Pop music and the youth

“POP” is short for ‘popular’ and there has always been popular music. Burt until the 1950s there wasn’t a style of music just for young people. And nowadays it is part and parcel of teenager’s life. Pop music is diverse and every youngster can express himself through it. While a teenager, a person tries to find himself in this world. His attitudes towards other people, towards society values, towards everything are formed and his character is moulded. Pop music plays a significant role in the formation of personality.

With the appearance of rock & roll began the history of pop as a style of music for young people. Rock and roll came into existence in America in the 1950s. Some of its first big stars were black, but then white singers began to copy them. And the most popular was Elvis Presley, who called himself “The King of Rock & Roll”. He was a rough, tough and dangerous man, who played dangerous music, but he was a real hero among youngsters. In the 1960s new groups and singers appeared. The most popular groups were the Rolling Stones that played hard and aggressive rock and roll and the Beatles or so-called “ The Flab Four”, which played a mixture of rock and pop. Both these groups led a British “invasion” of American charts. As for America itself, at this time a new record label started there, including Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and others. There also was “hippy rock” and many festivals were held. The biggest one, called “Woodstock” was on a farm in New York in 1969.

In the 1970s the highlights of rock and pop are The Sex Pistols and Abba. Abba’s song’s were popular with people of different ages. They were superstars entertainers: they used costumes, videos, etc. The Sex Pistols appeared together with the punk revolution and looked poor and angry, but they brought new energy to music. At this time there were other superstars like Elton John, Rod Steward, the Queen etc.

The most important musical event of the 1980s was “Live Aid” – a huge rock concert, that raised over $100 million for the starving people in Ethiopia in 1984. It showed that pop musicians and their fans could “change the world”.

Youth can’t do without pop music, each subculture includes this or that style of music. For example, music is the most important aspect of the punk subculture. Punk music is called punk rock and it is performed in a specific style of rock music. Different punk subcultures often distinguish themselves by having a unique style of punk rock. Most punk rock songs are short, have complicated arrangement and features lyrics that express punk values. And it is usually played in bands.

So pop music is an essential part of youth life-style. It gives youngsters different ideas of the world, shows them some aspects of life, which are not always obvious, and each person chooses that style, which is closer to him, which agrees with his personality.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14