Popular Music

Popular music is music that has mass appeal that is, enjoyed by a very large proportion of the population. The term is often used to distinguish such ‘music from classical music. Classical music is a studied art form in which more or less complicated compositions are performed by solo instrumentalists, string quartets, symphony orchestras, and so on. Some people feel that popular music is simple and entertaining while classical music is serious, refined, or difficult to appreci­ate. But popular songs, such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby," are serious and quite com­plex, and many classical works, such as Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the symphonies of Tchaikovsky, or Ravel's Bolero, are known and enjoyed bymillions.  Some classical pieces, such as several of Chopin's piano works, have even been adapted as popular songs.

Today, the term "popular music" covers such diverse styles as American country and western music, jazz, music from musical comedies and other stage shows, film music, and various styles such as rock, soul, and reggae, which together form modern pop music.

Every period in history had its own form of popular music. In the 1900's, popular music achievedgreat social and economic importance, largely through developments in sound recording and broadcasting. Today, it is ranks as a major industry in Europe, North America, and Australia. The booming musical film industry in lndia has also helped the development of a specifically Indian form of popular music.

Characteristics of popular music

Most popular music consists of songs that have a strong, memorable melody and suitable words. The words of popular songs are known as lyrics. These songs cover a wide range of subjects. A large number describe the joys and heartaches of being in love. Many songs protest against social injustices or illustrate a mood. Some songs comment wittily, movingly, or angrily upon events of the day. Others reflect dances, fads, fashions, and games.

Popular songs may be social documents that reflect a nation's history. But a major purpose of most popular music is to entertain. Much instrumental music is written for dancing, "in the Mood" and "Moonlight Sernade," by the famous U.S. bandleader of the 1930’s and 1940s, Glenn Miller, and the 1960^’s hit "Green Orions” by Booker T. and the M.G.s, are among popular in mental numbers of the 1900.

The development of popular music

Many experts consider that the authorship and date of folk songs is usually unknown, but popular music is normally the work of a known composer using the musical style of his or her time, or else it is a piece of music that appears at a particular point in time and reflects a particular historical event, fashion, or dance craze. The famous song "Greensleeves" appeared in the early 1500's. It was once thought that King Henry VIII had written it. A tune published in a book of melodies for pipe or recorder in 1686 was used for "Liliburlero," a savagely satirical song that appeared in 1687 in protest at the ap­pointment of General Richard Talbot as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The pilgrim settlers who sailed to America in the 1600'S took with them many popular songs, especially palms. The Bay Psalm Book (16401 a book of psalms with directions on how to sing them, was the first book over published in America. In the late 1700s, British troops fighting American colonists during the American Revolution made up a song called "Yankee Doodle," mocking their opponents. This was the first successful popular song in America.

In the early 1800's, people began to identify popular musical items with individual performers. The British down Joseph Grimaldi used to end his act with a jokey song called "Hot Codlins," which became widely popular. In the later 1800's and early 1900's, music-hall stars such as Marie Lloyd, Nellie Wallace, and later Sir Harry lauder and George Formby all became associated with certain songs and made them famous.

In the 1800’s, many people in Britain enjoyed playing the piano at home, and parlour songs such as the Irish composer Michael Balfe's "Come into the garden, Maud," with lyrics by Alfred Tennyson, were very popu­lar. The U.S. composer Stephen Collins Foster left a wealth of popular songs that won international fame.

They include "Beautiful Dreamer," "Old Folks at Home," rod "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair." One of Foster's songs, "Dixie," was the campaign song of the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (1861-1865). The sol­diers of the Union marched to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Negro spirituals sung by the black American slaves before the Civil War gained great popularity. After the war, minstrel shows, in which white performers wore blackface makeup to resemble blacks, promoted an un­realistic view of Afro-American life. Many of Stephen Foster's songs (such as "The Camptown Races") were sung in minstrel shows, which drew large crowds both within and outside the United States. Cowboy songs, such as "Home on the Range," composed in the 1870's, were very popular.

The 1900's. Many factors influenced the develop­ment of popular music in the 190ffs. These factors in­clude the start of electric recording and radio broad­casting, the birth of the "talkies" (films with sound), and die massive growth in the publishing of cheap sheet music, all during the 1920's. The music publishing industry became known as Tin Pan Alley. This was a nickname for 28th Street, New York City, where many music publishers had their offices. The same name was also ap­plied to Denmark Street, in London, for the same rea­son.

The two world wars provided their own crop of popu­lar songs. In World War I (1914-1918), British soldiers marched to "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" or "Pack Up your Troubles." U.S. soldiers sang "Over There." In World War II (1939-1945), sentimental ballads such as “Well Meet Again" and up-tempo big band numbers such as "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" were among very many songs that gained wide appeal through broadcasts to the Allied Forces. One Song, "Lilli Mar­lene," Was originally picked up from a broadcast by Ger­man radio. It became a favourite with both German and Allied troops.

In the 1900's, popular music of the United States ex­erted a great influence over that of other countries. In the 1920's, the first American singing stars began to emerge. Bing Crosby, probably the most famous of them, had a career that lasted 50 years before his death in 1977. Later singers were Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra. Jazz, the single most important influence on popular music in the 1900s, produced such artists as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

The 1930’s and 1940's were the era of the big bands (see Band). In the U.S., famous bandleaders included the pianists Count Basie and Duke Ellington and the clari­nettist Benny Goodman. In Britain, bands led by Henry Hall, Joe Loss, Geraldo, and Ambrose were loved by mil­lions. The 1940's were dominated by the music of U.S. bandleader Glenn Miller.

The 1900's saw the rise of musical comedy, a form of stage show or film in which the plot is held together by songs and dances punctuating the spoken dialogue. Song-writers such as Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers (working with Lorenz Hart and later with Oscar Hammerstein II), Leonard Bern­stein, and Stephen Sondheim were major contributors to the stock of music and songs in this field. British com­posers of musicals include Noel Coward, whose clever musical plays packed British theatres in the 1930's, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musical show Cats was one of the most successful stage productions of all time.

Pop music is the broad term used to describe the popular music enjoyed mainly by young people since the 1950's. The term pop also describes the changing youthful culture of which the music is an expression.

Pop music includes such diverse styles as rhythm and blues, rock and roll, punk, heavy metal, disco, soul, hip- hop, house music, world music, and New Age. The old­est of these, rhythm and blues, has its roots in blues music of the southern United States. Rock and roll de­rived from rhythm and blues and a type of country music that was popular in the United States soon after World War II. The most famous and influential rock and roll star was the American Elvis Presley. He began his re­cording career in 1954 and made a string of hits (such as "Hound Dog' and "All Shook Up") and 33 films before his tragically early death in 1977. Other great rock and roll stars included Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. The term "rock music' encompasses many types of popular music including rock and roll and heavy metal.

In the late 1950's, a musical style called soul started to develop. Evolving out of rhythm and blues, soul merged the gospel tradition of music with secular lyrics. Ray Charles was the first leading light in this field, followed by Sam Cooke and James Brown. The Atlantic, Stax, and Motown record companies developed the form through the 1960's with major artists such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder. Soul continues today, the style having expanded to include funk and dance music.

In the 1960's, the Beatles, four boys from Liverpool, England, became the most famous pop group in history. They used conventional pop group line-up of two electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums and had a long string of hits written by group members John Lennon and Paul McCartney that included "She Loves You," "Can't Buy Me Love," and the album Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience also were very popular. Bob Dylan won fame with his protest songs and his folk-rock music. Other artists included U.S. singer-songwriters Carole King, James Taylor, and Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

In the 1970's use of the electronic synthesizer brought new dimensions to pop music through such bands as Genesis and Pink Floyd. The film Saturday Night Fever led to the emergence of a type of undemanding dance music called disco. The punk rock and new wave move­ments popular in the mid- and late 1970's began partly as a backlash against the technical, impersonal sounds of disco. Throughout the 1970's as a whole, artists and groups such as Elton John, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Abba la group from Sweden) dominated.

The 1980's saw the rise of U.S. artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. But for many, the greatest pop star of the 1980s and early 1990's was Michael Jack­son. Chief trends included the development of world music, in which music from African countries plays a prominent part. Paul Simon's album Grace and was a formative influence in this respect.

The rise of rap began in the 1980's. Growing out of black street culture in New York City, rap consists of words recited over a strong rhythm track. Many rap groups use the form to comment on such social prob­lems as racism and poverty. Many performers whose ca­reers began in the 1960's remain prominent in pop music today. Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, and Neil Young all began their careers in the 1960s.

Successful Australian pop artists have included Rolf Harris, Frank Ifield, the Seekers, and the Bee Gees, all from the 1960s, and Olivia Newton John from the 1970's. In the 1980's, artists such as AC/DC, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Men at Work, and Inxs won interna­tional acclaim. References: Composers and lyrics; Beatles; John Philip Sousa; Victor Herbert; Stephen C Foster and George M Cohan

The History of Jazz – Jazz is a kind of music that has often been called the only art form to originate in the United States. The history of Jazz began in the late 1800’s. The music grew from a combination of influences, including black Amer­ican music, African rhythms, American band traditions and instruments, and European harmonies and forms.

The roots of jazz. The folk songs and plantation dance music of black Americans contributed much to early jazz.

These forms of music occurred throughout the Southern United States during the late 1800's.

Ragtime, a musical style that influenced early jazz, emerged from the St. Louis, Missouri, area in the late 1890s.

It quickly became the most popular music style in….