American folk singer Pete Seeger defined pop music as "professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music". Nineteenth century popular music mostly descended … See more

Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph cylinder kicked off the birth of recorded music. The first cylinder to be released was "Semper Fidelis" by the U.S. Marine Band. … See more

Following the turbulent political, social and musical changes of the 1960s and early 1970s, rock music diversified. What was formerly known as rock and roll, a reasonably discrete style of music, had evolved into a catchall category called simply rock music, … See more

By the end of the 1990s and into the early 2000s pop music consisted mostly of a combination of pop-hip hop and R&B-tinged pop, … See more

The middle of the 20th century saw a number of very important changes in American popular music. The field of pop music developed tremendously during this period, as the … See more

Perhaps the most important change in the 1990s in American popular music was the rise of alternative rock through the popularity of grunge. This was previously an explicitly anti-mainstream grouping of genres that rose to great fame beginning in the early 1990s. … See more

American popular music has become extremely popular internationally. Rock, pop, hip hop, jazz, country and other styles have fans … See more