Skip to main content

The Love of Power Pop

It's been a long time since I've done a music post.

I'm sure I mentioned that I'm not typically into lots of stuff around now, though I did get pretty into chillwave a couple years back and there are some really great 60s-reminiscent psychedelic bands out there now (Tame Impala, Temples). But what I really want to talk about is my current favorite genre (and has been on and off for quite some time) -- Power Pop.

From many, I get the eyeroll about mentioning I like power pop as people conjure up sounds in their head that can only be compared to "soft rock" and/or "dad rock". That's too bad though because there's a lot of good stuff their missing out on. Others incorrectly think that "power pop" means large pop acts like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga, but they are sorely mistaken with that notion.

So what's considered "power pop"? Power pop is a musical genre that largely draws its inspiration from 60s (surprise!) British and American pop and rock music. Some might say it's a more guitar-laden version of melodic pop music and that's exactly what it sounds like to me - freewheeling guitars and a feeling that you should be driving down an open road during a vaguely summer-into-fall day.

Pete Townshend himself coined the term "power pop" and it is his band, The Who, which are largely credited for the birth of power pop sound amongst The Beatles (what kind of music didn't they write?), as well as The Small Faces, and The Byrds.

The power pop genre isn't solely for 60s/70s artists - there are plenty of 80s/90s bands that were given the title like the Posies, the Smithereens, Teenage Fanclub, Jellyfish, and arguably my all-time favorite band, Sloan. 

So.... enough with history, here are my personal favorite power pop songs (and there are a lot!) with the years appropriated for each. Listen to a clip or the whole thing!


Badfinger - "No Matter What" - 1970


The Raspberries - "Go All the Way" - 1972


Cheap Trick - "Surrender" - 1978


Todd Rundgren - "I Saw The Light" - 1972


Nick Lowe - "Cruel to be Kind" - 1979


The Smithereens - "A Girl Like You" - 1989
I was so lucky to get to see these guys this year!


Sloan - "Money City Maniacs" - 1998
My all-time favorite band.


The Pursuit of Happiness - "She's So Young" - 1988
This is a new-found favorite. I could listen to this song 10 times a day, still not be sick of it. Canadian + power pop + late 80s/early 90s sound = perfection.


The Posies - "Golden Blunders" - 1990
These guys are fantastic live too.


Jellyfish - "That Is Why" - 1990


Teenage Fanclub - "What You Do to Me" - 1992






Comments

  1. Love the post! So few people are aware of the awesomeness that is Sloan... and The Pursuit of Happiness!

    We're all big Power Pop fans here, as my BF's band can prove: http://uniongeneral.bandcamp.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! Canadian power pop! I've been a Sloan fan now for about 13 years now - kinda late to find them since I live in the US. Always excited to find new bands so will check them out!

      My friends do joke that I'm secretly Canadian (record label reference intentional) & even now I have a light Torontonian accent that I can't get rid of from listening to so much CBC Radio 3 in the past!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Latch Hook Rug Update

A little under a month ago I received all of my supplies to take on one of the biggest long-term projects I have ever taken on - a self-designed latch hook rug. I don't know why, but I am clearly nuts. So beginning today I am posting photos each month, (preferably on the 1st of each month) progress of this gigantic shag rug. See how I started it here (scroll down past posting of my $10 dress).  This is a photo of it today:  Yes, I used the candelabra for scale. Haha.   This rug is really soft and is fun to run your fingers through.  It doesn't look like much was accomplished, but though the number of packages we have gone through of pre-cut latch hook rug yarn already I have calculated that  we've used over 2500 strands for this ie.) 8 packages. I also just ordered 10 more packages of lime green since that's what I ran out of first and 6 more packages of straw yellow. There is still quite a bit to go, but you see the blue row squares? Each of th

DIY Trapeze Dress

I'm a pretty big fan of tent dresses (or trapeze dresses - call it what you want). They're simple, easy-to-make and you can have many variations of them. These are a fun style to wear for spring and summer!  See this DIY from a Good Housekeeping Crafts book from 1971 - photos at the end of my own trapeze top from a while ago! (Bear with me on the photos here - this book is quite cumbersome and hard to scan.)  Applique patterns, in case you wanted the dress to look EXACTLY like the photo. (But why?)  How to cut the fabric efficiently. (This is actually pretty important cost-wise for you - especially with something this big.)  Using pattern instructions from my patternmaking book from college, I created this swingy trapeze top a bit ago. I used sweater fabric from a thrift store find for the collar of this top.   I also opened up the back on the pattern to have a diamond shape.   It can easily be belted like in this photo fo

Shingo Sato and the Art of Transformational Reconstruction

So I got really excited on my break at work today when I got an email from Burda about a webinar they're doing on a pattern technique called "Transformational Reconstruction" developed by Japanese designer Shingo Sato. I hadn't even heard of Shingo Sato until today let alone his design technique but oddly, it's sort of the path I'm going down with my designs anyway as seen with the Sunrise Panel dress as well as the Petra Dress and the pattern making involved in those designs. What I did there is perhaps a "light" version of Sato's where the darts and shaping are hidden in the seam lines. If you've been reading this blog long enough, you know that my design aesthetic focuses largely on color blocking, unusual seam lines, and a love of anything psychedelic. Note: All photos stolen from the internet. Sorry! I'm super-excited. Let me know if it's yours and I'll take it down.  Shingo Sato teaching.  More designs using