Pop music is a genre of popular
music which originated from the
1950s rock and roll music. Pop
music is generally thought of as a
genre which is commercially
recorded and has and mass
audience appeal.
History of pop music
Although pop music is seen as just
the singles charts, it is not the sum
of all chart music. Pop music is
eclectic, and often borrows
elements from other styles such as
urban, dance, rock, Latin, and
country; nonetheless, there are core
elements that define pop music.
Identifying factors include generally
short to medium-length songs
written in a basic format (often the
verse-chorus structure), as well as
common use of repeated choruses,
melodic tunes, and hooks
During the 1960's Pop was often thought of as
Rock musics opposite, where rock music
desired to push the boundaries of modern
music and appealed to a far smaller audience,
Pop music was seen to be produced on a large
commercial scale with profit in mind rather
than individuality
Simon Frith ". It is "not driven by
any significant ambition except
profit and commercial reward ...
and, in musical terms, it is
essentially conservative". According
to Frith, characteristics of pop music
include an aim of appealing to a
general audience, rather than to a
particular sub-culture or ideology,
and an emphasis on craftsmanship
rather than formal "artistic"
qualities. Music scholar Timothy
Warner said it typically has an
emphasis on recording, production,
and technology, rather than live
performance; a tendency to reflect
existing trends rather than
progressive developments; and aims
to encourage dancing or uses
dance-oriented rhythms.