Encompassing many types of music, from rap to rhythm and blues, from rock to alternative, pop music is something that has been securely embedded in cultures all around the world. Even on the internet, pop music resides streaming over telephone and digital lines to real time players all over the world. From ragtime to new age, pop music has seen an entire flourishing industry arise in both size and sales.

Rock and roll was probably the catalyst

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that set off the popularity of pop music. Beginning with the ever popular Elvis Presley, rock and roll began its triumph. Presley sold over one million copies of each of his first fourteen albums. Jerry Lee Louis (Great Ball of Fire), the pianist shortly after Presley's success, was a rockabilly singer. These so-called "cover" singer included singers such as Buddy Holly.

Gospel music was a large influence on soul music. The rock music of Ben King and Sam Cooke was full of gospel-like inflections. Among soul musicians, Aretha Franklin enjoyed the largest success.

By the 1960s, the Beach

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Boys sang their first song entitled "California Girls". In a barbershop harmony, the Beach Boys was unusual in that they used conventional instruments such as flutes and harsichords. The Beach Boys were perhaps the first musicians to take advantage of overdubbing or recording over and over to make one voice sound like many voices.

The Beatles was a music experimenter of the 1960s. The quartet of musicians from Liverpool - Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr - created and sung witty lyrics and almost inexhaustive melodies. At one time the Beatles had four singles at number one on the music charts. The Beatles have influenced nearly every rock, punk and alternative groups to the present day. In constrast to the Beatles' love songs and semi-mellow melodies, The Who created screeching guitar noises, loud and deafening music. The Who would also smash and destroy their instruments in almost all their concerts.

During the fevor of Rock and Roll, The Rolling Stones began to play the Chicago blues. Their music was about complaining and was usually angry. The skill, energy and onstage facade of the Rolling Stone's lead singer, Mick Jagger gave the them a distintive and unique feature.

Reggae, a rock and roll with a Jamaica flavor within, became popular because of its usual message - one of anti-politics and cultism. The United States Bob Marley and the Wailers was a popular reggae band. Disco, a nightclub music of the 1970s was a very long rock at a very fast tempo. In the movie "Saturday Night Fever", disco was the featured music. By the 1980s and perhaps within the late, late 1970's, the music video was invented. This new way of communicating music was at first dismissed by many devoted music fans as "not really music". Today such companies as MTV (Music Television) is almost a subset of the music industry which has flourished from the beginning.