What music do you like?

Especially "pop", which can also be understood as the adjective "popular" according to the context.

- it comes from rock'n roll, which at first was basically blues with a faster tempo.

- it oftens features the use of guitar(s), electric bass, drums

- it's nicely raw, maybe even nasty

- important rythm section

- it is a hybrid type of music. If you listen to stuff like Andy Williams, it is pop(ular) music, that came from folklore influences I believe.

To me, the Beatles and the Beach Boys were one of the most important acts in the genesis of modern pop music, even if they actually started by playing rock'n roll (the Beatles), and gradually loosen the structure. World music, folk, soul, swing, jazz, traditionnal pop music were important influences as well.

- for the instrumentation, it's way wider than rock. Strings, acoustic guitars, drums, electric bass, keyboards/piano/synths.

- important melodic section.

The two genres are kind of a crossroad of music influences, or at least they go well together, hence the label "pop/rock".

When rock'n roll appeared in the 1950s, it was already mixing with pop music in some occasions. Roy Orbison's ballads are, to me, a nice mixture of rock'n roll and pop sound.

Some bands were still doing old school rock'n roll/blues, but in a new way, and it gave birth to new types of rock. For instance, Led Zeppelin, with huge blues influences, created the foundations for hard rock to grow on.

Let's take a band like Foals, for instance. Is it pop ? Is it rock ? It has features from both of those styles. Some will use subgenres to describe it (in the Foals' case : math-rock), some will describe it rock, some will go for pop-rock.

Some people listen to The Kills for their electronic beat, some for the heavy guitar. I like to listen to them as it was heavy blues.

In the late 19th century Americans started used the term popular music, as opposed to classical music, for songs that appealed to a big audience: sheet music, dance hall music, Tin Pan Alley. They were tunes that people could easily remember and sing along.

In 1951 disc jockey Alan Freed used the term rock and roll to describe the new style of popular music that would gain worldwide popularity by being played on the radio, in jukeboxes and in dance venues in the fifties. A rock and roll band typically had a lead guitar, a rhythm guitar, a bass guitar or double bass and drums; sometimes also piano.

In the mid-fifties the British media started describing the music in the singles charts as pop music. That included rock and roll songs, but also popular songs with big band etc.

From the late sixties on people sometimes started distinguishing between pop and rock music. There is no clear borderline. "Pop" was used for music that was oriented towards the singles charts. "Rock" was used for music that was played on rock concerts or festivals like Woodstock.

Since the late seventies "pop" is used more often for songs with an electronic sound and dance rhythms. "Rock" is usually with electric guitars, bass guitar and drums, but acoustic rock exists too.

Pop changes every decade. In the late seventies disco was dominating the charts. When one says "eighties pop" he's probably referring to the synth pop bands of that era.