Pop Facts

Origins and early development

Pop music, or simply pop, is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues, and hillbilly music. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced.

Evolution or diversification

Rock and pop music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which pop became associated with music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible. Pop music evolves along with the term's definition. From about 1967, the term "pop music" was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock music.

Cultural or musical significance

The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, as the former also describes all music that is targeted for mass appeal. According to British musicologist Simon Frith, pop music is produced "as a matter of enterprise not art", and is "designed to appeal to everyone" but "doesn't come from any particular place or mark off any particular taste". Frith adds that it is "not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward" and that it is "professionally produced and packaged".