Grandma and Grandpa are listening to Led Zeppelin.

US dominance is about to fall (it is falling right now). From the three dominance pillars (economy, military, culture) US economic dominance is irretrievably falling, US military dominance is only an illusion with no reality, that is about to fall (US military can only attack defenseless countries, but can't cope with the big boys, and remember Vietnam), then there is the third dominance pillar, Hollywood and the entertainement & media business, how much time for it to also fall, time will tell.

 

Yep "around the world" is a totally not pop tune that every one has forgoten because of its complicated hook....lol. Your very subjective taste is irrelevant when it comes to qualifying a genre as pop music. It's soly a matter of format, that's what makes those songs massively consumable and allows some grandmas to remember them. There is no structural differences between them, only minimal variations, their format remain. And again electro is always part of pop music no matter the sub genre, it embrassed this format and stopped being experimentale in the mid 60's.

 

"Around the world" has no lyrics, it's practically a loop. It's kind of a silly (daft) jingle. It's more punk than pop, it does not fall within pop music genre. Pop: simple lyrics, catchy melodies, a classic verse-chorus structure, short length, chords. At least, that is the definition of pop music and its subgenres (synth pop included).

"Although much of the music that appears on record charts is seen as pop music, the genre is distinguished from chart music" (wikipedia).

 

The word racist is ruined. It used to be simple and logically consistant. The belief in the superiority of one race over another often resulting in discrimination or prejudice based on race. As far as I'm concerned it still means that because that's what gives it the umph that makes it so bad. When it's stretched to covering nations, ethnicity, or whole continents it's looses it's umph as now you're covering multiple races and it ceases to be the belief in the superiority of one race over another. By that reasoning saying "this group of non-rapist people is superior to this group of rapist" might as well be racist as well.

"Peruvian people are far better at everything than Cubans" (example, not my opinion) Both are multiracial countries, both have a common core language, Spanish, and both have historical links to Spain. <-- Are we really going to say this is racist statement? What about one group of Hispanics saying they're superior to another group of Hispanics, is this racist too now? Hispanics cover all races and any mix there of. The word becomes meaningless.

I miss the days when important descriptive words like racist, fascist, nazi, various other ist's and ism's meant what they meant and weren't tossed around like confetti. How they still manage to receive the same outrage in so many circumstances, despite being used so out of place, is mind boggling to me. Bah

Anyways, Europeans make fine pop. I prefer the 80's stuff myself.

Also, OP stinks.

 

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yeah...Except for the "Around the world" part...Simple enough for you ?

Do you have any idea of what punk is (like can't you make a difference between the symbolic punk rock bands Sex Pistols or The Ramones and electro pop duo Daft Punk ? You can't ?) ?? Here I'll help you :

It's not electro, and Daft Punk (almost 400 millions views for this one clip)

definitely never did any punk at all, but I mean not even close, but they definetly do Pop music, albeit electro (here with Pharrell Williams which I'm sure your grandma knows).
But wait it gets complicated : punk is indeed part of Pop Music, obviously. Wow. I mean...Crazy, right ?
Electro like punk have the same structure you underline over and over but seem unable to perceive in music, they have the very simple strucures of Pop music. Not chart music. Pop music.

 

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Then call it xenophobia and you'll be all set. That's usually what people refer to when they use the word racism without applicing to "races" (which btw don't exist, but whatever). The word racism comes from a time when people believed in the concept of race before genetic was able to shread it to pieces, and didn't talk about ethnicities (which is more accurate) or cultural backgrounds...

Regarding Europeans I wouldn't say OP was racist but more in the realm of pretty stupid, since Europe is not a Nation, not a culture, or any things unifiying the people living on the continent called Europe. Europe is a continent and now an integrated german economical dominion. A country or anything else certainly not.
We can't ask people watching Eurovision on their free time to have either culture nor intelligence, it's just antinomic.

 

It was just my attempt at humor. Liszt was an incredible composer as well as pianist and literally changed the landscape of the concert recital, even coining the word recital itself, LOL. He composed over 1400 pieces in his life which is an incredible achievement, writing many varied types of demanding works that make the player sweat. He was a piano god that made the piano sound like more than the sum of it's keys. He would actually break pianos that he played from his physical technique. Woman threw themselves at him and he was the first music god in history, creating an aura of sensuality that combined his music, passion and showmanship. He is the first not to bring the score of an evening's performance and also the first to walk up to the stage through the audience before a performance. He walked away from the actual limelight while still in his 30's and then changed the ways of the conductor by using the orchestra itself as his own instrument, interpreting the music through his filter whereas before him the leader of the band basically only kept the orchestra together in time to the beat. He mentored other musicians, and all in all seemed like a very cool dude.

If you have never experienced Liszt's music before, perhaps this approx 4 1/2 minutes of Lang Lang playing La Campanella in G# will show how truely innovative and purely exhilarating Liszt was. It all stays up in the higher registers treating the piano as a snare drum and gradually uses the entire keyboard to create one of the most amazing spaces every chance that I have ever witnessed. It is for me a WTF moment every time I listen to it...an almost impossible perfection of sound and emotion all rolled up into less than five short minutes.

My stand on Snoop stands...minus turning himself white.

 

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I am Grandpa and I sing it.

 

First, read this, I'll wait here.

Now, do you judge US pop by USA Songwriting Competition? Yeah, we don't pay attention to Eurovision, either. Don't confuse publicity stunts with actual music.

 

No, it's just you who misunderstand: I was OBVIOUSLY referring to electropop vs electropunk (as in daft PUNK), not comparing daft punk to sex pistols. Daft Punk are more (electro) punk than (electro) pop. Is it now clearer for you?

 

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Ok, i will try and expand on a few topics:

You just described "Das Model" from Kraftwerk but you still insist on not accepting it's a pop tune. Pop is not a genre my friend. It's a term made to unify under a simple word all catchy, easy on the ear songs or even instrumental tracks. You will find catchy melodies, simple lyrics, simple 4/4 rhythms, short songs etc etc, in all kinds of music from metal to disco and all in between.
Just a note here, for those of us who were there back in 1981, when "Das Model" was released and then re-released in English, the hardcore Kraftwerk fan base along with a bunch of magazine reviewers/critics thought it was a sell out pop track and criticized it negatively. But what do you know, it went straight up number 1 in the UK lol and still stands as their greatest hit ever. " The Model" has very little in common with "Trans Europe Express" or "Radio activity", only that it's made by the same peeps and utilizes a familiar Kraftwerk production sound. Here's some early Kraftwerk, look at the mostly hippie crowd trying to comprehend wtf is going on lol:

Experimental or niche tunes don't reach number 1 mate. They are not even released as singles by major record labels, especially back in those days where actual physical sales meant everything. Only tracks that could become popular had this kind of "push" from labels and by all means it is almost the same nowadays too.

What does this even mean mate ? Perhaps 45-50 years ago this term meant something to the uninitiated, as many peeps were caught by surprise of the starting electronic era in music. But now ? If we were to accept this as a viable term, anybody who plays acoustic instruments from Vivaldi to Bluegrass is "acoustic music" ?

You are actually describing different kinds of music. The only thing in common in those seminal artists, is the way they made their music.
Vangelis's pluralism and symphonic sound has nothing to do with Kraftwerk's minimalism or Jarre's classically influenced melodies etc etc. They are all so different as night and day.
As for the experimental, looks to me you are not aware of the time. It was the 70s man. EVERYBODY experimented. Even bands like Black Sabbath and Scorpions. I can make a list with weird experimental tracks from anybody who was somebody in the early and mid 70s, except maybe Status Quo lol, but what would this list serve as really, since everybody did it ? It's the same as disco, at one point even pillars of rock like the Rolling Stones or Kiss etc etc, made at least one disco track. Pretty much the same way the Stones made "Their Satanic Majesties Request" a sort of experimental, psychedelic album. From that to "Miss you" or "Emotional Resque" there is an oceanic distance but more or less both were made by the same people.
A real story, Andy McCluskey from OMD in a documentary about the early Brit synth pop, admits he was approached by Factory's producer Martin Hannett (if i recall correctly) when the latter heard their track "Electricity". Hannett said to them "hey this can be a smashing pop tune". Andy replied "what pop man, we are experimental" ... You see he couldn't fathom at the time, that their messing around with synths, rock and post-punk sounds and Andy's strong Kraftwerk addiction, could ever translate to being pop music. And i mean, wtf, on the surface even their name "Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark" was a mouthful, the total opposite of something catchy, easy on the ears or repeatable. Hannett knew best though, he had the industry insight the lads lacked. And hey, they are still here 40 years down the line. The power of pop music hehehe...

Errr, no they are NOT. They never ever were, if only for a brief moment and as an artistic juxtaposition or antithesis of you like.
I mean, this is so punk, it got the 999 and the Damned jealous:

And this is so electro punk it got the Prodigy's Liam crying how he didnt think of that:

Point is, the lads may have shown some aggression in Robot Rock but their music and body of work is soul/funk/disco/electro/house influenced and all boiled down to a pop idiom. Wth, Bangalter's dad, among others, wrote and produced "Cuba" by the Gibson Bros and D.I.S.C.O. by Ottawan. The son most likely had some legacy behind him to follow. Of course Bangalter rose to the occassion, made his own brand of disco and pop music but you know what they say: "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree"...

I see your Eno and Jarre and raise the stakes with this

And to come full round, some people would never think Kraftwerk is dance music and in extension pop(ular) music. And surely dance music can be pop. As much as it can be an idiosyncratic niche for a few :

 

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P.S. When I claimed "DP is more punk than pop" I was referring to so called "ElektroPunk" (or "Elektro-Dance Underground"), just to be clear.

 

@ taskforce The fact Kraftwerk made pop songs too such as "the model" does not mean they are a pop band. Infact they aren't. I would not call them "a pop band". Of course we are not talking of math science, Depeche Mode produced pop songs such as "just can't get enough" but at the same time you can find "Pimpf" in "Music for the Masses". Pink Floyd's "another brick in the wall" is a nice dance song, but you can't find something similar in "Ummagamma". And so on...

 

And who is a "pop band" my friend ? Fast answer is noone. MJ was named king of pop. I do love me some MJ but when i listen to MJ's music i hear no pop bro. All i hear is soul, disco, funk, r'n'b, gospel even rock and rap and house. But where the heck is the pop ? It is only as i explained , there is no genre called pop and there are no pop bands. Abba considered by many a pop band, they played everything. From straight rocknroll to disco to cheesy ballads. Their last album The Visitors even contains political lyrics. Anyway, what was named M.O.R music (middle of the road) in the 70s to describe music that was in the middle between rock and easy listening, suddenly became pop because it was more easily marketed that way. But the labels, critics and marketing gimmicks have very little to do with a band's own musical identity. And the very same band can steer to totally different directions because they are artists mate. They do whatever the fk they please

Err,, sorry the first Depeche Mode album was written exclusively by Vince Clark who left the band soon after the release and it is the only Depeche album that contains happy tunes, therefore it is the only album to be excluded as a paradigm for the typical Depeche sound which is dark, utilizing most always weird sounds creation along with minor melodies, the typical Martin Gore sound.

And it only means you can always create a catchy, easy on the ear song but this means nothing as there is no pop genre or pop bands, anything and anyone at any given time can be "pop". The term is so idiotically generic that it means actually nothing.

 

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Again, you're misunderstanding. Vince Clarke is not considered a "pop music" artist. Even Led Zeppelin made great pop songs. Would you call them "a pop band"? Let alone Frank Zappa... When I talk about "pop music" I mean the genre (invented in the U.S. in the fifties). "pop" is: 4/4, catchy melodies, easy lyrics, simple chord progressions, short length, good for radio and families.

 

"..'cause, the world hasn't got time, to listen four minute song.."

 

Any music that is popular is called “pop music”, so it's easy to get confused. Pop music in itself is a genre invented in the 50s. Otherwise should I call Pavarotti "a pop music singer" only because he's popular?

 

Definitions are a sticky wicket.

 

@MHEO Hey man, please define for me the term you keep using "a pop band", "a pop singer" etc. Give me an example of who is pop. For me nobody is a pop artist but many have made pop songs/tracks. And surely Pavarotti had sung pop at least one or two pop tracks.
As for the wikipedia explanation about pop music invented in the 50s etc, all i can say is Wikipedia is not Britannica or consists an authority in musicology. Thanks

 

I agree, exspecially in music. Despite this, they exist. I think one of the main reasons "pop music" is not easy to define as a genre is because it draws upon dance, rock, latin, country, folk, classical music styles. The way to define a tune "a pop song" is: (1) basic verse-chorus structure; (2) 3-4 minutes length; (3) easy singable lyrics; (4) 4/4 rhythm; (5) basic chord progression (Harmony and chord progressions in pop music are often "that of classical European tonality, only more simple-minded. Clichés include the barbershop quartet-style harmony (i.e. ii – V – I) and blues scale-influenced harmony); (6) good for families and tv-radio shows; (7) commercial (aim is business, not art).

P.S. (8) cheesy; (9) lots of teenager fans around the world.

 

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