Pop Rock
Pop rock is a genre of music that mixes pop elements with rock music. Songs are characterized by simple structure, catchy melodies, the usage of electric guitars and aggressive drums. The heaviness of songs can be different from instrumental pop to hard compositions punctuated with pop melodies.
The term «pop rock» first was used to describe the first The Beatles` hits and their followers such as The Grass Roots, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Buckinghams. Sometimes the term «surf rock» is attributed to pop rock; but this is considered as anachronism because in the 60s surf music and rock music were different music genres.
Pop rock paves the way for soft rock in the 1970s. In spite of the fact that there were several groups defined as pop rock in the 70s-80s, the genre was continued as hard ballads by hard rock or heavy metal groups alongside songs, a tempo of which was faster than in soft rock songs.
The last wave of pop rock emerged in the mid-90s with music by Alanis Morissette and Melissa Etheridge. In recent years, there was a pop rock revival when hard rock has declined in popularity, as opposed to rap, R&B, and hip-hop. The characteristic feature of rock songs is the alternation of soft couplets with loud choruses – the influence of alternative rock. Among contemporary pop rock artists attention should be paid to OneRepublic, The All-American Rejects, Kelly Clarkson, Roxette, PMMP, The Rasmus, Melanie C, The Veronicas, Tokio Hotel, Avril Lavigne, Gregory Lemarchal, LaFee, Adam Lambert.
In Russia and many others post-soviet countries pop rock music is very popular due to radio broadcasting. Among them the most famous are Мумий Тролль (Mumij Troll'), Земфира (Zemfira), Ночные Снайперы (Nochnye Snajpery), Океан Ельзи (Okean Jel'zi), Звери (Zveri), Brainstorm, Город 312 (Gorod 312), Братья Гримм (Brat'ja Grim), and Ранетки (Ranetki). The frontman of the Mumij Troll` band coined a Russian ironic analog of the term «pop rock» - «rokapops».
Umbrellate style: Pop
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