How did 70s rock music transition into 80s music?

Top recording artists of the 80’s: Micheal Jackson, Prince, Madonna, U2, Springsteen, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Police, Phil Collins, Def Leopard, George Michael, Janet Jackson, Whipme Houston, Dire Straights, Rush, Lionel Richie, Talking Heads, Genesis, REM, Duran Duran, Motley Crue, Cure, Journey, REO, Tina Turner, Queen, Bryan Adams, Pat Benetar, Peter Gabriel, INXS, Tom Petty, Eurythmics, Cars, Aerosmith, ZZTOP, Billy Idol, Heart, Bowie, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Foreigner, Toto, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Gogos, Pet Shop Boys, Cyndie Lauper, Depeche Mode, Culture Club, Thompson Twins, Robert Palmer, Billy Ocean, Steve Winwood,

And that is not even including a whole host of popular New Wave acts (not listed above) that were the sound track of people growing up in that era .... OMD, Blondie, Devo, Cure, B-52s, A-Ha, Psychedelic Furs, Men Without Hats, Spoons, Human League, Spandau Ballet, ABC, XTC, Crowded House, Split Enz, Men At Work, New Order, Berlin, Flock of Seagulls, Smiths, Pretenders, Simple Minds, Ultravox, Howard Jones, Go-Gos, Bananarama, Miami Sound Machine, Erasure, Bangles, Yazoo, Roxy Music, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Soft Cell, Talk Talk, Alphaville, The Fixx, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Fine Young Cannibals, Naked Eyes, Blue Peter ..... If you grew up in the 80’s, you probably know every one of these bands and they will get you on the dance floor way faster than anything from the 60’s or 70’s, and even the younger generations like it.

Crummy decade for music? Tell that to anyone who grew up in the 80’s. Unlike later generations, almost all will say the 80’s was the best decade for music ever. It had everything and anything from pop, to disco, to dance to hard rock and everything in between. It was probably the last decade to not be totally ruined by platform/genre radio.

edcyn - One of my favorite quotes is from Ralph Waldo Emerson: "All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients."

A big reason why I liked the music of the late 70's thru the 80's was that I thought those bands were taking their influences and creating a new and interesting take on what had influenced them.

Bands influenced by the Beatles included: The Bongos, Grapes of Wrath, The Smiths and XTC. Bands influenced by the Rolling Stones included: The Del Fuegos and The Replacements. And, there were a ton of bands that were influenced by the garage/psychedelic bands of the 60's such as: Echo and the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Hoodoo Gurus, XTC (+ alter ego The Dukes of Stratosphere), along with the Paisley Underground scene in LA (Bangles, Green on Red, Plimsouls, etc).

But, to me, I think Be Bop Deluxe had the craziest and probably most inspired idea to attempt fusing prog rock (Yes) with glam (Bowie & T-Rex).When it worked it was brilliant and when it didn't, it was a train wreck!

Am glad to see somebody finally mentioned Roxy Music (Bryan Ferry as a solo act got mentioned early in the thread). A few others that have slipped under the radar include:

Art of Noise, The Beautiful South, Bow Wow Wow, Jim Carroll, House of Freaks, It's Immaterial, Pixies, The Stranglers, Talk Talk, Teardrop Explodes, Throwing Muses and the Violent Femmes.

I am not sure the posts definition of AOR is correct:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album-oriented_rock

I have been around since the 60s.   Every decade or time period has plenty of music.  Still finding new stuff, and old stuff thanks to streaming.  Look around a bit and be open minded.