Europop

This article is about a music genre. For the Eiffel 65 album, see Europop (album). For the Eiffel 65 song, see Europop (song).

Europop
Stylistic origins	Pop EDM alternative rock euro disco eurobeat vocal trance uplifting trance Italo disco pop rock disco polo electropop
Cultural origins	Middle of 1960s in Europe
Typical instruments	Electric guitar bass guitar piano keyboard drums drum machines synthesizer

Europop (also Euro pop) refers to a style of pop music that originates in Europe in the 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Many successful Europop artists came from France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but most were Swedish in origin.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, such groups were primarily popular in continental countries, with the exception of ABBA (1972–1983). The Swedish four-piece band achieved great success in the UK, where they scored nineteen top 10 singles and nine chart-topping albums, and in North America and Australia.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Roxette and Ace of Base led Europop in American and British mainstream audiences. In the 1990s, pop groups like the Spice Girls, Aqua, Backstreet Boys and singer DJ BoBo were strongly influenced by Europop. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Italian dance group Eiffel 65 were highly active in this genre. In the 2000s, one of the most popular representatives of Europop music was Swedish pop group Alcazar.

One of the main differences between American and European pop is that Europop is generally more dance and trance oriented. In central Europe, Italo disco (a.k.a. '80s Euro disco) and Euro house (a.k.a. '90s Eurodance) were the predominant attempts by young musicians to have a hit record in and beyond the borders of their own country.

See also

• List of Europop artists
• Euro disco
• Eurodance
• Electronic dance music
• Eurobeat
• Italo disco
• Electropop
• Synthpop
• Vocal trance

References

• Paul Simpson: The Rough Guide to Cult Pop: The Songs, the Artists, the Genres, the Dubious Fashions. Rough Guides 2003, ISBN 1-84353-229-8, p. 56 (restricted online version (Google Books))
• Europop - entry at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Simon Frith: Heard it before? You can blame it on the boogie. The Scotsman, 2000-1-19, ECM Publishers, Inc. 2000. HighBeam Research. 9 Dec. 2013 (http://www.highbeam.com)