Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock ) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock music . Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll , early pop rock was influenced by the beat , arrangements, and original style of rock and roll (and sometimes doo-wop ). It may be viewed as a distinct genre field rather than music that overlaps with pop and rock. The detractors of pop rock often deride it as a slick, commercial product and less authentic than rock music.
21-573: The Rainbirds are a German pop rock band established in 1986 around singer Katharina Franck . Their greatest hit is the song "Blueprint". The band formed in 1986 and named themselves after an instrumental track by Tom Waits . When they won the Rock competition of the Senate of Berlin, they were contracted by Mercury Records . Their first album Rainbirds was produced in the Audio Studios of Berlin and became
42-422: A "real connection with the audience". Frith's analysis of the history of popular music from the 1950s to the 1980s has been criticized by B. J. Moore-Gilbert, who argues that Frith and other scholars have overemphasized the role of rock in the history of popular music by naming every new genre using the "rock" suffix. Thus, when a folk-oriented style of music developed in the 1960s, Frith termed it "folk rock", and
63-578: A Different Light (1993). Drummer Tim Lorenz joined them in 1994 as a third member. In the following years the band published two studio albums, Making Memory (1996) and Forever (1997), as well as a live album rainbirds3000.live (1999), their last release. Katharina Franck continued a solo career that had already begun in 1997 with a spoken word album Hunger and published a second solo album Zeitlupenkino ( lit. slow motion cinema) on Mute Records in 2002. Also Ulrike Haage, after recording numerous audio plays and composing theatre music, presented
84-555: A bright mood. Critic Philip Auslander argues that the distinction between pop and rock is more pronounced in the US than in the UK. He claims that in the US, pop has roots in white crooners such as Perry Como , whereas rock is rooted in African-American music influenced by forms such as rock and roll . Auslander points out that the concept of pop rock, which blends pop and rock, is at odds with
105-549: A four-volume set, Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media & Cultural Studies (Routledge, 2004), and published a collection of his key essays, Taking Popular Music Seriously: Selected Essays (Ashgate, 2007). He is the co-author of a three-volume work, The History of Live Music in Britain since 1950 , the first volume of which will be published in March 2013 by Ashgate. Frith has chaired
126-467: A softer alternative to rock and roll. In the aftermath of the British Invasion , from about 1967, it was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock, to describe a form that was more commercial, ephemeral and accessible. As of the 2010s, "guitar pop rock" and " indie rock " are roughly synonymous terms. " Jangle " is a noun-adjective that music critics often use in reference to guitar pop with
147-560: A solo album Sélavy in 2004. Drummer Tim Lorenz operates a recording studio in Berlin. In 2013, the Rainbirds reformed with a new line-up. Prior to the re-release of their remastered debut album Rainbirds , it was announced in September 2013 that a new album had been recorded with Katharina Franck as singer, drummer Bela Brauckmann, and electronic musician Gunter Papperitz. This new album, Yonder ,
168-430: A success, the single "Blueprint" enjoyed attention across Europe in 1988. The band's first line-up included Katharina Franck (guitar, vocals), Michael Beckmann (bass), and Wolfgang Glum (drums). Due to a concert tour, guitarist Rodrigo González became a member of the Rainbirds. Later he joined Die Ärzte and Abwärts . In the spring of 1989, the second album Call Me Easy, Say I'm Strong, Love Me My Way, It Ain't Wrong
189-489: Is a mass cultural form which derives its meaning and relevance from being a mass medium . He discusses the differences in perception and use of rock between the music industry and music consumers, as well as differences within those groups: "The industry may or may not keep control of rock's use, but it will not be able to determine all its meanings – the problems of capitalist community and leisure are not so easily resolved." Frith (2004, p. 17-9) argued that "'bad music'
210-591: Is a British sociomusicologist and former rock critic who specializes in popular music culture. He is Professor Emeritus of Music at University of Edinburgh . As a student, he read PPE at Oxford and earned a doctorate in sociology from UC Berkeley . He is the author of many influential books, including The Sociology of Rock (Constable, 1978), Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock 'n' Roll (Pantheon, 1981), Art into Pop (Methuen, 1987 – written with Howard Horne), Music for Pleasure: Essays on
231-518: Is a necessary concept for musical pleasure, for musical aesthetics ." He distinguishes two common kinds of bad music; the first is the Worst Records Ever Made type, which includes: The second type is the "rock critical list", which includes: He later gives three common qualities attributed to bad music: inauthentic, [in] bad taste (see also: kitsch ), and stupid. He argues that "The marking off of some tracks and genres and artists as 'bad'
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#1733094021576252-596: The University of Edinburgh , from which he retired and was appointed Professor Emeritus in 2017. He is the brother of guitarist and composer Fred Frith and neuroscientist Chris Frith . According to author Bernard Gendron, writing in his 2002 book Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde , Frith "has done the most to lay the foundations for the analysis of rock criticism ". Frith
273-421: The 1970s; he regarded "pop-rock" as a "monolith" that "straddled" all burgeoning movements and subgenres in the popular and semipopular music marketplace at the time, including singer-songwriter music, art rock , heavy metal , boogie , country rock , jazz fusion , funk , disco , urban contemporary , and new wave , but not punk rock . Simon Frith Simon Webster Frith OBE (born 1946)
294-647: The Sociology of Pop (Cambridge University Press, 1988), and Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music (Oxford University Press, 1996). He has also co-edited key anthologies in the interdisciplinary field of popular music studies, including: On Record: Rock, Pop & the Written Word (Routledge, 1990), Sound and Vision: Music Video Reader (Routledge, 1993), and The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge University Press, 2001). More recently, Frith has edited
315-474: The authors Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, it is defined as an "upbeat variety of rock music" represented by artists and bands such as Andy Kim , the Bells , Paul McCartney , Lighthouse , and Peter Frampton . The term "pop" has been used since the early forties to refer to popular music in general, but in the mid-1950s, it began to be used for a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as
336-714: The judges of the Mercury Music Prize since it began in 1992. His popular music criticism has appeared in a range of popular presses including the Village Voice and The Sunday Times . He taught in the Sociology Department at the University of Warwick and the English Studies Department at Strathclyde University . In 1999, he went to the University of Stirling as Professor of Film and Media. In 2006, he took up his last post, Tovey Chair of Music at
357-455: The pop-infused styles of the 1970s were called "pop rock". Moore-Gilbert claims that this approach unfairly puts rock at the apex and makes every other influence become an add-on to the central core of rock. In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau discussed the term "pop-rock" in the context of popular music's fragmentation along stylistic lines in
378-440: The typical conception of pop and rock as opposites. Auslander and several other scholars, such as Simon Frith and Grossberg, argue that pop music is often depicted as an inauthentic, cynical, "slickly commercial", and formulaic form of entertainment. In contrast, rock music is often heralded as an authentic, sincere, and anti-commercial form of music, which emphasizes songwriting by the singers and bands, instrumental virtuosity, and
399-513: Was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to higher education and popular music. In The Sociology of Rock (1978) Frith examines the consumption , production , and ideology of rock music . He explores rock as leisure , as youth culture , as a force for liberation or oppression, and as background music . He argues that rock music
420-459: Was released in May 2014. Pop rock Much pop and rock music has been very similar in sound, instrumentation and even lyrical content. The terms "pop rock" and " power pop " have been used to describe more commercially successful music that uses elements from, or the form of, rock music. Writer Johan Fornas views pop/rock as "one single, continuous genre field", rather than distinct categories. To
441-472: Was released, with a video clip by director and photographer Anton Corbijn . Corbijn who was known for his photographs of bands like Depeche Mode and U2 became the Rainbird's favourite photographer in the following years. After this album, the band separated and Katharina Franck reformed the Rainbirds as a duo with piano player Ulrike Haage . They released two albums in this line-up: Two Faces (1991) and In
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