What is pop music? 

Like many categories in the music industry, it’s tough to define.  In some ways, that makes sense since the root word of “pop’ is “popular,” which of course will change over time and geography.  Still….can’t there be a standard? A sound that is unquestionably pop music?  I used to think Duran Duran would fit the bill until my local “alternative rock” radio station started playing the whole catalog and interviewing Simon LeBon at every opportunity.  I used to think that makers of television commercials would only choose the most pop of songs to back up their 30 second spots until I heard some of the best new alternative music on Ford and UPS commercials.

So, I have set out to try to make my definition of pop music.  I like pop music.  After I came out, I was force to like it.  Well…not really.  I liked it before that.  But define it?  Not sure that is going to be so easy.  Here is my shot at it:

Pop Music favors singers over musicians.  It’s not about the guitar solo, the drum riff or the keyboard runs.  Pop music is about the singer.  True pop songs rarely even include instrumental solos of more than four bars.

Pop Music will not change the world.  The lyrical content of most pop songs involves the self-perceived greatness of the singer, love, cars, love, or how great the singer is. 

Pop Music bands don’t form.  They’re made.  There’s a reason bands don’t claim to make pop music (see below) so they are usually made by some money-hungry producer like Simon Cowell, the father of boy bands (not meaning to sound sexual.)

Pop Music gets stuck in your head.  The melodies of most pop songs are designed to warp us into some sort of mind-numbing zombie state where our minds – normally needed for thinking and stuff – are oddly preoccupied with the cute lyric and the bouncy tunes.  It’s like candy to a kid.  There’s no way to actually control it.

Which brings us to: Pop Music has a sweetness.  If you could assign tastes to categories of music, you might pick coffee for the Blues, jalapeno for Jazz (or Salsa,) nearly raw meat for Rock and sugary sweet for Pop.  Well…you might not agree about that whole list, but few would disagree about sugary-sweet Pop (music.) 

But there’s another thing about Pop Music: anybody who even remotely considers himself a lover of music thinks Pop Music isn’t cool.  When a band says “I’m gonna make pop music,” we hear “I’m gonna make music that means nothing to me other than making money.”  Making music is a passion.  Making pop music is a job.

Which brings us to 13 Stories and their 2005 album FunkyPopSexyHouseRap.  This is good pop music and I am out and proud to say that I like it.  It’s not overproduced, there’s hardly a single instrumental solo to be found and I get a sugar high every time I play it through.  I am on a two day hiatus from listening to it and still can’t get the tunes out of my head.

You’ll love their signature song “Beep! Beep!,” which was the theme for the Carolina Hurricanes recent Stanley Cup run and is now in a Ford commercial (wink.)  I frequently skip ahead to the lush “Friday Groove” – the slowest-paced song on the album.  I smile at the cute lyrics “ladies, listen to your pussy (meow)” and the oh-so-instructive “Girl Talk.”