Pop music
Early Pop music (until 1940)
​
The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina (US). The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston".
Normally, this style used brass instruments within a piano, a double bass, without percussion section.
Charleston can be danced solo, or with a partner. Its simple, flexible basic step makes it easy to concentrate on styling, improvisation, and musicality. Josephine Baker was the major artist in this style.
​
Today Charleston is an important dance in Lindy Hop dance culture, danced in many permutations: alone (solo), with a partner, or in groups of couples or solo dancers. The basic step allows for a vast range of variations and improvisation. Both the 20s and Swinging Charleston styles are popular today, though swinging Charleston is more commonly integrated into Lindy Hop dancing.
Charleston
Sh-Boom - The Crew Cuts
​
Doo-wop is a style of music that was developed in African-American communities of various U.S. cities as New York City or Los Angeles in the 1940s, achieving mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Its origins are related to swing music from the twenties. Built upon vocal harmony, doo-wop was one of the most mainstream pop styles of the time.
Doo-wop features vocal group harmony, nonsense syllables, a simple beat, sometimes little or no instrumentation, and simple music and lyrics.
Instruments are not important but they usually used a piano, a drum set, and a bass. Lyrics are about positive love and good feelings.
​
Doo-wop's influence continued in soul, pop, and rock groups of the 1960s. At various times in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the genre has seen revivals.
​
Some artists of this style were The Platters and the Chordettes.
Doo-wop
Pop music in the 50's
​
Rockabilly was a musical product taken from the rock'n roll success. Rock'n Roll was black music, and US society and US music industry tried to copy the success of this genre into a new genre. The name 'rockabilly' was taken from a 1940's music, influenced by blues and country music (folk american music). This new style used the same instruments than the rock'n roll, but normally included choir and sometimes a bow string orchestra. The lyrics were softer than R'nR, talking about youth, true love and friendship. Somehow, this music tried to attach a whole white generation to the principles of the former generations. Rhythm in this style was a secondary element, and usually used a slow-mid tempo. It was born in US, specially in Tennessee and and Memphis, around 1955. Initially, it was popularised by artists such as the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins.
Rockabilly
​
It was developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll and rockabilly. It is said beat included the rock'n roll rhythm with the rockabilly fancy and lyrics. The genre provided many of the bands responsible for the British invasion of the American pop charts starting in 1964, and provided the model for many important developments in pop and rock music, including the format of the rock group around lead and rhythm guitar and bass with drums. They also took vocal harmonies from rockabilly style.
Lyrics were deep feeling, but simple and easy to remember. The music form used was the song form. The most important rock band was The Beatles, but not the only one: The Hollies, the Searches, the Animals
Pop music in the 60's
Beat
​
It is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States around the mid-1960s. The genre was pioneered by the Los Angeles band The Byrds, who began playing traditional folk music and Bob Dylan-penned material with rock instrumentation, in a style heavily influenced by The Beatles and other British bands.
In a broader sense, folk rock includes later similarly-inspired musical genres and movements in the English-speaking world (and its Celtic and Filipino fringes) and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Europe. As with any genre, the borders are difficult to define. Folk rock may lean more toward folk or toward rock in its instrumentation, its playing and vocal style, or its choice of material; while the original genre draws on music of Europe and North America, there is no clear delineation of which folk cultures music might be included as influences.
Folk music tries to use non-electric instruments, but it can be perfectly normal to use them from time to time. The most important instrument is the acoustic guitar, but sometimes it can be a bass, drum set or another kind of instruments. The lyrics are usually about your own experience in life, spiritual issues or even political criticism.
This style was very close to the hippie movement and philosophy. Some rock bands and artist related with this style were Bob Dylan, The Animals, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel or Donovan.
Folk
​
Country rock music is a genre of American popular music that originated in the United States in the 1960s. It takes its roots from the southeastern genre of American folk music called Country music and Bluegrass from jazz.
Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, dobros and fiddles as well as harmonicas. Drum sets put a rock taste in this music.
The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. The origins of country music are the folk music of mostly white, working-class Americans, who blended popular songs, Irish and Celtic fiddle tunes, traditional ballads, and cowboy songs, and various musical traditions from European immigrant communities.
Some artist are Johnny Cash, Charlie McCoy and Creedence Clearwater Revival
Country
Pop music in the 70's
Disco
It was an evolution of funky, more commercial and easy to dance. Funky was too complicated to dance or sing, and too close to black subculture, so disco music tried to transform that music into something more commercial and for all kinds of people.
The instruments commonly used in this style were piano, organ (during early years), electroacoustic keyboards and Synthesizers. The use of strings was common, and this is one of the main difference with the funky style. It had an enormous success, and created an own dressing fashion. The disco sound has soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady "four-on-the-floor" beat.
Some artists were ABBA, Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, KC and the Sunshine Band, The Trammps, Van McCoy, Gloria Gaynor and The Village People.
Pop music in the 80's
New Wave
Cindy Lauper - Time after time
It was born with the punk style, but used any influence from other pop styles, specially beat and disco. They only used the punk style on the appearance.
They could use any instrument, specially the electronic devices like synthesizers and keyboards. The basic of the style was in the melody's attraction and the meaning of the lyrics. A little subgenre called Symphonic Pop appeared during the 80's, with a predominance of the piano, vocal power and string arrangement. It was the most successful style in the 80's.
New wave music is an umbrella term for several late-1970s to mid-1980s pop/rock musical styles with ties to 1970s punk rock. The wide range of bands categorized under this term has been a source of much confusion and controversy. The new wave sound of the late 1970s moved away from the smooth blues and rock & roll sounds to create music with a twitchy, agitated feel, choppy rhythm guitars and fast tempos. This style incorporated electronic/experimental music, mod, disco and pop. It subsequently engendered subgenres and fusions, including New Romantic and gothic rock.
New wave has been called one of the definitive genres of the 1980s, after it grew partially fixated on MTV (The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" music video was broadcast as the first music video to promote the channel's launch), and the popularity of several new wave artists, attributing the exposure that was given to them by the channel. In the mid-1980s, differences between new wave and other music genres began to blur. New wave has enjoyed resurgences since the 1990s, after a rising "nostalgia" for several new wave-influenced artists.
Culture Club - Karma Chameleon
U2 -With or without you Madonna - Like a prayer Blondie - Heart of Glass Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror
Symphonic Pop
It was a subgenre of New wave, but softer than this one. It was similar to the relationship between RnR and Rockabily in the 50's. The main instrument is the piano, and it is common to find a group of strings instruments in this genre, as well as drum set, sometimes electric guitar.
Lyrics in this genre are very gentle and kind. They are about personal issues, romantic in the widest way. They always use a very tuned voice, and sometimes choir.
The origin of this genre is in the develope of the 70's symphonic Rock into a more commercial genre. They took away experimental techniques and became a softer music. It was developed under the influence of the 60's soul music and 50's rockabilly.
Billy Joel - Lullabye
Mecano - Hijo de la luna Billy Joel - Piano Man Elton John - Your Song Extreme - More than words
Power Pop
It was a style attached to the rock spirit. They took the influence of the rock of the 70's (specially hard and glam rock), but with a very passion and deep feeling on the lyrics. They used the song form, with a main role of the lead guitar. The lyrics were spicer than the new wave's ones. Same formation than rock, and sometimes they use keyboards.
The most important thing in this style are the lyrics: romantic, full of passion and a little spice and arrogant. The punk motto "No future" was changed to "Youth power". Guitar soloes (and sometime other instruments like keyboards) became a cliché, taking from the hard rock.
This style was very commercial, and tried to put an alternative to the mainstream new wave. New wave is more about dancing, Power pop is more about rocking and feeling.
Boston - More than a feeling
Europe - The final countdown Aerosmith - Crazy Roxette - How do you do? Poison - Talk dirty to me
Pat Benatar - Hit me with your best shot Bon Jovi - Living on a player
Pop-Rap
Pop-rap is a genre of music which combines hip hop music with elements of pop music, which gained mainstream popularity during the 2000s, but its origin is in the late 80's. It tends to combine hip-hop beats with catchy hooks and choruses similar to what's heard in pop music. They use some techniques from hip-hop music like human beatbox, street dancing or scraching, linked to a commercial sense of music, reflected in some melodies in the background. Normally, artists and rock bands in this genre take a famous tune or melodie from other music genres, specially soul, RnB, or funky.
Instruments: Drum machine, keyboards, rapping, sampler, robotic voice effects, singing.
Pop music in the 90's
Brit-Pop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s, taking as reference rock bands like The Beatles or the Rolling Stones. The movement developed as a reaction against the grunge phenomenon from the United States. They tried to reference British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. They used acoustic guitar, as well as electric, drum set, elec. bass, and sometimes bow instruments, just like the violin and the cello.
Oasis - Wonderwall
Fool's garden - Lemon Tree
Blur - Song 2
Coldplay - Yellow
Vocal Bands
Vocal Bands were the main stream music in the 90's. It was created as a mixed-up from disco, new wave or even techno music. They were the first ones to use the autotune device, and the bands were formed by music industry through a casting. They used electronic instruments, and sometimes a drumset or electric guitar. Each member of the band had a explicit role, to draw the audience's attention. It was a music oriented to teen audience.
NKOTB - Tonight
Spice Girls - Wannabe
Backstreet Boys - I want it that way
Take that - Back for good
N'Sync - It's gonna be me
Pop music in the 2000's
Dance Pop
Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that got success in the late 1990's. Developing from post-disco and synthpop, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Dance-pop music is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which are generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions. At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, and highly electronic in style, influenced by genres such as house and techno. Nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban music.
Britney Spears - Baby, one more time
Christina Aguilera - Genie in a bottle
Justin Timberlake - Cry me a river
Kylie Minogue - Can't get you out of my head
Teen Pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock. Typical characteristics of teen pop music include auto-tuned vocals, choreographed dancing, emphasis on visual appeal (photogenic faces, unique body physiques, immaculately attended hair and designer clothes), lyrics focused on teenage issues such as (sexual/emotional) love/relationships, finding yourself, friendships, coming of age, fitting in, and growing up, regardless of the artists' age and repeated chorus lines along with a generally happy tune in the background. Since the mid 2000s, many teen stars have developed careers through their involvement with Disney, like singer-songwriters Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, although some did many years before that. Other teen pop stars emerged by 2007, such as American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and Nickelodeon stars Victoria Justice and Miranda Cosgrove.
Hannah Montana - Nobody's perfect
Jonas Brothers - SOS
Avril Lavigne - Complicated
Tokio Hotel - World behind my wall
Latin Pop
Latin pop generally refers to pop music that has what may be perceived a Latin influence. Geographically, it could refer to pop music from Latin America or Latin Europe (Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Romania). It was a develop of the traditional music for these countries, mixed up with the urban music, specially techno music and hip-hop. Like new wave and dance pop, it's a high commercial music. In addition to the rock instruments, you can often find latin instruments, like spanish guitar, requinto, differents size of drums, tambourines, timpani and a lot of small percussion (triangle, claves, güiro). There are also brass instruments like trumpets and trombones. Normally, it's a very danceable music. This style uses other latin styles like tango, bachata, merengue, reggaeton or vallenato.
Shakira - Hips don't lie
Marc Anthony - I need to know
Ricky Martin - Pegate
Mana - Corazon Espinado
Alejandro Sanz & Shakira - La Tortura
Ricky Martin - Livin la vida loca
Santana - Maria Maria
Music in the 2010's
Dance-punk
Lady Gaga - Bad romance
Dance Punk Dance is a subgenre close by definition to dance pop. It takes the punk spirit from the 70's, inspired in characters as Sid Vicious, Davie Bowie or Madonna. All the instruments are electronic, with a great influence of techno style. Lyrics are harsher than dance pop, talking about sex, drugs and a great criticism to life. Usually they treat religious issues in a very disrespectful way. They also use autotune devices, but look for a rudeness voice.
​
Some artists of this style use controversy and provocation as a constant weapon to promote their music. The dresses of Lady Gaga or the statements of other artists like Katy Perry always get the attention of the media, with the sole purpose of creating a social commotion.
Lady Gaga - Poker Face
Ke$ha - Die Young
Miley Cyrus - We can't stop
Youtubers & TV Shows
With the development of TV shows from the 1990's, a lot of different music contest appeared. The Voice, X-factor, Britain got talent, are a few of those TV-shows. So a lot of common people got famous with real skills, as professional musicians showed a complete lack of skills. Thanks to those talent shows and specially to youtube, they can make their own albums and share them out easiy and freely.
Most artists were known through TV Talent Show, like 1D, or through social media, like Justin Bieber. Different styles can be used, from country to vocal or classical, but normally those artist go mainstream and use Dance-pop, teen pop or Dubstep.
Pentatonix - Daft Punk
1D - What makes you beatiful
Postmodern Jukebox - Call me maybe
Justin Bieber - Baby
Boyce Avenue - All of me
Lindsey Stirling
Roundtable Rival
Against the current - Counting stars