Pop music has gone through many trends and movements. But each trend, each new wave was defined by someone who took a chance, who broke free from commonly-accepted norms and created the next great hit.
During the past few decades, we have seen the rise of norm-busting stars in popular music. Whether it was KISS in the 1970s, hair-metal bands in the 1980s, nu metal in the 1990s or Lil' Jon in the early 2000s, there always have been figures in popular music who seek to challenge how we view musicians. As of late, however, these stars seem to have soared to new heights in popular music, constantly topping each other with their increasingly audacious personas.
The most recent example is Lady Gaga. Seemingly overnight, Gaga has taken control of the pop music scene with an iron fist. Her incredibly catchy tunes and pounding dance beats have captivated the airways since 2008, and she shows no signs of slowing down.
T-Pain is another recent music icon who challenged our common standards of music in his prime, even if he has faded recently. He made the software kit Auto-Tune an acceptable form of music that nearly every modern rap artist soon adopted. And when he drifted from the limelight, he then parodied, time and again, his own attachment to the software. Ke$ha, similarly, is cashing in with her voice but has chosen a different route. Her singing seems to criss-cross the realms of rap and pop, punctuating innovative tracks that have become ubiquitous across the dance floor since their arrival. Adam Lambert shocked many with his scandalous AMA performance, and his own style seems to push some commonly-accepted musical - and social - norms. Hell, even Rihanna sports hair-dos which defy gravity and pop-star fashion sense.
So the question remains, why do we love these stars so much? One word: individuality. These artists cut through the everyday norm that has bored us all to tears since the day we were born. These artists make you think, "Why does he look like a Martian?" or, "Why the hell is she wearing a bird's nest on her head?"
And the individuality works. Lil Wayne's album Tha Carter III sold 1.5 million copies during the first week after its release in 2008 and was nominated for the Grammy for Album of the Year. Lady Gaga's new album The Fame Monster has been certified platinum and has received rave reviews. Her Monster Ball tour has sold out in venues all around the world.
In stark contrast to these figures are the cookie-cutter characters we see topping the charts from time to time. The squeaky-clean teen stars such as Taylor Swift and the Jonas Brothers are the antithesis to the Gagas and the Lil Waynes. They sell records by being nice, not abrasive - they are the type of people we can relate to and imagine ourselves having conversations in coffee shops with.
There is nothing wrong necessarily with these artists. But we are intrigued by the new offshoots that will continue to form in today's mainstream music, which separate from the generic and create new pathways into genres we have yet to hear and explore. Like hair-metal and its defining mullet emerged from rock and Lil' Jon sprung from hip-hop, these stars fascinate us, and we can't get enough. And we can't wait for next week, or next month, or next year, when a new star emerges who tops even Lady Gaga, when the dance floor starts shaking and the speakers start pumping, when the heavenly day has come that Auto-Tune has gone the way of the mullet.
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