| This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details. This article has been tagged since October 2007. |
| Pop music
|
| Stylistic origins: |
Initially jazz, rock and roll, and R&B; then disco, dance music, and in the 2000s, reggae and hip hop. |
| Cultural origins: |
1950s United States / 1950s United Kingdom |
| Typical instruments: |
Electric guitar, Bass guitar, Drum kit, Drum machine, Keyboard, Synthesizer, and, for hip hop-influenced pop, a Turntable |
| Mainstream popularity: |
Continuous worldwide from 1950s |
| Subgenres |
|---|
| Bubblegum pop - dirty pop - Traditional pop music |
| Fusion genres |
|---|
| Country pop - Dance pop - Electropop/Technopop - Pop rap - Power pop - Arabic pop - Death pop - Pop folk - pop rock - Synth pop |
| Regional scenes |
|---|
| Asia: J-pop, K-pop, Persian pop, Cantopop, Mandarin pop, Arabic Pop, Indi-pop, String (Thai pop) - Europe: Europop, Modern Laika, Austropop, Britpop, Nederpop - Americas: United States, Música Popular Brasileira, Latin America - Oceania: Australia |
| Other topics |
|---|
| Pop culture - Boy band - Girl group |
Pop music (or "
pop") is a subgenre of
contemporary popular music that typically has a dance-along
rhythm or
beat, simple
melodies and a repeating
structure. Pop
song lyrics are often emotional, commonly relating to
love,
loss,
emotion, or
dancing. The term does not refer to a single
genre or sound, and its meaning is different depending on the time and place.
Pop music is distinguished from
classical (or
art music) and from
folk music[1]). Pop songs are often written by songwriters, unlike other popular music genres, such as
rock and hip hop, where singers often write their own songs.
Pop is distributed by major
record companies as part of a
global music market through mass
marketing through
radio,
television.In the recorded music era, the
single (a single song) and the
album (a collection of songs) are the usual methods of distributing pop music. Pop has been distributed in many formats included
vinyl records,
cassette tapes,
compact discs, and
Internet downloads.
Sound and themes
Pop music generally uses a simple, memorable melody and emphasizes the rhythm, often with
syncopation, and stripped down to a basic
riff or loop which repeats throughout much of the song. Pop songs usually have a verse and a
chorus, each with different musical material, well as a
bridge connecting them in many cases. The lyrics often concern romance and relationships.
The vocal style found in much pop music has been heavily influenced by
African American musical traditions such as rhythm and
blues (R&B),
soul music, and
gospel. The rhythms and the sound of pop music have been heavily influenced by
swing jazz,
rock and roll,
reggae,
funk,
disco, and is currently influenced by hip hop in many cases.
Music videos and live performances are often used for exposure in the media, and artists may have extravagant stage shows and use choreographed dance routines. Videos take on a particularly important role in this type of music since it is the most commercially successful one, and videos are an important means of reaching wider audiences.
Demographics of pop music
As records, CDs and DVDs became cheaper, the
age of the average consumer of pop music dropped dramatically. In the early years of recordings, artists like
Frank Sinatra sang about affairs, champagne and night clubs; lyrics that appealed to investors, business, and "classy" market. As records became cheaper, teenagers were able to influence the market, especially during the promotion of the worldwide Beatles tours. In recent years, children have become one of the largest music markets, reducing the age of the average consumer of pop music drastically.
Young people have always been interested in fashion, and spend their money on new artists. Whereas the previous generation tend to keep to their favorite artists, young people conform more to peer-pressure. This conforming creates waves of commercial support for particular artists, and establishes pop music as an important mediator of
youth culture. Because of this, pop music has historically been the source of numerous
moral panics; parents viewing explicit and suggestive lyrics as gateways to
immorality and blaming pop music for perceived increases in objectionable behavior within youth culture.
History
1930s and 1940s
este-American communities (for example: electric guitar Blues in Chicago and Texas), and
Country coming also from "hillbilly music" of poor folk, white and black (Sun Records in Tennessee), which blended to become
Rockabilly. The most important ingredient in early Rock n' Roll was, however, the type of
Jump blues /
R&B led by
Louis Jordan who occasionally broke through into the pop charts. The music later on was mixed with gospel handclaps, boogie woogie and larger emphasis on backbeat, by artists such as
The Treniers, which created Rock 'n' Roll.
The rise of the crying and emotional singers in the late 1940s such as
Mario Lanza began the pop music vocal style.
1950s
Early Western Pop music artists include
Tommy Steele,
Marty Wilde,
Bing Crosby,
Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin,
Bobbejaan Schoepen, and
Peggy Lee, but other artists like
Bill Haley and his Comets,
James Brown,
Ray Conniff,
Ray Charles,
Everly Brothers,
Fats Domino,
Jerry Lee Lewis and
Elvis Presley became popular with the younger generation. In Australia there was
Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joy and
Bobby Darin. Italian singers such as Mario Lanza sang tunes people could identify and sing along to.
1960s
Western pop music teen idols of the 1960s include
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones,
The Who and The Beach Boys. Other successful pop musicians of this era include
Elvis Presley,
Simon & Garfunkel,
Neil Diamond,
Ray Charles,
Stevie Wonder and
Peter, Paul & Mary. The 1960s also saw the emergence of bands created by the recording industry, the most famous from this era being
The Monkees.
1970s
Bee Gees,
ABBA and the piano-based pop of
Billy Joel and
Elton John become famous in these years. Other important musicians included
Carole King,
The Jackson Five,
Olivia Newton-John,
Michael Jackson with his 20 million selling album
Off the Wall and
Donna Summer.
During the 1970s in Britain,
New Wave and Punk brought bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Talking Heads,
Ian Dury,
Elvis Costello,
The Police and
The Stranglers into the pop charts. A mod revival spearheaded by The Jam and Madness followed and opened the way for The Specials, UB40 and Dexys Midnight Runners.
1980s
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.
Jackson was the most successful artist of the 80s, spanning nine #1 singles in the United States alone during that decade, and selling over 136 million copies with only two albums —
Thriller, and its follow-up
Bad. Since the early nineties, Jackson has been often referred to and regarded as the "King of Pop".
Another important artist in the 1980s was
Madonna. Considered the "Queen of Pop", Madonna had a unique mix of pop music with other musical genres, including
electronic,
Dance and
R&B. Madonna has sold 250 million copies worldwide and has seventeen albums clasified as Platinum in United States, apart from two certified Diamond (
Like a Virgin, The Inmaculate Collection).
Prince also made a popular impact in the 1980s, and he was particularly adored by music critics. A large number of his albums and singles topped or held prominent positions on the yearly
Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll including albums
1999,
Purple Rain, and
Sign "o" the Times. Songs like "When Doves Cry" and "U Got the Look" were hits for Prince, as were songs he penned for others such as "Manic Monday" (performed by the Bangles) or "I Feel for You" (performed by Chaka Kahn).
Other top-selling artists included
Cher,
Tiffany,
Janet Jackson,
Huey Lewis & The News,
Cyndi Lauper, U2,
Simply Red,
Whitney Houston, and
George Michael (and
Wham). Pop music in the 1980s was heavily influenced by an electronic sound with synthesizers and drum machines, and dance type music.
1990s
Among the most successful pop acts of the 1990s were
R&B-influenced pop acts such as
Salt N Pepa, MC Hammer, and
C&C Music Factory. Non-R&B artists such as
Cher ,
Jewel, pop country singer
Shania Twain, and Alanis Morissette were also successful.
Mariah Carey became a popular artist of the 1990's, with many hits.
Boy bands and
girl groups such as
New Kids on the Block and the
Backstreet Boys ,
Hanson, *NSYNC, and the
Spice Girls. The late ninetys saw a resurgence of female bubble gum divas, most noticeably
Britney Spears, and
Christina Aguilera.
Australia had
Savage Garden and
Kylie Minogue. The
Latin pop explosion with
Ricky Martin,
Jennifer Lopez, and
Shakira. The 1990s also saw the beginnings of a surgence in pop into the Asian market, known as
J-pop, as originated from Japan.
2000s
In the 2000s, pop music chart-toppers included
Black Eyed Peas,
Justin Timberlake,
Usher,
Jessica Simpson and
Ashlee Simpson.
Robbie Williams recorded the biggest sales worldwide for a male artist, though with limited success in North America. Well established artists who continued to have success include
Madonna,
Mariah Carey and
Michael Jackson. Other trends included
Teen pop singers such as
Disney Channel stars
Hilary Duff and
Lindsay Lohan.
Pop punk acts such as
Simple Plan and
Fall Out Boy have become increasingly popular, as well as
pop rock acts such as
P!nk and
Avril Lavigne.
The popular American reality program
American Idol has produced many successful Pop artists, most notably
Kelly Clarkson,
Clay Aiken,
Katharine McPhee,
Chris Daughtry, R&B pop artist
Elliott Yamin, and
country pop artists
Carrie Underwood and
Kellie Pickler. In Latin America, multi-platinum pop group
RBD has achieved a great commercial success becoming the best-selling Latin act on the 2000s.
R&B and pop music blended in music from
Nelly Furtado and the
Pussycat Dolls.
See also
References
1.
^ Frith, Simon (2001). Nobody likes pop, especially me.
The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, p.94. ISBN 0-521-55660-0 .
Jazz is an original American musical art form that originated around the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in and around New Orleans.
Overview
Jazz has been called "America's only original art form.
..... Click the link for more information. Rock 'n' Roll (short for Rock and Roll), is a genre of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly spread to the rest of the world. It later spawned the various sub-genres of what is now called simply 'rock music'.
..... Click the link for more information.
Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists.
..... Click the link for more information.
Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs (discothèques) in the mid-1970s. Disco songs usually have soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady four-on-the-floor beat, an eighth note (quaver) or sixteenth note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern
..... Click the link for more information.
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement.
Genres
Dance music works often bear the name of the corresponding dance, e.g.
..... Click the link for more information. Reggae is a music genre developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.
The term 'reggae' is sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, although the word specifically indicates a particular music style that originated after the development of ska and
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
..... Click the link for more information.
A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. In principle anything that, produces sound, and can somehow be controlled by a person playing it, can serve as a musical instrument.
..... Click the link for more information.
The electric bass guitar (or "electric bass") is a bass stringed instrument played with the fingers by plucking, slapping, popping or using a pick. The bass is typically similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and scale
..... Click the link for more information.
The Drum kit
1 Bass drum | 2 Floor tom | 3 Snare | 4 Toms | 5 Hi-hat | 6 Crash cymbal and Ride cymbal
Other components
China cymbal | Cowbell | Sizzle cymbal |
Splash cymbal | Swish cymbal |
Tambourine | Wood block | Rototom
A drum kit (or
..... Click the link for more information.
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are very useful instruments for a wide variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music.
..... Click the link for more information.
keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano, which is used in nearly all forms of western music. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical,
..... Click the link for more information.
Synthesizer is generally any kind of electronic musical instrument, or electronic device capable of producing or manipulating audio tones, such as musical notes, through audio signal processing.
..... Click the link for more information.
Hip hop (also spelled hip-hop or hiphop) is both a music genre and a cultural movement developed in New York City starting in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos.
..... Click the link for more information.
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer. The term was created in 1994 by DJ Supreme to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who actually performs, by touching and moving the records
..... Click the link for more information.
Bubblegum pop (bubblegum rock, bubblegum music, youth music, or simply bubblegum) is a genre of pop music. Some of the defining characteristics of bubblegum pop include catchy melodies, simple three chord structures, simple harmonies, danceable beats,
..... Click the link for more information.
Traditional pop or Classic pop or Standards music denotes, in general, Western (and particularly American) popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but
..... Click the link for more information.
Country pop, or soft pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to top 40 radio, country pop acts are now
..... Click the link for more information.
Dance-pop is a subgenre of pop music that evolved from disco, circa the early 1980s, that combines dance beats with a pop song structure. Because there is such an emphasis on fully-formed songs in dance-pop, it is often viewed as a separate classification unto itself apart from
..... Click the link for more information.
Electropop (also called Technopop) is a form of synth pop music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1981. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented synthpop, but later became seen by musicologists as merely a
..... Click the link for more information.
Electropop (also called Technopop) is a form of synth pop music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1981. Electropop laid the groundwork for a mass market in chart-oriented synthpop, but later became seen by musicologists as merely a
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since September 2007.
..... Click the link for more information. Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs.
..... Click the link for more information.
Arabic pop music or Arab pop is a subgenre of Pop music and Arabic music.
Most Arab pop is mainly produced in Cairo, with Beirut a secondary center prior to the Lebanese Civil War. It is an outgrowth of the Arabic film industry, also centered in Cairo.
..... Click the link for more information.
- See also:
Pop-folk is a music-genre consisting of both pop music and folk music.
In the Balkans, pop-folk music refers to a mix of pop, folk, ethno and dance music in which the dominant rhythms are oriental
..... Click the link for more information. For other uses, see Pop rock (disambiguation).
Pop rock is a subgenre of rock music that uses "catchy" pop style, with light lyrics over top of "guitar-based" songs.
..... Click the link for more information. Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It is most closely associated with the era between the late 1970s and early to middle 1980s, although it has continued to exist and develop ever since.
..... Click the link for more information.
J-pop is an abbreviation of Japanese pop. It refers to Japanese popular musicians, and was coined by the Japanese media, to distinguish Japanese musicians from foreign musicians.
..... Click the link for more information.
K-pop is an abbreviation for Korean popular music, specifically from South Korea. There are many artists and groups, most notably Se7en, TVXQ, Shinhwa, BoA, and Rain, that have branched out of Korea and have become popular in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South East
..... Click the link for more information.