From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaPop music is a
genre of
popular music distinguished from
classical or Art music and from
folk music [1]. The term indicates specific stylistic traits such as an emotional singing style, lyrics about love or sex, danceable beat, clear melodies, simple harmonies and repetitive structure so that people can catch on and join in. This is not just typical of pop music but a world-wide music tool to engage communal singing. Pop music often includes elements of
rock,
hip hop,
reggae,
dance,
R&B,
soul, and sometimes
country, making it a flexible category. There have been examples of pop music that break the norm, such as songs about current sports events or with strong ethnic flavours. e.g. Dreadlock Holiday "I don't like cricket" by
10CC. Occasionally a purely instrumental composition makes it into the pop music charts. e.g.
Music Box dancer 1970s by
Frank Mills.
The expression "pop music" may also be used to refer to particular subgenres (within the pop music genre) that are in some cases referred to as
soft rock and
pop/rock. The pop music genre also often involves mass
marketing and consumer-driven efforts by major
record companies, which makes it an often scorned genre by other musicians.
As records, CDs and DVDs became cheaper, the age of the average consumer of pop music has dropped dramatically. In the early years of recordings, artists like Frank Sinatra sang about affairs, champagne and night clubs, lyrics that appealed to the investors, business, and classy market. As records became cheaper, teenagers were able to afford to influence the market especially during the promotion of the worldwide Beatles tours.
Young people have always been interested in fashions and spend their money on new artists, whereas older people tend to keep to their favorite artists. Young people also conform more to peer pressure. This conforming creates waves of commercial support for particular artists. Because young people are interested in pop music it is an important mediator of
youth culture. Partly because youth culture itself is an object of social concern, pop music has historically been the source of numerous
moral panics, especially as many of the styles that influence it trickle up from minority groups (racial, ethnic, sexual or class-based) about which the dominant class holds negative stereotypes. In addition, many parents view explicit lyrics as gateways to
sin, blaming pop music for perceived increases in dangerous behaviour within that age group.
The most recent phenomena that has occurred is the emergence of children's music as one of the biggest selling music (not just pop). The
Wiggles have earned more money that any other domestic artist in Australia. They have even franchised themselves to be able to perform internationally.
History of Pop Music
1890s through 1920s
The dance music element of western pop music can be traced back to
Ragtime, which was initially popular in African American communities, and mainly disseminated through sheet music and player pianos. Ragtime turned into
Swing, an early form of
Jazz that was enjoyed as much for its danceability as its mutability. It is important to note that the clarity of the instruments (brass in particular) and punchy nature of the rhythm helped to ensure that these music forms were the first to be recorded and pressed onto primitive record discs. Both of these dance forms originated in African communities, and spread to white communities especially through venues that would hire black performers. Even early Jazz in Paris was influenced by Black and white minstrels performing ragtime music. Like Rock’n’roll, widespread popularity in white communities to some extent did not take off until white performers could be found to perform it, and certain stylistic elements of it toned down. The crossing of race-based social boundaries around race, for ragtime, swing, and later Rock’n’Roll, was the source of many moral panics in America inspired by pop music.
1930s and 1940s
Styles influencing the later development of pop include the
Blues, also originating in African-American communities, (for example, electric guitar Blues in Chicago), and
Country coming also from "hillbilly music" of poor folk, white and black (Sun Records in Tennessee), which blended to become early Rock and Roll. Leonard Bernstein in 1949 changed the face of popular music with his upbeat West Side Story. Also, the rise of the crying and emotional singers such as Mario Lanza began the pop music vocal style.
1950s
Elvis Presley in 1957
Early Western Pop music artists include
Tommy Steele,
Marty Wilde,
Bing Crosby,
Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin,
Bobby Darin,
Bobbejaan Schoepen, and
Peggy Lee, but other artists like
Bill Haley and his Comets,
Fats Domino and
Elvis Presley became popular with the younger generation. In Australia there was Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joy and Bobby Darren. Italian singers such Mario Lanser sang tunes people would could identify with and sing along.
In Iran, before the emergence in the early 1950s of
Vigen Derderian (known as the "King of pop"), the music industry was dominated by Persian classical singers. He combined Persian melodies and Persian lyrics with Guitar. Compared by some fans to
Elvis Presley, Vigen's good looks and tall, fine physique added to his appeal as Iran's first male pop star—especially among women at a time when ideas of emancipation were taking hold in the 1950s and 60s.
[2]Laïkó was the pop music of Greece the 1950s and 1960s. Laïkó is similar to
Turkish fantasy music. It was criticized from all quarters for its apoliticism and decadence, and its Turkish roots.[
citation needed] The influence of
Oriental music on laïkó can be most strongly seen in 1960s
indoyíftika,
Indian filmi (popular music for movies) with
Greek lyrics.
Manolis Angelopoulos was the most popular indoyíftika performer, while pure laïkó was dominated by superstar
Stelios Kazantzidis and
Stratos Dionisiou.
Fairuz faces her audience for the first time during the show "Ayyam Al Hassad" (Days of Harvest) where she sang "Lebnan Ya Akhdar Helou" (Lebanon the Beautiful Green) in Baalbeck.
1960sWestern Pop music teen idols of the 1960s included the
Beatles,
The Beach Boys,
Cliff Richard,
Sandy Shaw,
Lulu,
The Rolling Stones,
The Small Faces,
Gene Pitney, and
The Shadows. Other pop musicians included
Carole King,
Neil Diamond,
Burt Bacharach,
Aretha Franklin,
Isley Brothers,
Ray Charles,
Stevie Wonder,
The Supremes,
Marvin Gaye,
Bob Dylan, and
Simon and Garfunkel, and some of
The Beatles' repertoire.
Sonny Bono &
Cher are considered the Hippie Icons of the 1960's.
In 1960s Iran's most famous female pop singer ever,
Googoosh, found reputation by taking part in various international music festivals. She won the first prize and golden record for her French numbers, "Retour de la vie" and "J'entends crier Je t'aime", at the Cannes Festival in 1971. Her recording of twelve songs in Italian and Spanish for the
Sanremo Music Festival in 1973 became an overnight success. She also won first prize at the Carthage Music Festival in 1972 and was honored with the first medal of arts of Tunisia in the same year. Her Spanish song titled "Desde Hacies Tiempo" was an immediate hit in
South America in 1973.
In 1962, the first Western popular melody with Turkish lyrics was released,
İlham Gencer's "Bak Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş" (Look Once Upon A Time)
[3]1970sABBA was a Swedish
rock band during the 70s.
A proliferation of new sounds from the
disco era included
ABBA, the
BeeGees and the piano-based pop of
Billy Joel and
Elton John, the country stylings of the
Eagles, and the rock-influenced pop of
Rod Stewart,
Steely Dan, and
Fleetwood Mac. Other important pop musicians include
Queen,
Cat Stevens,
The Carpenters,
Jackson Five,
The Miracles,
Roberta Flack,
Carly Simon,
Cher,
Stevie Wonder,
Earth, Wind and Fire,
KC and the Sunshine Band and
Donna Summer. Australian John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John (fame of Grease the Musical)
Arabesque-pop starting in the 1970s, immigration from predominantly southeastern rural areas to big cities and particularly to Istanbul gave rise to a new cultural synthesis. The makeup of Istanbul was to change forever. The old tavernas and music halls of fasıl music were to shut down in place of a new type of music Stokes, Martin. "Sounds of Anatolia" in the Rough Guide to World Music, Volume 1, . These new urban residents brought their own taste of music, which due to their locality was largely middle eastern. Musicologists derogatively termed this genre as arabesque due to the high pitched wailing that is synonymous with Arabic singing. Its mainstream popularity rose so much in the 1980s that it even threatened the existence of Turkish pop, with rising stars such as
Muslum Gurses.
This genre has underbeat forms that include Ottoman forms of
belly-dancing music with performers like
Orhan Gencebay who added Anglo-American
rock and roll to arabesque music.
In Turkey, (light western)pop became very popular in the 1970s with stars such as
Semiha Yanki,
Kamuran Akkor,
Ayla Dikmen,
Erol Büyükburç,
Fikret Şeneş,
Gönül Akkor,
Hümeyra,
İlhan İrem,
Nermin Candan,
Asu Maralman,
Yurdaer Doğulu,
Zümrüt,
Sezen Aksu,
Nazan Öncel and
Ajda Pekkan reaching superstar status domestically.
1980sCover of
Michael Jackson's
Thriller, which became the best-selling album of all time, with sales of 104 m
illion.
Notable highlights for pop music in the 1980s are
Michael Jackson's second
Epic label release,
Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling album of all time.
Michael Jackson was the most successful artist of the 80s, spanning nine #1 singles only in the United States during that decade, and selling over 133 million copies with only two albums — Thriller, and its follow-up
Bad. Since the early nineties Jackson is sometimes referred to as "The King of Pop".
Madonna, who is considered "The Queen of Pop", was the dominant female artist of the era producing numerous hit albums. Other top-selling artists included
Cher,
Prince,
Gloria Estefan,
Tina Turner,
Tiffany,
Kylie Minogue,
Janet Jackson,
Olivia Newton-John,
Duran Duran,
The Go-Go's,
Huey Lewis & The News,
The Police,
Tears for Fears,
Cyndi Lauper,
Whitney Houston,
Juice Newton,
Phil Collins,
Laura Branigan,
Talking Heads,
Eurythmics,
The Bangles,
Hall & Oates,
George Michael,
Rick Springfield and
Culture Club. The late 1980s saw the rise of
Roxette.
1990sCover of
Cher's
Believe, which became the best-selling single of all time by a female singer, with sales of over 10 million.
Among the most successful pop acts of the 1990s were
R&B-influenced pop acts such as
Destiny's Child,
Mariah Carey,
Boyz II Men,
En Vogue,
Salt N Pepa,
Brandy, and
TLC. Non-R&B artists such as
Cher,
Michael Jackson,
Madonna,
Selena,
Celine Dion,
Michael Bolton,
Sheryl Crow,
Eric Clapton,
Jewel, were also phenomenonally successful during that decade.
Eric Clapton was aged, but massive hits like
Change The World and
Tears In Heaven, made him even more famous.
The 1990s and 21st century were marked by a resurgence of
boy band and
girl group trends. The U.S. had
New Edition,
New Kids on the Block (in the late 1980s and early 1990s), followed by the
Backstreet Boys,
Hanson,
*NSYNC, 98 Degrees and the huge pop girl band phenomenon the
Spice Girls. Towards the turn of the millennium, the "
pop princesses" appeared such as
Jessica Simpson,
Robyn,
Willa Ford,
Billie Piper,
Mandy Moore,
Britney Spears, and
Christina Aguilera. From the UK came the likes of
Take That and the
Spice Girls, while
Australia had
Kylie Minogue and
Savage Garden. Irish boy bands during this period included
Boyzone and
Westlife. 1999 saw the rise of the
Latin pop explosion with
Ricky Martin at the forefront, followed by
Jennifer Lopez,
Thalía,
Shakira,
Enrique Iglesias,
Paulina Rubio, and
Marc Anthony. Also, there were many pop bands, such as
Steps and
A*Teens.
"Millennium", 1999."Modern Laika" is traditional Greek music mixed in with modern music and other genres such as
rock and
dance. One of the first artists' in Greece to pioneer this was
Anna Vissi. She inroduced rock in the early 1990s and
dance in the early 2000s.
In
1992 (see
1992 in music), after dropping "Cheb" from his name, he released his self titled album
Khaled, which established his reputation as a superstar in
France and among maghrebian emigrants around the world. His audience has continued to expand throughout the
1990s, and he has collaborated with
hip hop artists. In spite of his superstar status in
France, his homeland
Algeria and the
Arab world, his popularity in the
US, the
UK and other countries has been limited to a small but devoted cult following.
In 1999 he was joined by
Rachid Taha and
Faudel in a concert at the
Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy for a concert known as
1,2,3 Soleils which was subsequently released as a live album.
2000sBritney S
pears, a
pop princess "born" in the 90s.
In the 2000s, pop music, paved the way for the multi-platinum successes of artists like
Usher,
Beyoncé Knowles,
Gwen Stefani,
Justin Timberlake,
Nelly Furtado and
The Pussycat Dolls.
The divas of the 90s artists, such as
Mariah Carey,
Madonna and
Kylie Minogue presented albums that prolonged their rule of the music charts. Other trends included
Teen pop singers such as
Disney Channel star
Hilary Duff, and
Lindsay Lohan and "
pop punk" acts such as
American Idol winner
Kelly Clarkson,
Avril Lavigne and
Good Charlotte And
Backstreet Boys In
Black And Blue Which sold 24 million albums worldwide .
"Black&Blue", 2000.
Besides Hilary Duff, many other Disney Channel actors have become singers. These artists include
Aly and AJ,
Ashley Tisdale,
Vanessa Hudgens,
Zac Efron,
Corbin Bleu,
Raven, and
Miley Cyrus. Other Disney singers include
Jesse McCartney,
Cameron Jesse King and
Jordan Pruitt.
In the early 2000s, "pure" pop began to morph into a more blended style of music. 90s pop stars such as
Britney Spears and
Christina Aguilera experienced somewhat diminished sales, and proceeded to change their image and sound to a more "
R&B" style, largely due to the dominance of urban or hip-hop radio in the United States. As
R&B and pop music blended, more and more "Pop / R&B" artists emerged, such as
Rihanna,
Christina Milian and
The Pussycat Dolls. Pop also had some
funk music influence and
Ronii was one of the artists that contributed to that sound.
In 2006, Iranian pop star
Alireza Assar started a new genre of
Persian pop in collaboration with renowed conductor,
Shahrdad Rohani and
London Symphony Orchestra. His album entitled "Don’t Hide It" comprises seven pieces inspired by poetries from
Ahmad Shamlou,
Mohammad Reza Shafiei-Kadkani, Afshin Yadollahi, Shahkar Bineshpajuh, and Afshin Moqaddam. The work was recorded in
Abbey Road Studio.
Also in the 2000s came new young pop artists who had been born in the late 80's and early 90's, many of them rose to fame competing on a reality-talent show (America's Most Talented Kid, Star Search, American Juniors, America's Got Talent etc.). These artists include
JoJo,
Cheyenne Kimball,
Bianca Ryan,
Jordan McCoy,
Tiffany Evans,
Katelyn Tarver,
Tori Kell,
Kasey Butler and more.
Sound and themes
Pop music generally uses a simple, memorable melody and may use stripped-down rhythms. The songs are often about love or dancing. It is considered to be the most popular genre of music today.
Music videos and live performances are often used for exposure in the media, and artists may have extravagant stage shows and use choreographed dancing.
