Pop music, sometimes just pop, was a form of Earth music, which sat within the mainstream, (PROSE: The Terror of the Darkness) of which Ada Obiefune was very fond. One of her favourite musicians, in fact, was John Jones, a pop musician in the 1960s. One of his pop albums was called Abanazar's Madness. (COMIC: What He Wants...) Those known for pop music were known as pop stars. (TV: Revenge of the Slitheen)
When living in 1960s London, the First Doctor and his granddaughter had opposing views on the music. He hated it while she loved it. Nevertheless, he was able to use it once to defeat a Cyberman invasion force. (PROSE: Dr. First)
According to Susan, the Doctor said similar things about Mozart, who, according to him, was a "bad-mannered show-off with a silly hairstyle, who made a racket just to get attention". She theorised that grown-ups said such things about pop groups favoured by the young, "because adults are threatened". "When music changes, it means that we're taking over. The young", the next generation. (PROSE: Time and Relative)
While the Third Doctor thought that pop music did "germane damage" to one's ears, he was also deeply offended when Jo Grant suggested that he might be "anti-pop", and told Jo that he and the Master belonged to a pop group, the Gallifrey Academy Hot Five, in their younger days. The Doctor played lead perigosto stick, while the Master was on drums. (PROSE: Deadly Reunion)
Will Hoffman felt that pop music was "meaningless" and "bland", and associated the genre with miserable suburban life and culture, which he hated. (PROSE: The Terror of the Darkness)