Artists like Elton John, Paul Mc Cartney and Peter Frampton created, catchy, mostly guitar based songs which were an upbeat variety of rock songs in the early 70s which were a subgenre of pop and rock songs. These songs popularly known as “Power Pop” had lyrical content which was secondary to the music in these songs. Pop rock is considered to have different roots and is more pronounced in the US than the UK. This genre synchronizes the totally different genres of pop and rock which are often considered to be cynically authentic and sincerely anti – commercial respectively.
As soon as the 1960s came to an end, different variations of rock music had already begun to come up by various bands of that decade. The ones who inculcated pop music with rock music were the creators of what is fondly called today as pop music. The greats and legends of music such as BOB DYLAN, PINK FLOYD, MICHAEL JACKSON, THE BEATLES and of course, THE ROLLING STONES experimented and mixed pop with rock only to create mega super duper hits such as Hey Jude, Billy Jean, Another Brick in the wall.
As is the nature of the universe, pop rock music like everything evolved and here is a look at pop rock music of different eras:-
1.1970
Fondly remembered as the period of puberty for pop rock, this decade saw the greats of Billy Joel, Elton John, Bee Gees, Three Dog Night, among others. These bands and singers produced as termed by the Wikipedia singles-oriented sound with soul-influences.
2.1980
This was the period which saw the likes of Stevie wonder, Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams, Maddona, Billy Ocean and others rock the stage with their performances. Pop rock evolved even more with the oncoming of QUEEN who drifted from hard rock to pop rock and produced masterpieces such as WE WILL ROCK YOU. After the demise of Disco era of the 60s and 70s there was a noticeable void left in the music industry and it was during this period that pop rock began to be played in everyone’s Walkman.
3.1990
This decade saw the fusion of punk rock with pop rock to create what is called today pop punk. This style of music which ruled all the charts during the period of 1990s was pioneered by Green Day and The Offspring. You can find hits of this period such as “American Idiot”, “Time of Your Life”, “Boulevard of broken dreams” still ruling the hearts of many and present in the iPods of many. In the later part of this period pop artists such as Shakira, Robbie Williams, Alanis Moiresette, and The cranberries top the billboard and other charts all over the world.
4.2000
The 2000s era saw a drift from punk music to soft pop with the likes of Maroon 5, James Blunt, Jonas Brother, Avril Lavigne, Pink rule the chartbusters. You’re Beautiful”, “She will be loved”, “Girlfriend” were the notable hits of the period. The Billboard saw smashing hits in the pop rock genre during this period.
Pop Rock has evolved and is still evolving with each passing day. New bands are arising and are creating mega hits. This is the reason that despite half a century having been passed pop rock continues to make us dance to its tune and continues to rule our hearts.