MusicGateway

So,

Pop music, I find the umberella term a bit blurry in its definition compared to its application, it makes me all the more curious to hear your answers.
In a hypothetical situation where pop music on the radio was based heavily on a totally different genre (for example Jazz instead of dance music):

Do you think you would still love dance music as much/more than you do now? (remembering it is no longer in the charts etc)
Or if you don't like pop music - do you think you would like dance music more, now that it is not a popular genre?

Consider in this hypothetical situation that the same rules apply to how it became popular in the first place - i.e because it was/is popular with the masses.

(Please note: I am not bashing pop music in any way) Your answer can be as simple or complex as you see fit.. I think my own answer would be fairly complex but I don't want to have this first post boringly long ha

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Rjinn

I don't see the point of judging actual music based on popularity unless you're trying to be rebellious or fit in with the crowd.

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Janszoon

Considering that I'm only vaguely aware of what is and isn't popular, it's not something that tends to impact my opinions one way or the other. So I think different music being in the top 40 wouldn't affect me much.

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Isbjørn

Pop music is commercially written, you know, SUPPOSED to be popular. It would be pretty ironic if it wasn't on the charts. Second, I don't like the kind of dance music that's popular at the moment. It gives me headaches.

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MusicGateway

I hear you, but it goes i little deeper than that in my head. I didn't explain it in great detail...

it's possible to like something simply because it is the norm. A familiar sound, or something that is repeated so much that you've convinced yourself you like it. I don't listen to the radio every day, or even every week, but the same songs are repeated within a 2 or 3 hour cycle on most pop stations. If someone listens to the radio all the time, I wonder whether they actually enjoy the music they're listening to (after months of hearing the same songs) or whether they have been exposed to it so much they've simply been convinced that they do.

In a similar situation, people may genuinely like something because many other people like it (see the book 'nudge' and/or anything on persuasion and influence). I'm wondering if anyone would take anything like this into consideration when they think about their answer. If you take these two factors away from current pop music (which is what I tried to do with the question, but I should have explained in greater detail) then would anyone see their opinion changing?

I'm a curious one when it comes to how other people think. (Again, I'm not bashing pop music)

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Isbjørn

I would like pop music if it wasn't popular. If I knew about it.

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Blarobbarg

If our pop music in some other dimension is based on jazz and not electronica and hip hop like it is today, then I would hate jazz (or pop, I suppose). To be quite honest, most of my musical tastes started as retaliation towards the standard pop music, so whatever is in the Top 40, that's what I'm NOT listening to.

Interestingly, jazz started off as dance/pop music, and I rather enjoy the old danceable Dixieland jazz (or jass). If there was suddenly a dance jazz revival in the present day, in this dimension, and the clubs were all pumping 1920's New Orleans jazz I would be in the club every single night.

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almauro

Just because something is popular, doesn't make it pop music. For instance Slipnot and the like, could never be "pop" music, eventhough they have good (or did have) record sales. Pop music by nature is catchy and has memorable melodies and choruses. If jazz was ever to become popular, it have to incorporate elements of "pop", thus it would become less jazz and more pop, so consequently it be "pop-jazz", similar to what happens when you cross pop + metal = pop-metal. Bottom line is if jazz ever became pop, many people would question whether it's still jazz.

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Janszoon

Jazz was pop for many years.

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almauro

That's a good point, but way back when, so was classical music. I'm trying to make a distinction between what's popular, and what I consider pop music. Jazz I always regarded as much more free-form and instrumental based, with solos being the central focus. Obviously the compositions are a lot longer and a bit more sprawling, than a tightly composed and structured pop song. For a jazz song to be popular today, it have to compromise a little bit in regards to performance. The jazz performer what have to change to some degree.

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