AOR Blog: Album Oriented Rock

Lantern-jawed Peter Cetera was the bassist and occasional vocalist of the band Chicago throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.  The band was well known for its  jazz-inflected pop and distinctive horn section (“Saturday in the Park”, “25 or 6 to 4″), but added another wrinkle in 1976, when the Cetera-penned ballad “If You Leave Me Now” hit #1 on the Pop Singles chart.  Another Cetera ballad “Baby, What a Big Surprise” hit #4 in 1977.  

Although still a member of Chicago, in 1981 Cetera decided to show that he wasn’t just the “ballad guy” and released his self-titled solo debut, “Peter Cetera”, an album that went in a decidely more AOR direction. The album only hit #143 on the Pop Albums chart, but the single “Livin’ in the Limelight” was big on AOR radio, hitting #6 on the Mainstream Rock chart.  The song features a guitar solo by Toto’s Steve Lukather.

Cetera then returned to his comfort zone of balladry and Pop/Adult Contemporary sappiness,  scoring big hits with Chicago such as “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”, “Love Me Tomorrow”, “You’re the Inspiration”, etc., before finally going solo for good in 1986.  The soft rock hits continued throughout the 80s with “The Glory of Love (From The Karate Kid II)” and “Next Time I Fall (Duet with Amy Grant)” hitting #1 on the Hot 100, and several other Cetera songs hitting on the Adult Contemporary charts.

Lyrics

**Everybody wants to be a star
Living in the limelight
A big house and a fancy car
Living in the limelight
Everybody gonna know your name
Surely pleased to meet you
Ask you for your autograph
See your latest feature
In the middle of the middle of a dream
Living in the limelight
See yourself on the silver screen
Living in the limelight

*How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm
Never make ‘em happy
How you gonna keep ‘em close to home
Everybody’s leavin’, headin’ for Hollywood

Everybody has a fantasy
Living in the limelight
A personality
Living in the Limelight
Hypnotisin’ the roar of the crowd
Living in the limelight
Never heard of stagefright
First one back for the curtain call
Fall in love with the spotlight
On the cover of a magazine
Living in the limelight
In your limousine
Living in the limelight

Everybody gonna know your name
Living in the limelight
Say, gonna be pleased to meet you
Living in the limelight
Living in the lime, living in the limelight
Living in the limelight
They go to Hollywood, be a star
Living in the limelight…

(* Repeat)
(**Repeat)