Sunshine pop

Sunshine pop
Other names	Soft pop
Stylistic origins	Easy listening jingles samba California sound folk-pop folk rock Brill Building
Cultural origins	Mid 1960s,California,U.S.
Derivative forms	Shibuya-kei soft rock
Other topics
Psychedelic music

Sunshine pop(originally known assoft pop) is a subgenre ofpop musicthat originated inSouthern Californiain the mid-1960s. Rooted ineasy listeningandadvertising jingles,sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appreciation for the beauty of the world".The category largely consists of lesser-known artists who imitated more popular groups such asthe Mamas & the Papasandthe 5th Dimension.Whilethe Beach Boysare noted as prominent influences, the band's music was rarely representative of 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 theSummer of Love.Popular acts includethe Turtlesandthe Association.Other groups, likethe Millennium,Sagittarius,andthe Yellow Balloonwere less successful but gained acult followingyears laterwith albums likeBegin(Millennium, 1968) andPresent Tense(Sagittarius, 1968) being sought on the collectors’ market.

Etymology

Music identified under the sunshine pop banner initially was called "soft pop".Record collectors coined and popularized the term "sunshine pop" many years after the fact.

Origins and characteristics

See also:California sound

Sunshine pop originated in California in the mid to late-1960s,beginning as an outgrowth of theCalifornia Soundandfolk rockmovements.Rooted ineasy-listening,advertising jingles,and the growing drug culture,the music was characterized by lush vocals and light arrangements similar tosambamusic.Most of the acts were lesser-known bands named after fruits, colors, or cosmic conceptsthat imitated popular groups likethe Beach Boys,the Mamas & the Papas,andthe 5th Dimension.In some ways, the genre is similar tobaroque popthrough being elaborate and melancholic, but it crossed intofolk-popandBrill Buildingstyles.It may be seen as a form ofescapismfrom 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."

Some of the artists who influenced the style includeCurt Boettcher,the Mamas & the Papas'John Phillips,and the Beach Boys'Brian Wilson.Concerning the Beach Boys' involvement with sunshine pop, the orchestral style ofPet Sounds(1966) was imitated by many Los Angeles record producers, butThe A.V. Clubnotes: "Though [the Beach Boys]... were hugely influential on the sunshine pop acts that followed, [their] music was rarely in step with the genre."The Suburban's Joel Goldenburg believes the closest the group ever came to the genre was the lightly produced albumFriends(1968): "the vocals of sunshine pop songs are a little more anonymous and not as lushly featured as that of The Beach Boys. And I don't see the[Phil] Spectorconnection. The light touch applied to the songs reminds me more of softsambamusic. "Murray says that "John Phillips, on the other hand, practically created the blueprint for sunshine pop, with little of Wilson's uncommercial weirdness."Brian Wilson commented that "you can turn the Beach Boys upside down... just the track or whatever, and I think they [the Mamas & the Papas] have as much vocal as we do track... whereas, I think, we emphasize a little more track than vocal."

Sunshine pop and the California Sound's influence expanded to other countries. In Spain, it initially was pioneered by groups likePic-Nic,Granada Los Ángeles and Los Iberos in 1968.Between 1969 and the 1970s there was a boom of "soft pop" acts in the country, among them Los Yetis, Solera, Módulos, Nuevos Horizontes and Vainica Doble.

Rediscovery

After its peak in the 1960s, the genre lingered in near-obscurity, although it enjoyed some interest among collectors of rarevinylsingles and LPs. Select albums would occasionally fetch hefty prices at online auctions or in record stores.A name was eventually given to the music, "sunshine pop", although it was rarely deployed outside of record collecting circles.In the early 1990s, a renewed interest began in Japan,where record companies started publishing compilations of long-forgotten, obscure 1960s music. This revival subsequently spread to Europe and the United States.

Compilations and box-sets by groups such asSpanky and Our Gang,The Association,The ArborsandThe Love Generationhave been released on CD. Among the record labels which issue sunshine pop re-releases are Revola Records in Britain and the US labelSundazed.

See also

• List of sunshine pop artists
• Come to the Sunshine: Soft Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults
• Bubblegum pop
• Microgenres
• Soft rock

Bibliography

• Howard, David N. (2004).Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings.Hal Leonard Corporation.ISBN978-0-634-05560-7.
• Reynolds, Simon(2011).Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past.Faber & Faber.ISBN978-1-4299-6858-4.
• Stanley, Bob(2013).Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop.Faber & Faber.ISBN978-0-571-28198-5.
• Unterberger, Richie(2003).Eight Miles High: Folk-rock's Flight from Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock.Backbeat Books. p.63.ISBN978-0-87930-743-1.