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Pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in
the United States and United Kingdom during the mid-1950s.[4] The terms Pop
"popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the Stylistic Traditional pop[1] ·
former describes all music that is popular and includes many diverse styles. origins rock and roll[2] · folk[3]
"Pop" and "rock" were roughly synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when Cultural 1940s and 1950s,
they became increasingly differentiated from each other. origins United States and
United Kingdom
Although much of the music that appears on record charts is seen as pop
music, the genre is distinguished from chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and Typical Electric guitar, Guitar,
often borrows elements from other styles such as urban, dance, rock, Latin, instruments Drums,
and country; nonetheless, there are core elements that define pop music. Drum machine, Piano,
Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a Maraca, Tambourine,
basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as common use of Percussion instrument
repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks. Derivative Disco · New wave
forms
Subgenres
Contents Art pop · Brill Building ·
bubblegum pop · dance-pop ·
Definitions and etymology
experimental pop · hypnagogic pop ·
Characteristics
operatic pop · orchestral pop ·
Development and influence
progressive pop · sophisti-pop ·
Stylistic evolution
Technology and media space age pop · sunshine pop ·
Legitimacy in music criticism synth-pop · teen pop
International spread Fusion genres
See also Baroque pop · beat ·
References Contemporary Christian ·
Further reading country pop · electropop · indie pop ·
External links jangle pop · Latin pop · noise pop ·
pop punk · pop-rap · pop rock ·
power pop · psychedelic pop · R&B ·
Definitions and etymology reggae fusion · smooth jazz ·
smooth soul
David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as "a body of music
which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, and folk musics".[5] According to
Regional scenes
Pete Seeger, pop music is "professional music which draws upon both folk China · India · Indonesia ·
music and fine arts music".[3] Although pop music is seen as just the singles Hong Kong · Italy · Japan · Korea ·
charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. The music charts contain songs Malaysia · Mexican · Morocco ·
from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. As a Pakistan · Philippines · Russia ·
genre, pop music is seen to exist and develop separately.[6] Therefore, the term Scandinavia · Sweden · Taiwan ·
Thailand · Turkey · United Kingdom ·

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"pop music" may be used to describe a distinct genre, designed to appeal to all, United States · Vietnam ·
often characterized as "instant singles-based music aimed at teenagers" in Western Europe
contrast to rock music as "album-based music for adults".[4][8] Other topics

Pop music continuously evolves along with the term's definition. According to Avant-pop · pop music automation ·
music writer Bill Lamb, popular music is defined as "the music since poptimism · rock music
industrialization in the 1800s that is most in line with the tastes and interests
of the urban middle class."[9] The term "pop song" was first used in 1926, in the sense of a piece of music "having popular
appeal".[10] Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth
of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues, and hillbilly music.[11]

According to the website of The  New  Grove  Dictionary  of  Music  and
Musicians, the term "pop music" "originated in Britain in the mid-1950s as a
description for rock and roll and the new youth music styles that it
influenced".[2] The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pop's "earlier
meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience [...] since the late 1950s,
however, pop has had the special meaning of non-classical mus[ic], usually in
the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones,
ABBA, etc."[12] Grove Music Online also states that "[...] in the early 1960s, [the
term] 'pop music' competed terminologically with beat music [in England],
The Oxford Dictionary of Music
while in the US its coverage overlapped (as it still does) with that of 'rock and
states that the term "pop" refers to
music performed by such artists as roll'".[2]
the Rolling Stones (pictured here in
From about 1967, the term “pop music” was increasingly used in opposition to
a 2006 performance)
the term rock music, a division that gave generic significance to both terms.[13]
While rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of
popular music,[13] pop was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible.[14] According to British musicologist Simon
Frith, pop music is produced "as a matter of enterprise not art", and is "designed to appeal to everyone" but "doesn't come
from any particular place or mark off any particular taste". Frith adds that it is "not driven by any significant ambition
except profit and commercial reward [...] and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative". It is, "provided from on high
(by record companies, radio programmers, and concert promoters) rather than being made from below ... Pop is not a do-
it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged".[4]

Characteristics
According to Frith, characteristics of pop music include an aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a
particular sub-culture or ideology, and an emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal "artistic" qualities.[4] Music
scholar Timothy Warner said it typically has an emphasis on recording, production, and technology, rather than live
performance; a tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments; and aims to encourage dancing
or uses dance-oriented rhythms.[14]

The main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, generally
marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure.[17]
Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks,
and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse.[18] The beat and the melodies tend
to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment.[19] The lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes –
often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions.[4]

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Harmony and chord progressions in pop music are often "that of classical European tonality, only more simple-
minded."[20] Clichés include the barbershop quartet-style harmony (i.e. ii – V – I) and blues scale-influenced harmony.[21]
There was a lessening of the influence of traditional views of the circle of fifths between the mid-1950s and the late 1970s,
including less predominance for the dominant function.[22]

Development and influence

Stylistic evolution
Throughout its development, pop music has absorbed influences from other genres of popular music. Early pop music
drew on the sentimental ballad for its form, gained its use of vocal harmonies from gospel and soul music, instrumentation
from jazz and rock music, orchestration from classical music, tempo from dance music, backing from electronic music,
rhythmic elements from hip-hop music, and spoken passages from rap.[4]

In the 1960s, the majority of mainstream pop music fell in two categories: guitar, drum and bass groups or singers backed
by a traditional orchestra.[23] Since early in the decade, it was common for pop producers, songwriters, and engineers to
freely experiment with musical form, orchestration, unnatural reverb, and other sound effects. Some of the best known
examples are Phil Spector's Wall of Sound and Joe Meek's use of homemade electronic sound effects for acts like the
Tornados.[24] At the same time, pop music on radio and in both American and British film moved away from refined Tin
Pan Alley to more eccentric songwriting and incorporated reverb-drenched rock guitar, symphonic strings, and horns
played by groups of properly arranged and rehearsed studio musicians.[25]

During the mid-1960s, pop music made repeated forays into new sounds, styles, and techniques that inspired public
discourse among its listeners. The word "progressive" was frequently used, and it was thought that every song and single
was to be a "progression" from the last.[26] Music critic Simon Reynolds writes that beginning with 1967, a divide would
exist between "progressive" pop and "mass/chart" pop, a separation which was "also, broadly, one between boys and girls,
middle-class and working-class."[27] Before the progressive pop of the late 1960s, performers were typically unable to
decide on the artistic content of their music.[28] Assisted by the mid-1960s economic boom, record labels began investing
in artists, giving them the freedom to experiment, and offering them limited control over their content and marketing.[29]
This situation fell in disuse after the late 1970s and would not reemerge until the rise of Internet stars.[29] Indie pop, which
developed in the late 1970s, marked another departure from the glamour of contemporary pop music, with guitar bands
formed on the then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music without having to procure a record
contract from a major label.[30] By 2014, pop music worldwide had been permeated by electronic dance music.[31]

A Scientific  Reports study that examined over 464,000 recordings of popular music recorded between 1955 and 2010
found less variety in pitch progressions, growing average loudness levels,[32] less diverse instrumentation and recording
techniques, and less timbral variety, which declined after reaching a peak in the 1960s.[33] Scientific  American's John
Matson reported that this "seems to support the popular anecdotal observation that pop music of yore was "better", or at
least more varied, than today’s top-40 stuff."[33]

In May 2018, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, concluded that pop music has become 'sadder' over the
last 30 years. The elements of happiness and brightness have eventually been replaced with the electronic beats making
the pop music more 'sad yet danceable'.[34][35]

Technology and media

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In the 1940s
improved
microphone design
allowed a more
intimate singing
style[37] and ten or
twenty years later,
inexpensive and more
durable 45 r.p.m.
records for singles
"revolutionized the
manner in which pop
has been
disseminated". This
helped to move pop
music to 'a
record/radio/film
star system'.[37]
Another
technological change
Left, Michael Jackson; right, Madonna known respectively as the "King and Queen of Pop".[36]
was the widespread
availability of
television in the 1950s; with televised performances, "pop stars had to have a visual presence".[37] In the 1960s, the
introduction of inexpensive, portable transistor radios meant that First World teenagers could listen to music outside of
the home.[37] Multi-track recording (from the 1960s); and digital sampling (from the 1980s) have also been utilized as
methods for the creation and elaboration of pop music.[4] By the early 1980s, the promotion of pop music had been greatly
affected by the rise of music television channels like MTV, which "favoured those artists such as Michael Jackson and
Madonna who had a strong visual appeal".[37]

Legitimacy in music criticism

The latter half of the 20th-century included a large-scale trend in American culture in which the boundaries between art
and pop music were increasingly blurred.[38] Between 1950 and 1970, there was a debate of pop versus art.[39] Since then,
certain music publications have embraced its legitimacy. According to Popmatters' Robert Loss: "There’s a strong
argument for the 'rockist' mode in music criticism—that it exists, and that it’s harmful—and poptimism has positioned
itself as a corrective, an antidote. ... In general, the Old Guard of rock critics and journalists is depicted as a bunch of
bricklayers for the foundations of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. True in part, which is to say, false. Like film studies,
rock criticism of the late ‘60s and the ‘70s was an attempt to make popular music worthy of study; it was poptimism before
its day."[39]

International spread
Pop music has been dominated by the American and (from the mid-1960s) British music
“ The story of pop
industries, whose influence has made pop music something of an international music is largely the
monoculture, but most regions and countries have their own form of pop music, sometimes story of the
intertwining pop
culture of the United
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producing local versions of wider trends, and lending them local characteristics.[40] Some of States and the United
these trends (for example Europop) have had a significant impact of the development of the
Kingdom in the
postwar era. ”
genre.[41]
 — Bob Stanley[31]
According to Grove Music Online, "Western-derived pop styles, whether coexisting with or
marginalizing distinctively local genres, have spread throughout the world and have come to
constitute stylistic common denominators in global commercial music cultures".[42] Some non-Western countries, such as
Japan, have developed a thriving pop music industry, most of which is devoted to Western-style pop. Japan has for several
years produced a greater quantity of music than everywhere except the US.[42] The spread of Western-style pop music has
been interpreted variously as representing processes of Americanization, homogenization, modernization, creative
appropriation, cultural imperialism, or a more general process of globalization.[42]

In Korea, pop music's influence has led to the birth of boy bands and girl groups which have gained overseas renown
through both their music and aesthetics.[43] Korean co-ed groups (mixed gender groups) have not been as successful.[44]

See also
Honorific nicknames in popular music
Origins of rock and roll
Popular music pedagogy
List of popular music genres
History of music
Public domain music

References
1. Traditional Pop, Allmusic.com (http://www.allmusic.com/subgenre/traditional-pop-ma0000002961/artists). Retrieved
25 August 2016
2. R. Middleton, et al., "Pop" (http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_gmo), Grove music online, retrieved
14 March 2010. (subscription required)
3. Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 1 – Play A Simple Melody: Pete Seeger on the origins of pop music" (https://digital.librar
y.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19745/m1/) (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
4. S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press), ISBN 0-521-55660-0, pp. 95–105.
5. D. Hatch and S. Millward, From Blues to Rock: an Analytical History of Pop Music (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1987), ISBN 0-7190-1489-1, p. 1.
6. R. Serge Denisoff and William L. Schurk, Tarnished Gold: the Record Industry Revisited (New Brunswick, NJ:
Transaction Publishers, 3rd edn., 1986), ISBN 0-88738-618-0, pp. 2–3.
7. Moore, Allan F. (2016). Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=S6DeCwAAQBAJ). Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-05265-4.
8. Musicologist Allan Moore surmises that the term "pop music" itself may have been popularized by Pop art.[7]
9. Lamb, Bill (29 September 2018). "What Is Pop Music?" (https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-pop-music-3246980).
ThoughtCo.
10. J. Simpson and E. Weiner, Oxford English Dictionary(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989). ISBN 0-19-861186-2, cf.
pop.
11. D. Hatch and S. Millward, From Blues to Rock: an Analytical History of Pop Music, ISBN 0-7190-1489-1, p. 49.
12. "Pop", The Oxford Dictionary of Music (http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/public/book/omo_t237), retrieved 9 March
2010.(subscription required)

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13. Kenneth Gloag in The Oxford Companion to Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN 0-19-866212-2, p.
983.
14. T. Warner, Pop Music: Technology and Creativity: Trevor Horn and the Digital Revolution (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003),
ISBN 0-7546-3132-X, pp. 3–4.
15. "Van's Brown Eyed Girl hits the 10 million mark in US" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15186967).
BBC. 5 October 2011.
16. Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 2 (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=QWBPAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA101#v=onepage&q&f=false). Scarecrow Press. pp. 101–103. ISBN 978-0-8108-8296-6.
17. W. Everett, Expression in Pop-rock Music: A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays (London: Taylor & Francis,
2000), p. 272.
18. J. Shepherd, Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Performance and production (Continuum,
2003), p. 508.
19. V. Kramarz, The Pop Formulas: Harmonic Tools of the Hit Makers (Mel Bay Publications, 2007), p. 61.
20. Winkler, Peter (1978). "Toward a theory of pop harmony", In Theory Only, 4, pp. 3–26.
21. Sargeant, p. 198. cited in Winkler (1978), p. 4.
22. Winkler (1978), p. 22.
23. "Making Arrangements—A Rough Guide To Song Construction & Arrangement, Part 1" (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0140508082609/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/oct97/arranging1.html). Sound on Sound. October
1997. Archived from the original (http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/oct97/arranging1.html) on 8 May
2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
24. Blake, Andrew (2009). "Recording practices and the role of the producer" (https://books.google.com/books?id=Xb0hA
wAAQBAJ&pg=PA45). In Cook, Nicholas; Clarke, Eric; Leech-Wilkinson, Daniel. The Cambridge Companion to
Recorded Music. Cambridge University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-139-82796-6.
25. Pareles, Jon (October 31, 2008). "Orchestral Pop, the Way It Was (More or Less)" (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/
01/arts/music/01pupp.html?_r=0). The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
26. Hewitt, Paolo; Hellier, John (2015). Steve Marriott: All Too Beautiful (https://books.google.com/books?id=CxhzCgAAQ
BAJ&pg=PT162). Dean Street Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-910570-69-2.
27. Reynolds, Simon (2006). "New Pop and its Aftermath". On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=lauJAgAAQBAJ). Routledge. p. 398. ISBN 978-1-134-93951-0.
28. Willis, Paul E. (2014). Profane Culture (https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7oWBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA219). Princeton
University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-1-4008-6514-7.
29. Moore 2016, p. 202.
30. Abebe, Nitsuh (24 October 2005), "Twee as Fuck: The Story of Indie Pop" (https://www.webcitation.org/5wjlLnVho?url
=http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/6176-twee-as-fuck/), Pitchfork Media, archived from the original (http://pitchfork.
com/features/articles/6176-twee-as-fuck/) on 24 February 2011
31. Christgau, Robert (2014). "Anti-Rockism's Hall of Fame" (http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bn/bn2014-07.php). The
Barnes & Noble Review. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
32. Joan Serrà, Álvaro Corral, Marián Boguñá, Martín Haro & Josep Ll. Arcos, "Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary
Western Popular Music", Nature.com, 26 July 2012 (http://www.nature.com/articles/srep00521). Retrieved 30 March
2016
33. John Matson, "Is Pop Music Evolving, or Is It Just Getting Louder?", Scientific American, 26 July 2012 (http://blogs.sci
entificamerican.com/observations/is-pop-music-evolving-or-is-it-just-getting-louder/). Retrieved 30 March 2016
34. "New study finds pop music has gotten extremely depressing but also more fun to dance to" (http://www.thefader.com/
2018/05/16/sadness-in-pop-music-study). The FADER. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
35. "Today's pop music really IS more depressing than 30 years ago" (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5733
781/Todays-pop-music-really-depressing-30-years-ago.html). Mail Online. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
36. McGee, Alan (August 20, 2008). "Madonna Pop Art" (https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2008/oct/28/mad
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37. D. Buckley, "Pop" "II. Implications of technology", Grove Music Online, retrieved 15 March 2010.
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that Shaped our Culture (https://books.google.com/books?id=TQPXAQAAQBAJ). ABC-CLIO. pp. 317, 1233.
ISBN 978-0-313-39348-8.
39. Loss, Robert (August 10, 2015). "No Apologies: A Critique of the Rockist v. Poptimist Paradigm" (http://www.popmatte
rs.com/column/196122-no-apologies-a-critique-of-the-rockist-v.-poptimist-paradigm/). PopMatters.
40. J. Kun, Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005), ISBN 0-520-
24424-9, p. 201.
41. "Star profiles" in S. Frith, W. Stray and J. Street, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge University
Press, 2001), ISBN 0-521-55660-0, pp. 199–200.
42. P. Manuel, "Pop. Non-Western cultures 1. Global dissemination", Grove Music Online, retrieved 14 March 2010.
43. "K-Pop, la música y la moda 'rarita' coreana que arrasa la red" (http://www.elmundo.es/yodona/2015/12/03/565f220b4
6163ff4308b45c9.html).
44. "Why aren't there many mixed gender K-pop groups?" (http://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2016/08/25/why-arent-the
re-many-mixed-gender-k-pop-groups). SBS PopAsia.

Further reading
Adorno, Theodor W., (1942) "On Popular Music", Institute of Social Research.
Bell, John L., (2000) The Singing Thing: A Case for Congregational Song, GIA Publications, ISBN 1-57999-100-9
Bindas, Kenneth J., (1992) America's Musical Pulse: Popular Music in Twentieth-Century Society, Praeger.
Clarke, Donald, (1995) The Rise and Fall of Popular Music, St Martin's Press.
https://web.archive.org/web/20071231045026/http://www.musicweb.uk.net/RiseandFall/index.htm
Dolfsma, Wilfred, (1999) Valuing Pop Music: Institutions, Values and Economics, Eburon.
Dolfsma, Wilfred, (2004) Institutional Economics and the Formation of Preferences: The Advent of Pop Music, Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Frith, Simon, Straw, Will, Street, John, eds, (2001), The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock, Cambridge
University Press,
Frith, Simon (2004) Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, Routledge.
Gillett, Charlie, (1970) The Sound of the City. The Rise of Rock and Roll, Outerbridge & Dienstfrey.
Hatch, David and Stephen Millward, (1987), From Blues to Rock: an Analytical History of Pop Music, Manchester
University Press, ISBN 0-7190-1489-1
Johnson, Julian, (2002) Who Needs Classical Music?: Cultural Choice and Musical Value, Oxford University Press,
ISBN 0-19-514681-6.
Kent, Jeff, (1983) The Rise and Fall of Rock, Witan Books, ISBN 0-9508981-0-4.
Lonergan, David F., (2004) Hit Records, 1950–1975, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0-8108-5129-6.
Maultsby, Portia K., (7907) Intra- and International Identities in American Popular Music, Trading Culture.
Middleton, Richard, (1990) Studying Popular Music, Open University Press.
Negus, Bob, (1999) Music Genres and Corporate Cultures, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-17399-X.
Pleasants, Henry (1969) Serious Music and All That Jazz, Simon & Schuster.
Roxon, Lillian, (1969) Rock Encyclopedia, Grosset & Dunlap.
Shuker, Roy, (2002) Popular Music: The Key Concepts, Routledge, (2nd edn.) ISBN 0-415-28425-2.
Starr, Larry & Waterman, Christopher, (2002) American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV, Oxford University
Press.
Watkins, S. Craig, (2005) Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement,
Beacon Press, ISBN 0-8070-0982-2.

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External links
The Consumption of Music and the Expression of Values: A Social Economic Explanation for the Advent of Pop Music
(https://web.archive.org/web/20170407053620/http://musiclife.mobi/filelist/1017/sabrang_%282017%29_mp3/new2ol
d/1), Wilfred Dolfsma, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, October 1999.

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