Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is usually understood to

be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of
relatively short, simple love songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on
existing themes. Pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, but as
a genre is particularly associated with the rock and roll and later rock style.

Pop is short for popular, and it's remained the defining term for the ever-changing music
favoured by the public. Although not specifically applied until the middle of the 20th century,
pop music as such can be traced by a few decades before that.

The Early Days

You could say that the songs of music hall were the first real pop songs, written by
professionals and widely performed for audiences. That dates back to the Victorian era, when
a performer needed a catchy, identifiable song.

Things changed with the advent of recording, early in the 20th century. With that, music had
the chance to be much more widely disseminated. Records, played at 78 rpm on wind-up
gramophones, were relatively cheap.

In America, that led to a breed of professional songwriters in New York who wrote pieces
intended to be recorded and sell well - Tin Pan Alley. They were largely hacks, but did
produce some beautiful material. London had its own equivalent as the music business
became centred on Denmark Street in the West End.

The Crooners

The first major pop stars as such were the crooners of the 1930s and '40s. Bing Crosby sold
millions of records, as did Frank Sinatra (arguably the first modern pop star, with screaming
teenage female fans - the bobbysoxers), and in Britain, Al Bowly.

They recorded and performed with full orchestras in the main style of the day. But there were
other vocals groups, such as the Mills Brothers and the Inkspots, whose harmonies set the
standards for those aspiring to fame.

With the style known as swing, big bands also came into their own, with tunes like Glen
Miller's "In The Mood" becoming standards.

The Charts

Curiously, pop music charts as such didn't exist until 1952, when the first Top Twenty was
recorded. It came at an interesting time, as "teenagers" really came into being. Historically
there'd been no transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Now, after World War
II, that seemed to begin, imported from America, and in skiffle, an interpretation of American
folk music (personified by Lonnie Donegan), teens found their music.
Rock'n'roll brought much more of that, and Elvis Presley became a global star, the biggest of
the late 1950s and early 1960s. But he would find himself supplanted by the Beatles, who
revolutionised pop by writing their own material, instigating a fashion that remains
undiminished.

The Beatles set the standard for pop music, and it remains undiminished - Beatlesque has
become a standard descriptive adjective. From 1962 until their break up in 1970 they
dominated the charts in Britain and America.

Post Beatles

The Beatles influenced a generation - more than one, really - with their melodies and
harmonies, and that was apparent in the 1970s, when pop careened through several styles,
from the Glam Rock of T. Rex to the raw fire of punk. But the biggest pop star to emerge
from the period was a singer and pianist, Elton John, whose popularity has remained
constant.

The idea of artists writing their own material remained in the wake of the Fab Four, although
professional songwriters stayed in demand for those unable to pen a tune. From the early days
of rock there had been "manufactured" stars - people taken on board for a pretty face rather
than any innate talent, and made into stars by producers. It had happened to Adam Faith,
Alvin Stardust and many others, most of whom only enjoyed short careers.

The 1980s proved a moribund decade for pop. Styles came and went, but it was an era short
on memorable music. Only Wham! (and later George Michael) emerged as true pop stars.

Boy Bands

The 1990s was the time of boy bands, perhaps the ultimate in manufactured acts. A group of
young male singers was assembled for their looks, given catchy songs and arrangements and
pushed to fame. It happened to East 17 and, most memorably, Take That. America saw how it
worked and gave the world the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, and for a few years it worked
very well, selling millions of records. But like any fashion, it passed. A female version, the
Spice Girls, was briefly huge. Notably, the only ones to come out of this and sustain a solo
career was Robbie Williams from Take That and Justin Timberlake from 'N Sync.

America tried a similar tactic with female pop stars, and both Mariah Carey and Britney
Spears became massive manufactured stars, followed, to a lesser degree, by Christina
Aguilera.

The New Millennium

Since the year 2000 there's been a dearth of major new stars, relying mostly on established
talent. Several younger artists have come and gone, and new styles have briefly emerged, but
nothing appears to have gained a major foothold besides modern R&B, which owes little to
its soulful predecessor, but a lot to hip-hop - which itself has become a pop style.
Characteristics

Musicologists often identify the following characteristics as typical of the pop music genre:

 an aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or

The main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half
minutes in length, generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a
mainstream style and a simple traditional structure.[15] Common variants include the verse-
chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a
chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse.[16] The beat
and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment.[17] The lyrics of
modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships –
although there are notable exceptions.[3]

Harmony in pop music is often "that of classical European tonality, only more simple-
minded."[18] Clichés include the barbershop harmony (i.e. moving from a secondary dominant
harmony to a dominant harmony, and then to the tonic) and blues scale-influenced harmony.
[19]
"The influence of the circle-of-fifths paradigm has declined since the mid-1950s. The
harmonic languages of rock and soul have moved away from the all-encompassing influence
of the dominant function. ...There are other tendencies (perhaps also traceable to the use of a
guitar as a composing instrument) – pedal-point harmonies, root motion by diatonic step,
modal harmonic and melodic organization – that point away from functional tonality and
toward a tonal sense that is less directional, more free-floating."[20]