AOR (album-oriented radio): A type of FM radio format that emphasized a restricted playlist.
Art Rock: A rock substyle that sought to elevate rock from teen entertainment to artistic statement, often by drawing on or reworking classical compositions (e.g., Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition). Art rock was often distinguished by the use of electronic effects and mood music-like textures far removed from the propulsive rhythms of early rock.
CanCon: Legislation put in place in 1971 requiring Canadian radio stations to play a certain percentage of content deemed “Canadian” by the MAPL guidelines. This percentage gradually increased over the years, and was intended to strengthen the Canadian music industry by giving artists a chance to be heard.
Cross-marketing: The practice of using media in tandem so that each helps promote the other. The practice began in the early 1970s, when rock bands toured to promote a newly released recording. Robert Stigwood, producer of Saturday Night Fever, was the first to adapt this promotional strategy to film in a big way by using songs from the soundtrack to spark interest
CRTC: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Disco: A dance music that rose to popularity in the midseventies. Disco songs typically had a relentless beat; a complex rhythmic texture, usually with a 16-beat rhythm; and rich orchestration, typically an augmented rhythm section with horns and strings.
Funk: An R&B-derived style that developed in the 1970s, primarily under the guidance of George Clinton. It is characterized mainly by dense textures (bands may include eight or more musicians) and complex, often 16-beat rhythms.
Glam (Glitter) Rock: A rock style of the early 1970s in which theatrical elements—makeup, outlandish dress—were prominent. David Bowie, in his various incarnations, is considered by many to be the major figure in glam rock.
Heavy Metal: A hard rock style that developed in the early 1970s, featuring often ear-splitting volume; heavy use of distortion; simplified chord progressions and melodies; lyrics that reflect adolescent, often male preoccupations; and elaborate stage shows.
MAPL: A system put in place by the CRTC to determine what makes a musical selection Canadian content based on of Music, Artist, Performance, Lyrics.
Mento: The Jamaican popular music of the early 1950s.
New Wave: A stripped down, anti-mainstream, often electronic-based pop that began in the late 1970s featuring clever or weird lyrics and styling; the Talking Heads were an early influential new wave band.
Philadelphia Sound: An early 70s style which revised, expanded upon, and modernized the Motwon sound.
Punk: A rock style that emerged in the late 1970s characterized musically by relatively simple instrumentation, rhythms, and production. The Ramones and the Sex Pistols were among the best-known punk bands.
Reggae: The most widely known Jamaican popular music, it has a distinctive, intoxicating rhythm. It emerged around 1970 in the music of Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, and others.
Rock Steady: Ska’s evolution in the latter half of the sixties, in which musicians added a backbeat layer over the afterbeats.
Singer-Songwriter: A term that came into use around 1970 to describe songwriters who performed their own music. The music of singer-songwriters was generally characterized by an emphasis on melody, a folklike accompaniment, and a relatively low dynamic level.
Sixteen-beat Rhythm: A style beat in which the fastest rhythmic layer moves four times the speed of the beat: 4 times per beat × 4 beats = 16-beat rhythm. First popularized in disco and funk, it has been the most widely used style beat since the early 1980s.
Ska: The dominant Jamaican popular music through the first part of the 1960s. The most distinctive feature of ska is a strong afterbeat: a strong, crisp chunk on the latter part of each beat.
Synthesizer: A family of electronic instruments in which sounds are produced electronically, either by generating a waveform within the machine or by digitally recording acoustic sounds (e.g., the tones of a piano). Most, but not all, synthesizers are operated by a keyboard.
Toasting: The practice developed by Jamaican disc jockeys of delivering a steady stream of patter. Much of it was topical, even personal: they would pick out, and sometimes pick on, people in the crowd that had gathered around. Toasting is a direct forerunner of rap: both initially featured topical, humorous commentary over pre-existing music.