Pop music is a broad-based genre of music which began with the development of recording technology.
This revolution enabled jazz, folk, swing and big band music to reach a mass audience and spurred professional songwriters known as Tin Pan Alley to write popular-market songs for Tin Pan Alley publishers.
Jazz
Before the 1920s, Western audiences had only known popular music through classical and church hymns. Jazz introduced something fresh and exciting into musical world, providing a solid basis for genres such as blues and r&b that later followed suit.
Early jazz pioneers included musicians who combined various styles and influences. These pioneers included African-American musicians like Buddy Bolden who performed nightly at Storyville for Creole jazz performances. Later came Jelly Roll Morton who claimed to have invented jazz by mixing ragtime music with influences like West African beats, Caribbean drumming styles, European classical instruments, and the blues into his performances.
By 1920 when Prohibition came into force, improvisation had evolved into a uniquely American art form that quickly became a cultural phenomenon and an international form of entertainment.
Jazz was profoundly affected by changes in society at that time, such as changing social attitudes towards women, minorities and black people. These trends led to clashing rural-urban, religious-secular ideologies within jazz. Additionally, its debut signaled a period of reconstruction within America – marked by urbanization and growing freedom – giving birth to artists like Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane with large crossover appeal.
In the 1950s, rock and roll became an established form of pop music thanks to Elvis Presley. Additionally, this was when funk emerged, with artists like James Brown and Kool and the Gang establishing their signature style that combined horns, rhythm and blues, and traditional pop.
By the 1980s, another revolution in pop was underway thanks to newly available technology like synthesizers and digital drums. Artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston and David Bowie incorporated these sounds into their work; later on in the decade Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera began mixing elements from both rap and rock into their music for greater hybridity.
Blues
Blues music emerged out of an African-American community and black cultural melting pot in the South in 1890’s, drawing from African-American spirituals, traditional songs, field hollers, shouts and chants as well as European hymns, contemporary dance music and rhymed narrative ballads – among many other sources.
Black slaves developed an innovative style of blues music during their hard labor on Southern plantations farms; using call-and-response singing to add rhythm to their work and provide relief, becoming part of today’s popular music.
William Christopher Handy and Gertrude “Ma” Rainey were two early professional entertainers to popularize blues music during the 1910s. These entertainers used adapting informal settings into compositions suitable for performance on stages or phonographs; thus spreading it more widely.
By the 1920s, blues was at the forefront of black popular music. It served as an expression of African Americans’ pain and struggle in life as well as racism, inequality, and injustice – often speaking out against these issues in its songs. Blues musicians often took up this cause through their song writing.
Early rock and roll, country, and soul music all took heavy inspiration from blues music. Many classics in these genres were built upon its 12-bar blues structure – for instance “That’s All Right Mama”, “Johnny B Goode”, and “Blue Suede Shoes”. Additionally, early music contained numerous examples of sexual innuendo such as lyrics to songs like “Tutti Frutti” or “Long Tall Sally”.
The second revolution occurred with recorded music. The invention of the phonograph in late 19th century made music accessible for everyone, regardless of training. This allowed for much faster expansion and reach than ever before in terms of market size, plus enabled thousands to listen simultaneously to one song at the same time; additionally enabling people to connect more directly with performers they heard as it played on radio or TV broadcasts; finally television and radio provided yet another means to promote and popularise this new form.
Rock & Roll
By the turn of the 20th century, industrial processes had transformed all aspects of society–popular music included. Indeed, it would be hard to envision life prior to refrigeration, central heating systems, automobiles and telephones in that time period.
This period marked the origin of pop music as we know it today. This movement originated mainly in America and Britain as musicians recorded songs for public consumption. Popularity increased exponentially after phonographs were invented which allowed for wider dissemination of recorded tunes.
Initial pop music consisted of a mix of jazz, blues and country; its music utilized simple melodies with catchy lyrics designed for mass appeal. Elvis and other notable performers in the 1950s greatly helped propel this form.
Early Western pop music was heavily influenced by jazz and dance genres such as Ragtime and Swing. Although predominantly popular among black audiences, its influence spread through theaters and clubs that hired performers.
These dance songs were an early precursor of Rock and Roll music that later had such an enormous influence on pop music in the 1960s. This style uses a basic melody with emphasis placed on rhythmic repetition as well as repetitive riffs or loops; often performed on guitar or stringed instrument and sometimes featuring vocal overdubbing.
The 1960s also witnessed the rise of artists like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin who appealed to a more sophisticated crowd through their lyrics and musical styles. These pioneering figures helped define pop music until around mid-1970s when new forms began emerging.
Disco emerged in the mid 1970s with its heavy beat and electronic effects – bringing with it an explosion in pop music popularity, particularly among younger listeners. Artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince brought with them more modern approaches to pop music by combining R&B, funk and even rock into single songs.
Country
Before there were artists like Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton, country music first made its mark across southern Appalachia’s low-lying mountains. Emigrants from Europe and Africa brought Celtic music, traditional folk stylings, African roots, and African-American roots together into what we now recognize as country. By 1920s as people moved into cities looking for jobs, rural musicians followed them bringing their songs with them; as people moved into cities for jobs they took them along too exposing them to new audiences while the railroad helped spread country’s popularity nationwide along with rapidly advancing technology.
Pop music dates back to Victorian era music hall performers who composed original songs to perform. But with recording technology being invented in the early 20th century, pop truly became a genre. Records playing at 78rpm gave performers access to an ever-widening audience than before allowing for wider success for performers and record companies alike.
Since the advent of rock and roll in the 1960s, pop began its transformation into music that would appeal to a younger demographic. R&B melodies were combined with country elements for a unique sound – creating something both influential and memorable.
By the 1990s, a blend of pop music with more urban sounds had emerged and would continue into the 21st century. Artists like TLC, Destiny’s Child, and Aaliyah incorporated elements of hip-hop and R&B into their songs for a sound that was both contemporary and popular.
Pop music has continually evolved throughout its existence to address current social and political issues as well as its infectious rhythms and dance beats. Pop’s powerful ability to touch people’s hearts and express feelings through song has propelled it into becoming a worldwide phenomenon that quickly gained a wide following; furthermore it has inspired other forms of art such as films and books.