Clarkson and Martin were interested in turning in a more rock direction, as opposed to the "slick pop" with which they were identified.

But during the 1980's, when dance music and slick pop shoved country further from the mainstream, Mr. Haggard's career slipped a bit.

One guess is that given the amount of slick pop that gets pushed at the new generation, Mr. Boulez's music must at least seem authentic, gnarly and awesome.

It surfaces in music from punk-rock to the slickest pop, and it's the most telling part of Billy Joel's songs.

Rolling Stone noted its "refinement, stylish melodies and vocal fireworks," while Blender called it "slick, snarky pop with flashes of brilliance".

The New York Times praised Laquan, saying that listening to his music is "to hear the shape of urban debates to come" and admired the "slick pop choruses [that] buoy his songs".

If guitar music is dead - throttled by slick pop, the X Factor swindle and dubstep's quickly evolving progeny - no one's told the kids of Leeds.

The music seems to be deliberately kicking against the slick pop that dominated charts at the time.

The Tetes Brulees, a Cameroonian pop group formed in 1986 as a reaction to the slick European-sounding pop of other Francophone African countries, was created by a Cameroonian music critic.

And like Biz Markie, B.I.G. sometimes sings, in an out-of-tune bellow that brings slick pop crashing to earth.