Pop Music

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Timothy Berg

This trend of co-opting more marginal musical forms and making them palatable to broad audiences remained strong in the late 1960s. The 1960s was a period when several of popular music's most innovative artists were making ground-breaking records, some of which made the pop music charts, but they shared the charts with much lighter fare. Another significant trend during the late 1960s was the rise of manufactured groups. In addition to trying to co-opt other sounds, large corporate record companies tried to manufacture their own groups for the pre-teen and teen market, which, increasingly, had been left behind by psychedelia and other harsher forms of rock music. With such groups as the Monkees, the Partridge Family, and the cartoon group the Archies, companies could make light, pop fare that was extremely palatable to this young market. All of these three groups were promoted with their own television shows. The Monkees and David Cassidy from the Partridge Family became teen idols. This trend was not new to the late 1960s. Earlier teen idols had been similarly "manufactured," and the trend continued in later decades with such singers and groups as Shawn Cassidy, Andy Gibb, Leif Garrett, Menudo, New Edition, Boys to Men, N'Sync, and others.

In the 1970s, the variety of styles that were part of the broad pop music mainstream increased. They included the singer-songwriter tradition, hard rock, southern rock, the California sound, disco, glam rock, stadium rock, heavy metal and others. All entered the pop field at various points. The most important of these trends were the singer-songwriter tradition, the California sound, and disco. The light sound of the singer-songwriter tradition was especially suited to pop music, and brought huge hits for artists such as Carole King, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, and John Denver during the decade. All sang introspective songs, often using mostly acoustic instruments that were perfect for the pop sound. Some listeners could find deep meaning in the lyrics of the songs, but these songs were also extremely radio-friendly, soft and often very hummable. Carole King's Tapestry album sold over 10 million copies and was on the charts for years; John Denver was all over the airwaves in the later 1970s with such songs as "Rocky Mountain High" and "Sunshine on My Shoulders." The singer-songwriter tradition meshed well with the California sound that emerged in the early 1970s. Led by such groups and singers as America, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne, the California sound was often easygoing, acoustically-oriented music that reflected the laid-back atmosphere of southern California. The Eagles' songs "Peaceful Easy Feeling" and "Take It Easy" spoke for themselves.

The singer-songwriter tradition and the California sound were largely eclipsed in the late 1970s, as was much of popular music, by disco. Disco, with its thumping, repetitive dance beat and electronic sound was greeted with great enthusiasm by many; for others it was considered the death of pop music. Disco music was dance music, and as such it was part of a much larger club scene rather than simply music for listening. Disco grew, like much of pop music, from the culture of black America, particularly the smooth black urban pop of the early 1970s. Some commentators trace elements of it to dance clubs in Manhattan, in particular to the city's gay culture. Whatever its precise origins, the style reached the pop charts in the mid-1970s with Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby," KC & the Sunshine Band's "Get Down Tonight," and others. But the genre exploded in popularity when the film Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta as a disco-dancing Brooklyn teenager, was released in 1977. Its soundtrack album, featuring the Bee Gees' new disco sound, became one of the most successful records in pop music history. After this success, everyone from the Beach Boys to Rod Stewart to the Rolling Stones jumped on the disco bandwagon for a time. Disco's heyday was short-lived, ending with the 1970s, but its influence continued in the 1980s and beyond.