myself, I cannot verify that.

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The version I am thinking of has a very fast dance beat, like a jackhammer, on what sounds like a guitar. But no person could play a guitar that way.

vchimpanzee said:

The version I am thinking of has a very fast dance beat, like a jackhammer, on what sounds like a guitar. But no person could play a guitar that way.

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Alvin Lee could.

vchimpanzee said:

The version I am thinking of has a very fast dance beat, like a jackhammer, on what sounds like a guitar. But no person could play a guitar that way.

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If you know the name of that particular (re)mix, I will see if I can find it on youtube.

firepoint525 said:

If you know the name of that particular (re)mix, I will see if I can find it on youtube.

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I don't know that it has a name, and I have trouble with YouTube at the one library where I can listen.

My Internet is too slow for video at home, I have no sound because I never hooked it up and now have no speakers since the monitor had to be replaced, and most sites would be too risky for me to go to at home anyway.

Avid Listener said:

Alvin Lee could.

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I get carpal tunnel just thinking about it.

vchimpanzee said:

I don't know that it has a name, and I have trouble with YouTube at the one library where I can listen.

My Internet is too slow for video at home, I have no sound because I never hooked it up and now have no speakers since the monitor had to be replaced, and most sites would be too risky for me to go to at home anyway.

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Found it. I was amazed it was this easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUDcTLaWJuo is the normal version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAzTO8GMZhk is the version all the classic rock stations seem to play. Actually, they're not all that different.

Here in Knoxville, our local AOR in the 80s (WIMZ, now classic rock), used to play some of these extended rock mixes. But at this time in the early & mid 80s, they were one of those kind of hybrid AOR/CHR's that did that "Rock of the 80s" type format that leaned heavily on a lot of new wave type music. It wasn't unusual at all to hear them play a set that mixed Duran Duran, Culture Club, Prince, Men at Work, etc. with Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, & Pink Floyd. Sounds like a train wreck, but I miss those old AOR days, when there really weren't so many boundaries.

The "old" Rock 103 in Memphis used to play the album version of "Wishing" by a Flock of Seagulls, but I don't think that I ever heard them play the extended mix of it. Of course, the second half of it is almost entirely instrumental. Here is that dance mix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96FTO6EOco0

I am fairly certain that this one was too "rock" to be played over the "dance" stations, so it probably got played in the clubs, and nowhere else.

Edited to include standard album version here, which was played over Rock 103:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecqZe7htrs

BRH said:

Here in Knoxville, our local AOR in the 80s (WIMZ, now classic rock), used to play some of these extended rock mixes. But at this time in the early & mid 80s, they were one of those kind of hybrid AOR/CHR's that did that "Rock of the 80s" type format that leaned heavily on a lot of new wave type music. It wasn't unusual at all to hear them play a set that mixed Duran Duran, Culture Club, Prince, Men at Work, etc. with Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, & Pink Floyd. Sounds like a train wreck, but I miss those old AOR days, when there really weren't so many boundaries.

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Old "98 Rock" in Honolulu used to do that in the early '80s. I finally got tired of the Duran Durans and Culture Clubs and went back to the turntable.