I think that people's perception of what pop is, can be very distorted at times. Pop done right can be great. In the 50's with the advent of pop culture booming because of new mediums helped define what is pop music.
Each decade had changing defintion of what pop music was and in retrospect it changes. For instance, The Beatles in the 60's were not pop music at all. Popular music at that time did not emphasize guitar and rhythym like the Beatles did . You did have your Chuck berry's and Buddy Holly (a little before the 60's) utilizing the style the Beatles adopted but by no means was it Pop music at that time. Now in retrospect the Beatles seem pop by today's standard because their sound has become integrated in Popular music.
Now by those standards I think pop music and popular music are two completely diffferent entities. Pop music is easily accessible because of stable melody and rhythym.
I personally think most popular "music" of today really sucks. I hate Hip-hop and rap and see it as another mediocre fad. Pop "punk" bands and crap like that have diluted music immensely. There are good popular bands out there like Radiohead but they aren't really that popular in the scheme of things.
I like a lot of ___-pop bands. indie, alt and pop rock. Bands like Grandaddy, Apples in Stereo, Fountains Of Wayne, Fastball, Collective Soul and so on. A lot of great pop of old like hall and oates, elton john, billy joel, Beach Boys any motown stuff. I
I don't limit myself to that though. I like anything ranging from Zep to Nirvana to the Beatles to indie bands. I think to really get a grasp and love for music you have to explore a wide variety of it.
