MUSIC ANALYSIS

Music Analysis

Music Analysis

Introduction

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular (and can include any style), whilst the latter is a specific genre containing qualities of mass appeal.

As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks. So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, utilising electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth. Pop music is generally thought of as a genre which is commercially recorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal

Discussion Analysis

At first, and until the mid-1960, all of the music was sold by the song, either on 45 rpm singles or, more rarely, 78 rpm discs. The existence of the latter spoke volumes about just how wide and undefined rock 'n roll's early audience was. To the middle-class white population, the introduction of the 45 rpm single and the 33 1/3 rpm long-playing 12-inch disc marked the end of the 78 rpm shellac record. But in the southern and border states, as well as parts of cities as far north as New York and Chicago, many thousands of poorer listeners, mostly black and rural whites, couldn't or didn't buy the phonograph machines capable of playing these new discs, and 78's remained viable well into the 1950's--for those artists and record companies that chose to reach those listeners.

The major record companies were slow to respond to the demand for rock 'n roll, leaving it instead to labels such as Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Services and Chess Records in Chicago to take advantage of the new audience. In fact, some labels avoided the new music altogether. Columbia Records, perhaps the "tiffany" of record labels, didn't sign any rock 'n roll artists until 1958, when Carl Perkins joined the label following the end of his Sun Records contract. Ignorance about the new music wasn't confined to the major labels, however--after getting a Top 20 hit with Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock The Joint," Essex Records refused to let Haley cut "Rock Around The Clock," and saw his new label, Decca, get a No. 1 hit with the song.

The phenomenon of cover versions such as those by Pat Boone has created some controversy over the years. At the time, Boone's version of songs such as "Tutti Frutti" outsold the original version by Little Richard, much ...