The document provides information about pop music, including its definition, history, and examples of popular artists. It discusses key features of pop music such as catchy melodies, choruses, and relationship-focused lyrics. The history section outlines the emergence and evolution of pop music from the 1920s to the 2000s, mentioning influential artists like Elvis Presley and genres like rock and roll, Motown, and Britpop. The document also summarizes the history of music magazines and how they have analyzed pop music and targeted audiences over the years.

1. POP MUSIC

2. What you will learn
from this
PowerPoint.
• What pop music is
• History of pop music
• Examples of pop artists and their music
• The background of music magazines
• Analysing pop magazines
• Researching target audience
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 2

3. What is pop music?
• Pop music is the genre that produces most of the popular music hits.
• There are certain features that pop music should include: they have a
good rhythm, a catchy melody, and are easy to remember and sing
along to. They usually have a chorus that's repeated several times and
two or more verses.
• Most pop songs are between two-five minutes long, and they are
about relationships.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 3

4. The History of Pop Music1926 - The term pop music was first used; it meant that the song had popular appeal. The music would typically be
short love songs.
1950 – Rock n Roll emerged as a sub genre of pop music, it is still a popular genre today. One of the first groups to
emerge from this genre was Bill Haley & His Comets. One of the most famous artists in the 50’s was Elvis Presley.
He first started his career in 1954. He produced 32 number one hit singles and 18 number albums.
1960- the sixties brings Motown record corporation, this brought racial integration into the pop music
genre. The first ever single to get into the billboard hot 100 was ‘shop around’ by the Miracles
1980 - In 1981, MTV was created. This was huge in the 80’s and shown music videos, hosted by an on-
air host. The Buggles were a ‘new wave’ band and are known for their 1979 single “video killed the radio
star”, which was MTV’s first video premier. The 80’s also saw blondie’s biggest hit ‘call me’ which was at
number one for 6 weeks. Blondie was also a new wave artist. Hard rock and heavy metal also found
popularity in the 80’s. Run DMC were also an influential band during the 80’s.
1990 – grunge is one subgenre that peaked in popularity in the 90’s with bands such as Nirvana. Britpop
was formed in the 90’s as a subgenre of alternative rock. Blur was one of the groups who launched this
movement and Oasis joined in later on. Female pop icons, such as the Spice Girls, managed to break
America. They became the most commercially successful group since the Beatles.
2000 – The controversy over the music sharing program ‘Napstar’ began here. The creator was only 18
when he was 18. The big music companies sued them and got them shut down. Artists like Eminem and
Britney Spears were popular in this decade.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 4

5. Examples of popular music artists
• One Direction
• Katy Perry
• Beyoncé
• Taylor Swift
• Justin Timberlake
• Iggy Azalea
• Ariana
• Miley Cyrus
• Pharrell Williams
• Eminem
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 5

6. History of music magazines

7. The first issue of billboard was printed in 1894 but wasn’t widely
recognised until 1936 . This gradually moved into music charts. TBC
provided genres for music and this became the foundation for the slots
on the radio. For example, ‘The American Top 40’. It was made for
music professionals but was available to the general public.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 7

8. Melody maker began in 1926 and was a jazz magazine. In the 50’[s a
new magazine came out called ‘the new musical Express' which was
appealing to more of the younger generation as it had coverage on the
up coming music in rock and roll. They both had information on
upcoming music releases. They were both in newspaper format but in
1999, melody maker came out with a magazine style. In 2000, they
merged with NME which is also owned by IPC media.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 8

9. In 1967, Rolling stones was created and it reflected music as an
important part in the culture. It had articles about music, social change
and political concerns. It was more culture than factual.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 9

10. In 1978, smash hits was created. This is important as it was designed
as a genre-specific magazine. Kerrang! Was introduced in 1981 and it is
more music orientated than smash hits. In the 90’s specific genre
magazines were produced. For example, Mixmag which was dance, The
Source and Hip hop which was rap and hip hop and classic Rock which
was rock music for older audiences.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 10

11. The face was launched in 1980 by Nick Logan. It was a monthly
magazine that offered a colourful layout of smash hits but it was for
older audiences. The magazine was stopped in 20004 but it influenced
other magazines such as Q, Mojo and Uncut.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 11

12. In 1980, record collector which was full of adverts for buying and
selling music. It started as a A5 publication but launched again in 2004
as an A4 publication.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 12

13. Music magazines gave become less popular over the years as it is easier
to go on the internet for more information. The internet has
information for new CDs to new artists.
18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 13

14. Analysing magazines
Front covers and double page spreads

15. 18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 15
House style
They all have the billboard logo down the
side of the magazine front cover. This has
changed over the years. The picture below
was the original logo and then they have
since changed it to this simpler one. The
colour varies through different issues but it
gives it a more sophisticated look.
Big picture and image manipulation
On the new versions, there is always a big
picture in the middle of the front cover. On
the pictures, especially the girls, there would
have been a lot of manipulation. For
example, they would have smoothed out the
skin and made certain body parts thinner. In
the Taylor swift issue, they have enhanced
the colour of her eyes to make the blue pop.
They could have also done it to Zayn's to
make his eyes darker.
Language
On the front cover, they don’t use many
words but the titles and pull lines are
creative and will pull the readers in. for
example, they use a play on words on
the Zayn's issue. It says ‘Zayn Malik’s
new direction’. This is because he left
one direction and started writing his
own music. Also, on the Indina Menzel
issue, it says ‘The (Not so) New ‘It’ Girl’.
This means that she's been around for a
while but she has had a comeback.

16. 18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 16
House style
All of these issues have a big masthead, which is
the q, in the corner of the page. It is the same in
every issue. The colour scheme are mostly the
same on each : red, black and white. Furthermore,
opposite to the billboard house style, this magazine
has a lot more writing on the front page.
Big picture and image manipulation
The pictures of the celebrities are in the middle and
it takes up most of the front page. Cheryl’s front cover
was most likely manipulated to make her face more
defined and the colours to pop out more on the
picture.
Language and type faces.
Like I said before, Q magazine uses a lot more
titles on their front cover. They also use words
such as ‘best’, ‘rocks’ and essential. These make
the articles sound exciting and will make the
reader want to read more of the article. They
also use various fonts and sizes to make certain
parts of the articles stand out. They stay with the
black, white and red theme through the fonts as
well.

17. 18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 17
The title and picture is large, this
draws attention to who the article is
about, in this case, its mark ronson.
They add a bit of information
about the article underneath the
title. This will make the readers
want to read more of the article.
There’s a quote that is
larger than the rest of
the text, bringing
more attention to it
and shows its an
important quote.
The colour scheme
is black and white,
keeping it simple
but effective and it
is easier to read.

18. 18/04/2017 By Megan Gilmore 18
The design reflects the artist, as he
looks like he’s part of a rock/punk
band. The colour scheme is simple
and only uses a few colours which
are black, white and pink.
The questions are
highlighted in white to
make them stand out
more and makes it easier
to distinguish between
question and answer.
This magazine also
uses a line to pull
readers in to read
more of the article.
The image of the artist is
big and shows the reader
who the article is about.
It sticks out on the plain
grey background.