What is "Corporate Rock"?

Why do they consider the bands like Styx or Journey "corporate rock"? There are other bands too, but I've never found out why some bands are considered this.

Corporate rock in general is suppsoed to be mainstream rock...but it's been used as an elitist term to denouce rock that one thinks sucks. It was used a lot in the 80s. Today, the bands that are getting criticized with this false label are Green Day, Linkin Park, Fall Out Boy, KoRn, and even Metallica due to Black album and onwards. It's a dumb term...don't ever refer to this term.

I always thought of it as a synonym for mass distributed, bland, arena rock.
Or
Mass produced unoriginal bands developed by a major record label.

I think you might be confusing arena rock with corporate rock. I'm with Master C on this one. I look at corporate rock as the mass produced garbage put out by corporate record labels, looking to jump onto the next bandwagon of trash.

Heres a guess: music bought by corporations that use it in advertising or part of the company itself.

It's a mass produced sound that's generated based on the success of an existing band. It's like writing and producing music based on what's popular, to sell albums. It's not very creative, but it sells a lot of records.

Several 70's bands (Journey, Styx, Boston, etc) were categorized as "corporate rock" when they became popular. These were in essence 'bands who followed a certain formula via record labels, to achieve a certain sound/look, for maximum revenue generation".

What is interesting is that not all these bands had friendly relations with their mgmt/record labels, nor took their advice. Tom Scholz from Boston, for example, was constantly at odds with his record label & they finally sued him because they thought he wasn't producing albums fast enough.

This term "Corporate Rock" is still being used for certain bands today (ie. Green Day) but is still misleading, as many bands search for their own sound/look on their own. When they find it & begin to taste success, that is when the record labels/mgmt try to latch on & manage/mold it. It is up to the band mates if they abide by this pressure or follow their own instincts.

Note - The Beatles and Chuck Berry could also be categorized as "Corporate rock" in that record labels/mgmt were constantly pressuring them for more hits & maintaining 'a certain image to their fans'.

It's music put out by certain groups that's very formulaic and bland but sells millions of copies anyway. There's really not much in the way of innovation in musicianship or songwriting. A lot of the songs sound essentially like reworkings of their earlier material. The most recent example I can think of is Nickelback. Others include The Eagles, Foreigner, America, Chigago, and The Doobie Brothers.

Corporate rock is music that is specifically promoted and marketed in the quest of turning a profit.

Just about any group started after say 1985.