I can remember the bubblegum era really well. Christina's debut I pictured her being black but she wasn't! And I remember how HUGE Britney was..and how everyone knew who Beyoncé was but no one else in Destiny's Child
I would say my earliest memory of pop music would be when Titanic was huge and Celine's soundtrack song was everywhere. Also when Brandy and Monica had their big duet and when R Kelly sang I Believe I Can Fly.
I remember growing up in the early 00's and listening/witnessing the classics like Whitney and MJ. Then I also remember the teen pop explosion and all the videos with the BSB, NSYNC, Enrique Iglesias, Britney Spears etc... plus the hype over them. But the decade really got good when that trend died and urban truly ruled like 2002 into 2003 with Get Rich Or Die Tryin, Dangerously in love, Missy Elliot etc...
ff; I forgot 2005-2008 was my first Pop Music Experience.
Disney had Pop on a LOCKDOWN. High School Musical was EVERYWHERE. My first artist I ever liked; had all 3 albums (HSM1 Soundtrack first album I had). Camp Rock, Hannah Montana, Cheetah Girls, etc were kinda the childhood.
I used to get Hubba Bubba that came with Spice Girls stickers and stick them to my bed frame, as well as watch Spice World on VHS every night. But my dad never guessed I was gay
Hot In Herre
Who Let The Dogs Out?
The Sweet Escape
Beverly High Hills
A Thousand Miles
Milkshake
We Belong Together / Shake It Off
Run It!
Drop It Like It's Hot
Lean Back
Goodies
As a little kid, I grew up on 80s/90s music because I was born in 1995. My family listened to a lot of Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Queen, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty. So kind of rock, alternative & folk. This definitely shaped some of my music taste. Alanis, Queen & Aerosmith stuck with me the most. If I'm talking about specific songs that really impacted me: Hand In My Pocket, Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason, Aerosmith's Dream On, Guns N Roses Sweet Child o'Mine, all of Michael Jackson's Thriller.
A lot of adult contemporary in the 00s as well, more Sheryl & Matchbox (Unwell, Good is Good, Picture, First Cut is the Deepest).
Then, in the 9-12 age range, I added 2 more genres to my interests: hip hop & pop. I heard a lot of hip hop on the radio & I learned a lot about pop music through VH1/MTV. Then I began looking up what I looked, & then got iTunes, & music became a main hobby of mine.
The first pop album I remember deliberately choosing to buy was Love, Angel, Music, Baby. A key pop album I also remember buying is Good Girl Gone Bad - which, to me, marked the beginning of my OBSESSION with the music industry. Rihanna was always super fascinating to me.
I feel like I was exposed to a real variety of music growing up & I'm glad it shaped me to what I like today.
My first pop experience that I can remember would be my dad playing Let's Dance in the car for me. Either that or my mother playing Steps for me in her van as we drove to our old hometown.
My first self-aware pop moment was probably Lady Marmalade. I was only 8 or 9 when it came out, but it fixated me. I never heard Britney Spears or any of that other music until about 2002 or 2003, but Lady Marmalade was the first genuine pop moment I had.
I'm a bit younger, 18, but I remember my older sister (31 now) absolutely STANNING for Brit. She would constantly have her music playing, she watched stuff about her all the time, so that's what exposed me to pop music.
But what really got me into stanning for pop music myself would have to be Miley