Pop/Rock  •  Pop/Rock

Baroque Pop

Overview Artists Albums Songs

Baroque Pop emerged during the mid-'60s, a time when artists including the Left Banke, the Beach Boys, producer Phil Spector, and composer/arranger Burt Bacharach began infusing rock & roll with elements of classical music, achieving a majestic orchestral sound far removed from rock's wild, primitive origins. Layered harmonies, strings, and horns are all hallmarks of baroque pop, as is the music's dramatic intensity. At the time of its inception, it was rock's most mature outgrowth to date, and its spirit lives on in everything from the Philly soul sound of the early '70s to the like-minded chamber pop sound of the mid-'90s.