POP
MUSIC
Depending on context, pop music
is either an abbreviation of popular music or, more recently, a term for a
sub-genre of it.
The subgenre of pop is perhaps the
most widely crowd-pleasing form of all popular music. Some of the defining
musical characteristics of the subgenre are the presence of a hook, and production techniques which
are somewhat reliant on the musical fashions of the time.
A hook can be any part of the
song, musical, rhythmic, vocal, or as is most often the case, a mixture of all
of them. The principles of good music production (in its broadest sense), are
universal, and therefore when the person behind the music is a talented
writer/arranger/producer the end result is almost guaranteed to be based around
several musical ideas repeated to "hook" a listener's interest.
The production techniques of pop
music follow closely the prevailing musical fashions. Generally, underground, non-mainstream music sub-genres
have the biggest influence on mainstream pop production. The most sought-after
producers of today are quite often those at the forefront of very leftfield
"scenes". Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and other pop artists from the
last few years have strong hip hop and R & B influences. The slightly more
underground influence at the present time is the re-emergence of synthesisers.
It is usually instantly accessible
to anyone who is culturally inclined to take part, even often the musical
novice. Successful pop music, which is often measured in terms of its
commercial success, is usually performed by charismatic performers who look
attractive, are fashionable, and usually are able to dance well. Songwriting
and arranging may be performed by anonymous producers.
Producer Frank Farian briefly experimented with the
notion of having one party sing a song, and another, more photogenic group, lip-sync to it. The result was called Milli Vanilli and was hugely successful, until
people discovered that they had no role in the production of their album.
Though this was scandalous in the late '80's, today many of the most popular
pop singers employ lip-synching to pre-recorded tracks during their live
performances. The performers often argue that it is not an issue of them
lacking singing talent. Rather, they claim, it is difficult to dance, peform, and get all the words out at the same time, so they
play recorded music in the background in order to ensure that the performance
sounds good. However, critics maintain that in a live musical performance, the
live music creation (be it sung, instrumental, or both) should be the issue
that receives precedence over other less important things, such as dancing or
theatrics.
Due to its increasing
commercialization and the lip-synching issue, pop music is often criticized for
being entertaining while lacking serious musical value and artistic
significance. This is believed to be primarily due to record companies'
financial considerations being placed above any artistic considerations,
whereby the record companies hand-pick the artists and songs that they think
will make them the most money. In a sense, young and fashionable teens who might have no prior knowledge of the music industry are
marketed into something that can sell fun and danceable music to a preteen
audience. Companies often figure that their profits will be maximized by
selling music that has the broadest possible appeal. This is often the case, as
some works of popular music have sold tens of millions of copies. This is also
at least partially why genres that manage to attain a certain level of
credibility as styles in their own right are often no longer considered
"pop"; as several of the more serious musicians, as well as their
fans, strive to separate themselves from the
commercialism-over-creativity aspect of current pop music.
In most of pop music, the record producer is a major contributor. He or she
often chooses the songs and shapes the sound of the music.
The image of pop performers is
often regarded as being as important as their actual music. Consequently, pop
performers and their managers make elaborate efforts to project the desired
image through their clothing, music video clips, manipulation of the popular
press, and similar tactics. Indeed, many pop acts are formulated around
achieving the desired image. Boy bands and girl bands are particularly carefully organised in this manner, with members often chosen and
groomed to fulfill certain roles and to appeal to different fan personalities.
A particular style of song
particularly associated with the pop genre is the love ballad, a slow song in which the performers
sing usually highly sentimental songs about various aspects of romantic love.
Well-known pop musicians include Janet Jackson, Madonna and Michael Jackson (the self-styled "King of
Pop") and from earlier days Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Paul Whiteman, and Rudy Vallee. Many of today's manufactured pop
stars have been shaped to fit the image and style of these more famous and
successful stars. Because of their commercial appeal, modern pop stars are
often crafted after them, which is why many consider them to be "pop"
singers in the subgenre of popular music.
Though much of this article has
described "pop" as used in its more recent sense, as a subgenre of
popular music, what follows is a list of all popular music performers. Pop
music, in its more general and older, but also now rarer, sense is a very broad
umbrella term. It was created as a synonym of "rock-n-roll", during
the birth of the rock era in the 1950's, in order to separate the then-new,
then-controversial and extremely progressive and innovative form of music from
the more typical styles of jazz, gospel, big band, and classical music that had come before it.
Eventually "pop" or "rock-n-roll" music would branch out
into many subgenres, subcultures, and submovements,
including progressive rock, punk, disco, hip-hop, funk, metal, alternative, new wave, techno, new age, and soul, to name a few.
Most recently, popular music has
even merged with older, pre-pop forms of music such as jazz (for example Norah Jones), swing (Brian Setzer
Orchestra, Cherry Poppin'
Daddies),
gospel (Whitney Houston, CeCe Winans), and has even incorporate
elements of classical music, for example in rap samples, metal, and progressive rock. As a
general rule of thumb, in the original and broad sense of the word, any song
which might potentially be heard on a top 40 radio station is a pop song and any
musician, band, or group which might potentially produce music videos creates music in some sub-genre
of pop music.
Popular music,
sometimes abbreviated the genre pop music, is music
belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are (at least in their
heyday) broadly popular. Broadly, any music that is a part of
popular culture, including
classical, folk, or other music that has entered popular culture. A
narrower sense of the term, usually "pop music", covers mainstream music
that does not fall into any more specialized style such as jazz or hip hop. In
the broader sense, "popular music" means any sort of music intended
for mass consumption and propagated over the radio and similar media. For the varieties of
popular music in this sense, see the list below.
Frans Birrer (1985, p.104) gives four conceptions or definitions
of "popular"
music:
1.
Normative definitions. Popular music is an inferior type.
2.
Negative definitions. Popular music is music that is not something else (usually 'folk' or art'
music).
3.
Sociological definitions. Popular music is associated with (produced for or by) a particular
social group.
4.
Technologico-economic definitions. Popular music is disseminated by
mass media and/or in a mass market.
All of which, according to Middleton (1990, p.4) "are
interest-bound; none is satisfactory." According to Hall
(1978, p.6-7), "The assumption...that you might know before you looked at
cultural traditions in general what; at any particular time, was a part of the
elite culture or of popular culture is untenable." Thus popular
music must be comprehended in relation to the broader musical field (Middleton
1990, p.11).
Bennett (1980, p.153-218) distinguishes between 'primary' and
'secondary' popular culture, the first being mass product and the second being
local re-production. Musical examples of the latter include disco and hip hop DJing, raggae dub techniques,
cover bands, boombox use, and other public uses
(Middleton 1990, p.86).
"While repetition is a
feature of all music, of any sort, a high level of repetition may be a specific
mark of 'the popular', enabling an inclusive rather than exclusive
audience." (Middleton 1990, p.139)
A defining characteristic of popular music (in the broader sense) is
that it is the product of the modern business enterprise, and is disseminated
for the purpose of earning a profit. Executives and employees of popular music
businesses try to select and cultivate the music that will have the greatest
success with the public, and thus maximize the profits of their firm. In this
respect, popular music differs from traditional folk music, which was created by ordinary people for their own enjoyment, and from
classical music, which was originally created to serve the purposes of the Church or
for the entertainment of the nobility. (Today classical music is often
subsidized by governments and universities.)
Although the controlling forces of popular music are business
enterprises, young people who aspire to become popular musicians are certainly
not always driven by the profit motive. Rather, they often want to find an
outlet for their sense of expression and creativity, or simply to have fun.
Historically, the conflicting motives of business people and
musicians has been a source of tension in the popular music industry.
Many people play popular music together with their friends, often in
garages and basements, on a casual amateur basis. This activity is one of the
most widespread forms of participatory music-making in modern societies. As
participatory music, "garage bands" are in a sense a resurrection of
the old tradition of folk music,
which in premodern times was composed and performed
by ordinary people and transmitted exclusively by word of mouth. The difference
between the old folk music and modern amateur performance of popular music is
that the participants in the latter genre are well acquainted with the expert
performances that they hear on recordings, and often try to emulate them.
The older folk music of a society often lives on in a popularized
version, which is likewise performed by experts and commercially disseminated.
Such updated versions of folk music often have heavy amateur participation.
A list of performers of popular music can be found at:
Popular music dates at least as far back as the mid 19th century. Below
is a list of genres.
Different genres often appeal to different age groups. These often, but
not always, are the people who were young when the music was new. Thus, for
instance, Big band music
continues to have a following, but it is probably a rather older group, on
average, than the audience for rap. For a few of the genres listed below (for instance, Ragtime), the original target
generation may have died out almost entirely.
Musical genres usually not considered popular music would include the
following:
As noted earlier, these have a distinct character from popular music:
either they are transmitted by word of mouth rather than in organized fashion
(children's songs, authentic folk music) or else they are produced to fill the
needs of a particular social institution (church, aristocracy, the military, or
the state).