1890s through 1920s
The dance music element of western pop music can be traced back to Ragtime, which was initially popular in African American communities, and mainly disseminated through sheet music and player pianos. Ragtime turned into Swing, an early form of Jazz that was enjoyed as much for its dance ability as its mutability. It is important to note that the clarity of the instruments (brass in particular) and punchy nature of the rhythm helped to ensure that these music forms were the first to be recorded and pressed onto primitive record discs. Both of these dance forms originated in African communities, and spread to white communities especially through venues that would hire black performers. Even early Jazz in Paris was influenced by Black and White Minstrels performing ragtime music. Like Rock ’n’ Roll, widespread popularity in white communities to some extent did not take off until white performers could be found to perform it, and certain stylistic elements of it toned down. The crossing of race-based social boundaries around race, for ragtime, swing, and later Rock’n’Roll, was the source of many moral panics in America inspired by pop music.
1930s and 1940s
Styles influencing the later development of pop include the Blues, also originating in African-American communities, (for example, electric guitar Blues in Chicago and Texas), and Country coming also from "hillbilly music" of poor folk, white and black (Sun Records in Tennessee), which blended to become Rockabilly. The most important ingredient in early Rock n' Roll was however the type of Jump Blues / R&B led by Louis Jordan who occasionally broke through in the pop charts. The music was later on mixed with gospel handclaps, boogie woogie and larger emphasis on backbeat by artists such as The Trenierswhich created Rock 'n' Roll. Leonard Bernstein in 1949 changed the face of popular music with his upbeat West Side Story. Also, the rise of the crying and emotional singers in the late 1940s such as Mario Lanza began the pop music vocal style.
1950s
Elvis Presley in 1957
Early Western Pop music artists include Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Bobbejaan Schoepen, and Peggy Lee, but other artists like Bill Haley and his Comets, Platters, Fats Domino and Elvis Presley became popular with the younger generation. In Australia there was Johnny O'Keefe, Col Joy and Bobby Darren. Italian singers such as Mario Lanza sang tunes people could identify and sing along to.
In Iran, before the emergence in the early 1950s of Vigen Derderian (known as the "Sultan of Pop"), the music industry was dominated by Persian classical singers. He combined Persian melodies and Persian lyrics with Guitar. Compared by some fans to Elvis Presley, Vigen's good looks and tall, fine physique added to his appeal as Iran's first male pop star — especially among women at a time when ideas of emancipation were taking hold in the 1950s and 60s.[2]
Laïkó was the pop music of Greece in the 1950s and 1960s. Laïkó is similar to Turkish fantasy music. It was criticized from all quarters for its apoliticism and decadence, and its Turkish roots.[citation needed] The influence of Oriental music on Laïkó can be most strongly seen in 1960s indoyíftika, Indian filmi (popular music for movies) with Greek lyrics. Manolis Angelopoulos was the most popular indoyíftika performer, while pure laïkó was dominated by superstar Stelios Kazantzidis and Stratos Dionisiou.
Fairuz faces her audience for the first time during the show "Ayyam Al Hassad" (Days of Harvest) where she sang "Lebnan Ya Akhdar Helou" (Lebanon the Beautiful Green) in Baalbeck.
1960s
Western Pop music teen idols of the 1960s included the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Cliff Richard, Sandy Shaw, The Who, Lulu, The Small Faces, Gene Pitney, and The Shadows. Other pop musicians included, Neil Diamond, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the BeeGees, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Matt Monro, Burt Bacharach, Aretha Franklin, Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan and and some of The Beatles' repertoire. The 60's also saw the first emergence of what was later coined as being boy bands with the most infamous from this era being The Monkees.
In 1960s Iran's most famous female pop singer ever, Googoosh, found reputation by taking part in various international music festivals. She won the first prize and golden record for her French numbers, "Retour de la vie" and "J'entends crier Je t'aime", at the Cannes Festival in 1971. Her recording of twelve songs in Italian and Spanish for the Sanremo Music Festival in 1973 became an overnight success. She also won first prize at the Carthage Music Festival in 1972 and was honoured with the first medal of arts of Tunisia in the same year. Her Spanish song titled "Desde Hacies Tiempo" was an immediate hit in South America in 1973.
In 1962, the first Western popular melody with Turkish lyrics was released, İlham Gencer's "Bak Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş" (Look Once Upon A Time)[3]
1970s
ABBA was a Swedish pop group during the 1970s.
A proliferation of new sounds from the disco era included the vocal overdubbed harmonies of Carpenters, ABBA, Engelbert Humperdinck, the BeeGees, the piano-based pop of Billy Joel and Elton John, the country stylings of the Eagles, and the rock-influenced pop of Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, and Fleetwood Mac. Other important pop musicians include David Bowie, Rex Smith, Barry Manilow, Cat Stevens, Carole King, the Village People, Cliff Richard, Jackson Five, The Miracles, Lionel Richie {and The Commodores}, Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, Cher, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Donna Summer. Australian John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John (fame of Grease the Musical) commanded big sales in their home market, with crossover into the UK and for Olivia Newton-John, also US.
Arabesque-pop starting in the 1970s, immigration from predominantly south-eastern rural areas to big cities and particularly to Istanbul gave rise to a new cultural synthesis. The makeup of Istanbul was to change forever. The old taverns and music halls of fasıl music were to shut down in place of a new type of music Stokes, Martin. "Sounds of Anatolia" in the Rough Guide to World Music, Volume 1, . These new urban residents brought their own taste of music, which due to their locality was largely middle eastern. Musicologists derogatively termed this genre as arabesque due to the high pitched wailing that is synonymous with Arabic singing. Its mainstream popularity rose so much in the 1980s that it even threatened the existence of Turkish pop, with rising stars such as Muslum Gurses.
This genre has underbeat forms that include Ottoman forms of belly-dancing music with performers like Orhan Gencebay who added Anglo-American rock and roll to arabesque music.
In Turkey, (light western)pop became very popular in the 1970s with stars such as Semiha Yanki, Kamuran Akkor, Ayla Dikmen, Erol Büyükburç, Fikret Şeneş, Gönül Akkor, Hümeyra, İlhan İrem, Nermin Candan, Asu Maralman, Yurdaer Doğulu, Zümrüt, Sezen Aksu, Nazan Öncel and Ajda Pekkan reaching superstar status domestically.
During the 1970s in Britain, New Wave and Punk brought bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, The Police and The Stranglers into the pop charts. A mod revival spearheaded by The Jam and Madness followed and opened the way for The Specials, UB40 and Dexys Midnight Runners.
1980s
Cover of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which became the best-selling album of all time, with sales of 104 million.
Notable highlights for pop music in the 1980s are Michael Jackson's second Epic label release, Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling album of all time. Jackson was the most successful artist of the 80s, spanning nine #1 singles in the United States alone during that decade, and selling over 133 million copies with only two albums — Thriller, and its follow-up Bad. Since the early nineties, Jackson has been often referred to and regarded as "The King of Pop." Madonna, who is considered "The Queen of Pop", was the dominant female artist of the era producing numerous hit albums.
Madonna, considered the "Queen of Pop"
Other top-selling artists included Cher, Prince, Gloria Estefan, Paula Abdul, Tina Turner, Tiffany, Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, Olivia Newton-John, Duran Duran, The Go-Go's, Huey Lewis & The News, Katrina and the Waves, The Police, Depeche Mode, Lionel Richie, Cliff Richard, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, Tears for Fears, Cyndi Lauper, Thompson Twins, Debbie Gibson, Rex Smith, Whitney Houston, Juice Newton, Phil Collins, Air Supply, Laura Branigan, Talking Heads, Eurythmics, The Bangles, Hall & Oates, George Michael (and Wham), Rick Springfield and Culture Club. The late 1980s saw the rise of the Swedish pop duo Roxette.Pop music in the 80's was heavily influenced by an electronic synthesized sound, and dance type music. Now in the present the 80's is viewed as having many one-hit wonders, and the style and fashion sense and "look" in the music videos has been influenced and has been brought back in present clothes and style.
1990s
Among the most successful pop acts of the 1990s were R&B-influenced pop acts such as Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child, Boyz II Men, En Vogue, Salt N Pepa, Brandy, and TLC. Non-R&B artists such as Cher, Michael Bolton, Elton John, Michael Jackson (although many of his songs contain R&B elements), Madonna, Selena, Celine Dion, Nádine, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Alanis Morissette, Jewel, were also phenomenonally successful during that decade. Eric Clapton was aged, but massive hits like Change The World and Tears In Heaven, made him even more famous.
The 1990s and 21st century were marked by a resurgence of boy band and girl group trends. The U.S. had New Edition, New Kids on the Block (in the late 1980s and early 1990s), followed by the Backstreet Boys often referred to as 'the best-selling boy band' of all time, Hanson, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees and the huge pop girl band phenomenon the Spice Girls, who are often credited by critics as the revival of pop music in the US.
Towards the turn of the millennium, the "pop princesses" appeared such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Robyn, and Willa Ford. From the UK came the likes of Take That, Steps, and S Club 7, while Australia had Kylie Minogue and Savage Garden. Irish boy bands during this period included Boyzone and Westlife. 1999 saw the rise of the Latin pop explosion with Ricky Martin at the forefront, followed by Jennifer Lopez, Thalía, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Paulina Rubio, and Marc Anthony. Also, there were many pop bands from continental Europe that found their way to topping worldwide charts, such as Aqua (Denmark), a-ha (Norway), Los del Río (Spain), and A*Teens (Sweden).
The 1990s also saw the beginnings of a surgence in pop into the Asian market, known as J-pop, as originated from Japan. Mr Children and Ayumi Hamasaki each selling over 50 million in their respective Asian markets.
2000s
In the 2000s, pop music paved the way for the multi-platinum successes of artists like Backstreet Boys, Beyoncé Knowles, Black Eyed Peas, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, N Sync, RBD, The Pussycat Dolls and Usher. Robbie Williams recorded the biggest sales for a male artist, mostly in the European market. In 2002 Russia enjoyed its first worldwide pop hit from a girl duo, t.A.T.u..
The divas of the 90s artists, such as Madonna, and Mariah Carey presented albums that prolonged their rule of the music charts. The Swedish superstar Carola Häggkvist continued her rule of European charts. Other trends included Teen pop singers such as Disney Channel star Hilary Duff, and "pop punk" acts such as Simple Plan, and "pop rock" acts such as Avril Lavigne. There is also a trend in which American Idol artists such as Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken topped the charts as well, sometimes at number 1. In South Africa South African Pop Diva Nádine topped the South African Charts.
There has also been a major trend which has created multiple tiers of pop singers, with one designed for "14 year old girls" and certain groups conforming to the stereotypical images of gay men. While this is not necessarily a new development, it is seen by many as detrimental to music as a whole, as it has furthered the compartmentalization for music. Besides Hilary Duff, JoJo and Lindsay Lohan, who are among the famous teen pop singers, many other Disney Channel actors have become singers. These artists include Aly and AJ, Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, Raven-Symoné, and Miley Cyrus. Other Disney artists include Jesse McCartney, B5 and Cameron Jesse King.
In the early 2000s, "pure" pop began to morph into a more blended style of music. 90s pop stars such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera experienced somewhat diminished sales, and proceeded to change their image and sound to a more "R&B" style, largely due to the dominance of urban or hip-hop radio in the United States. As R&B and pop music blended, more and more "Pop / R&B" artists emerged, such as Rihanna, Nelly Furtado,Christina Milian, Justin Timberlake and The Pussycat Dolls.
Toward the late 90's Korean boy bands, such as H.O.T., lead to popularity with Korean music (K-pop). This was due to the fact that Asian music was now starting to sound more westernized. This eventually led to the die down of J-Pop in the 2000's and saw the rise of K-pop within Asian markets, leading to the craze, hallyu. The hallyu craze has dominated the Asian markets since the early 2000's. With Korean artists such as BoA, Rain (Bi) and SE7EN, breaking records and sales throughout Asia, and having capabilities to sing not only in their native tongue (Korean), but also Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin dialect). This has only contributed to the popularity of K-pop, and has helped it stay on top throughout the 2000's.
