As far as genre-wise, I think these guys are alternative or indie. And as far as popularity wise ... well, they're radio worthy but unheard of on the radio.

Minus the Bear!

This is off their latest 2010 album, and my thoughts were:poppy but decent.
Give it a listen if you like:



I've come to expect a lot more instrumental prowess from them, esp. guitarist and drummer... like this for example:



But I think this is a perfect choice for you. I am/was in the same boat as you. But really, when I start to think about it... I do have pop music, sort of...

It might rather be called indie-pop, or alternative, or so on and so forth, but... yea




...like I think in the future, we may retrospectively call some of the RHCP's work pop, especially in the 2000s. By The Way, Zephyr Song, Wet Sand, Stadium Arcadium...

Silverchair's Young Modern Album is pretty damn poppy, but I enjoy(ed) it quite a lot.



The question here is one that has been stated before me in this thread: does something have to be popular in order to be Pop, or do you define simply something that sounds poppy as Pop?

It has to be said: 80's cheese pop: sooo good :P

I reiterate Brian Eno:

I have always loved OK Go, for some reason. I just think they get several extremely catchy songs on each of their releases.

I like Brian Eno, but I've never considered him to be pop music. As for Minus the Bear, I've listened to the before but I didn't see anything I loved. They're decent, though.

Why not? I mean in his more ambient later days of course not. However, there's many reasons I'd consider Brian Eno pop.

A) Vocal based. The vocals are recorded very loudly, and remain a focal point. Words are very listenable, and presented to the listener.

B) There's a lot of experimentation but it isn't necessarily through complexity or virtuosity. It's done very much through very smooth studio production technique.

C) Songs are generally short, and generally not focused on overwhelming the listener with melody. Just very artsy poetry matched with light instrumentation, and clean vocals.

D) Not super-fast, but not super-slow. Easy for the listener to keep up with.

E) Singular marketable central figure who has complete control over the project, and whose personality plus creative vision shines through directly without any distortion to the fact it's him.

If anything, sound-wise Eno was at one point purely pop. I mean, If you consider the Beatles pop during their 'White Album' and 'Abbey Road' phases there's no way you could bar early Eno from that category.

Yea, I see your point. Just when I think of Eno, I think of his later work (because that's what I enjoy the most). But you're right. Come to think of it, I saw that poppy sound from him when he collaborated with John Cale.

I like this list :)
Pop music DOESN'T have to suck you know! - Rate Your Music

Another Green World is essentially the ultimate ambient pop album.