Art pop

This article is about a postmodern approach to pop music. For the integration of high art values into popular music, see Art music § Popular music. For the Lady Gaga album, see Artpop. For other uses, see Art pop (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Art Pope, Art Poe, Experimental pop, Avant-pop, or Progressive pop.

Art pop
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsMid-1960s, United Kingdom and United States
Derivative forms
Other topics

Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music[1] influenced by art theories[7] as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature.[3][8] The genre draws on pop art's integration of high and low culture, and emphasizes signs, style, and gesture over personal expression.[7][9] Art pop musicians may deviate from traditional pop audiences and rock music conventions,[10] instead exploring postmodern approaches and ideas such as pop's status as commercial art, notions of artifice and the self, and questions of historical authenticity.

Starting in the mid-1960s, British and American pop musicians such as Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, and the Beatles began incorporating the ideas of the pop art movement into their recordings.[1] English art pop musicians drew from their art school studies,[8] while in America the style drew on the influence of pop artist Andy Warhol and the affiliated band the Velvet Underground.[11] The style would experience its "golden age" in the 1970s among glam rock artists such as David Bowie and Roxy Music, who embraced theatricality and throwaway pop culture.[4]

Art pop's tradition continued in the late 1970s and 1980s through styles such as post-punk and synthpop as well as the British New Romantic scene,[5][10] developing further with artists who rejected conventional rock instrumentation and structure in favor of dance styles and the synthesizer.[10] The 2010s saw new art pop trends develop, such as hip hop artists drawing on visual art and vaporwave artists exploring the sensibilities of contemporary capitalism and the Internet.

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Holden was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Frith & Horne 2016, p. 74.
  3. ^ a b Buckley 2012, p. 21.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference lester was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c Fisher, Mark (2010). "You Remind Me of Gold: Dialogue with Simon Reynolds". Kaleidoscope (9).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference harper was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Frith 1989, p. 116, 208.
  8. ^ a b Fisher 2014, p. 5.
  9. ^ Bannister 2007, p. 184.
  10. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Fisher2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Frith & Horne 2016, pp. 113–114.