The term 'pop music' first originated in 1926, when they said that the idea of pop music was to have 'popular appeal'. It was indicated by Hatch and Millward that many recordings of the 1920's can show the early emergence of pop that would slowly develop into songs that we may recognise now.
However since the 1950's, it has become clear that not only does the words 'pop music' mean just popular music, it started to simply become anything that was not classical music. So for example, in the 1960's it would be bands such as the Beatles, and The Rolling Stones.
In the 1960's, it was said that the rising of popular music fought a battle against that of the newly rising 'beat music'. However this only applied for Britain, as in America, the rising genre that tried to overtake pop was rock and roll. With the emergence of Elvis in the 50's and those to perform before him such as Robert Johnson with his early 1930's blues recordings, they had already begun to create such genres as these.
From around 1967 on wards, the word pop was used in direct opposition to rock and roll, creating a complete division in genres, and almost making the public decide which type of music they would rather listen to, as both music genres tended to avoid sounding anything like each other.
The problem faced when pop tries to avoid rock and roll is that they have to take ideas from other genres, so you will usually find that in early pop, there was hints of gospel, jazz, soul, and country music.
With the exception of ABBA, the pop music industries have been completely dominated by both the British and the American music companies. These are two of the biggest countries in the world for media, and are also the best at producing music, so it is only fitting, that these two are the only two that really mass produce music that is heard across the world.
The characteristics of pop are stated below:
- An aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology.
- An emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal 'artistic' qualities.
- An emphasis on recording, production, and technology over live performance.
- A tendency to reflect on existing trends rather than progressive developments.
- Much pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-orientated beats or rhythm.
You have made a start in defining what pop music is, but you also need to analyse two music videos, from the pop genre, to support the points that you have made. Refer to detailed examples, conventions and micro elements throughout to demonstrate your understanding.
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