What even defines Pop?

Pop music seems to cover every style of shallow genericism from slow and sultry love songs to upbeat dance tracks. Everybody knows what pop music sounds like, but why is it such a nebulous, catch-all genre? Best I can tell, half of it is Nu Disco (like Michael Jackson), and the other half is "Singer-Songwriter" (Taylor Swift and tha Sappy Bunch), which is the most bullshit genre name in all existence, as that would make classic rock, p4k-core and folk music all fall under "Singer-Songwriter".

Who the fuck let a genre be so devoid of subgenre categories to help you weed out the BS music you don't want in the first place?

Everything that's not classical or traditional folk is popular music.

>What even defines Pop?
it accessible

it's one of those terms whose definition nobody seems to agree on

Then that makes/mu/ heavyweight champions Jeff Mangum, Thom Yorke and Mike Kinsella queens of pop...

This
It's not a genre, it's a state of mind when making music. Calling music pop implies that the artist tried to cater it towards the widest audience however that is not always true and perhaps it just so happened to be music that did appeal to a very wide audience.

So that's why I saw Mayhem's smash hit Chainsaw Gutfuck win the Grammy...

Now you're getting it

it's whatever the most current radio friendly genre. Right now it's pop derivations of edm/house

im waiting for the trend to jump to grunge revival

I think the only thing that is agreed upon when defining pop music is that its music intended for the widest audience possible or at least a very wide audience

I would just say it's music that appeals to a very wide audience. I wouldn't use the word 'intended' because that implies the musician was actively trying to appeal to as many people as possible, when a lot of times that isn't the case.

If it appeals to normies then it's pop

>grunge revival
People have been saying Grunge is going to make a comeback for the past 10 years. It still hasn't happened

>those quints
Eh, it's not /kpop/ so I'll take it

Nirvana rekt quintsever

Grunge btfo

>it accessible
in what way? what about it is accessible? subject matter? instrumentation? style? This needs more clarification.

I also think there is something time-intrinsic to pop music, since it's always popular to a specific era. That is part of why it's such a catch-all genre, because the times are always changing. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems that this is the ONLY consistent characteristic. Look at these songs, they are all number 1 hits.

Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin (1959)
The Twist - Chubby Checker (1960)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight - The Tokens (1961)
Please Mr Postman - The Marvelettes (1961)
Runaround Sue - Dion and the Belmonts (1961)
Sherry - The Four Seasons (1962)
Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles (1964)
The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals (1964)
Baby Love - The Supremes (1964)
Help Me Rhonda - Beach Boys (1965)
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones (1965)
The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel (1966)
Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys (1966)
Respect - Aretha Franklin (1966)

Look at that amazing genre diversity. I am only selecting a few for examples, but as I go through the list, the variety of classic song after classic song blows my mind. Light My Fire took the place of Windy, and was beat my All You Need is Love. Six months later: Sittin on the Dock of the Bay, two more months later: Mrs. Robinson, then Hello I Love You. The genres jump all over the place.

1/2

2/2 CONT

I think the best way to look at it is just "what the people preferred" through time. Pop music's only defining quality really is that it fits the times. It is music that is created exactly at the moment it is most appealing. Which says a lot about the latest generations of music, because it's reflective of society, with one caveat—the music industry is not a neutral party and as it gained more and more control over the radio and the recording artists—and as marketing and corporations and advertisements and investments grew and grew, the projects obviously dwindled in ambition with more money and hands and controlling interests involved, and the natural genre hopping nature of music became dictated by international appeal and advertising agencies and that sort of thing, if that makes any sense.

So basically what I'm saying is there was a natural wild west creativity in earlier music days that got controlled more and more into a business model by around late 90's. Now, they are the ones who decide "what sells", whereas before, they were still trying to discover what sells—which, obviously, is good music.

GRUNGE TO STAY DEAD FOR 77777 MORE YEARS

xx defend grunge being dead xx

You seriously hit the nail on the head.

I think you just hit the nail on the head of what pop is op.
And that Nail is mostly bad and mass market schlock.

I feel that it's about structure and accessibility, but the word itself derived from popular music because the music described as such was popular. Ranging from instruments to vocals to lyrical content; ultimately something that can and/or does appeal to many and capable of being popular while maintaining a simple structure of some combination of verse, bridge, chorus.

Gets played on radio