Pop: Past To Present
Pop music is
a flexible genre, any music that’s on the “pop charts” usually gets categorized
as pop music even if it’s a part of another genre. The term pop is an
abbreviation of the word popular. It is described as pop or popular music because
the music and the artists in the genre are always changing. Pop is also
different around the world because every country has its own definition of
what’s popular, the music styles will vary. Pop music influences other genres
as well, with there being cross over stars like Taylor Swift who went from
country to pop.
Although the
first popular music chart (Top Twenty) wasn’t recorded until 1952, popular
music started in the 1930’s with new music called swing. Artists like Bing
Cosby and Frank Sinatra sang with big swing bands before starting solo careers.
When the 1950’s came around it was the time for rock & roll- a louder type
of popular music, these were the songs of young rebellion and teenage love. In
the late 1950’s -1960’s this was the time of Elvis Presley, a huge impact on the
music scene.
Following him were the Beatles who are one of the most popular
bands still to this day, from 1962-1970 when they broke up, the Beatles were
known for writing their own songs that dominated the U.K and United States
charts. The 70’s was a big time for rock
music as well, with bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen leading the first half of
the 70’s. The second half of the decade was about bands such as ACDC, Kiss, Van
Halen, and Aerosmith. Other artists popular in the 1970’s were The Eagles,
Blondie, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie wonder, and Jackson 5.
Jackson 5
became one of the biggest pop-phenomena’s of the 1970’s. The only Jackson
brother to sustain a long term solo career after the group was Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson was the most successful popular music artist in history, hence
him being labelled as “The King of Pop”. His music was the one of the most
popular of the 1980’s. Alongside Michael Jackson, the top successful artists of
this time were Diana Ross, Prince, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson. But
Madonna was the most successful female artist of the 80’s. Madonna and Michael
Jackson were the most successful artists of this decade not just because of
their musical talents, but their visual appeals. Those iconic visuals are still
remembered and even used today. Another popular genre in the 80’s was hip hop,
especially with the controversial group NWA.
 |
| http://www.liketotally80s.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/best-music-videos.png MTV is where Michael Jackson, Madonna and a lot of other famous artists got most of their publicity from in the 80's. |
As for the 90’s popular music took
a turn towards alternative rock. The popular alternative bands were Nirvana,
Blink 182, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and No Doubt. Another side to the
90’s was the time of boy bands or teen pop, which is what comes to most people’s
minds when they think of pop music. The top boy bands and teen stars of the 90’s
were The Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Destiny’s Child, Christina
Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Jennifer Lopez. Hip Hop also became the bestselling
music genre by the mid 90’s with artists like Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, Jay Z,
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem.
I put these two songs against each other to show how two separate genres of music were still considered popular music even thought they are vastly different.
This is a perfect example of how the definition of pop/popular music is always changing.
Now a days all these genres that were mentioned and many more are still popular but it just goes to show how much “pop music” has changed because of the flexibility of the word popular. A lot of these artists of the past are huge influences on our music we hear today. If it weren't for some of these groups and artists we may not have made the progression we have in the music industry.
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