Rock has hymn-like structures and often pentatonic scales, Pop is less constrained.

Beatles rock = Let It Be
Beatles pop = the better stuff

solid, monumental, grained, stratified, meant to last.

Pop is giddy champagne sparkle.

Both can be enjoyed.

Pop - singles
Rock - albums

Rock is dominated by heavy guitar, pop less so. Rock pods, pop has a spring in its step.

When something is described as pop rock it usually means moderately heavy guitar played jauntily

I know that soul records that crossed over from R&B charts to pop tended to have strings, percussion and backing vocals - some sweetening. This was seen as a qualifying factor.

This probably doesn't help.

Pop is ruined when drugs turn up. Rock isn't (at least not straight away).

Led Zeppelin Vs Abba

e g Franz Ferdinand

Long solos, 'serious' lyrics, instrumentation, blokes with beards...

I recall it was a distinction that came in at the end of the 60s to distinguish "serious" music that was confined to albums (and as with bands like Les Zeppelin totally disdained singles) from those fizzy confections that made the singles chart. Remember how tenybopper music was suddenly looked down upon?
But in so many ways it's an artificial construct.
Does anyone else recall how Deep Purple seemed almost embarrassed at the success of Black Night, because it didn't "represent their music" and they claimed they didn't know what the lyrics meant? Child In Time of course had so much meaning. They weren't so proud that they refused the royalties though.
Black Sabbath, who had a more or less contemporaneous hit with Paranoid seemed to exhibit a similar attitude.

Pop = female
rock = male

Testosterone.

Pop dresses up (or down) to sell itself, stands in doorways whatever the weather and makes itself available to anyone, for cash.

Rock advertises itself on cards in phone booths and in specialist catalogues, just a phone call away, credit cards accepted.

Or in plain English, one's a tart and the other's a call girl.

Sometimes they are the same thing sometimes they're not. I'm sure that the only definitive answer should include a venn diagram.

Bought this Weezer album a few weeks back and only got around to listening to it in the car yesterday. This is track one and its brilliant.

Always thought of Weezer as a rock band but I believe this is the return of Powerpop.

PS Great video too.

The other's red and stops in 1966.

You like pop

They like recycled covers by X-factor hopefuls.

There's also "rawk" which I always equate with American bands, playing in stadiums shouting "Hello Cleveland", playing horrible WWF riffs that never swing, tight spandex pants with a carrot shoved down the front, big hair, appearing on stage after shagging 14 year old groupies backstage (hello David Lee Roth), just frigging awful..Rock is Pop that takes itself a bit too seriously. Pop was golden age Beatles..now it's Lady Gaga, The Brits, X-Factor, Modern Country most of it CRAP of the highest order.

RIGHT IT'S BACK TO THE ROCKING CHAIR!

just different clothes........

Twang Junior aged 5 told me the difference between pop and rock is that rock has drums.

Pop is fuck me and forget me
Rock is fuck me and marry me.

Rock: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Pop: The Dooleys

But pop/rock: Suzi Quatro

Pop = Rubber Soul
Rock = Revolver

is your record collection. Pop is your sister's.

...that says that 'rock' was born in 1965 with the release of Like A Rolling Stone. I've never been 100% sure as to why; but clearly there's something, I don't know, harder edged from about 1964 onwards with the release of singles like the aforementioned vomitific outburst; and 'heavier' (guitar-wise) singles like You Really Got Me, Keep On Running and Satisfaction.

...pretentious pop music.

... they're spelled differently.

I think "pop music" and "rock music" are different ways of describing the same thing. Any rules we make to distinguish them have so many exceptions and exemptions that they're meaningless. When I was younger and even more foolish, "rock" was good and "pop" was bad. It's just music. I'm reminded of David Gilmour's appearance on Desert Island Discs. Pink Floyd are probably regarded by most who care as more rock than pop - but when Gilmour was talking about the future of the band, he said "after all, it's just a pop group". Amen to that.

Up to 1966=rock (Konrads, King Bees)
1966-1968=pop(Bowie goes "cabaret")
1969-1974=rock (Space Oddity, TMWSTW, Hunky Dory, Ziggy, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Pinups)
1975=pop (Young Americans)
1976-1979=rock (Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Lodger, Scary Monsters)
1981-1986=pop (Under Pressure, Cat People, Let's Dance, Dancing in the Street, Absolute Beginners, Labyrinth)
1987-1991=rock-but-shite(Never Let Me Down, Tin Machine)
1992-1993=pop (Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, Black Tie White Noise)
1995-present=rock (Outside, Earthling, Heathen, Reality)

I highlighted my entire iTunes music library and changed the genre to 'music'. I've had enough of these ridiculous categories: music quite often has Soul, is played by Folk, is Popular, Rocks a bit and is recorded in a Country. And that's the Gospel truth.

When I was growing up we saw rock as supposedly credible and pop as not. Weller was rock, despite the string of top ten hits and Duran Duran were pop. These days I'd argue that pop is more credible than rock because it quite often is what it is. It doesn't need to place itself in history with a string of 'cool' influences.

(If you asked my dad he would have said the Stones were rock and The Beatles were pop. He would never accept that the Beatles were a rock group. They were always the band that did She Loves You. His view was they wanted to be rock so badly it was like the kid at school who want's to be cool. Trying too hard was his view.)

DH, when I was a young teenager Smash Hits was Pop to us. Didn't you have some sort of editorial policy that defined the two sides? Some sort of Berlin Wall of music?

Rock is always a subset of pop

If they're is a distinction it's all to do with the seriousness with which people approach it.

The test of pop is it has to entertaining.

The test of rock is it has to convince people it's substantial.

Pop is shorthand for popular music. Therefore you could have popular rock music or unpopular rock music. Popular dance music, or unpopular dance music. And so on and so forth.

is what men in Gortex jackets believe everyone should listen to.

Pop is what everyone listens to.

Tomsk Loaf(4) likes Rock because it's for boys. He thinks dance music is for girls. Was it just a year ago that he was dancing to I Like To Move It Move It by Reel to Reel Featuring The Mad Stuntman....how time flies.

Pop: frothy, fleeting, female, dressed-up, gay, joyful.
Rock: sturdy, monumental, male, dressed-down, straight, serious.

Neither is better than the other and the best of either can be truly great. A very few genius artists can do both. (Prince, Bowie, Abba, Dexys, Beatles).

And the stuff that isn't is just bollocks pretending to be Art. IMHO!

Rock is rockular

Pop is 13

Rock is 16

Maturity is not caring anymore, other than whether it's a good tune.

According to my Encyclopedia of Rock, rock is the seminal and those who are influenced by the seminal. Pop on the other hand just wants hits.

Pop is for discos.
Rock is for discussion.

what I can say with certainty is that I love them both.

there ever been a Pop Opera? Or a Pop concept album?

written and performed by rock bands (generally). Pop is written by jobbing songwriters and performed by session musicians (generally). That's why X-factor is all pop and Glastonbury is (mostly) rock.

That doesn't make one better than the other.

pop is coca-cola
rock is cocaine

think aboot it.

that on LP sleeve of Rock Stage Fright (Capitol EA-SW 425) it says "File under POPULAR: Pop Groups". I'd forgotten about this helpful touch that you used to get in them days ....

Rock music is pop music for people who are juvenile enough to worry about whether their listening habits are juvenile or not.

Pop: la la la

But in the Australian X Factor this week, Natalie Imbruglia and Ronan Keating argued that Crocodile Rock is not a rock song - sparking a similar "what is rock?" debate. I'm with Nat and Ro on that one, but it doesn't matter - Shane *so* owned that song. Like, O...M...G...

Rock is hard (and a little phallic).