Ideology of Pop Music

The word “pop” music was first used in 1926 and was described as “a piece of music having popular appeal”. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pop-music-history.html). Pop music originated from rock ‘n’ roll music and was solely based around the theme of love, just as it is these days. It is made mainly to appeal to a younger target audience and is often associated with quite cheesy, simple songs.

Radio stations such as the BBC would not play this new genre of popular music when it first came about, as it was not seen as respectable or at the same standard as the more classical types of music. Consequently, pirate radio stations were set up to secretly play pop music. Although at first these stations were completely unknown, this was how pop made its breakthrough.

Pop properly became commercialised in the ‘50s when young adults became classed as “teenagers” and no longer abided with their parents’ rules. It was a kind of rebellion against old-fashioned rituals or ways, which included older styles of music such as classical music. The introduction of pop music also brought along the introduction of the “Top 20” chart, which then lead on to the “Top 40” chart.

Pop music first started in the form of boy bands. For example, the Beatles were obviously a huge influence on the pop genre, although nowadays they are more regularly classed as a rock band. This trend of male pop stars continued up until the 1990’s when it was interrupted by the likes of The Spice Girls, Mariah Carey and Britney Spears.

A characteristic often associated with pop music is the idea that the production, recording and technology are more important on the record than live performances are. This is because any kind of new editing or sound techniques that can be used are thought to be essential for use on pop records. This is a complete contrast to rock or indie artists who revel in performing live. In addition to this, pop music is made almost completely on the basis of appealing to the masses rather than for the sheer love of writing and performing songs, which is normally the case for other genres of music. Despite this, a lot of pop songs which start out with no intentional meaning actually become meaningful songs after they have been released to the public, because everyone has a different reaction to a song, and in some cases an emotional one.

Pop music is associated with feminism, whereas genres such as rock seem very masculine. For example, a male pop star will always come across as quite effeminate, whilst a female rock star is always portrayed to be masculine.

Pop music changes all the time, depending on exactly what style of music is getting the most coverage and good reception at the time. Stereotypically, people who enjoy listening to pop music have a very fashionable and up to date image because they are interested in new trends of clothing and styles, just as they are interested in the new trends of music. Pop music fans generally become engaged in anything that is current and up-to-date.