A Brief Introduction to Three Categories of Songs

By Wang Chao, Fan Xinyu, Zhou Yuan Yi, Jiang Hai Yuan, Wu Bo
Do you like listening to English songs? How many English singers do you know? What kind of music do you like listening to? There are many categories of music among them. They bring enormous pleasure to listeners everywhere. The types of music my group enjoys most are pop, rock and hip hop.

Under the category of pop music there are many singers who continue to belt out songs that we continue to sing long after the singers are no longer popular. Pop songs, pop singers who are both young and old continue to entertain us. Pop songs capture our imagination and the range of songs we like include Hey, Jude, Yesterday and Norwegian Wood. Pop singers who we are familiar with are Backstreet Boys, Westlife and Michael learns to Rock. Regardless of age, pop singers sell albums the way other genres of music do not, notably are the older singer Michael Jackson and the young female artist Avril Lavigne. Michael Jackson is regarded by my group as the father of pop music. He was very popular in the 1970s and many of his songs have become classics that we still sing. Avril Lavigne is a Canadian female pop singer who became very popular at sixteen. She has since gone on to win music awards and a huge fan base. Pop songs are the most accessible genre which our group enjoys listening to most.

There are two rock groups that are popular with us, these are U2 and Lankin Park. When it comes to rock music, we immediately think of Beatles, John Lennon and Rolling Stones. Rock songs continue to inspire later generations of listeners and influence to musicians and artists that come later. Apart from Beatles who are still considered the best band ever, U2 deserves to be considered the most successful rock band today. Songs like “With or without you”continue to haunt us because of its depth of meaning. Another band Linkin Park continues to produce rock music that is energetic and stylistic. The four guys from South California after much struggle managed to release the album Hybrid Theory in 2000 and they go on to produce Meteora and Minutes to Midnight. These albums impressed and moved many of the rock fans in our group.
Hip hop is a category of music that is filled with black singers like 2-Pac, Jay-Z and 50 cents. Regarded as the greatest hip hop singer, Tupac Shakur, staged named 2-Pac, was bought up in East Harlem from a family caught within the violence and gang wars. Even when he became a famous rapper, his life was characterised by struggles with the law. His songs reflect the struggles of the blacks and expressed the concerns of his community. In September 1999, he was shot and died from four bullets in a drive by shooting. This gave him a mythical hero/martyr status making him an icon of the hip hop world. Shawn Corey Carter, or Jay Z, is not only a hip hop artist but also a businessman. He famous not only for his music, his music companies such as Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella records but also for his marriage to Beyonce Knowles who used to be the lead singer of the girl's group Destiny's Child. His life reflects how multi-faceted and multi-talented a hip hop artist can be. Like other hip hop artist, Curtis James Jackson III, or 50 cents, grew up in a rough neighbourhood and his teenage mother was drugged and gassed to death when he was eight. He started out as an amateur boxer before he became a rapper and has been quoted saying, "I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too... I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like they're the champ" Although his life is wrapped in controversy and feuds with other singers, the albums that he produces reaches tremendous commercial success.

Although most hip hop artists are black, there is one exception to our list. He is an artist whom our group thinks is the third greatest in the field of hip hop—Marshall Bruce Mathers III or Eminem. He has won both the Academy and Grammy Awards and is a record producer. He writes songs that can be quite personal such as “ When I am gone” for his daughter and that are semi-autobiographical such as the songs for the album and movie “8 miles”. He once said, “ I don't want to be the second Tupac.” By this I think he means that he does not want to be involved in the underworld that characterised Tupac's life.
Pop, rock and hip hop are music genres that my group really enjoys and the songs affect us greatly.

Who will forgot the words to the famous Beatles song “ All you need is love” in the timeless message that will last for a long time to come.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time - It's easy.