The formation and development of modern pop music in Europe and the United States has a history of more than 100 years. Over the past 100 years, modern pop music has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for its simple, popular and close-to-life characteristics. It has greatly influenced and changed the mentality and lifestyle of generations of young people. From early black music, to later protest folk, psychedelic music, new wave music, art rock music, punk music, new romantic music, heavy metal, to the electronic dance music that has emerged in the past two years, they all reflect the values ??and values ??of contemporary Western society. Changes in ethics and morality reflect the inner pursuits and desires of the younger generation.

(1)

In the 250 years since the first batch of black slaves were trafficked to North America in 1619, more than 1 million black slaves have been trafficked to North America. He brought his own music culture to the United States, especially the habit of singing while working, which gave rise to the work songs and labor chants circulated among black slaves. This is the earliest African American music. Later, influenced by Christian preaching, black people combined their inherent religious traditions with European chants and paired them with religious dances to form the original style of black chants. In addition, black people also use fiddles and banjos to play traditional European dance music, and add African singing and rhythm to form black chants and other music styles that interpenetrate with each other, gradually forming a unique black folk song style, and Ruth music was born.

At the end of the 19th century, another important black music - jazz - was born in New Orleans, a port on the Mississippi River in the south of the United States. Jazz was created by New Orleans Creole (a mixture of black, French and Spanish) musicians. After the introduction of blues music playing techniques, the style took shape. Although blues influenced and promoted the development of jazz, at different stages in the future, blues and jazz influenced each other but followed their own different paths. Jazz was popular in the cities, and blues was popular in the country. It was not until jazz spread throughout the United States that blues began to develop and evolve to the north.

(2)

Before the 1960s, the world's pop music scene was dominated by Americans. American pop singers and bands dominated the entire pop music scene in North America, Europe and even around the world. market. However, after ELvis served in the military in 1958 and Buddy Holly died in a plane crash in 1959, the American media switched to promoting youth idol singers to purify the culture, and rock music in the United States has ceased to exist in name only. Many rock singers came to the UK to develop, and black records were welcomed in the UK. Since Liverpool was the largest port for exchanges between Britain and the United States at that time, the music atmosphere here was the most active. In 1959, a legendary four-piece band, The Beatles, was born in Liverpool.

The Beatles' rapid popularity is like a myth. Just looking at their performance on the charts will make you stunned. From 1962 to 1970, they had 43 singles that entered the UK and the United States. In the top 10 of the charts, there are 21 number one songs in the United States, 17 number one songs in the UK, and 13 songs that topped the charts in both places.

(3)

In 1961, when the Berlin Wall began to be built and the Marine Corps landed in Vietnam as the first batch of U.S. troops, along with Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" published, Robert Zimmerman began appearing in New York under the name Bob Dylan. It is difficult to summarize Dylan's music in a few words, but in general, his artistic career can be roughly divided into three periods, each with its own distinctive artistic characteristics. He initially appeared as a folk singer under the influence of Woody Guthrie and others, but the theme of his music has always been in protest against racial discrimination, human injustice and war. In terms of instrumentation, the acoustic guitar is mainly used, accompanied by harmonica, banjo, etc. His most famous song from this period is "Blowin' in the Wind." In 1965, at a concert, Dylan appeared in front of the audience as a rock singer for the first time holding an electric guitar. Although the audience was unable to accept his change and kicked him off the stage, Dylan's action undoubtedly hinted at the arrival of the American folk rock era, and it was also his implicitly sarcastic, symbolic, and thoughtful lyrics. Only then did rock music find another area where it could flourish.

Later, Dylan's music returned to folk music.

There were many outstanding folk rock artists/groups in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. The more famous ones include Simon & Garfunkel, Joan Baez, Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young), Lovin Spoonful, the Byrds, the Mamas and the PaPas, Sonny & Cher, Peter, Paul & Mary, etc. Folk rock music is simple in form, profound in connotation, and the lyrics are often thought-provoking. Since then, angry rock, which evolved from protest ballads, is no longer a weak media flower, but has become the power center of rapid social and cultural changes.

After the second wave started in the UK in the mid-to-late 1960s, many bands began to combine heavy metal with psychedelic rock. For example, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin revitalized the dying blues chords. , and blended with Eastern mysticism, the music is quite explosive. Later, in the early 1970s, some young people who were tired of aristocratic rock and Zeppelin-style virtuoso performances gathered in bars in the London area. Under the inspiration of beer pouring, they studied music and philosophy at the same time, and the band they organized brought the bar to life. It became a hothouse for new music. At that time, a man named Dave Robinson built a recording studio next to the Hope & Anchor bar, where the band hung out most, and soon established Stiff Records. The "bar rock movement" and the unique taste of Stiff Records laid the basic style of "New Wave" music.

The British New Wave pioneer was Brinsley Schwarz, who together with singer NicK Lowe attracted a large number of music fans who visited the pub. Another originator of New WaVe is Granam. Parker's crooning sometimes sounds like sobbing, and the song is filled with a restless mood, but at the same time there is a passion for breaking free. Parker later collaborated with thRumour. The style began to shift towards blues again. Another representative of early New Wave was Dave Edmunds, whose music was somewhat similar to Parker's. The difference was that he was deeply influenced by blues music in his early years, so his music had a stronger blues style. The style of the later New Wave was different from that of the early stage, and it was divided into two small tributaries. One is Elvis Costelli and the Attraction Band, whose music has a unique melody arrangement and is filled with British cultural characteristics from the inside out; the other is Sting and the Police Band. Since Sting was deeply influenced by reggae and jazz in his early years, Police's music had a British-American compatibility from the beginning.

In general, British new wave music not only focuses on returning rock music to the early speed and orchestration, but also absorbs new music forms introduced to the UK such as Reggie. It also has the characteristics of bar music. Some of the casual and amateur cultural characteristics.

(2)

After the Beatles hit the United States in the late 1960s, a type of rock music called the Garage Music (garage music) appeared in the United States, which can be considered punk rock. prototype. Among the more famous bands are: MC5, the Stooges, Count Five, Cryan’Shames, Leaves, Paul Reverse and the Raiders, seeds, Shadows of Knight, the Hombres, etc. What’s interesting is that many of these bands originally made surf music, but later, under the impact of British rock, they started playing garage rock. The style of most garage bands is inseparable from the muddy guitar playing. The unclear sound and the arrogant roar of the lead singer are nothing more than about disobedient girls, annoying parents and a restrictive society. These bands all existed in a half-above-and-half-underground form, and few were commercially successful.

In addition, after entering the 1970s, a number of alternative music pioneers emerged in Manhattan, New York, USA, including the Velvet Underground, the New York Dolls and the famous GBGB (Ciuntry, Blue Grass and Blues). ) club’s bands like TE levision, the Ramones, Talking Heads, the Voidoids, and Blondie. These bands' early "noise experiments" pioneered punk rock. Patti Smith, a female singer from GBGB, is now recognized as a "punk poetess". Her album "Horses" (horse) published in 1975 was the first punk album recognized and accepted by the music industry.

The emergence of British punk meant that the era of overcoming the Great Concussion had finally arrived. In 1976, the Sex Pistols released their first single. "Anarchy ln the UK" (British Anarchy), in May of the following year, the band released its first and only studio album "Never Mind the Bollock, Here's Sex Pistols" (Never Mind the Bollock, Here's Sex Pistols) Pistols are coming). Soon after, the band released the single "Good Save the Queen" (God Save the Queen), which cursed the British government at the time and sang in opposition to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne. Later, the band was kicked out of the UK, and because they were not popular in the United States, Lydon disbanded the band and the four members went their separate ways.

(3)

In the early 1980s, a hundred schools of thought were contending in the pop music world. In addition to the new romantic and post-punk music mentioned above, there were also musical noise (lndustrial Sound) and future music. New music genres such as Futurism, Neo Acoustic Sound, Neo Psychedelic Music, Neo Political Music, Neo Classical Music, etc. Collectively called "New Music" (New Music). Generally speaking, new music does not represent a specific style, but is all-inclusive, but all new music forms also have the same characteristics: that is, they are based on retro (return to the rock music of the 1960s and 1970s) It incorporates the characteristics of the new era, thus forming a style that is both new and old. For example, "Industrial Noise" is based on the experimental electronic music of the 1970s, combining the sequelae of modern industrial civilization with creative concepts, and combining machines The sound of metal being manipulated or struck adds to the music. Of course, the success or failure of new music has yet to be determined and remains to be verified by time.