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I want to learn some basic knowledge about pop music, but I don’t know where to start~~~.

What is Ramp;B?

The full name of R&B is Rhythm & Blues, which is generally translated as "Rhythm & Blues" or "Rhythm & Blues".

In a broad sense, Ramp; Except for Jazz and Blues, all black music can be classified as Ramp; B, which shows how broad the scope of Ramp; B is.

Hip Hop and Rap, which have become very popular in the black music circle in recent years, are both derived from Ramp;B, and at the same time retain many Ramp;B elements.

What is HOUSE?

HOUSE is a dance music developed from DISCO in the 1980s. This is music played by DJs in Chicago. They mixed a record by the German electronic band Kraftwerk with the regular rhythm of electronic drums (Drum Machine) and black blues singing, and House was born~ Generally translated as "House" "Dance music is the most basic form of electronic dance music, with a 4/4 rhythm, one drum beat per beat, and a simple melody, often with high-pitched female voices singing.

After DISCO became popular, some DJs Changing it, intentionally making DISCO less commercial, the BASS and drums have become deeper, and many times it has become a pure musical work. Even if there is a singing part, most of it is a short sentence sung by a dancing female singer, which is often not clear. lyrics. Gradually, some people added elements such as LATIN (Latin), REGGAE (Reggae in the West Indies), RAP (rap) or JAZZ (jazz). By the late 1980s, HOUSE broke out of the underground scope and became a popular brand in Chicago and New York. and London pop chart darlings.

Why is it called "House"? That is to say, as long as you have simple recording equipment, you can make this kind of music at home. House is also the most accepted among electronic music, Believe by Cher. is a good example. M-People can be said to be the representative group of House.

After House dance music became popular in 1986, it can be said to have replaced Disco music. House is divided into: Acid House, which is fusion TB-303's acid-sounding House music Deep House has a very strong soul singing style, also called Garage, which is quite popular. Real Mecoy, M-People, and La Bouche are all Garage groups.

Hard House, simply put, is a House with a heavier rhythm and fiercer rhythm. Progressive House, this type of House, does not have a soulful singing voice, but pays more attention to melody and music arrangement. It is a bit like "performance" House music. Like the album of SASH! It`s My Life is a good Progressive House album. Epic House is an "epic" house. Epic House has beautiful, smooth melody and majestic momentum, and rarely has vocals in it (almost none!). BT's music is great Epic House, and he is also called the "Epic House Emperor". In fact, even Rock also has "Epic Rock"

Imagine Trible House: with the original African style or Indian style What is the house played by the Di'an people? This is Trible House~ In addition to the stable rhythm of the general house, this kind of house will add some original and fragmented drum beats between each beat. It is quite interesting. ~ However, the scope of House is too broad, and you don’t have to classify a song. These are just to tell you that there are many kinds of House.

What is Britpop?

Although Britpop has the word "Pop", it is actually a type of Rock. It originated in England in the 1990s. It can be translated as "British rock" in Chinese. This is the British music scene's response to the American Grunge trend, mainly based on bands. However, the Britpop style is actually very broad. For example, Oasis is a guitar rock band, Blur has a lot of pop, and Pulp is close to glam rook and dance styles, but they are all classified as Britpop.

Britpop representatives: Oasis, Blur, Suede, Pulp, Radiohead

What is Trip-Hop?

Trip-Hop is a type of British/European dance music. Its name comes from "Trip + Hip-Hop = Trip-Hop" because it originated from Bristol, England, so it was first called "Bristol Hip-Hop".

Because of the hip-hop (in fact, a lot of music is based on hip-hop... I don’t know what hip-hop is. If you look at hip-hop people, most of them use hip-hop. The music is for dancing.) The rhythm is slowed down (sometimes very slow) and some psychedelic flavor is added, such as a very gloomy, fat bass, slight but psychedelic synthetic sound effects, or some samples of records, sometimes even records. All the noise will be "deliberately" sampled. The so-called "Trip" refers to psychedelic and dense drugs.

So, trip-hop is a kind of slow psychedelic, jazz-like, hazy break beat music with a bit of hip-hop rhythm.

Although it belongs to the dance music category, its psychedelic and confusing characteristics have made it far away from the clear rhythm characteristics of ordinary dance music.

Representatives of foreign Trip-Hop: Ortishead, Tricky, Massive Attack, Mandalay Moloko, Coldcut, the recognized Iron Triangle in Trip-Hop

What is Gangsta Rap?

Gangsta Rap is a type of Rap. The content of Rap is mostly related to urban crime and is full of violence and lustful feelings. This is a music trend that reflects reality. Gangsta Rap emerged in the United States in the late 1980s. The tough and sharp style of rap music was very popular in the United States, and its record sales were very high. Many Gangsta Rap musicians themselves actually "participated" in various real-life crimes, and some were imprisoned or even died as a result. It can be said that it is a genre of music that truly reflects reality and is shocking.

Gangsta Rap group: Ice-T, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, 2Pac, Geto Boys

What is Synth Pop?

The "Synth" in Synth Pop is Synthesizer. As the name suggests, Synth Pop is pop music produced by "Sythesizrs". Of course, in addition to Synthesizers, other electronic instruments such as computers and drum machines are also used. wait.

Synth Pop became popular in the early 1980s, but fell silent in the mid-1980s. It also caused a wave of craze in Hong Kong that year.

Synth Pop is characterized by its strong sense of technology, which can sometimes be quite cold. Most of its songs are "3-minutes Pop", and Synth Pop musicians often dress up in fashionable styles.

Synth Pop representative groups: Depeche Mode, Human League, Duran Duran, OMD, Gary Numan

What is ORCHESTRA?

ORCHESTRA is an orchestra, which is divided into four parts: 1. Strings, including violins, cellos, etc., 2. Brass, 3. Woodwinds and 4. Percussion. Each instrument in the string section has multiple players (except harp), and the four groups of players are coordinated and led by one person, who is the conductor of the orchestra. ORCHESTRA emerged in the 17th century and was clearly modeled by the 18th century with the works of Haydn and Mozart. In the 19th century, new instruments were added and the number of orchestras increased. ORCHESTRA is the authentic version of Western classical/orthodox music. Western pop/rock music often uses some or all members of ORCHESTRA to assist in performances.

What is CHAMBER POP?

CHAMBER POP refers to a kind of elegant, noble and refined pop music, which has a certain feeling of classical music.

The word CHAMBER MUSIC comes from classical music, which is called "chamber music" in Chinese. It is a group string performance style with an elegant atmosphere. CHAMBER POP emerged in the 1990s as a reaction to LO-FI and GRUNGE at that time. It emphasized beautiful melodies, exquisite soundtracks, and clean recordings, often using strings and wind instruments to create the musical feel of the Baroque era.

Foreign representative bands include: THE DIVINE COMEDY, RIALTO, ERIC MATTHEWS and BALLE amp; SEBASTIAN, etc. In Hong Kong, there are Huang Yaoming, part of Peng Ling, part of MULTIPLEX, etc.

What is folk song (FOLK)?

Folk songs (FOLK) originally refer to the traditional songs of each nation. The ancestors of each nation have their own songs that have existed since ancient times. Most of these songs do not know the author. And it is spread by word of mouth, from one person to ten people, and from one generation to the next, and it has been passed down to this day.

However, what we call folk songs (FOLK) today mostly refers to folk songs (FOLK) from the pop music era. It refers to singing in a natural and frank way, mainly using wooden guitar as the accompaniment instrument. The kind of song that expresses everyone's simple feelings about life.

American folk singer WOODY GUTHRIE's records in the 1950s can be said to be the earliest folk song recordings, so they are generally regarded as the ancestor of modern folk songs (FOLK). Afterwards, PETE SEEGER and THE WEAVERS continued to promote this type of music. During the Vietnam War in the 1960s, anti-war folk singers such as BOB DYLAN, JOAN BAEZ, PETER, PAUL AND MARY, etc. became the voice of the times.

After folk songs developed towards POP, ROCK and urbanization, BOB DYLAN invented FOLKROCK and SIMONamp; GARFUNKEL developed urban FOLK POP with middle-class taste, which became popular for a while.

In the 1980s, SUZANNE VEGA, TRACYCHAPMAN, etc. developed a URBAN FOLK (urban) / CONTEMPORARY (contemporary) FOLK route that has a more urban feel. Folk songs (FOLK) have also developed different looks in music circles such as the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The latest development of folk music (FOLK) in recent years is the combination with NEW AGE (such as ENYA), and the combination with TRIP HOP (such as BETH ORTON).

What is BOSSA NOVA?

BOSSA NOVA is a kind of Brazilian music with a JAZZ flavor. In the 1950s, the composer ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM mixed the Brazilian music rhythm with the American West Coast COOL JAZZ. It is soft, comfortable, relaxed, lazy and romantic. .

The 1st, 4th, 7th, 11th and 14th beats of every two BARs are repeated beats. The pure singing voice of singer JOAO GILBERTO is an excellent partner of JOBIM music. It became very popular after being introduced to the United States in the mid-1950s. Other famous BOSSA NOVA musicians include CHARLIE BYRD, STAN GETZ and ASTRUD GILBERTO. The most famous song is " THE GIRLFROM IPANEMA”. OSSA NOVA was most popular in the 1960s, and has continued to have fans throughout the rest of the decade.

What is CLASSICAL POP?

CLASSICAL POP refers to pop songs with a classical symphony flavor. Songs that mostly use string accompaniment can be included in this category, such as "ELEANORRIGBY" by THE BEATLES. Some works by the Australian band CROWDED HOUSE can also be included in this category.

If you say CLASSIC POP, it refers to classic pop songs.

What is ACAPPELLA?

ACAPPELLA refers to songs without instrumental accompaniment. Any song sung purely with human voice is ACAPPELLA. However, when we say ACAPPELLA today, it usually refers to the kind of singing with multiple harmonies. Even the instrumental accompaniment is composed of The human voice sings.

The opposite of ACAPPELLA is INSTRUMENTAL, which is pure music. Any type of song can be sung in the form of ACAPPELLA.

The most familiar ACAPPELLA song to Hong Kong people is "SO MUCH IN LOVE", and the Hong Kong ACAPPELLA band includes Ji Shengmas and others.

What is WORLD MUSIC?

WORLD MUSIC is a term from a Western perspective, meaning non-British, American and Western folk/pop music, usually referring to traditional music in developing or backward areas, such as Africa and South Asia. Music, in some regions such as Latin America, is so popular that it becomes a genre of its own. What everyone talks about today as WORLD MUSIC usually refers to improved traditional regional music that is mixed with Western music. Africa's KING SUNNY ADE, Eastern Europe's DON BYRON, China's Zhu Zheqin, Pakistan's NUSRAT FATEHALI KAHN, etc. are the WORLD MUSIC musicians that are more familiar to Western music fans.

What is DREAM-POP?

DREAM-POP is a kind of "dream" pop song. It has a blurred atmosphere, which is mostly caused by *SYNTHESIZERS (electronic synthesizers). The electric guitar with ECHO effect is also an important component. The singing part is often very "BREATHY", that is, breathing heavily, and the lyrics are often dreamlike and poetic.

Representative bands include: COCTEAU WINS, LISA GERMANO, ST. ETIENNE, THIS MORTAL COIL, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, MAZZY STAR and DEAD CAN DANCE, etc.

Chinese singers are headed by Faye Wong, whose representative works include "Lost", "DI-DA", etc.

What is NEW AGE? (New Age Music)

NEW AGE is a kind of quiet, comfortable and leisure music. Pure music works account for a larger proportion and singing works account for a smaller proportion.

NEW AGE can be purely ACOUSTIC (that is, played with traditional self-sounding instruments), or it can be very electronic. The focus is to create a calm atmosphere of nature or a sense of the vastness of the universe, washing the listener. The mind is at peace.

NEW AGE is often related to music therapy. Many NEW AGE music is said to be able to cure diseases, and many are related to meditation. This has a great relationship with the NEW AGE ideological trend and philosophy. NEW AGE music is usually regarded as quite middle-class music, and WINDHAM HILL is the most representative NEW AGE record company.

NEW AGE’s representative musicians include ENYA, GEORGE WINSTON, WILLIAM ACKERMAN, YANNI, KITARO and so on.

What is Electrophonic Music?

What is Electrophonic Music? As time goes by, musicians have more ways to make music.

The so-called electronic music is music produced by electronic sounds produced by electronic synthesizers, music software, computers, etc.

Electronic music has a wide range and can often be heard around us. It is used in movie soundtracks, advertising soundtracks, and even some Mandarin pop songs, but electronic dance music is the most popular.

Many people think electronic music is a cold, emotionless music.

In fact, electronic music can also be filled with emotions by incorporating various elements such as Rock, Jazz and even Blues.

There are also various types of electronic music, including House, Techno, Ambient, Trance, Psychedelic Trance, Breakbeat, Brit-Hop, Big-Beat, Trip-Hop, Drumamp; Bass, Jungle, Electro , Dub, Chill Out, Minimalism.

What is Techno?

Technology means "high-tech dance music"! Use computers and synthesizers to synthesize and create some special sound effects. This kind of music is often a combination of many sound effects. The beat of Techno is also 4/4, but the speed is faster than that of House, and it sounds repetitive, tough, and mechanical, so some people call Techno "industrial noise", but some still focus on melody. Techno originated in Detroit, USA, with three DJs: Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins trying to combine electronic music with black music, resulting in Detroit Techno. Detroit Techno is usually gentler and not as strong as ordinary Techno. It can be said to be the origin of modern Techno.

What is Ambient?

It sounds small, but in fact it is constantly making changes, such as long-term sound effects, or progressive music arrangements, etc., which often create a layered sense of space, so it is called "Situational music" often samples the sounds around us, such as human voices, car sounds, and even the melodies of other music...etc.

Created by Brian Eno in the 1970s, it is a very "profound" electronic music. Later, Ambient also had branches, such as Ambient House, Ambient Techno... and so on. I believe everyone can understand it from the literal meaning. In fact, there are shadows of ambient in many kinds of music, and even some classical music also has the flavor of ambient.

What is Trance?

Psychedelic dance music evolved from Techno. It will make you feel "trance-like" when listening to it, but it still retains the rhythm of dance music and pays great attention to the performance of Bass. Some of it will be "hypnotic" after listening to it. "The effect.

The time signature is also mainly 4/4. However, I have also heard breakbeats used (will be introduced below), such as Sven Vath’s album Fusion.

What is Psychedelic Trance?

Also known as Goa Trance, it originated from a small island in India. Goa is the name of this island. The melodies often have an Indian flavor.

The characteristic of this type of Trance is that it attaches great importance to melody, subtle changes between notes, and often has overlapping melodies and high-pitched TB-303 sounds. It's a bit ambient.

What is a break beat?

It is not as regular as the Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom beat of House, but is presented in a broken beat, like a syncopated beat. For example, adding a small snare drum to two beats, etc. Breakbeat is just a general term. There are many kinds of music that belong to breakbeat, such as the following Brit-Hop, Big-Beat, and black Hip-Hop.

What is Brit-Hop?

The rhythm of black Hip-Hop is accelerated and the drum sound is aggravated, and combined with some electric guitar and bass, it has a rock and roll flavor, such as the style of The Chemical Brothers.

What is Big-Beat?

"Big beat" makes Brit-Hop faster, heavier and more rock-like. It can be said to be an improved Brit-Hop into a more mature style. You You can imagine what a heavy, broken, and a bit fast beat looks like.

For example, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, and Fat Boy Slim are the "big corners" of Big Beat.

What is Drum & Bass?

For some people, Drum & Bass music may be annoying, because Drum & Bass pays great attention to playing tricks on the rhythm, and the performance of Bass is very fast and complicated. breakbeats, and the use of various electronic drums or sampled drum sounds. Therefore, Drumamp; Bass is also a type of Breakbeat. 4Hero is a well-known band of drum & bass.

What is Jungle?

Jungle is the predecessor of Drumamp; Bass. Jungle's speed is much faster than Drumamp; Bass, and the beat is more complex and powerful. Sometimes it is paired with some Rap, unlike Drumamp; Bass will incorporate some Jazz, Soul and other elements, and it sounds softer (of course this is compared with Jungle stand up). Even the "rock chameleon" David Bowie is now doing Jungle.

What is Electro?

As early as the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were no such things as house and techno, and electronic music was less popular. There was only electro music. Electro can be said to be music that is purely produced by an electronic synthesizer (Synthesizer, which looks a bit like a keyboard). It is usually quite soft, and Roland's drum machine (Drum Machine) TR-808 is often used to produce drum sounds. Germany's Kraftwerk band can be considered a representative.

The current Electro sound is brighter and more transparent than before.

Later some DJs used Electro to transform it into a kind of Hip-Hop music, which was called Old School.

The current Fatboy Slim also incorporates some Electro and Old School in his music.

What is Dub?

Dub can be said to be Reggae (Reggae, also known as reggae, a South American black music with a very rhythmic and special singing style) that separates the singing and leaves only the music. When applying Dub to electronic music, part of the singing voice is extracted, the bass and drum sounds are emphasized, and a large number of Echo (echo) and other effects are added.

This technology is often used to remix songs during live performances.

For example, Massive Attack's album Protection was mixed from Trip-Hop music into a Dub version by Mad Professor.

What is Chill Out?

This is just a general term. Next to the dance floor, there is often an area, or a small room, where some gentler and calmer music is played, allowing dancers to relax and take a rest after dancing. It mainly plays ambient music, so it is called "Chill". Out" (cooling) for this reason.

The Orb can be said to be the master of Chill Out music.

What is Minimalism?

This is translated as "minimal style" and is often heard in ambient and Techno music.

Music with Minimalism has a repetitive melody and a special rhythm, which feels like a special frequency that makes you feel hypnotized when listening to it.

Jeff Mills’ works belong to Minimal Detroit-Techno, with quite a psychedelic color.