When you think of pop music, the phrase today connotes a narrow definition reflecting only currently favorite performers. The term “pop music” needs a wider interpretation to cover the decades of what began as “popular music”.

Although mass media distribution has influenced the music industry in general, popular music encompasses the whole of the public consensus of tunes for everyday enjoyment, without regard to a particular complexity characteristic of classical pieces. Pop music spans decades, reflecting cultural takes on the Flapper era, Big Band and Swing, along with Barbara Streisand and Barry Manilow. Unlike classical music, popular music depends on a simple, catchy beat that strikes a chord with the general public.

The pop music movement made its official inroads in the 1970's as a backlash statement mocking the advertisement-style jingles that littered the 1950's music world.

You may well wonder when “pop music” bridged the gap between “popular music” and today's “pop music” moniker?

The 1970's emphasized flamboyance, neon-colored fabrics in large designs, excessive amounts of costume jewelry, sparkles, plastic and shiny outfits. Big hair, big shoes and big accessories. Mass media was still young, and had only begun to exploit the power of their medium and influence. Once entrenched in daily life, popular culture  was as close as your remote control. Fads and trends could be apprehended right on your TV. You could hardly not know what was hip, groovy, and in.

The 1970's popular music scene produced a more mechanical and sanitized  version of the 1960's. It got to the point where so many people wanted to be against the current trend, that they became the  current trend! Everyone wanted to stick out more than the next. The pop music trend became a cliché.

Music videos first hit public awareness in the mid 1970's, unleashing an entirely new way to broadcast and capture the popular audience. Michael Jackson, Olivia Newton John, Barry Manilow and others exemplify the newer definition. A steady beat, flashy costumes and a catchy tune fulfilled the criterion for popular appeal.

In the late 1970's, glamor and glitz began to fade, not to be resurrected until the late 1990's. The early 1990's was the 1970's on steroids. Everything was colorful, stuck out, very in-your-face, but lacking the free spirit and laid-back attitude of the 1970's. The early 1990's were rough and grungy. 

In the late 1990's, youth tired of the intense lifestyle, and popular  music moved back to an emphasis on image. Image surpassed musical talent.  Lyrics became generic, easily digestible melodies, soon forgotten.

The image of popular music gave way to a dumbed down new model. So what's in store for pop music fans? We can only hope for a new Johnny Cash!