Pop rock

[9] Writer Johan Fornas views pop/rock as "one single, continuous genre field", rather than distinct categories.

[4] To the authors Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, it is defined as an "upbeat variety of rock music" represented by artists and bands such as Andy Kim, the Bells, Paul McCartney, Lighthouse, and Peter Frampton.

[10] The term "pop" has been used since the early forties to refer to popular music in general, but in the mid-1950s, it began to be used for a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll.

[11][1] In the aftermath of the British Invasion, from about 1967, it was increasingly used in opposition to the term rock, to describe a form that was more commercial, ephemeral and accessible.

Auslander and several other scholars, such as Simon Frith and Grossberg, argue that pop music is often depicted as an inauthentic, cynical, "slickly commercial", and formulaic form of entertainment.