# Is "Pop" a style of music, or is it just what's popular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808 "2019-05-11T00:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808/61 "2019-05-14T13:53:37Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Ehhh, if it was pop they’d have chart success. They did, but depends, I guess on what charts you’re looking at. Now, while I did answer the second choice in the poll being closer to what I feel “pop” is, I think you can write pop songs and not have any chart success. I mean, look at power pop or indie pop bands like Redd Kross, Apples In Stereo, XTC, Big Star, etc. I suppose that makes more for the argument that “pop” is a style of music. Now that I think about it more and what bands and songs I consider “pop,” it’s a mix of popularity and songwriting philosophy, which I alluded to before in one of my posts. And, hence, context. The Pixies and Nirvana quintessentially wrote pop songs. There is absolutely no question in my mind, but through the lens of their respective genres. So perhaps my poll answer now maybe should lean a bit more towards the first option, but it’s not as clear-cut as that. It’s a mix of both, but it’s not a genre in and of itself as much as an approach to songwriting. But, once again, contextually, it can be “all music that is not seen as “fine art”/“classical” music” a la the debate you get in art circles about “high” art vs “low/pop” art. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808/62 "2019-05-17T09:26:53Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > My classical-music-loving Hungarian father told me that all of Bela Bartok’s best music was borrowed from Zoltan Kodaly, That’s a lie. > [@](#): > > and Kodaly’s best work was writing down and orchestrating traditional Magyar folk music. Bartok may have been a better composer, he said, but he preferred Kodaly because it was closer to the roots. All lies. Bartók did the heavy fieldwork, lugging primitive recording equipment. Bartók also expanded the fieldwork from just Hungary into Slovakia, Romania, Turkey, and Algeria. Bartók covered the gamut from simple arrangement of folk tunes through working folk material into larger works to original compositions informed by folk idioms. Yes, they had a lot in common, and Kodály pioneered some of the ideas first, but Bartók was more accomplished and developed the ideas much farther. That doesn’t count as borrowing. They were colleagues and they cooperated. Kodály wrote classical pops material like _Háry János_, which has broader popular appeal than Bartók’s work, but its folk idiom was still processed through an urban art music style. Bartók \> Kodály \> Liszt ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808/63 "2019-05-17T19:23:46Z")
Relevant article from the Atlantic today: > **[Carly Rae Jepsen Is Getting Weirder—And It’s Brilliant](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/05/carly-rae-jepsen-dedicated-review-brilliant-pop-gems/589456/)** > > The singer gets campier and more creative on her fourth album. To quote it: “Girlish, lovelorn sing-alongs of the sort often unfairly dissed as “generic” had suddenly found themselves with a highly specific constituency bridging the indie-rock club and the gay video bar.” ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808/64 "2019-05-17T20:08:14Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Relevant article from the Atlantic today: > > [Carly Rae Jepsen 'Dedicated' Review: Brilliant Pop Gems - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/05/carly-rae-jepsen-dedicated-review-brilliant-pop-gems/589456/) > > To quote it: > > “Girlish, lovelorn sing-alongs of the sort often unfairly dissed as “generic” had suddenly found themselves with a highly specific constituency bridging the indie-rock club and the gay video bar.” Good article. And I agree Carly Rae Jepsen is amazing. Call Me Mabye is not close to representative. She makes a strong argument for Pop as a genre because she really isn’t top 40 popular anymore. Also Billie Eilish is pretty bananas too, though admittedly very top 40. We are living in a pop music (the genre) renaissance. I think we can all thank Lorde for that, honestly. But maybe it’s because things all got so stale for so long. Maybe both. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2019, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808/65 "2019-05-19T02:53:27Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > Popular music, no particular style. There was even a time when jazz was popular, believe it or not. When you could dance to it. That’s miles apart from Charles Mingus or Miles Davis. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808/66 "2019-05-23T22:20:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > U2 has had several number 1 hits but they are not pop music. > [@MrDibble](#): > > No? Tell [them](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_(U2_album))that :D. Relevant? “Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it’s not OK, but you can change it.” …–Bono, from U2 …On the Move –G! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pop-a-style-of-music-or-is-it-just-whats-popular/833808.md?page=3)