What is pop?
 

I have thought that the term is short for popular and referrs to any music that is popular.

I think there are two ways of using the word. One definition is what you just described whereby anyone who sells millions of albums is "pop". The other definition relates to pop as a genre. It's a style, usually with a heavy emphasis on vocals, rhythm and catchiness, that can be played by anyone regardless of whether they've sold millions of albums or not.

its kinda like calling soda 'coke'. yes their is a specific type known as 'coca-cola' or 'coke', but it can also be used to describe all sodas "would you like a coke" "ya sure what do you got?".

so yes pop can be used to describe all popular music, but in reality pop has evolved into its own sound... it just so happens that sound is what a lot of people listen to also.

Ive thought about this in the past too because it really is an awful term i hate to use. That sounds about right though.

Pop is Cream Soda and Dandelion and Burdock delivered to your door.

So by that definition Billy Holiday is Pop.

No she's dead..

What is pop? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more...

its a big question dude :)

This is still the catchiest pop song ever written.

To me, pop is any music with a focus on vocals and rythym, which uses relatively simple arrangment and statements to make a point. Although, to be honest, music defined as "pop" is so varied that there really isnt a set definition.

Pop or not?


Sebastien Tellier - La Ritournelle

60's pop ftw

Pop is the third elf of the Rice Krispie elf family, you know they are not Rice Krispie when you do not hear the Pop.

Ugh this question has been asked and attempted to be answered so, so many times.

In a broad sense, pop is any music based on memorable melodies, repeated sections (usually, but not always, verses and choruses), and a tight, concise structure that keeps the listener's focus on those elements. Pop as a musical style, however, began in the late '90s and early 2000s, when a pair of major forces began narrowing and focusing commercial tastes. First, the heavy influence of rap and R&B made the pop singles charts more homogeneous than ever. Then, the advent of the television contest American Idol further centralized what people agreed on as pop music. As such, Pop is primarily influenced by the time's two most broadly popular styles: R&B and adult contemporary. The sound of Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears in the mid-to-late '90s was of prime importance to the genesis of Pop, as were R&B superstars Aaliyah and R. Kelly, both of whom had a heavy adult contemporary angle to their material. By the 2000s, a parade of varying artists were catering to the mainstream with a similar type of pop music — artists as diverse as Destiny's Child, Black Eyed Peas, Faith Hill, Maroon 5, Keith Urban, and AmIdol alums like Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. Not everything they recorded was Pop, but in varying degrees they included several bids to the mainstream each year and on each album. Although the essentials of songcraft were still much in abundance, their songs were as much about production as performance.

copying and pasting from allmusic.com doesn't make you look smart.

Why bother posting the source when you insist on doing it for me anyway?

Because if you don't people will rightly think that they are your own words.

Lame. So lame

Pop is mainstream, general music driven towards a younger generation with emphasis on romantic love

What about bands like The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Animal Collective?

PoP is also the noise a tire makes when it is violently punctured... hehehehehe...


I honestly consider "pop" to be anything that has become "popular" - its just a shortened version of the word to make it easier to say...

I mean we have pop art, pop psychology, pop poets.... its kinda like a little defining term that says "this is popular and well known"...

huh?

Wrong.

Pop has a defined sound. Its vocal centric music that makes heavy use of simplicity and big chorusses (the catchy part of the song).

As for Beach Boys, is surf-pop a genre?

I would consider AC to be a pop group. Surrounded by dense electronics, yes, but at its core its pop.

People
Order
Our
Patties


Oh? Pop?

That stuff on the radio I reckon.

omgspongebobreference

inorite

The Beatles are the best definition of progressive pop and experimental pop. They had quirky chord progressions, great melodies with progressive and experimental elements like the structure of "A Day in the Life" and even "All You Need Is Love" uses weird time signatures. They basically revolutionized pop music with using feedback, backward guitars, looping, and exotic instruments.

re:
 

Pop is music that is "hip" at the moment. Pop music like Hannah Montana, Pink, whatever new rapper the record industry is propping up this year(they have a new one every 9 or so months and then they vanish after their 1-hit wonder wears off), etc.

After all - where the hell is Solda Boy(sp?) now? Mims?

Pop rock is the one thing I really miss. If there is one style of music that has really been bastardized and compromised over the past 4 years - it's pop rock.

I mean we went from Fuel, 9 Days, Default, Vertical Horizon, 3 Doors Down, etc. to what? My Chemical Romance(who had 1 good song) and what? 2 other bands?

Green Day hasn't come out with an album in half-a-decade.

The Killers are still kicking it but I doubt their next album will be even close to the success of their last 2.

Rock is dying sadly. Or it's being beaten back to the underground - which is just as good as dying in terms of commercial and artistic viability.

The Killers already released a third album, and its been very successful. Sold almost a million copies world wide in less then two months. Also, MCR is actually pretty good, in my opinion.

I think the screams and stuff dampen that a little bit.

I think whoever said rock is dying is kinda askew - rock's fine... heck half the charts are littered with rock of all kinds, someone mentioned the Killers are doing well right now, so are the Kings of Leon, and uuhh, this little band of upstarts named U2 are about to make a huge release this year... Coldplay are riding the crest of a huge wave of success...


These might not all be examples of edgy, creative rock music, but like every other style, rap, dance, electronic, etc... they have a commercial fringe which bower - birds from the more innovative, perhaps lesser known bands...


I personally think rock is doing as healthily as most other styles of music out there in the world...

pop is a very vague and ambiguous term used to describe anything that has become mainstream. for example psychedelic pop became mainstream in the mid to late 60s due to its commercial success but once it declined in popularity, it was no longer known as a form of 'pop music', however it has survived as an underground genre resurfacing throughout history on many occasions

Well, i'm not sure, i've only heard Merriweather Post Pavillion, and I would consider that pop. Maybe the earlier albums are more experimental.

Pop is the third member of an animated advertising trio designed to sell Rice Crackles in Australia at least - his co - conspirators were Snap and Crackle...

Pop music (as a genre anyway) is anything rediculously catchy and harmonic, and for the most part rather conventional in structure and relying on hooks instrumentally/vocally. These traits are obviously not limited by genre: I for example love pop-progressive rock like It Bites, Pure Reason Revolution, etc, but that doesn't mean its something thats necessarily commercial (though sometimes it can be).

Otherwise, "Pop music" is just whatever you hear on Top 40 radio, and for the most part driven by corporate interests which push whatever trends are bringing in the most money at the time.