What is so Good About Pop Music?

If this is a touchy subject for you, don't read on.

I just want to know, why do people like it so much when it's so boring and repetitive and lacks the heart that people used to put into music.

At work every now and then I'm forced to listen to the radio, and can't believe what classes as talent these days, pop music used to mean all music genres, not just everything that is heavily looped and some pop artists could have talent, if they had more input into a song.

For one song specifically, This is What You Came For, sounds like it could be a good song after the intro, but goes to a loop and it's edited badly as you can hear there's no space for a breath, just infuriated me. The pop part of the music industry is fake and I will never understand why so many people listen to it.

The best part of a song is usually the chorus, but pop choruses use up 70% of the song, a chorus needs to build up, not be heard every 20 seconds.

I stopped listening to pop close to last century or soon after. It just didn't sound the same anymore. So I started listening to the "old" radio station. There are so many great tracks out there from before now that I don't even have a need for any new music. And I'm newly discovering older songs I hadn't heard before. And also getting older myself.

I suppose pop is popular because it follows market trends and what young people like. Of course it still needs the hooks to draw people in. It also sounds a bit electronic these days. Seems rock is out and derivative techno is in. But I knew a lot of young people when I was young who hated techno and only liked real music. Given musicians tend to be best in their prime and a host of pop would be coming from a young musician that would influence the sound. Unless there is a commercial sound they are told to use that works so putting sales above the music. The business end of the tracks. Selling out.

This may sound funny but I have my own test for what is a good song pop or otherwise. Imagine an extended version of a song. Would it be cool? Or would it be boring?

As an example, the now dated Gangnam Style. I imagined an "extended dance mix" of the original track. I couldn't see it being cool. I thought it would be boring. So I failed it in my test. It only works as a pop song because of that chorus and some dance move I think. The rest is basic or simplistic techno. In my opinion anyway.

And band names are bad, instead of using the name/stage name of the singer, I believe that if you're going to name the band after yourself, you need to earn the right to do so, like Ozzy Osbourne, pop artists give no credit to their instrumentalists.

Because some of it is catchy, like there is a song that plays on the radio so many times and it's annoying but it get's stuck in my head sometimes :(

Yes I thought it was rather bizarre at times naming a band after your self. As if they couldn't think up a "real name" for the band as a whole. There is evidences of both whole names and self names being popular. Though generally a whole name will bring with it the names of all the musicians as an outfit. So they don't get left behind. Unless the lead singer is always focused on, which can happen a lot. Or it used to be.

Another name is Bon Jovi. Again a self name used to refer to a whole. It worked for him and for them. Somehow Bon Jovi as an entity is able to work as both a person and as a band.

Stage names have been in popular use. Though I think here it can be clever what they think up. Where ever the name came from.

But earning a name for yourself can be funny. So you have a given name, that's given to you, usually at birth. But if you want to name an entity after yourself then you have to earn it and earn the right to do so. :-P

I've always liked Pop Music when I was younger because it was something to sing to and catchy. Most of the singers from songs i remember growing up and listening to were Pop Stars. THESE DAYS pop is watered down, theres no real emotion anymore. After reading the Quincy Jones interview and he said "people are making music to make money" hit the nail on the head.

I could argue Pop was made as a true art form but its rare these days and now everyone is on a trend to outsell someone else.

I hear ya and do agree to a certain extent but i think it's the joy it can bring people, how a simple 3/4 minute song can turn you crappy day into a good day and change your mood. Modern pop music proves your point exactly, but older pop music still carries this happy vibe! Who doesn't want to hear chumbawumba when they're feeling down, stuck at work or out with their friends!
Sometimes music doesn't have to sound the best, sometimes it's the memory attached to it, something to make a person smile again.

Anyone got new opinions to add to this? I think that pop and rap artists being played everywhere are dumbing society, and I'm unsure if these are the correct lyrics to a song by a female singer due to not knowing the name or wanting to find out but "I made a mistake, please just slap me in the face and tell me everything's okay" that's just promoting domestic violence and can easily make some people think that this is an acceptable part of life, worst part is there's another song similar to this. Completely absurd.

I love pop because although it is generic and it's also a repetitive cycle IMO I think it brings innovation because POP dictates what genre rules the next 5 years take Justin Bieber who started this Tropical House/Reggaeton trend. It's hard for me to elaborate more into what I'm trying to say but it's so interesting to me to see how many different ways they can make the 4 popular chord progressions into a totally new song or a new genre.

I think the appeal for pop music to me, isn't about the singers, but about the production techniques.
Some will revisit older techniques (gated toms ala Phil Collins), to creative uses of software trickery.

Because it's catchy and fun to listen to! I think that's why it's so incredibly popular.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jstvibing

Because it's catchy and fun to listen to! I think that's why it's so incredibly popular.

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The thing that makes the music of an artist fun is variety, all the pop acts do the same thing every song, it's just boring, and they all use electronic drums so every instrumental sounds exactly the same.

With rock and metal, the majority of bands mix things up on every album, namely Escape the Fate, on all the albums since Craig replaced Ronnie there's an acoustic/piano ballad (World Around Me, Let Me Be, Harder Than You Know, If Only, Picture Perfect), a song with a screamed verse and clean chorus/vice versa (This War is Ours, Digging My Own Grave, Massacre, Just a Memory, Ungrateful), the emotion in the songwriting (Lost in Darkness being about a friend being raped in the street and no one coming to her screams for help, also features a sample of Marilyn Manson's Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)) but anyway, metal musicians put their heart into their work, pop artists just add to other people's work and call it their own.