Friday, September 21, 2001

Pop music always stays mainstream, more than guilty pleasure
By David Reese
Skiff Staff

Amid a smoke-filled auditorium with disco lights circulating, the crowd at Lincoln Junior High School in Oceanside, Calif., seemed dumbfounded by young pubescent boys jumping around and singing brainless music. This was 1994, the era of grunge when, if you weren’t wearing flannels or from Seattle, you weren’t worth listening to. Who would have thought that a male pop group singing sugary, artificial songs to a crowd of magazine fundraiser winners would become, in less than five years, one of the most successful boy bands of the decade? Surely, this was a group that would end up in obscurity.

After the concert, I walked out of the auditorium and threw my autographed poster of the group into the trash. Those of us who attended that assembly and threw our posters away are kicking ourselves now.

The group known today as the Backstreet Boys , then on a promotional tour of middle schools, exploded onto the music scene first in Europe and then America in the mid-1990s. Rock music was much more popular at the time, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise that this group would eventually become successful. Throughout music history, pop has proven that it follows a cyclical pattern and will come full circle to the forefront each time.

My affection for pop music began in the era of Michael Jackson and Madonna. These two were the biggest superstars and icons of the 1980s and to this day are still very influential in the music business, indicating the staying power of pop music.

These two artists, with the help of the MTV music channel started in 1981, created a generation that was drawn to the music and the visuals in music videos.

MTV and these pop artists’ influences were felt across the entire country and eventually around the whole world. I remember when my friends and I began watching MTV as young children. We used to run home after school each day to catch a glimpse of our favorite stars by learning their new songs, dance moves and fashion styles. I can vividly recall whenever the “Thriller” video by Michael Jackson was aired, my older sister would tell me to turn the television on because she knew it scared me so much. The dancing werewolves and zombies were frightening to most, but as I look back now I realize what a technologically innovative video it was for 1983.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, pop music resurged once again after a brief invasion by hair bands. Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, Debbie Gibson and George Michael brought the pop music back into the forefront of society with a twist as these artists became more outspoken with their lyrics about independence and sexuality.

After nearly a decade of message-driven music in the forms of alternative and rap, many listeners, especially those under the age of 18, turned towards the ever-popular pop music. At the end of the 20th century and into the new millennium, a “bubble gum” pop with an R&B flavor has invaded our radios, televisions and lives in the form of boy bands and female entertainers. The music tends to be something like “synth-pop” which creates sounds that you can dance to and by which you can remember fun old times. The pop revolution of the late 1990s can be credited to the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears.

These pop artists helped people get back on the dance floor and just enjoy the music without having to analyze what they were saying. Madonna and Michael Jackson are once again on the pop scene with the most recent reincarnation of pop music. Both artists are credited by many of today’s biggest artists like ‘NSync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera as their biggest influences. Not only influences, Madonna recently went on a sold-out elaborate world tour and Michael Jackson will release a new album in late October 2001.

The truth is pop music has not really changed throughout the decades and has never really disappeared from the airwaves. As an avid pop fan, I have always found an artist or song that I could sing or dance to even when pop music was not the mainstream. This type of music has always been prominent because it is an escape from life. It may sound naive, but with all of the world problems, I would rather sit down and listen to a song about sugary sweet love than hear about real life events such as rapes, murders and death. I am proud to say it: I love pop music and I know that many of you like at least one ‘NSync or Britney Spears song. It is the ultimate guilty pleasure.

The type of pop music that Spears, ‘NSync and the other copycat pop artists perform have come and gone in almost every generation. Our parents’ generation had The Beatles, our older siblings had New Kids on the Block and now we have ‘NSync. Although the fun-loving pop music has been so successful lately, it seems to be once more dying down. It seems that the teen pop scene of today is beginning to fade and a rock revolution is beginning to hit us again with artists like Linkin Park, Staind, Tool, Fuel and Sum 41.

One of my professors, who will remain nameless, said the other day that she listens to some of the goofiest pop music like Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. We may make fun of her type of music today, but I can tell you that tomorrow we might be dancing in the streets to it once again. And I also know that even if the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears are not at the top of the charts, pop music will still be present through some artist and their music.

David Reese is a junior news-editorial and speech communication major from Oceanside, Calif.
He can be comtacted at (d.w.reese@student.tcu.edu).