The thing about soft rock is that it was never an exclusive genre. Cross-pollinating among pop, rock, country rock and, especially, adult contemporary music of the day, the best soft rock records ...

We tend to think of the 80s as the era when the power ballad flourished. In truth, the idea of a band that usually played hard rock slowing things down and delivering some emotional lyrics actually ...

Building on the folk-singer-songwriter phase of the ’60s, the 1970s rock scene began to take on a softer edge. This would, rather uninventively, become known as “soft rock.” The ’70s would be rife ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. David Chiu is a freelance music writer based in New York. (L-R) Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross from 'Yacht Rock: A ...