DS Forums

 
 

I decided to listen to Rock Music but it sounds just as same as Pop


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 14-12-2011, 17:56
Aatif1992
Guest
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 152

I decided to listen to Rock Music but it sounds just as same as Pop or similar. The lyrics and sound are similar so I wonder why people underrate pop music compared to rock? I do understand that there are some artists like Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix who not only write about love songs but also about political issues, but mostly on the whole the songs of rock music and pop music sound similar, does anyone else agree, or disagree?
Aatif1992 is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 14-12-2011, 17:57
Mick_Swagger
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 442
There's a lot more similarities than differences
Mick_Swagger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 17:58
Aatif1992
Guest
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 152
There's a lot more similarities than differences
Yes I totally agree, I was wondering why so many people undermine pop music credibility?
Aatif1992 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 18:11
Cadiva
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: In sunny (hah!) Yorkshire
Posts: 13,942
Depends what you're defining as rock music and what you're defining as pop music. There's a huge difference in musical style between a group like Blur (pop) and a group like Def Lepard (rock).

People these days also tend to use "pop" differently than it was originally. Pop used to mean popular music and covered every genre, now people use it define a specific type of music.
Cadiva is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 19:37
embryo
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 553
Depends what you're defining as rock music and what you're defining as pop music. There's a huge difference in musical style between a group like Blur (pop) and a group like Def Lepard (rock).

People these days also tend to use "pop" differently than it was originally. Pop used to mean popular music and covered every genre, now people use it define a specific type of music.
I agree with the first part of this post, and there is a huge difference between a lot of pop and rock artists. I'm not entirely convinced by your categorisations of Blur and Def Leppard though, I would define Blur as indie rock or alternative rock rather than pop, and while I won't deny that Def Leppard are a rock band, they are certainly at the poppier end of rock music, particularly on albums like 'Hysteria'.

Pop and particularly rock music can be divided into a huge variety of subgenres, so to say that rock and pop are similar is a huge generalisation. King Crimson, Alcest and Refused are three rock bands off the top of my head that sound absolutely nothing alike, let alone like pop music.

As for why rock is considered more credible, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that rock musicians, generally speaking, are more likely to write all of their own music and play their own instruments than pop artists, which makes their music more credible and convincing for a lot of people. Also, on the whole, rock music is less concerned with huge sales and high chart positions, so it is seen as more 'real' and more about the music, as opposed to pop which is often dismissed as merely a product to sell. Speaking as a fan of both rock and pop, I don't necessarily agree with these criticisms of pop, but I think these are generally the reasons why people think of it as less credible than rock.
embryo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 20:40
DaisyBumbleroot
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Derby, UK
Posts: 23,456
OP what Rock music were you listening to though?
DaisyBumbleroot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 21:21
ShaunIOW
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Isle of Wight
Posts: 7,829
I agree with the first part of this post, and there is a huge difference between a lot of pop and rock artists. I'm not entirely convinced by your categorisations of Blur and Def Leppard though, I would define Blur as indie rock or alternative rock rather than pop, and while I won't deny that Def Leppard are a rock band, they are certainly at the poppier end of rock music, particularly on albums like 'Hysteria'.

Pop and particularly rock music can be divided into a huge variety of subgenres, so to say that rock and pop are similar is a huge generalisation. King Crimson, Alcest and Refused are three rock bands off the top of my head that sound absolutely nothing alike, let alone like pop music.

As for why rock is considered more credible, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that rock musicians, generally speaking, are more likely to write all of their own music and play their own instruments than pop artists, which makes their music more credible and convincing for a lot of people. Also, on the whole, rock music is less concerned with huge sales and high chart positions, so it is seen as more 'real' and more about the music, as opposed to pop which is often dismissed as merely a product to sell. Speaking as a fan of both rock and pop, I don't necessarily agree with these criticisms of pop, but I think these are generally the reasons why people think of it as less credible than rock.
I'd go along with that and add you also tend to get good live shows from rock acts and no miming, and a lot of pop acts seem more about the image than the music and go with pretty boys/girls and use technology to make them sound good, wheras with rock its pretty much all about the music.
ShaunIOW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 21:27
JessTheCat
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Medway, Kent
Posts: 1,182
Pop - One Direction
Rock - Guns n' Roses

Now go and listen again............................

I rest my case
JessTheCat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 21:39
Gigi4
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,436
It's funny that you say that because my favourite types of music are pop and rock. I like both. There are some similariites in that both are based around melody and also a song structure of verse bridge and chorus.

Whereas other types of music are more repetitive and are more based around rhythms like techno and hip hop which I generally don't like.
Gigi4 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 21:57
johnnybgoode83
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The arse end of no where
Posts: 8,616
There are many sub genres of Rock and some of them are quite poppy but you should expand into other areas of rock. Start with well known bands like ACDC or Led Zeppelin and your experience will grow from there. Mine did.
johnnybgoode83 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 22:50
Cadiva
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: In sunny (hah!) Yorkshire
Posts: 13,942
I agree with the first part of this post, and there is a huge difference between a lot of pop and rock artists. I'm not entirely convinced by your categorisations of Blur and Def Leppard though, I would define Blur as indie rock or alternative rock rather than pop, and while I won't deny that Def Leppard are a rock band, they are certainly at the poppier end of rock music, particularly on albums like 'Hysteria'..
I chose them because it was just easier to pull out two bands that were often both lumped into "pop" and which the OP was likely to have heard of and could see a noticeable difference in style. Blur are indi pop, Def Leppard are soft metal really but both come under the "pop" category. If I was picking more specific genre defining artists then I would probably go with something like Kylie Minogue for pop and Metallica for rock.

AV Revolution have a good chart of their top 100 rock bands here and it's interesting to see what they define as "rock". As I said before, it really depends on what people mean when they say pop.

I completely agree with the second half of your post though. Rock bands tend to make their money from album sales and tour revenue alongside merchandise rather than direct from the sale of singles.
Cadiva is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2011, 23:12
tortfeasor
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,141
As Candiva highlighted,"'Pop' used to mean popular music..." and was used as a catch-all term for the many different genres of 'popular' music. However, it seems to be increasingly used now to define a specific type of music or what the user of the term seems to identify as being 'pop' music.

....

Pop and particularly rock music can be divided into a huge variety of subgenres, so to say that rock and pop are similar is a huge generalisation...
This is my personal opinion too. Whilst it's tempting to say rock music tends to sound more raw and less studio polished than a lot of 'pop' singles or albums, Embryo identified Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' album, which I agree is more on the 'poppier' end of rock music and (from what I know) a great deal of time was spent on perfecting the sound of that album.

Equally I don't think it's as easy to differentiate between rock and pop by saying:

- rock is less mainstream than pop
- you only get long instrumental (particularly guitar) solos in rock music
- rock singers tend to sing about more "edgy" things than pop singers

Going back to the classic use of the words 'pop music,' rock was one of the forms that developed - like most forms, its origins lie in rhythm and blues (and can be traced further than that too) and hence distinguishing between rock and pop isn't always a strict separation.

However, I do think you can identify rock songs so I'd recommend that the OP does a little more listening.
tortfeasor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 00:22
neel
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,332
A some rock music sounds like pop music because some rock music is pop music.

Simple as that.

Similarly, some rock music is well written and full of artistic merit, some is just comercial fodder. Some pop music is well written and full of artistic merit, some just comercial fodder.

Anyone one that tells you all pop is better than rock or vice versa, is ..... well lets be charitable and say they are being a bit silly, and a bit of a zealot one way or the other.
neel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 09:55
ICEband
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 153
pigeon holing music is a bit naff anyway.

Who's to say what's pop and what's rock. What about when genres merge? Pop/rock? Power ballad? country/rock etc etc.

Music is music, if you something, does it matter what genre it's supposed to be?
ICEband is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 11:29
usurper
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 12
pigeon holing music is a bit naff anyway.
I've never actually heard of that genre before... is it like country?
usurper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 11:50
my name is joe
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: In England
Posts: 4,349
Depends what you're defining as rock music and what you're defining as pop music. There's a huge difference in musical style between a group like Blur (pop) and a group like Def Lepard (rock).

People these days also tend to use "pop" differently than it was originally. Pop used to mean popular music and covered every genre, now people use it define a specific type of music.
i don't think anyone has ever come up with a definitive distinction between rock and pop...except you know it when you hear it, or do you?

which are the Smiths for example?
my name is joe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 12:03
soulmusic
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,313
I don't think music should be pigeon holed - and I don't really agree with some views that music is credible some not. Music cuts across age, gender, race etc and I just couldn't imagine a life without music.
I just love a wide range of artists from Bryan Adams (I would call this rock), opera, classical, Adele, Leona - all these artists and loads more bring music to my ears and and I would never dismiss music in any shape or form as not credible, so I really don't think that you can define between 1 genre & another such as rock or pop, or RnB, there is a lot of crossover.
soulmusic is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 12:54
crazymonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,545
I'm guessing you've listened to some pop/rock fluff, this isn't true rock to my ears! I love all good music though be it pop (depends on how people define pop, if it's popular is it automatically pop?) or any other genre!
crazymonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 13:08
starsailor
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 10,991
i don't think anyone has ever come up with a definitive distinction between rock and pop...except you know it when you hear it, or do you?

which are the Smiths for example?
You could never ever describe the 'Smiths' as 'pop music'. I think Morrisey would probably throw a stick of celery at you or something for that.

In addition, not a 'straight' rock band, as they are not heavily guitar led. So you need 'indie/alternative' to cover them.
starsailor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 13:17
peacelily
Guest
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,125
Pop - One Direction
Rock - Guns n' Roses

Now go and listen again............................

I rest my case
There are many sub genres of Rock and some of them are quite poppy but you should expand into other areas of rock. Start with well known bands like ACDC or Led Zeppelin and your experience will grow from there. Mine did.
Definitely depends on which songs of either genre you are listening to. I dislike certain rock, as much as I dislike mainstream pop, as sounds mediocore, sameish.

There are good, very different songs of either genre about.
peacelily is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 15:55
performingmonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 18,070
You could never ever describe the 'Smiths' as 'pop music'. I think Morrisey would probably throw a stick of celery at you or something for that.

In addition, not a 'straight' rock band, as they are not heavily guitar led. So you need 'indie/alternative' to cover them.
A couple of their singles were definitely poppy.
performingmonk is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 16:06
neel
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,332
A couple of their singles were definitely poppy.
Indeed, things like "this charming man" are everything thats good about pop. I'm pretty sure Morrisey was smart enough to realise the song was a wonderfully catchy, under 3 minutes and well and truly radio and chart friendly.
neel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 17:52
Aatif1992
Guest
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 152
OP what Rock music were you listening to though?
The Beatles
Aatif1992 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 18:32
Eric_Blob
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 7,124
This is kind of related to the thread, but I was wondering, if, say, Britney Spears, sang over the instrumental of an ACDC song on her new album (so she sampled it), would that be considered a rock song?
Eric_Blob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 15-12-2011, 18:37
Ethan Rayne
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 494
The Beatles were a pop band that evolved into a Quasi Rock band, but not real rock, listen to some Slayer, that will sort you out.
Ethan Rayne is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 15:16.