So how will Major Lazer, whose whole schtick is globalised pop, succeed?
Whether or not K-pop succeeds in the West, Korea has taken the music video deeper into the essence of the song than we ever did.
And Clockwatching takes on a most unlikely form – 60s-style beat pop – and succeeds, Brian Brigg's none-more-English accent an oddly good fit for the buffeting guitars and reedy organ.
Oddly, those views are also not that far from what Islamic fundamentalists themselves believe, or, for that matter, what the antiglobalization activists believe: pop culture succeeds because it is imperialist.
In this task, pop music succeeds marvelously, which is why I think it is so popular.
Cherry Glazerr: Loosely delivered indie pop that succeeds less on technique than hand-sewn joy a la the Moldy Peaches and K Records, this band is part of the Burger Records posse.
Indeed, Robinson's exploitations of pop imagery succeed by failing the Pictures Generation shibboleth of ironic detachment.
Pop songs succeed when they achieve a combination of word and sound greater than the sum of their parts.
But Koestenbaum investigates neither Warhol's pivotal place in art history -- how Pop Art succeeded Abstract Expressionism -- nor world history's indelible impact on Warhol's art.
Hadar has clearly discovered a true outsider artist, and the naïve charm of the album covers is a reminder that the greatest pop musicians succeed at implying an entire world as dazzlingly seductive as their songs.
Melding a cumbia beat and a twisty, bluesy guitar line, the song achieves one of Juanes's missions by carrying Latin roots into pop, and it succeeds by setting aside duty for pleasure.
