Soft pop
| Sunshine pop | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1960s, California, United States |
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Sunshine pop (originally called soft pop) is a lightly-produced subgenre of pop music originating in Southern California in the mid 1960s. Rooted in easy-listening, advertising jingles, and the growing drug culture, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appreciation for the beauty of the world". It largely consisted of lesser-known artists who imitated more popular groups like the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, and the 5th Dimension. While the Beach Boys are noted as prominent influences, they rarely worked in the genre.
Sunshine pop enjoyed mainstream success in the latter half of the decade, with many of its top 40 hits peaking in the spring and summer of 1967, especially just before the Summer of Love. Popular bands include the Mamas & the Papas, the Turtles, and the Association. Other acts, like the Millennium, Sagittarius, and the Yellow Balloon were less successful but gained a cult following years later with albums like Begin (Millennium, 1968) and Present Tense (Sagittarius, 1968) highly sought-after on the collectors’ market.
Sunshine pop originated in the American state of California in the mid to late-1960s, beginning as an outgrowth of the California Sound and folk rock movements. Rooted in easy-listening, advertising jingles, and the growing drug culture, the music is characterized by lush vocals and light arrangements similar to samba music. Most of the acts were lesser-known bands named after fruits, colors, or cosmic concepts who imitated more popular groups like the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, and the 5th Dimension. In some ways the genre is similar to baroque pop music through being elaborate and melancholic, though it also crossed into folk pop and Brill Building styles. It may be seen as a form of escapism from the turmoil of the times.The A.V. Club's Noel Murray writes: "sunshine pop acts expressed an appreciation for the beauty of the world mixed with a sense of anxiety that the good ol' days were gone for good."
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