Cantopop Music
From Sam Hui to Mirror
The term popular music refers to music enjoyed by a large segment of the population and marketed by the music industry. Leaders in this industry, which include recording companies, radio and television networks, and concert venues, largely determine how genres achieve commercial success. This section provides a survey of music genres and star performers from the 1950s to the present.
Popular music is usually performed by one or more singers. Improved microphone technology in the 1940s and 50s enabled performers like Frank Sinatra to sing at any dynamic level, with subtle gradations of sound, with no need to “project” the voice to the back of a hall or stadium. Singers are often accompanied by backup vocal groups and a variety of instruments and instrumental ensembles ranging from electrically amplified guitars to symphony orchestras, synthesizers, computers, drum machines, and vinyl records on two turntables. Concerts of popular music often include elaborate theatrical staging, lighting, and costumes.
The popularity of songs is measured in charts issued by Billboard Magazine. Since 1958, Billboard Hot 100 ranks songs based on sales of physical and digital recordings, online streaming, and amount of time played on American radio stations. In 2019, rapper Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road set a record when it topped the Hot 100 for nineteen consecutive weeks.
Recent popular music continues a centuries-long tradition of secular song. In this book we have studied songs ranging from the courtly love song A Chantar (I Must Sing) in the twelfth century to My Shot from the hit musical Hamilton, premiered on Broadway in 2015.
Popular songs tend to be constructed of short sections. The earliest rock music is often in twelve-bar blues form, such as Bessie Smith’s Lost Your Head Blues, discussed in Part VIII, Chapter 3. Even more widely used is thirty-two bar A A B A form. The main melody, refrain, or chorus of the song is 32 bars in length in four 8-bar sections. Recall that Over the Rainbow, studied in Part I, Chapter 5, has this form. The first A presents the main melody and lyrics. The second A repeats the melody with new lyrics. Section B, called the bridge, introduces a contrasting melody and different lyrics. The final A repeats the initial melody with new lyrics. In both A A B A form and ternary form (A B A), studied in Part I, Chapter 9, the contrast of the B section is an essential element. Songs in which the music remains the same for each stanza of the lyrics are in strophic form, discussed in Part VI, Chapter 3.
Verse-chorus form is another important structure in popular music. In this form, each verse, or stanza, is followed by a refrain (repeated section, also called a “chorus”). In the verse sections, the different stanzas of text are set to the same music. In the refrain or chorus, however, both text and music are repeated. The chorus typically includes a “hook line,” a repeated lyric and melody that becomes the most memorable part of the song. (Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, studied later, is in verse-chorus form.)