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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nWhat is pop music? Whatever your head just said is wrong. Or if not, it\u2019s not the whole story. One definition is it\u2019s anything popular. \u201cPop\u201d is right there in the word, right? But that\u2019s TOO facile. Let\u2019s dig deeper. Where does \u201cpop\u201d/\u201cpopular\u201d come from? The shared root means \u201cpeople\u201d. Like in \u201cpopulace\u201d or \u201cpopulation\u201d. So pop music is music of the people, by the people, for the people. It\u2019s the \u201cpeople\u2019s music\u201d. Music made by people is pop music? That seems super broad and \u201cduh\u201d inducing. Well sit down, because I\u2019m going to tell you how it\u2019s even broader than you think.\n\nThe definitions of \u201cpop music\u201d \u201cpopular music\u201d I\u2019ve found online bend over backwards to make distinctions & divisions. They are also WRONG because they all start with the base assumption that there\u2019s a difference between \u201chigh-brow\u201d and \u201clow-brow\u201d music \u2013 that classical, jazz, avant-garde, world, and several other more esoteric forms are worthy of more status & study than rock, hip hop, soul, country, folk. Not only is the assumption of difference WRONG, the distinctions of \u201chigh-brow\u201d and \u201clow-brow\u201d themselves are equally meaningless.\n\nPeople listen to what they want & like what they like. This has never been truer, because the internet gives most of us access to almost every piece of recorded music in history, which includes music created long before sound recording. Assuming one person listens to classical while another listens to hip hop is, plain and simple, profiling. We all have tastes that go beyond our assumed demographic. And by definition, what PEOPLE listen to is POP music. This has included music from every genre & sphere, regardless of status, popularity or financial success. Music floats in & out of the zeitgeist & marketplace all the time. Just like how the stock market has nothing to do with most people\u2019s day to day life, what songs stream the most has nothing to do with the identity of pop.\n\nThe only way to describe pop music's sound is: everything. It sounds & has sounded & will sound like every kind of music that\u2019s ever existed, no matter what scholars claim. No other definition is useful or constructive. There's no high-brow or low-brow. ALL music is NO-BROW. Is it fun to research the music of different eras? Absolutely. I love hearing the changes & evolution. But these are cross-sections of a body of work that in no way tell the whole story. They\u2019re as representative of pop as a person\u2019s clothing is to their existence \u2013 which is to say pretty much not at all.\n\nWe constantly make distinctions & divisions. Every day \u2013 often unconsciously \u2013 we make decisions about what things, ideas & people are deserving of more status, respect, popularity, power. It\u2019s human nature to categorize & create hierarchies. And it\u2019s the nature of most people in power to reinforce these distinctions to create more division, to the point where we take on their way of seeing the world & start to subdivide ourselves. People who otherwise have 95% in common become enemies because of that 5% difference. It\u2019s important we see this power play, admit our very human part in it & remain aware of it daily, so that we can consciously redirect our judgments & open our thought processes to the notion that all of these distinctions are artificial. Just like how a dance song can be as worthy as Mahler, or a hip hop song can be as deep & meaningful as Miles Davis, people & ideas & organizations & objects & all art are not defined by class or race or mode of communication or look or how much money they cost. What people love is what matters. That's pop & pop is us.\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices