Interesting. But why BS?

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Pop music, I believe, is unique in its formulaic nature - it needs to sound the same to be "in" (except to the aficionados

All music is formulaic - that's how idioms & traditions are defined. Such idioms will all sound the same to people who don't like them, yet within each idiom there is sufficient diversity to keep it interesting for those in-the-know.

Pop Music is Popular Music - Popular as in People, all people. The myriad feral idioms of Popular Music form a continuity unbroken these past 50,000 years or more as human creativity is born afresh with each new generation who experience the self-same sense of wonder and renewal that invigorates their creative urges to paying their dues and maybe making a contribution or two themselves and so it goes on, incrementally transfiguring itself with respect of available technology.

The People's Music! Here's to it sounding different for another 50,00 years!