INFLUENCES OF

MUSIC STYLE
Mary Medrana

Pop music
Early pop music drew on the sentimental ballad for its form, gained its use of vocal harmonies from
gospel and soul music, instrumentation from jazz, country, and rock music, orchestration from
classical music, tempo from dance music, backing from electronic music, rhythmic elements from
hip-hop music, and has recently appropriated spoken passages from rap.
1940s improved microphone design allowed a more intimate singing style that has helped to move
pop music to a record/radio/film star system.
1950s the technological change of the widespread availability of television with televised
performances (pop stars had to have a visual presence)
1960s introduction of portable transistor radios that meant that teenagers could listen to music
outside of the home. This has helped for the creation and elaboration of pop music.
1980s promotion of pop music had been greatly affected by the rise of Music Television channels
like MTV.
Pop music has been dominated by the American and British music industries, whose influence has
made pop music something of an international monoculture.

Rock music
Heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music.
Also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and
incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.
In the new millennium the term rock has sometimes been used as a blanket term
including forms such as pop music, reggae music, soul music and even hip hop,
with which it has been influenced but often contrasted through much of its history.
British rock groups at clubs and local dances, heavily influenced by blues-rock
pioneers like Alexis Korner, were starting to play with an intensity and drive
seldom found in American acts.
Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of other subgenres, including new wave, post-punk and eventually the alternative rock
movement.
The hybridization of folk and rock has been seen as having a major influence on the
development of rock music.

Alternative music
At first, the term alternative music referred to intentionally non-mainstream rock acts that were not
influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems.
By 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and
particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a sharp break from the futuristic, hyper-rational
post-punk years.
Early American bands combined punk influences with folk music and mainstream influences.
The C86 cassette, a 1986 NME premium featuring Primal Scream, The Wedding Present and others,
was a major influence on the development of indie pop and the British indie scene as a whole.
Britpop bands were influenced by and displayed reverence for British guitar music of the past,
particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, and punk rock.
The strong influence of heavy metal and progressive rock on the album smashing pumpkins helped to
legitimize alternative rock to mainstream radio programmers and close the gap between alternative
rock and the type of rock played on American 1970s Album Orientated Rock radio.

R&B (Rhythm and blues) music

R&B music was influenced by Afro-Cuban rhythmic music.
1940s New Orleans musicians were especially receptive to Cuban influences precisely at
the time when R&B was first forming.
A rapid succession of rhythm and blues hits followed, beginning with Tutti Frutti and Long
Tall Sally, which would influence performers such as James Brown and Elvis Presley.
In Jamaica, R&B influenced the development of ska.
1970s the term rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term for soul, funk and
disco. Around the same time, earlier R&B was an influence on British pub rock and later,
the mod revival.
The mainstream use of the term usually refers to contemporary R&B, which is a newer
version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that originated as disco faded from
popularity.
Hard rock had a major influence of the nature and sound of rock music meaning that
rhythm and blues would be a major component of that sound.