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Progressive pop

This article is about a pop subgenre sometimes characterized as a more accessible form of progressive rock. It is not to be confused with Experimental pop, Art pop, or Avant-pop.

Progressive pop
EtymologyA "progression" from mid-20th century pop music formulas.[1]
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsMid-1960s – 1970s
Derivative forms
Other topics

Progressive pop is pop music that attempts to break with the genre's standard formula, or an offshoot of the progressive rock genre that was commonly heard on AM radio in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally termed for the early progressive rock of the 1960s. Some stylistic features of progressive pop include hooks and earworms, unorthodox or colorful instrumentation, changes in key and rhythm, experiments with larger forms, and unexpected, disruptive, or ironic treatments of past conventions.

The movement started as a byproduct of the mid-1960s economic boom, when record labels began investing in artists and allowing performers limited control over their own content and marketing. Groups who combined rock and roll with various other music styles such as Indian ragas and Asian-influenced melodies ultimately influenced the creation of progressive rock (or "prog"). When prog records began declining in sales, some artists returned to a more accessible sound that remained commercially appealing until the 1990s.

  1. ^ Haworth & Smith 1975, p. 126.
  2. ^ Poyau, Morgan (July 13, 2011). "The 80s Nostalgia Aesthetic Of Music's Hottest New Subgenre: Hypnagogic Pop". Vice Media. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  3. ^ Reynolds 2006, p. 398.