Thai pop music is a genre of Thai music roughly equivalent to western pop. It emerged during the 1970s–80s, and was during that period known as String music (Thai: เพลงสตริง). It took over mainstream popularity during the 1990s, and has since dominated the Thai music industry.
String's origins lie in American R&B, surf rock artists like The Ventures and Dick Dale, Exotica, rockabilly and country and western brought to Thailand by American and Australian soldiers serving in Vietnam in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It also drew heavily on British invasion rock'n'roll, garage rock and Hollywood film soundtracks. The term is extremely broad, covering Thai rock, dance music, rap and western-influenced popular music in general. It normally excludes the folk rock phleng phuea chiwit.
In the 1980s it mixed with other genres, such as disco, funk, dance and rock. Early string artists and bands include The Impossibles, and Grand Ex. Later popular artists in 1980s include: Thongchai McIntyre, Pumpuang Duangjan, Asanee-Wasan Micro, Ploy, The Innocent. .
