2 September 1945 officially marked the end of World War II. In the ensuing years, geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union set off the Cold War. There was no large-scale armed warfare directly between these superpowers. Rather, the Cold War was a period characterised by ideological and technological competition, fear and propaganda, political interference and trade embargoes, a nuclear arms race and the threat of nuclear war, and proxy wars fought in other countries such as Korean and Vietnam. The Cold War lasted from 1947 to 1991.

Social, cultural and political movements during this time included civil rights in the United States, Indigenous rights (such as the 1967 referendum and land rights) in Australia, second-wave feminism, the sexual revolution, anti-war sentiment, and environmentalism. Post-war prosperity and the increased education and disposable income of young people in the Western world led to the emergence of the "teenager" as a distinct demographic group.

Rapid advancements in technology greatly improved health outcomes, allowed for the exploration of space, the invention of computers and the internet, as well as fundamentally changing the ways in which music was created and consumed.

The technological advancements and social change of this time led to rapid evolution of new musical genres and subgenres. Some examples of popular music genres include:

• Pop

• RnB

• Rock

• Country

• Reggae

• Metal

• Hip hop

• Electronic

Musicmap is a research project and visualisation of popular music genres. The project is the result of seven years of research, using over 200 listed sources. You can access Musicmap here.

A synthesiser (or synth) is an instrument that creates sounds electronically. There are many types of synthesiser that all have different ways of creating sound. Some of these include:

• Subtractive

• Frequency modulation

• Additive

• Wavetable

• Sampling

• Granular

• Nigel Westlake - Fabian Theory (1987)