Like all types of art, music is very subjective. Different people have contrasting views on what music is good to even what genre of music is good. For example, I am not a big fan of rap music. I have no problems with people who enjoy it or create it; I personally do not enjoy that style because it does not appeal to my taste. We all have our own separate opinions on what we enjoy, and these differing opinions are not just helpful but also needed. This is because these differing tastes in what is “good music” ends up leading to different music genres. One popular music genre would be modern pop music, which is an amalgamation of rock, hip hop, and rap music. Pop music is literally a shortened version of the phrase popular music. Originally though, rock and roll was the most popular music genre before the late 90s. And during the 90s, alternative rock was pop music of the genre. The most interesting part of these two genres is that both of them seem to suffer from the same problems. Both genres have songs that are very similar to one another and both genres suffer from an issue of the songs being very formulaic.
Pop music and rock music, as mentioned before, have the same sounding music with their styles. One example of this in rock would be the opening of the song Slide by the Goo Goo Dolls and 3AM by Matchbox Twenty. The songs have a very similar guitar riff that sounds almost exactly the same as the other. And for an example in the genre of pop, the songs Under Pressure by Queen and Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice have almost the same bass guitar part. This bass part was so similar that Queen ended up suing Vanilla Ice for copying that part of the song. These examples establish that both genres have songs that sound very similar to one another.
In addition to the songs being similar, both genres suffer from the issue of the songs being too formulaic. A recent study found that modern pop music has similar instrumentals, vocals, and beats per minute shared between songs. While rock does not have the same similarities between songs like pop does, there are still some elements that are very similar. Rock songs usually start off quiet, then get louder, add in the chorus, key change, and the song ends with the guitar being the last instrument heard. Therefore, both genres have songs that sound very similar because of the recycled elements in each.

Pop music is repeating the same rise as rock music, but will it decline like rock did?
It is hard to say; however, rap music has become very popular in recent years. So, one could make the argument that pop music will fizzle out, and rap will become the most popular. Only time will tell if pop ends up in the same boat as rock. Cultural tastes change but a diverse body of music benefits everybody because then everyone can find something to enjoy.

Sources:
Mic

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Queen Art

Ice Ice Baby Album

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