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A CRASH COURSE ON EXISTING MUSIC GENRES a Part I :: Popa Published in PRESS Magazine February 2004 POP
Historically, the term Pop represented the popular music of a given moment in time, denoting typically light, mainstream fare intended for consumption by a wide audience. However, music, over the years, has become much too diversified and compartmentalized for such blanket assessments. For example, rap is clearly popular, but it certainly does not fit into the traditional pop mold, and neither does rock. As a result, pop is best categorized as bright, melodic ear candy, hooky and infectious -- music in the classic three-minute single tradition.
ADULT POP/ADULT CONTEMPORARY
A sub-genre of Pop music, Adult Pop or Adult Contemporary is a soft-rock, easy listening genre that came into existence in the early '70s which was defined by string-laden easy listening bands like the Carpenters and Bread throughout the decade. Essentially post-Beatles pop music with slight rock and soul influences, it is highly polished, without much of an edge but with a lot of melody and production. In the '80s, synthesizers replaced strings and artists that had been relatively harder in their early career -- Elton John, Billy Joel, and Sting, for instance -- became calmer and softer. Along with ppseudo-soul singers like Michael Bolton, they became the staples of adult contemporary radio in the '80s and '90s. Some adult pop artists are The Bee Gees, Anita Baker, Carole King, Tim McGraw, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon, Chicago, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Neil Diamond, Elton John, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand and James Taylor
TEEN
Teen Pop is essentially dance-pop, pop, and urban ballads that are marketed to teens, often performed by teens as well. Teen pop was teen music born in the late '80s and '90s as Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, and New Kids on the Block rode to stardom on their lite, catchy, commercial dance-pop tunes and adult contemporary ballads. Numerous teen pop stars have surfaced since then including British sensation Take That, the undisputed kings of teen pop, and the photogenic, cleverly-marketed Spice Girls, whose success opened the doors for a wave of teen pop that was stronger than that in the late '80s, giving way to Hanson, with their spruced-up oldies rock, and then the Backstreet Boys who eclipsed all of their peers during 1998 with a string of hit singles. In 1999, teen pop showed no signs of decline as teen pop sensations Brittney Spears, Christina Aguilera and 'N Sync sold millions of records, just like the Backstreetb Boys, proving that it wasn't just teenage girls buying teen pop in the late '90s, arguably the style's golden era.
NEW WAVE
SUB-GENRES OF NEW WAVE:
Britpop
This sub-genre of New Wave consists only of British bands, most of whom were the founding fathers of the modern idea of Remixing songs with samples from other sources. A few excellent Britpop bands are The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Synthpop
One of the most distinctive subgenres of New Wave, Synthpop is almost entirely electronicly driven music (almost the forefather of today's Techno and it's mutant offspring) though nevertheless relying on the conventions of three-minute pop. Generally very catchy with excellent beats for dancing, it flourished in the the early ‘80s when a number of bands -- primarily British and heavily influenced by Roxy Music and David Bowie -- adapted the electronic innovations of bands like Kraftwerk for pop songs. Initially, in the hands of artists like Gary Numan, the Human League, and Depeche Mode, the sound was eerie, sterile, and vaguely menacing, since the electronics droned on relentlessly without any change in inflections. However, these first stabs at synth pop were transformed into danceable, synthesized pop by Duran Duran, who made the synthesized hooks warmer and catchier by grafting them onto a dance beat. By 1984, synth pop had begun to die out, but the music had helped establish the synthesizer as a primary instrument in mainstream pop music during its time in the spotlight. Some Synthpop groups are New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Human League, Gary Numan, Howard Jones, A Flock of Seagulls, Heaven 17.
New Romantic
The New Romantics was a sleek, synthesized, and danceable form of pop that was designed to be fashionable and transient. A peculiar subgenre of new wave who wore heavy makeup and dressed in stylish clothing, new romantics relied on style and glamour more than any other post-punk genre. New Romantics took their visual as well as their musical cues from David Bowie and Roxy Music, drawing from Station to Station/Low-era Bowie and latter-day Roxy Music. Though it died out by 1984, it had a brief revival in the mid-'90s. Among the New Romantic groups are ABC, Human League, Japan, Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, Talk Talk, Ultravox, Visage, The Blow Monkeys, Naked Eyes, Heaven 17, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
POP/ROCK
Pop/Rock is a catch-all phrase that refers to nearly any pop music made after rock & roll was absorbed into the pop mainstream. In general, it is melodic, catchy music that relies equally on tightly constructed songs and well-crafted and produced records. Pop/Rock can refer to anything from the Everly Brothers and the Beatles to Madonna and Crowded House.
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Born in the '70s and
early '80s, New Wave was catch-all term for the music that directly followed
punk rock. However, there were two categories that followed punk rock: 1)
post-punk, which was arty, difficult, and challenging, and 2) new wave, which
was pop music, pure and simple. Among the few former Punk bands that evolved
into New Wave in the early eighties were Blondie and The Talking Heads. The main
factor about New Wave music is that it is addictively danceable and almost every
band in the genre uses Keyboards as there main instrument they also incorporate
samples and creative keyboard effects, along with very expressive and often off
key singing (very reminiscent of Punk). Retaining the fresh vigor and
irreverence of punk music, as well as a fascination with electronics, style, and
art, there was a lot of stylistic diversity to new wave. It had the nervy power
pop of bands like XTC and Nick Lowe, synth rockers like Gary Numan and rock
revivalists like Graham Parker and Rockpile. There were edgy new wave
songwriters like Elvis Costello, pop bands like Squeeze, tough rock & rollers
like the Pretenders, pop-reggae like the Police, mainstream rockers like the
Cars, and ska revivalists like the Specials and Madness. By the early '80s, new
wave described nearly every new pop/rock artist, especially those that used
synthesizers like the Human League and Duran Duran. In the early '80s MTV,
broadcasted endless hours of new wave videos and 1982 and 1983 were boom years
for polished, MTV-radio new wave outfits like Culture Club, Adam Ant, Spandau
Ballet, Haircut 100, and A Flock of Seagulls. New wave finally died out in 1984,
when established artists began to make professional videos and a new crop of
guitar-oriented bands like the Smiths and R.E.M. emerged to capture the
attention of college-radio and underground rock fans. Nevertheless, new wave
proved more influential than many of its critics would have suspected, as the
mid-'90s were dominated by bands -- from Blur to Weezer -- that were raised on
the music.