Power Pop: A Better Explanation

When we began this blog a few years ago, we tried to make it clear that we were learning on the job. We just knew what kind of music we liked, had maybe a little knowledge about the genres and artists and took it from there. But we also knew we had a lot to learn about blogging and especially the kinds of music which we featured, and we have always been ready to revisit what we’ve written.

In that post, we did an admittedly weak job explaining what the music was. One observation we made was that in general, it's kinda tough to exactly define a genre. People argue, marriages and friendships end, and wars start over this stuff. OK, not really, but you can find lively debate about what power pop is all over social media.

Power pop songs, broadly speaking, are often short and punchy, leaving you wanting more if it has done its job. It’s not a genre that engages in very much social or political commentary. It’s definitely love-cars-Saturday night kind of music. There is mopey power pop, but usually it’s just to space out the cheerier stuff.

Saying just who the very first power pop band might be is again kinda dicey, but we’d go with none other than the Beatles. So much of their music fits about any parameter you could apply to power pop. More importantly, just about every power pop band we talked to -- and we’re very proud to have interviewed some of the very best -- list the Fab Four as their primo number one inspiration.

Part of the problem with defining power pop is that it’s times of popularity coincides with other, more well-known genres and styles of music. Sometimes it’s tough to say whether a band is power pop, or new wave, or just plain ol’ rock and roll.

When we began this blog a few years ago, we tried to make it clear that we were learning on the job. We just knew what kind of music we liked, had maybe a little knowledge about the genres and artists and took it from there. But we also knew we had a lot to learn about blogging and especially the kinds of music which we featured, and we have always been ready to revisit what we’ve written.

This is long overdue, but we’d like to try and remedy that poor explanation right here. Subsequently, though, we were lucky enough to interview some of the genre’s greatest artists. That still doesn’t make us experts, but we do feel like we know at least a little more.

But exactly what is power pop?

From our standpoint, power pop’s heyday was from 1976 to about 1981, when there were abundant groups turning out fun singles. This was also about the time that the first wave of punk was fading and so-called “new-wave” music was gaining in popularity. Adopting what seemed to be punkish hairstyles -- sometimes complete with ripped clothes -- a lot of power pop bands were designated punk by portions of the audience and press that rush to label music before giving it a careful listen.

As they cleaned up their look, power pop bands and artists were designated new wave, but none of these classifications are terribly correct.

Power pop is largely -- though by no means exclusively -- an American phenomenon, and many of the greatest bands of its heyday come from the midwest. That said, North Carolina and New Jersey have both become epicenters of later-wave power pop. The United Kingdom also contributed some excellent bands, including the Records and the Rich Kids.

Some would point to the Raspberries as the first recognizable power pop band. The groups assertive guitar made it full-on rock and roll, but those snarly guitars were more than evened out by the bands harmonies, which member Eric Carmen would later take to annoying levels. Other might declare Big Star to be the first real-deal power pop band. And it’s anybody’s guess how many lesser-known, regional bands there are who could make legitimate claims to be the first power pop band?

Power pop would evolve into a more well-developed and recognizable sound as the ‘70s wound on. Some acts associated with glam (rightly or wrongly) like the Los Angeles band the Quick would move to a more pop sound, but still retain just a hint of that glam edge. The great Todd Rungren would have a giant impact on other artists and may be almost as influential to power pop as the Beatles were.

Bands like the Nerves, meanwhile, had a slightly punkish edge. But by 1977 or so, power pop would have a characteristic, well-developed sound. And for a short time, it would be huge. Chartwise, 1979 would mark the high-water mark for power pop.

Still plugging away today, Chicago’s Cheap Trick would become gigantic. In what was seen as a gutsy move, their second album was Live From Budokan which yielded a top-10 hit with “I Want You To Want Me.” They would also tour with KISS that year, with several cases of people buying to see Cheap Trick instead of the headliners.

Then, out of nowhere -- well, actually out of Los Angeles, came the Knack. In the late summer and early fall of 1979, they became by far the biggest rock act of the year. The song “My SHarona” stayed number one for several weeks, became the biggest hit of the year and has since become an tune.

Personal note: my very first concert was the Knack at the Municipal Auditorium in Austin, Texas in 1979, smack dab on my 16th birthday.

What many forget is that, as a whole, the album, Get the Knack, was a solid piece of good-time music, hard-rockin’ yet mainstream friendly. Some of its other cuts would hit the top 40 as well, with “Good Girls Don’t” becoming a perfect follow-up. “Frustrated” would also hit the charts. Never accused of timidity, the album cover vaguely mimicked Meet the Beatles, and many were sure that the Knack would become the backbone of rock in the coming decade.

The rest of the story is well-known and regrettably, all too familiar in the music biz. The Knack got pressured into a quickie follow-up that was universally hated both by fans and critics. Despite still turning out a few good songs here and there, the band became a punchline, floundered on for a few more years but called it quits by the early ‘80s.

Power pop’s chart presence didn’t end there, though. The arguably racist (and undisputedly crude) song “Turning Japanese” by British mod band the Vapors, would be a top 10 hit. Though only a minor hit at the time, “What I Like About You” by the Romantics would slowly become a DJ favorite from the ‘80s on, be used in commercials, and be loved by succeeding generations. and become iconic, and maybe the best song to point to as a quintessential power pop song. Tommy Tutone also scored a giant hit in 1982 with “Jenny 867-5309.”

By the early ‘80s, power pop’s golden era was coming to a close. This by no means is to say power pop ever completely disappeared. Like garage rock, it continues with a cultish following -- and some pretty decent music, occasionally bubbling to the surface in the form of a radio hit.

Some of the best power pop of the last 17 years or so -- and reasonable people can disagree might include Fountains of Wayne (“Stacy’s Mom”) the Kaiser Chiefs (“Ruby” and ‘I Predict a Riot”) amongst others.

Make no mistake -- power pop is still around. These days, it’s likely to be called by another name, such as indie pop, or possibly jangle pop, genres that suspiciously sound to our ears like … power pop.

The Spongetones

Sloan makes lots of wonderful music that harkens more than a little bit to that golden age and at this point, may be the most well-known power pop band going right now. They have lots of company, though.

We’re incredibly proud to say we’ve featured many great power pop bands on this blog. For a long time, our Spongetones story was the most viewed. 

We also got an interview with the Flamin’ Groovies, something that still makes us pinch ourselves. We’ve also had the good fortune to interview the Cherry Drops, Galileo 7 and not too long ago, the Anderson Council. The Hoodoo Gurus are also mentioned as power pop -- not an unreasonable categorization. We also had a feature on Jamie and Steve, two Spongetones who have their own awesome thing going on. We’ve also been lucky enough to be turned onto bands like Party Battleship and the Vice Rags.

Sadly, outlets for power Pop are far and few between. Like much of the music we feature here, Little Steven’s Underground Garage (either the syndicated terrestrial radio show or the similarly named satellite radio station) might be a good place to start looking. There are also several terrestrial stations across the country -- mostly college stations -- that have good power pop shows, some of which are posted to services like Mixcloud or available as podcasts. If you’re one of these, please feel to leave a comment on this story or post to our Facebook page.

As one can imagine, finding good power pop on YouTube is also pretty easy, as is creating a power pop station on some of the streaming services. BBC Radio 6 featured an excellent two-part show about power pop, hosted by Katie Puckrik. If you lucky, it may be available here.

And why do we care about power pop at all? We can’t really speak for anyone besides ourselves. But that combination of great hooks and uptempo beats, well, it just never fails to life our spirits. If you are a power pop fan, you already knew that. For further proof, check out the Flamin' Groovies video below.

We have some other features already in the works here at Garagerocktopia. Artists have been sending us some very cool stuff. As always, we don’t make any guarantees in stone but we’re happy to say we’ve gotten a lot of very promising music sent to us, and we’re always happy to spread the word about about bands that are playing the way-out kinds of music we profile here. Send us a line and we’ll talk.

Also, we do have a Facebook page for this blog. We don’t put personal stuff on it – no pictures of grandkids or our dinners or politics or anything like that. What we do post are announcements about upcoming features, maybe extra stuff about the bands, and any cool music, movies or TV Shows we stumble across that might have even the most tangential connection with the music featured here. While we don't spend all day thinking about it, we do like "likes" if you're so inclined ...