Contrasting Musical Styles: Pop Versus Country

Style 1

Pop

Genres like rock and roll influenced pops inception. Artists such as The Beatles and Elvis transformed Rock and Roll into Pop Music. They did this in the beginning of the 60s to the beginning of the 70s.

‘Many cultural movements of the 1960s were assisted or inspired by the Beatles’ One of the main ones is Pop Music. The Beatles was a clear influence to pop as an average of one of every 3 weeks, their song was Number One.

Pop music means Popular Music, showing that cultures everywhere around the world have their own idea of Pop Culture.

Significant artists/bands/producers

A modern significant Pop Artist would be Lady Gaga or Sia. Both of these artists have a massive influence on 21st Century Pop. They both introduced new sounds within pop, this influenced other artists to make similar types of music. Mark Daniel Ronson has produced for Lady Gaga, this producer has also produced for many popular pop artists, such as Adele, Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars and many other massive artists.

Sia is an Australian singer, songwriter. Sia’s producer, Greg Kurstin, has produced for many albums, accumulating over 85 million record sales over all the artists he has produced for.

Michael Jackson was a very important figure in pop and he was even dubbed ‘The King Of Pop.’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson)

He started of singing in a group called the “Jackson Five” and then went on to a solo artist. Many important albums like “Thriller” hit number 4 on the billboard top 100.

Madonna has been a significant artist for many years, starting solo in 1981. She has been active in music ever since then, and has released 14 albums, which is alot for the average artist.

An Important event was the Ariana Grande Manchester Bombing, Twenty-Two people died in the attack. A week and a half after the attack, she went back to Manchester to raise money for the victims and the victims families. This was a huge performance, and was broadcasted on live TV. The concert afterwards put a positive influence on her career, as she raised $23,000,000 towards the reparations, and to the friends and family of those who were lost.

Another important event is Glastonbury, the largest concert that ever took place there was “The Levellers” in 1994 which took a host to 300,000 people just at one concert. Other people who played at this concert were Björk, Oasis, Chumbawamba and Manic Street Preachers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVvMopn2os This shows how popular Glastonbury was and still is.

Important recordings/performances/events

Imagery and fashion are associated with the style

Pop music has a quite basic style, but bright colours are incorporated a lot of the time. A type of style commonly worn throughout pop artists is “Classic.”

Geri Halliwell, from the spice girls, iconically wore this dress in the 1997 BRIT Awards. This was a way to stand out from the other artists that were performing at the time. This is an example of wearing something so outrageous that it draws attention, this also would influence people with fashion choices.

The Beatles have one of the most pieces of imagery in Pop Music. This image is renowned everywhere due to its recognisability. This image has been used throughout pop culture.

Style 2

Country

The factors that influenced its inception

Country is a genre of music that originated in the 1920s from the Southern States in the United States. This genre was derived from Blues, which originated in the Deep South in the 1870s. This genre also was a parent genre for other ones like Bluegrass, Jazz, Jug band, Ragtime, Rhythm and blues and Rock and Roll. Country also drew influence from Appalachian Folk, which originated in Appalachia in the 18th century.

Significant artists/bands/producers

One of the biggest figures in Country is Dolly Parton. She started singing in 1956, and has been active ever since. She peaked in popularity during the Late 1970s and Early 1980s with the songs “9 to 5” In 1978, “Here you come again” In 1978 and “Island in the stream” in 1983. All of these songs reached higher than #3 on the charts, and were undoubtedly her most popular songs.

Johnny Cash was also a massive artist who has 13 Number One singles in the 50 years he was creating music. He was most popular around the late sixties, with albums like “At Folsom Prison” and “At San Quentin” Both of these albums were recorded in jail. He was arrested 7 times over his career.

Important recordings/performances/events

Bristol, Tennessee was the first city to start recording country music regularly. This is why it is known as the birthplace of country music. The first recordings here were in 1927, this signified the start of country.

Dolly Parton released her first record “Happy Birthday, Baby.” This created one of countries biggest stars.

Johnny Cash released his first record “Hey Porter” and “Cry, Cry, Cry” in 1955.

Imagery and fashion associated with the style

Country style heavily incorporates cowboy and rodeo style, which includes Cowboy hats, Suede/Leather trousers and Boots.

Artists like John Denver and Dolly Parton express this, they are both pictured wearing clothes that suit this stereotype.

The clothes reflects the fashion the main ‘Country ‘ music audience wears in the middle parts of America.