Modern pop music is deeply rooted in history. It is believed that its predecessors were romances and ballads performed by street musicians. Pop music differs from other genres in its relative simplicity and its focus on the mass listener. The core of a pop song is the musician’s voice, while the role of accompaniment recedes into the background. Pop music combines many subgenres, including disco, latin, europop, synthpop and others.
The concept of a pop song first appeared in Great Britain in 1926, and by the 50-60s such music took the form of traditional pop. Developing in parallel with other musical directions, pop music often took their influence. For example, in France it was identified with chanson, and in the United States – with jazz.
In the 1970s there was a real breakthrough in the development of this genre. Players like ABBA, Bee Gees and Boney M. introduced disco to listeners and it became a big hit. Henceforth disco music replaced rock ‘n’ roll with danceable pop music and the listener’s tastes and image changed.
In the 80s, pop music continues to gain momentum. By this time music channels appeared on television and the video production industry was taking shape. Pop singers such as Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna are at the height of their popularity. With the emergence of music videos the role of the performer’s appearance increases: pop music is associated with attractiveness, sexuality and epatage.
An important component of the pop music of that time becomes the concert show, which attracted the audience and “visualized” the song. At this stage pop music was noticeably influenced by such genres as soul, rhythm and blues, hip-hop and RnB. Until that time soul was the music of black listeners, but the world-famous Ray Charles, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder made it famous and one of the mainstream pop music genres.
During the 90’s an electronic movement called rave joined pop music. The main rave music is techno and acid house. Later, the development received such styles as: drum’n’bass, hardstyle, trance and others. The bands associated with rave are primarily The Prodigy, Scooter, U96, The Shamen.