New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop, alternative dance and post-punk. The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into the early 1980s.
Blondie, 1976. L–R: Gary Valentine, Clem Burke, Deborah Harry, Chris Stein and Jimmy Destri.
Talking Heads performing in Toronto in 1978
Painting of a Devo energy dome hat
Franz Ferdinand performing in 2006
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced. Rock and pop music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which pop became associated with music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible.
The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that the term "pop" refers to music performed by such artists as the Rolling Stones (pictured here in a 2006 performance).
Amr Diab, Egyptian pop star, named "El-Hadaba", for achieving high records sales in the Middle East and Africa for the last three decades
Bing Crosby was one of the first artists to be nicknamed "King of Pop" or "King of Popular Music".[verification needed]
The 1960s British Invasion marked a period when the US charts were inundated with British acts such as the Beatles (pictured 1964).