Easy Instrumental Pop
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Easy instrumental pop softens the edges of instrumental pop even further, favoring string sheen, restrained percussion, wide stereo spread, and plush room tone over rhythmic snap. Melodies are presented almost like upholstered furniture for the ear: present, attractive, and unlikely to spill a drink on the carpet.
History
Emerging from the same market that sustained beautiful-music radio and budget LPs, it became the lingua franca of Living Strings-style covers, Mantovani cascades, Billy Vaughn sax-led arrangements, and Ronnie Aldrich pianos; by the late 1960s and early 1970s it was a staple of supermarkets, bachelor-pad collections, and suburban hi-fi systems, before being partly displaced by softer vocal pop and later digital background-music services.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Joseph Lanza, *Elevator Music*
- Smithsonian Libraries, "Popular instrumental music"
- Mood Media, "History of Muzak." citeturn7search21turn7search11turn7search13