Baroque pop

Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid-1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropriation of Baroque compositional styles (contrapuntal melodies and functional harmony patterns) and dramatic or melancholic gestures. Harpsichords figure prominently, while oboes, French horns, and string quartets are also common.

Although harpsichords had been deployed for a number of pop hits since the 1940s, some record producers in the 1960s increasingly placed the instrument in the foreground of their arrangements. Inspired partly by the Beatles' song "In My Life" (1965), various groups were incorporating baroque and classical instrumentation by early 1966. The term "baroque rock" was coined in promotional material for the Left Banke, who used harpsichords and violins in their arrangements and whose 1966 song "Walk Away Renée" exemplified the style.

Baroque pop's mainstream popularity faded by the 1970s, partially because punk rock, disco and hard rock took over; nonetheless, music was still produced within the genre's tradition. Philadelphia soul in the 1970s and chamber pop in the 1990s both reflected the spirit of baroque pop, while the latter incorporated much of the period's low fidelity musical aesthetic.

In classical music, the term "Baroque" is used to describe the art music of Europe approximately between the years 1600 and 1750, with some of its most prominent composers including J. S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Much of the instrumentation of baroque pop is akin to that of the late Baroque period or the early Classical period, chronologically defined as the period of European music from 1690 to 1760 and stylistically defined by balanced phrases, clarity and beauty.

Baroque pop, stylistically, fuses elements of rock with classical music, often incorporating layered harmonies, strings, and horns to achieve a majestic, orchestral sound. Its prominent characteristics are the use of contrapuntal melodies and functional harmony patterns. It was intended to be a more serious and mature outgrowth of rock music. Journalist Bob Stanley uses the term "English baroque" to describe a subset that existed between 1968 and 1973, after the genre's more widespread presence in rock and pop. "Baroque rock" may be invoked as a synonym of "baroque pop" or as its own distinct term.

The Boston Globe's Matthew Guerrieri credits the origins of baroque pop to American pop musicians and record producers like Phil Spector and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson placing the harpsichord in the foreground of their arrangements. Harpsichords were widely available in recording studios, and had been used in popular music since as early as the 1940s, but the instrument did not gain prominence until the 1960s. One of the first pop rock hits to use a harpsichord was the Jamies' "Summertime, Summertime" (1958). Later examples cited by Guerrieri range from the Beach Boys' "I Get Around" (1964) and "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" (1965) to the Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (1964) and the Mamas & the Papas' "Monday, Monday" (1966). Guerrieri speculates that the harpsichord may have been desirable for its buzzing, stinging timbre, which suited "the treble-heavy pop soundscape" of the time.

The 1964 single "She's Not There" by the English band the Zombies marked a starting point for baroque pop, according to Stanley. He writes that the song "didn't feature any oboes but stuck out rather dramatically in 1964, the year of 'You Really Got Me' and 'Little Red Rooster'", that its arrangement was comparably "restrained" and "almost medieval", and that its refined qualities were emphasised by singer Colin Blunstone having an enunciation that was "pure St Albans grammar".

Along with Burt Bacharach, Spector melded pop music with classical elements before they were combined with rock. Music historian Andrew Grant Jackson states that "the era of baroque pop", in which "rock melded with classical elements", began with the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire" (February 1965) and Brian Wilson's work on The Beach Boys Today! (March 1965). In Jackson's view, baroque pop and chamber pop were one and the same. The Yardbirds single "For Your Love" (March, 1965) further popularized the use of the harpsichord in commercial pop rock music. Slate's Forrest Wickman credits the Beatles' producer, George Martin, along with Paul McCartney and Wilson, as some of the men "most responsible" for the move into baroque pop.