The term pop music is most often associated with music that sold widely commercially beginning in the 1950s. The term, of course, means popular music. Looking at this in a broader sense, it could mean music that is generally popular with the general public rather than some so-called “serious music” that is hard to understand and only enjoyed by geeks in their ivory towers.

Take, for example, the following lyric snippet from “Rock ‘n Roll Music”;

‘I have no kick against modern jazz

Unless they try to play too fast

And change the beauty of the melody

Until it sounds like a symphony’

Justified, in a way, I guess because Modern Jazz was trying to be a ‘serious art form’. But you get the idea; people like the simple beauty of a melody and don’t need all the complexity. There is much more, as we will see.

Back in my day; the sixteenth century or before, let’s say, the Church controlled almost everything that happened and that includes music. Before this, in the Middle Ages, the church did not allow music at all. Then they allowed to sing. If you’ve ever heard a ‘Gregorian Chant,’ you may have liked it, but you have to admit, it’s not quite rock and roll. The Church did not allow musical instruments for a long time. One reason for this is that the instruments were Roman and the Church had nothing from ancient Rome. Most likely, the Church would not want anything that would stimulate or arouse anyone beyond a submissive, trance-like state of mind.

Fast forward to the sixteenth century and we have the Lutheran Church. Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Catholic Church. What was the heinous crime of him? He translated the church service from Latin into a language the people could understand. Before this, people came to church every week and had little idea what was going on. The people could not read and the Church, prior to this, had no interest in teaching them. Now people were taught to read.

Music was flourishing, so to speak, in the church, with ‘High Baroque’, highly ornate and complex music, somewhat typified by the music of JS Bach. Now Bach had some sounds from famous composers and one dealt with ‘new music’, which became what we generally call ‘classical music’.

Classical Music is a very simplified form of music, compared to the High Baroque. He took the music out of the Church and the town in general, although it was a long process with many paths. Shakespeare started writing historical plays to educate people about what was really going on with regard to the people who ruled them, and we have one of the most recent populist movements in our long history of repressive governments and populist movements.