House music originated in Chicago in the early 1980s, first breaking out in 1984. Just a year later, house music had gone global; it was popular across the world from L.A. to New York City and across the Atlantic to London and Paris, as well as across Mexico and Canada.

Origins of the Term

The term house music comes from legendary Chicago club The Warehouse, where Frankie Knuckles – The Godfather of House Music – was the DJ from the late 1970s to early 1980s, playing a combination of late disco and dance tracks, often mixed together. The bars of the city quickly realised the popularity of “House music,” referring to the club, and thus the genre was born.

While Chicago was the birthplace of house, other regions quickly developed their own interpretation of the genre.

House around the World

In the late 1980s, Detroit became a rival to the Chicago house scene, although it was better known for having a strong techno and dance tradition rather than being solely a hotbed of house. Despite the difference between genres, the way the two northern American cities were influencing each other was clear for fans of music everywhere, and they continued to be intertwined as they grew.

In the wider United States, New York was the third city where house was big, and while there was a scene in almost all the big cities, it was in the north of the country where the first big house artists would emerge and where the club scene would be liveliest.

The other major hub of house music was the UK, where by 1987 house was a regular genre in the mainstream charts. House in the UK was heavily influenced by the europop sound that had been so commercially successful throughout the 1980s, which is partly why is was able to hit the mainstream so quickly.

Into the 1990s

Although house music in the 90s would evolve off into various other genres, including rave and indie dance, pioneered by bands like The Happy Mondays, the foundation was still popular. This would then lead to the birth of hard house, which saw this genre return to its Chicago roots where DJ’s such as Bad Boy Bill would introduce funk elements and mix it with a heavier sound.

By the end of the decade, Europe had again come to the fore, with bands like Daft Punk and Stardust, who are still popular today, emerging from what had until this point been the non-mainstream Paris house scene.

21^st Century House

The 21^st century has been notable for various evolutions in music, notably dubstep, but once again house has endured. The continuing success of the bands already mentioned, as well as the emergence of Deadmau5 and Swedish House Mafia, has kept house in the mainstream. Popular DJ’s of recent years, predominantly David Guetta and Calvin Harris, has ensured that the genre remains popular in mainstream charts as well as around the global club scene.

Image Author: Flickr – swimfinfan

This history of pop music is, perhaps surprisingly, not the easiest thing to analyse and track. The primary reason for this is that pop is an abbreviation of the word popular. Therefore, the true history of pop music would go right back to when music began, and trace its way through every genre or style that has been popular in up until the present day.

However, we are going to look at what most people traditionally define as pop.

The Birth of Pop

1950’s rock and roll in the United States was really the birthplace of what we would call pop music today. The term would be used interchangeably with rock and roll or simply rock until around 1967. At this time, as harder, edgier bands like Black Sabbath were starting to emerge onto the music scene, pop music became seen as the opposite of rock.

Pop’s Growing Appeal

The redefining of music’s boundaries was definitely a good thing. There would have been much confusion if the electronic pop acts that were huge in the 1970’s, including ABBA, had been classified as rock artists using the interchangeable method mentioned above.

Despite this new trend of electronic pop becoming popular, bands like The Rolling Stones, as well as individual members of The Beatles, maintained huge crossover appeal. David Bowie is perhaps the best example of an artist who was able to transcend genres. Bowie’s music was usually based on guitars, piano, and a range of other instruments, but had a distinct sound that you couldn’t really class as anything other than pop.

The Pop Pathway

That final sentence tells you a lot about where pop music went in the 1970’s and into the 1980’s. With so many musical genres developing both on the rock side of things in addition to electro, dance, and R&B, it almost became the case that if you didn’t fit into a specific genre, you were a pop artist.

However, it still remained the case that the biggest artists usually found their inspiration in a specific genre before becoming a ‘pop star.’ Michael Jackson, for example, is known as the ‘King of Pop,’ but no one can deny his primary roots were in soul, R&B, funk, and disco.

Pop Today

Modern pop seems to have defined itself as any music that doesn’t fit a specific genre or involves the playing of instruments. While bands like Take That and One Direction probably best fit the ‘pop’ mould today, the biggest stars remain those with crossover genre appeal. Justin Timberlake, for example, is definitely a pop artist despite getting edgier and moving more towards pure R&B during his solo career, while Rihanna is another who mixes genres brilliantly.

Lady Gaga is one example of a current artist that sticks solely to pop music, but along with the bands mentioned above, she is in the minority.

Image Author: Xiaozhuli