The term
pop music
refers specifically to a branch of popular music during the modern rock era, and it is particularly associated with young people and with the explosion in record sales since the late 1950s and early 1960s. It encompasses a wealth of modern genres, including rock,
rock'n'roll
, surf music, Doo-wop, British beat music, and many more. Originally intended as dance music, it inevitably includes songs.
It has been fashionable, at times, for academics and others...