Who were the preeminent purveyors of power pop?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by seed_drill, Apr 18, 2018.

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  1. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York


    Kind of past the 70's, but no power pop thread is complete without this song.
     
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  2. tman53

    tman53 Vinyl is an Addiction

    Location:
    FLA
    The Beatles were the foundation of power pop. How could they have not been the first mentioned? So many mentioned in this thread have nothing to do with power pop.
     
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  3. mlew

    mlew Pub Rocker

    I'm originally from Brooklyn and also remember it's heavy airplay during that summer. Turns out it was
    a top 10 hit ( million-seller ). That summer featured strong AM hits, then you'd flip on the FM dial and listen to
    WNEW's Scott Muni introducing Black Sabbath!! Dark Power vs. Power Pop
     
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  4. trumpet sounds

    trumpet sounds "The radio makes hideous sounds." Bob Dylan

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    The Posies - Solar Sister (Live)
     
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  5. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    I guess it really depends on definitions. I would see a lot of crossover between glam and power pop. Trex, sweet? Prior easybeats, who ... not really sure about the beatles or kinks, though i love both bands .. interesting.
     
  6. trumpet sounds

    trumpet sounds "The radio makes hideous sounds." Bob Dylan

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Jon Auer (The Posies) - I Could Dream All Day
     
  7. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    I said before that I consider the Beatles' early-to-mid period to be the foundation of power pop, but as seed_drill has said a couple of times, he's more interested in power pop as a "throwback" to the pre-psychedelic 60s, which makes sense. Like the way punk rock was partly a throwback to bands like the Stooges or the MC5, but those bands are usually considered "proto-punk" rather than "punk" proper. But certainly songs like "Any Time At All" or "I Feel Fine" laid a lot of the groundwork for power pop.
     
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  8. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    yea that's cool. i got to the party late, read the first and last page.
    still like i say the glam of sweet and trex, sure seemed like power pop to me
     
  9. dougb222

    dougb222 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Along with the already-mentioned Girl of My Dreams by Bram Tchaikovsky, I always associate Power Pop with Dave Edmunds's version of Girls Talk:
     
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  10. MBT68

    MBT68 I remember dates, names, numbers...

    Location:
    Chicago
    Big star
     
  11. dougb222

    dougb222 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    One of my favorites, from the already mentioned Shoes:
     
  12. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    Speaking of Bram Tchaikovsky:



    I love that whole album, although I consider it more "power pop adjacent" than "pure" power pop.
     
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  13. dougb222

    dougb222 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    The Producers - What She Does to Me
     
  14. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    Since this thread has sort of evolved into another "post your favorite power pop songs" thread...

    "Green Hearts" by Luxury


    The flip-side, "One in a Million" is fantastic as well.
     
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  15. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    I picked up Rhino's reissue of John Scoggin's Pressed for Time last year. It sunk without a trace in the '70s due it being released as a tax-scam write-off by a mob-run record label.

    Details from the Aquarium Drunkard:
    Aquarium Drunkard » John Scoggins :: Pressed For Time

    The existence of the ‘tax scam’ LP is one of the stranger tales of the 1970s record business. In short, crooked label heads would press up demos of unsigned artists, outtakes from known artists, and other various ephemera in limited quantities that were thrown out into the market with zero promotion — all based on the hopes of commercial failure and the ability for the ‘label’ to write off the failure as a loss.

    John Scoggins’ Pressed For Time is one such record, and one that has become legendary in power-pop collector’s circles. Originals are nearly possible to find, and sell for several hundred bucks when they do.

    As it turns out Pressed For Time wasn’t a ‘solo’ album by any means, but the product of a New York band called Ramparts, led by Mr. Scoggins. Ramparts were a ubiquitous opening band in mid seventies Manhattan, and Scoggins himself worked as a roadie when he wasn’t gigging. In one of the more bizarre tales of A&R, the band was signed over the phone by a representative from Roulette Records new off-shoot, Tiger Lily Records (a quick search on organized crime and Roulette will take a reader on an insightful, intriguing ride through the criminal element of the music biz). Miraculously, even though the LP had zero promotion, Bomp Magazine’s Greg Shaw did, in fact, get ahold of a copy and wrote a very positive review, stating the lp was well worth the trouble to seek out.

    The music itself is groovy:

     
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  16. uzn007

    uzn007 Watcher of the Skis

    Location:
    Raleigh, N.C.
    And why not? :D

    This just came up on youtube "autoplay" after the Luxury video:



    But OTOH, if anyone wants to steer the conversation back to the original question, I wouldn't object.

    As others have remarked, a lot of acts might have one or two PP songs without really making it their signature sound.

    So who would the preeminent PP bands be? Maybe the OP should add a poll to the thread.

    To start, I would nominate:

    No brainers:
    Raspberries
    Big Star
    Cheap Trick
    The Records

    For at least their hits:
    Romantics
    The Knack

    Bands that get mentioned a lot, that I'm not as familiar with:
    Dwight Twilley
    The Nerves
    Shoes

    Then there are a ton of other bands who have been mentioned who are great power pop bands (Blue Ash, Paul Collins' Beat) but not high-profile enough to be considered "preeminent".
     
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  17. brockgaw

    brockgaw Forum Resident

    Jellyfish-Belly Button, Spilt Milk
    Del Amitri-Twisted
    Squeeze-Play, Some Fantastic Place
    World Party-Goodbye Jumbo
    ELO?
     
  18. Kingsley Fats

    Kingsley Fats Forum Resident

    I'm a big fan of power pop. I agree that those are the bands that define the start of the genre, however, most of my power pop albums were recorded well after the 70's. So to call it fundamentally a 70s phenomenon is to overlook the majority of artists within the genre.
     
  19. Phasecorrect

    Phasecorrect Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Not really. We all are killing time. But its amusing.
     
  20. Kingsley Fats

    Kingsley Fats Forum Resident

    As the radio in my part of the world is & has always been totally pathetic the only way to discover music was to read about it & then track it down to somehow get a listen to see if you liked it.
    Having an album or artist described by a genre helped in getting pointed in a possible right direction. Much easier these days with the internet but the genre label is still a big help.
     
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  21. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    Don't all threads evolve into "post your favorite" threads?
     
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  22. maccafan

    maccafan Senior Member

    Totally agree, the Beatles were not power pop, they were a rock and roll band!
     
  23. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    Cheap Trick.
     
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  24. ralphb

    ralphb "First they came for..."

    Location:
    Brooklyn, New York
    Best of both worlds.
     
  25. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    I could be wrong, but I always considered Badfinger and Cheap Trick to be at the epicenter. Could be that its just because I like those bands.
     
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