Pop Music & Pop Icons

Pop Music

Pop music is music enjoyed by a wide audience. Pop music is usually not very complex, with melodies that are easy to follow, and often with strong hooks. The song structure in pop music is also quite standard -- verse 1 / chorus / verse 2 / chorus / bridge / chorus – with occasional variation. The songs tend to be relatively short. The themes in pop music are usually (but not exclusively) about romantic love.

Often the main purpose in pop music is to make money. It is therefore also sometimes referred to as Commercial Music. Crossroads in Music (p. 64) explains: “Music created for the primary purpose of generating revenue for the writers and performers can be considered commercial.” To make the most amount of money the music needs to appeal to the greatest number of people (biggest audience).

Pop Icons

Some pop artists become so successful and famous, that they become known as Pop Icons. A “Pop Icon” is a person that is well known in popular culture. In this course we have listened to the music of quite a number of Pop Icons like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Cher, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain(Nirvana), Freddie Mercury (Queen), The Rolling Stones, and so on.

On the list above, Elvis Presley is probably the most prominent Pop Icon. We have already spend a couple of posts looking at the music of Elvis Presley.

Let’s look at two other Pop Icons, Madonna and Michael Jackson.

Madonna

Madonna is called the “Queen of Pop” and in 2006, according to Mail Online, she is the “highest earning female singer on earth.” Bloomberg Press reported that Madonna’s “Sticky & Sweet” word tour is the highest-grossing solo tour and sold over $280 million in tickets.

Probably Madonna’s greatest asset is her ability to continuously re-invent herself, changing not only her appearance, but also her “sound.” Let’s listen to a couple of her songs – note how her look and sound has changed through the time.

"Like a Virgin" (1984)


"Express Yourself" (1984)


“Secret” (1994)


“Frozen” (1997)


“Die Another Day” (2002)


“Give it 2 me” (2008)


Michael Jackson

The title for “King of Pop” goes to the late Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson’s singing, dancing, and music style have influenced innumerable artists in many different genres, for instance Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Britney Spears, and numerous more. Although a good number of Jackson’s songs are “love songs,” many of them contained other themes in which he attempted to make people aware of social issues like war, abuse, AIDS, environmental issues, and the like.

Apart from his influence on music, Michael Jackson was also an extraordinary philanthropist, and it is estimated that he donated over 300 million dollars to charities. However, as a pop icon he was also involved in many negative media hype.

It is extremely difficult to assess how great Michael Jackson’s legacy to pop music, pop culture, and the world is. You can read more about this in the article "The Battle Over Michael Jackson's Legacy" on Time.Com.

Following are some famous singles by the King of Pop:

Billie Jean (1983)


Thriller (1984)

Black or White (1991)

Blood on the Dance Floor (1997)

Unbreakable (2002)


Question:

Are there commonalities that most of Madonna and Michael Jackson's music share? If yes, what are they? Do you think that this has contributed to their respective world wide success?