Pop

The term ‘pop’ is merely an abbreviation of ‘popular’ and thus can refer to any music that is just that. Yet for many the term has become associated with a particular kind of music that developed and become most prominent from the 1980s onwards. It is this specific form that we refer to here as pop.

Pop combined the energy of the New Wave with the musical craft of the popular singer-songwriters and the novelty of electronic music. In much pop older instruments were replaced by electronic instruments which helped define the sound of an era. However traditional song structures (verse-chorus-verse) were preserved. The music itself was superficially cheerful but this frequently masked some rather melancholy themes. Key pop artists included The Eurythmics, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Pet Shop Boys, Icehouse, Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode.

And while all this pop was very much an 80s phenomenon it had been foreshadowed in the 70s by one Scandinavian group – ABBA. Till the 1960s government controlled radio in much of Europe was restricted to classical music and it seems that groups like ABBA were making up for lost time by rushing to emulate any and all forms of popular music enjoyed by US and UK audiences till that time. The result was ‘Europop’. Other Scandinavian and Continental acts have won international fame since then including A-ha, Roxette and Aqua.

Much pop – such as that pedalled in reality TV shows – is puerile stuff designed to be popular only in the here-and-now and owing more to the teen idol tradition. But pop can still be worthwhile – even classic - and is produced today by acts like Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue.