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Music

Pop Music

When did pop music emerge?

Pop music, the shortened form of popular music, embraces blues, jazz, hip hop, rock, funk, rhythm and blues, rap, and other genres. It has been recognized since the first quarter of the nineteenth century, when black and other ethnic performers began to change the musical landscape of America. Nonblack audiences have consumed much of the music that developed out of black musical traditions. This trend followed even when public audiences were largely racially segregated. Beginning in the 1960s, when Motown Records was founded, talented black singers appealed to larger, mixed audiences and also propelled pop music to international acclaim. Michael Jackson’s album Thriller (1982) was a megahit and also played a major role in exposing pop music to an international scene. Beginning in the 1980s, the fusion of styles and genres and the use of modern technology produced music that reflected and appealed to the culture of the younger generation.



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