Wednesday 8 August 2012

Pop music

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.

Thursday 9 February 2012

Pop!

Pop! were a UK pop group consisting of Glenn Ball, Hannah Lewis, Jamie Tinkler, and Jade McGuire. The group was formed in the summer of 2003 when they were signed by Pete Waterman. They released three singles on the Sony/BMG record label, but disbanded in early 2005, due to poor record sales.

The group had three hit singles, which all reached the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart during 2004 and 2005, but each performed under expectations. Their debut single "Heaven and Earth" was withdrawn from the chart because the single contained a track whose length was longer than permitted for that format. Following singles were "Can't Say Goodbye" and "Serious". A fourth single, "Xanadu" (a cover of the Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra song), was due to be released but was cancelled when the group split. They had also recorded songs for a planned album. Their single "Heaven and Earth" was licenced for use in Dancing Stage Fusion by Konami in 2005.