Jangle Pop
Jangle pop is melodic guitar pop defined by bright, chiming guitar lines, often played on twelve-string electric guitars.
The sound goes back to the Byrds in the 1960s and returned in the early 1980s with American college rock bands and British indie groups. Guitars are clean and ringing rather than distorted, the tempos are brisk, and the melodies are sweet with a wistful edge. It is closely tied to indie pop but is named for its guitar tone rather than its attitude.
Artists it is known for: The Byrds, R.E.M., The Smiths.
- Family
- Alternative & Indie
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- United States and United Kingdom, 1980s, with 1960s roots
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 11%
About 9,000 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have jangle pop among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Jangle Pop artists
The Smiths
The Sundays
The Stone Roses
R.E.M.
The Long Faces
Morrissey
Alvvays
Heavenly
The ReplacementsThe jangle pop artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.