Unsung Heroes Of Modern Pop Music

In the mid-'80s, a Swedish DJ by the name of Dagge Volle began making noise on the Stockholm club scene. According to one of his contemporaries, DJ Stonebridge, Volle had his eyes on bigger things from the beginning as reflected in the name he chose for himself, Denniz Pop. "For Denniz the challenge was

In the mid-'80s, a Swedish DJ by the name of Dagge Volle began making noise on the Stockholm club scene. According to one of his contemporaries, DJ Stonebridge, Volle had his eyes on bigger things from the beginning — as reflected in the name he chose for himself, Denniz Pop. "For Denniz the challenge was always to create the perfect pop song," Stonebridge told the BBC in 2019. "He never thought twice about being cool." Pop envisioned Sweden as an international pop music force — and in 1992, he brought together the country's most forward-thinking producers to form Cheiron Studios, with the aim of making that happen.

Experimenting with different mixes in Stockholm's clubs, Pop and his band of producers discovered how to get big reactions by mixing the simple melodies and big hooks of '80s hair metal with Hip Hop and pop production, creating a new sound that quickly bore fruit with releases by the likes of Ace of Base and Robyn. Soon, Cheiron was producing records for *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears — with many of their biggest hits helmed by Pop's protégé, a young producer named Martin Sandberg who christened himself "Max Martin." Pop died of stomach cancer in 1998, but Martin has carried on in his wake — and you have heard his work countless times, whether you know it or not. In co-writing smash hits for Spears, P!nk, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and many others, Martin has amassed more #1 hits as a writer than anyone in history not named Lennon or McCartney.

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