POP AND ROCK IN BRITAIN

In the 1950s, American popular music spread all over the world. Together with film, it was part of the USA cultural imperialism which had started earlier in the century and was now advancing on all fronts. Because of the shared language, it made more of an impact on Britain than on most other countries. People listened with pleasure to Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Doris Day; then with shock, horror and delight to Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. Whatever the Americans produced, Britain enjoyed.

Rock 'n' roll caught on in a very big way in Britain, and in fact some American rockets like Eddie Cochran had more fanatical fans here than at home. Although Elvis only set foot on British soil once (at a military airport, on his way to Germany), he was the King as much in Britain as anywhere. But the interest in rock 'n' roll extended beyond listening to it; the British began to imitate it, sometimes quite successfully. Amateurish skiffle groups gave way to classy rock 'n' roll acts. The Beatles had their first hit, Love Me Do, in 1962 and it was not long before they turned the tables on the Americans; they were the first British artists to break into the US market, and they were the vanguard of a real invasion. Soon there was international success for the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Freddie and the Dreamers, and others.

Since that time, pop music in Britain has been a mix of American and British. However, in more than any other aspect of the culture, pop seems to be xenophobic: foreign artists just cannot break into the market. Of course, there are exceptions, including a few from English-speaking countries: Australians Kylie Minogue and INXS, Canadians Bryan Adams and k.d. lang, Irish bands U2 and the Cranberries, and great reggae artists like Bob Marley from Jamaica. Occasionally north-European voices manage to get heard: A-Ha, Kraftwerk, Bjork, the ever-popular Abba, and recently the highly entertaining Aqua.

The pop music world moves very fast. By the end of the 1960s, rock 'n' roll seemed a fully mature art form, with a whole range of variants. From then through to the late 1970s, there was a wide variety of popular music styles from psychedelic, folk rock, glam rock and progressive rock to kink and reggae. By the late 70s, some people were beginning to tire of the smooth professional style of the rock industry. It had become a rich show-business phenomenon and had lost touch with its working-class roots. In Britain a few young musicians (with the help of some marketing experts) started the punk revolution. It was pure anti-establishment, and that included the rock 'n' roll establishment. The Sex Pistols,

Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Clash and the Buzzcocks hated or pretended to hate middle-class society and the pop super-stars. They also made rock music cheaper to produce, getting away from the expensive sounds of high-tech studio production. This inspired the creation of a lot of new bands by people without much 'money (or talent in some cases). But punk did not last long.

The pop business is driven by the need for change and innovation; the economics of it simply do not work if the public listens to the same thing all the lime. The result of all this innovation is the massive variety of pop music today. Some styles, like punk, appear and then disappear. Some, like country music, stay and are added to the ever-growing pop menu. Others split into subgroups, as has happened to dance music. In the 70s, when the Bee Gees wrote the soundtrack for the film Saturday Night Fever, there was just disco. As it got heavier and funkier, it was known as house, or acid house. Out of house in the USA came techno and garage, and in Britain, jungle, which in turn gave birth to ragga jungle and drum 'n' bass. Then the earlier house music had a revival under the name old skool.

In spite of all the fashionable rebellion, mainstream pop is still doing extremely well. Actually, the term pop itself needs some explanation. So far, it has been used here to mean popular music in general, including rock, dance and rap. But young people use it more often in the more restricted sense of chart music: ordinary, middle-of-the-road tunes with a big audience -the sort of thing that is shown on TV in the early evening. In this sense, it is often a term of abuse. But in reality, not many people follow all the latest developments in drum a' bass; it is only accessible: to 15 to 25-year-olds who go dancing. Most of the population listens to pop music - to Boyzone-type boy bands and Spicegirl-type girl bands, to Robbie Williams and Celine Dion.