What is Pop Music?
Pop is short for popular. There are many different genres of music that are popular, but rather confusingly, not all of them are thought of as Pop Music.
Pop music borrows elements from all other genres and combines them to form a kind of music primarily for mass entertainment. Identifying factors include, short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks. |
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Montage of great classical music composers - from left to right: first row - Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven; second row - Gioachino Rossini, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi; third row - Johann Strauss II, Johannes Brahms, Georges Bizet, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák; forth row - Edvard Grieg, Edward Elgar, Sergei Rachmaninoff, George Gershwin, Aram Khachaturian
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Classical
Maybe most people wouldn't immediately think of Classical music when discussing pop music but Classical music is still very popular amongst many people. Classical concerts, the ballet and the opera are popular art forms that can draw big crowds and we shouldn't forget how classical music is the musical background for countless Hollywood Blockbusters. We can see the emergence of the first forms of classical music in the 11th century in parts of Europe. This early period lasted up to the 1400s when music began to be influenced by the renaissance period up to around 1600. This was followed by the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras. From the beginning of the 20th Century, up to today, Classical music is often referred to as contemporary. Classical music has influenced modern popular music and there are numerous examples of how it has been incorporated into pop songs.
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Country & Western
Country music is a blend of traditional and popular musical forms traditionally found in the Southern United States that first appeared in the 1920s. It comes from American folk music and has been heavily influenced by styles found in blues music. Country usually comes in two forms either as a ballad or as simple dance music and features string instruments such as the guitar, banjo or fiddle. Country is renowned for it's meaningful and often touching lyrics which reach out to it's audience of mostly working class white people. Country is the most listened to genre of music in America and Garth Brooks, with 128 million albums sold, is the second best-selling solo artist in U.S. history (behind Elvis) |
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Jazz Jazz is a musical style of music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a mixture of African and European music traditions. Many forms of jazz are based upon improvisation with no set rules or planning. Modern popular forms are Jazz Funk and Acid Jazz with famous artists like Jamiroquai. |
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Soul
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. It became increasingly popular in the 1960’s and continues to the present day. Atlantic Records and later Motown (from Detroit the – Motor City) promoted the soul sound until it became one of the most popular genres of music in America and Europe. Among the many Motown stars were the Jackson 5, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder |
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Funk
Funk music was invented by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. It began as Urban black music to dance to in the early 1960’s but with the arrival of Sly & The Family Stone and his multiracial band Funk was for now everybody. In the 1970’s Funk could be heard in much of the popular disco music. Today the funk sound can be commonly found in Hip Hop music. |
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DISCO
The Disco genre is all about dancing which is a mixture of funk, soul, pop and salsa music. The disco sound can be found in numerous modern pop songs but it was most popular during the 1970s. The 'discotheque' was the French name for nightclubs and gave this genre it’s name. Disco originated in New York and Philadelphia among the African American and Latino communities and was seen as a reaction against Rock music which had become dominant at the time and was seen as the music of white males, which was also why maybe it became popular among women as well. |
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Hip Hop
Hip Hop has become one of the world’s favourite forms of alternative pop music. Hip hop is the form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American communities during the 1970s in New York City. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of Hip-hop culture: MCing (Rap), DJing, Break Dancing and Graffiti writing. Since its emergence in the South Bronx, Hip-hop culture has spread around the world. Hip-hop music first emerged with disc jockeys creating rhythmic beats by looping breaks (small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables, more commonly referred to as sampling. This was later accompanied by "rap", a rhythmic style of chanting or poetry. Hip Hop and in particular the sub-genre ‘Gangsta Rap’ has been associated with sexism, drugs, gang culture, guns and violence. But it Hip Hop is also associated with free speech and positive political activism. |
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Rock
The Rock music genre of popular music originated as ‘rock and roll’ in the United States in the 1950s, and evolved into a range of distinct styles in the 1960s and beyond. Rock bands from the United Kingdom were particularly influential during the period 1960-1980. Rock has for a long time been associated with the electric guitar and the classic rock band comprises of a lead guitarist, a bass guitarist, the drummer and the lead singer. There have been notable exceptions but rock music has been dominated by white male musicians which has affected how the genre has evolved. There is a strong focus on the abilities and talents of musicians and their level of live performance. Rock has developed in many different directions and has a large variety of subgenres. Many of these subgenres are quite distinct and include; Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Soft Rock Progressive Rock, Glam Rock and many more, many of which have fallen out of fashion and many more that have evolved themselves to produce evermore subgenres. |
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R&B
R&B since the 1990s has followed Hip Hop closely and there are many examples of songs that have mixed the two genres. However R & B should be seen as distinct and separate. R&B has taken over the pop charts in and is probably the sound behind most of the pop tracks that are bought by the world's young various youth cultures.
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Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by accents on the off-beat, known as the 'skank'. The best known reggae artist is Bob Marley who was shot dead in London in 1981. |
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Ska
Ska music originated in Jamaica. The history story of Ska can be divided into 3 periods: the original Jamaican scene of the 1960s (First Wave), the English 2 Tone Ska revival of the late 1970s (Second Wave) and the third wave Ska movement, which started in the 1980s and rose to popularity in the US in the 1990s |
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Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit (USA) in the mid to late 1980s. There are many sub-genres including; house, acid house, garage, drum & bass (jungle), trance, etc. Techno music has often been associated with all night Rave parties and drug use. Some famous DJ’s are, Frankie Knuckles, Pete Tong and The Chemical Brothers.
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