Best Power Pop songs, suggestions?

[patcox2]

I need a list of the greatest power pop songs of all time, so I can remember what I am looking for when I start searching to download them (from my subscription pay services.) I love power pop, have since I was a kid (loved the Raspberries, Badfinger, Sweet, loved the Box Tops when I was in 3rd grade - thats Alex Chilton before he was Alex Chilton), but I have only just learned that it is a recognized genre.

So I am looking for nominations for a best 100 or so power pop songs. I like it all, from the early beatles, to the Romantics. So can anyone out there surprise me and make me say "wow, I should have thought of that one?" (Actually, I am sure almost everyone will be able to, but I do need help making a list).

[Phillycat]

1. "Tempted"--Squeeze

[GOPisEvil]

2. The Wrens - Look for the CD titled Secaucus.

Lots of power pop there.

[Phillycat]

4. Wait--tell me what power pop is again?

You know who I like. Who is power pop?

[eaprez]

3. excuse my ignorance but what is "power pop"?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Popular Songs That Are Catchey...

Fast beat


up tempo


Think Jet

Think Burning Love if you dig Elvis

Think Young Americans if you dig Bowie

Think Hard Days Night , Help or Day Tripper if you dig the Beatles..

Get it...

[Phillycat]

10. Popular songs that are catchy? That can't be right.

I mean, "Ride with Me" by Nelly is a popular song that's catchy. Virtually any Nickelback song falls under that category. I thought power pop was a more specific category, and judging by the purists posting on this thread about Big Star, etc, I think you are mistaken. I am also mistaken, so let's sit back and wait to see what it actually is. :)

[patcox2]

21. See my post 20 for my definition, does that make sense?

Tell me if that makes sense, if there is a real genre or a superficial resemblance between a bunch or unrelated music.

[Phillycat]

29. Yes, it makes sense.

This is just more than I know about music. :) I'll sit back and educate myself.

[patcox2]

23. See my post # 20.

I'd be interested in your comments.

[Patsy Stone]

45. From allmusic.com

Power Pop is a cross between the crunching hard rock of the Who and the sweet melodicism of the Beatles and Beach Boys, with the ringing guitars of the Byrds thrown in for good measure. Although several bands of the early '70s — most notably the Raspberries, Big Star, and Badfinger — established the sound of power pop, it wasn't until the late '70s that a whole group of like-minded bands emerged. Most of these groups modeled themselves on the Raspberries (which isn't entirely surprising, since they were the only power-pop band of their era to have hit singles), or they went directly back to the source and based their sound on stacks of British Invasion records. What tied all of these bands together was their love of the three-minute pop single. Power-pop bands happened to emerge around the same time of punk, so they were swept along with the new wave because their brief, catchy songs fit into the post-punk aesthetic. Out of these bands, Cheap Trick, the Knack, the Romantics, and Dwight Twilley had the biggest hits, but the Shoes, the Records, the Nerves, and 20/20, among many others, became cult favorites. During the early '80s, power pop died away as a hip movement, and nearly all of the bands broke up. However, in the late '80s, a new breed of power pop began to form. The new bands, who were primarily influenced by Big Star, blended traditional power pop with alternative rock sensibilities and sounds; in the process, groups like Teenage Fanclub, Material Issue, and the Posies became critical and cult favorites. While these bands gained the attention of hip circles, many of the original power-pop groups began recording new material and releasing it on independent labels. In the early '90s, the Yellow Pills compilation series gathered together highlights from these re-activated power poppers, as well as new artists that worked in a traditional power-pop vein. Throughout the early and mid-'90s, this group of independent, grass-roots power-pop bands gained a small but dedicated cult following in the United States.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Jet, Band On The Run,Go All They Way,I Wish, Living In The City

It's Only Rock N Roll, Young Americans,


American Girl

Well she was an american girl
Raised on promises
She couldn’t help thinkin that there
Was a little more to life
Somewhere else
After all it was a great big world
With lots of places to run to
Yeah, an d if she had to die
Tryin’ she had one little promise
She was gonna keep

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an american girl

It was kind of cold that night
She stood alone on her balcony
She could the cars roll by
Out on 441
Like waves crashin’ in the beach
And for one desperate moment there
He crept back in her memory
God it’s so painful
Something that’s so close
And still so far out of reach

Oh yeah, all right
Take it easy baby
Make it last all night
She was an american girl





for staters......

[FarLeftRage]

6. Try anything by Nick Lowe

IMHO, he's the best one...

Also, consider The Knack, The Records or any other like sounding group.

[Patiod]

54. (What's so funny about) Peace Love & Understanding

one of my favorites

[FrankBooth]

8. Posies

"Flavor of the Month" and "Solar Sister" are two great power-pop songs off the album Frosting on the Beater. The other Posies albums are great too, "Dear 23," "Amazing Disgrace," and "Failure," and "Success."

Also Alex Chilton's other band, Big Star, had 3 great albums as well as classics like "September Gurls," "Thirteen" and "Ballad of El Goodo."

And check out both albums by the Shins, they are fantastic.

[cedahlia]

80. "Solar Sister"

is a fucking great song. Definitely fits the whole "power pop" thing. :thumbsup:

I must say, I do love the Posies. A grossly underrated band, IMO.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I Forgot Lady Mamalade

eom

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. and Saturday's Night All Right For Fighting...

Bennie And The Jets..


Cocodile Rock...

[Patsy Stone]

12. Anything by "Sweet".

Fox on the Run
Little Willie

Ahhh, good...

[DBoon]

14. "Ballroom Blitz" too?

eom

[Patsy Stone]

16. All of it...

Even "Love is Like Oxygen." Although it may be a bit slow for Power Pop. That band makes me smile. It also makes me want to roller skate.

"All Skate, everybody, All Skate!" Yep, I'm old...

[patcox2]

34. Yes, I have a copy of Desolation Boulevard.

You are correct sir.

[mitchum]

40. "Fox on the Run" is much too good to be power pop :)

[patcox2]

52. Hey now, maybe you could just change your definition of power pop?

I mean, if people who love power pop also love the music you love, maybe you don't like the genre because you have a misperception of its boundaries (which are of course fuzzy). A lot of overlap out there wherein New Wave is being layed out as exmaples of Power Pop; while some new wave may have ben power pop, I don't really think there is that much overlap.

Which of the supposedly quintessential power pop songs do you dislike, or, to ask another way, what power pop song best embodies what you do not like about the genre?

[mitchum]

58. Easier to list the power pop songs I like:

Fox on the Run
Shake Some Action
September Gurls
A Million Miles Away
Overnight Sensation

I really LOVE the above songs, but I just can't warm up to the genre as a whole. However, some of my best friends are power pop fanatics and I respect their taste (even if they are forty year old guys with puddingbowl haircuts) :)

I just live in a town where I get to hear too much power pop

[patcox2]

63. But, but, but, those are the cannonical songs, the defining songs.

How can you like the defining songs, the benchmarks, the type-species, as it were, and dislike the genre?

I could understand disliking the idea of "genre-izing" everything, or disliking large parts of the genre as some describe it, of course.

Where in the world is power pop overplayed, that you would hear too much of it, at least of classics like those?

[mitchum]

65. Maybe it's because those are the cream of the genre...

and I find the bulk of the genre merely serviceable...workmanlike...chirpy...hell I don't know :)
I love Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, but don't really care for most Chicago blues. Go figure. Maybe I'm just a cantankerous bastard :)

Athens GA will give one their fill of power pop

[patcox2]

66. Ohh, I bet you have had your fill of things like the Bodeans

And that other syrupy southern semi-power pop group, the Connels. That stuff can turn me off.

[mitchum]

68. But I don't even like any of Mitch Easter's work...

even though the man went and picked up my PA for me once. See, I am a cantankerous prick :)

[DBoon]

13. Kinks

"You Really Got Me"

Late 1970's -maybe Joe Jackson?

[Patsy Stone]

17. Lots and Lots of Kinks...

Ray "Is it possible he's God?" Davies:
Inventor of the Power Chord

[DBoon]

55. A different "Wray" actually invented the power cord

Link Wray, 1957, "Rumble"

An instrumental banned from the radio because it was "too violent"

The song was about a fight breaking out on a dance floor. This was at least 20 years before the mosh pit was invented!

[Patsy Stone]

56. I stand corrected.

Although "You Really Got Me" was the most noticeable early use of it.

Link Wray, btw, waaaay cool... Or, for my friend Greg the punster: Wraaay Cool.

[Wat_Tyler]

15. 'Couldn't I Just Tell You' by Todd Rundgren, 'The Loving' by XTC

'Sparky's Dreamy' by Teenage Fanclub, 'Kung Fu' by Ash, 'Back of a Car' by Big Star, 'Solar Sister' by the Posies, 'The Love Parade' by the Undertones, 'Changes' by Sugar, 'Celebrated Summer' by Husker Du, 'Alex Chilton' by the Replacements, 'Left of the Dial' by the Replacements, 'Girls Talk' by Nick Lowe, 'Veronica' by Elvis Costello, 'Lady Friend' by the Byrds, 'Double Summer' by the Chills, 'I Got You' by Split Enz, 'Does This Hurt?' by the Boo Radleys, 'Time Goes By So Slow' by the Distractions, 'Mersey Paradise' by the Stone Roses, most of the Buzzcocks' singles between 1977 and 1981, 'Going Underground' by The Jam, 'Pulling Mussels' by Squeeze, 'I Got Kinda Lost' by Chris Bell....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. why do they call it power pop if the songs aren't popular...

they may be good but they aren't popular....

[patcox2]

20. "pop" songs aren't necesarily popular. Its "pop" genre, with punky power

But the quintessential "power pop" songs often were hits, such as the Raspberries songs (Go All The Way, Tonight), or Badfinger, or the Romantics.

Power pop is often described as extremely energetic and at its best, somewhat raw, like punk, combined with jangly guitars, harmonies, and subjects that are "poppy" and bubblegummy, like teenage romance. The Buzzcocks, in my opinion, were more power pop than punk (Ever Fallen In Love) is a perfect power pop song. Nowadays, Fountains of Wayne is maybe the most succesful band in the genre (Leave the Biker is better than Stacy's Mom). In the 80s and 90s, I would say Dinosaur Junior came close, Material Issue was right there.

Nick Lowe is a perfect example. "Starry Eyes" by the specials is just a little too smooth for me, but is otherwise a perfect example of the genre.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. I Had Go All The Way On My List...

Why doesn't Jet, Help, or Hard Days Night qualify?

[Wat_Tyler]

26. Who says they don't?

Jet certainly does. No one here is offering a complete list - that would take up all the space DU has.

[patcox2]

28. I agree completely on all three.

I mentioned early beatles, and Jet, now that you mention it, is a great call, not usually mentioned in lists of power pop, but it absolutely is, and a great one.

[Wat_Tyler]

25. This post nails it.

[Wat_Tyler]

22. Those define the genre pretty well.

Who cares about how many people bought the record - what defines power pop is -
multiple harmonies
rickenbacker guitars (often - not always)
the rush - a series of ascending / descending patterns that pull
the listener on
major / minor switches
uptempo, upbeat


'pop' has nothing to do with how 'popular' it is in record sales - all the songs I mentioned were extraordinarily commercial - some sold millions, some didn't, but they're all power pop. Some of them were #1 singles.

[mitchum]

46. Because it is a genre based on a Platonic idea of pop

Don't feel bad, your question is one that I use to bait my power pop-loving friends (I'm no great fan of power pop) :)

[patcox2]

31. Fantastic list, thanks

Really interesting list, has some of my favorites (I think "Alex Chilton" by the Replacements is THE PERFECT SONG, absolutely hands down, just raw enough, just long enough, so much power and emotion, captures a music fanatic's feeling of falling madly passionately in love with a song, it is amazing, it evokes in me the feeling it describes about Chilton's songs, I fall in love with that song every time I hear it. The guitar solo is The Perfect Guitar Solo, too, perfect length, progresses, doesn't just noodle, its an echo of the structure of the whole song. Man thats good.

But you also throw in some that are to me obscure; if they hit me the way the ones I know on your list hit me, I am in for some great discoveries.

[Wat_Tyler]

35. Yeah, they're pretty obscure - most were on Creation Records in the 90's

Lots of great power pop acts there - great lost ones like Velvet Crush and 18Wheeler.

[HeeBGBz]

19. Canto Alla Vita or Never Let Go

Josh Groban

[patcox2]

27. Smithereens? Dexies Midnight Runners?

I am trying to think of them, do those make sense? Did early REM maybe smack of Big Star? September Gurls - Don't Go back to Rockville? I Wanna Hold Your Hand, of course, and how much better than Cheap Trick, Surrender, and I Want You to Want Me can it get? But I need more, specific song suggestions, not so much groups.

[Phillycat]

30. "Superman"--REM

[patcox2]

33. Shiny Happy People, Stand? Is REM just pretentious Power Pop?

Wow, so when you think about it, aren't REM really just the most pretentious power pop band in history?

Sorry, I love REM, absolutely adore their music, but I just saw them last month and Michael Stipe is just so off-puttingly patronizing and superior it took all the enjoyment away. Really insulting to the audience, had to say something snotty beforehand each time they played one of their classics. Fucking ungrateful, any artist in any genre would be glad to produce a work of art that becomes a classic, that people still want to see or read or hear 30 years later, this prick has to put his audience down for wanting to hear his greatest songs.

Kinda strange, too, when he is calling his admirer's idiots, what does that say about him, I mean, if everyone who likes his music is an idiot, then what is he?

[Phillycat]

41. Terribly insecure?

I'm sorry to hear that that's how Stipe behaves--I've long been a fan and never had the chance to see them in person. What a pretentious ass. I love their old songs and would be downright pissed if someone made me feel stupid for wanting to hear them--even if it was the person who wrote them.

[patcox2]

47. I don't think he's insecure, he's probably just gone to his head.

I guess I should walk a mile in someone's shoes before criticizing, and imagine being him, everyone around you all day every day telling you what a genius you are, its probably easy to get full of yourself. But most bands don't act so obviously put out and snotty about the fact that the fans want to hear the classics.

[mitchum]

67. He may actually be filled with more self-loathing than have contempt...

for his audience. He may feel that his body of work is a type of trap that he has constructed. The older songs are the ones that the audience wants to hear. And in light of most of the recent material, who can blame them?

[Shakespeare]

Wow....maybe he was having a bad night....

I've seen them in concert 3 times, and Stipe was a peach all three times. Funny, goofy, very engaged with the audience (and they performed a significant number of their hits).

They remain one of my favorite bands--hopefully, Stipe was just having a bad night.

[patcox2]

50. It was in a casino

Maybe he was hating himself for following the Elvis route. Only time I saw him act like that before was during the Automatic for the People tour when he played "Stand," he doesn't seem to like that song.

[mitchum]

57. That actually was the charge leveled at them in the early Athens days...

because of their fondness for the Monkees, etc... They did not enjoy the respect accorded to Pylon and others

[Left Is Write]

82. Love the Smithereens.

I'd go with Yesterday Girl if asked to pick a "power pop" Smithereens song.

[Wat_Tyler]

32. Of course, this thread is incomplete without Jellyfish.

Particularly 'The King is Half Undressed', 'Now She Knows She's Wrong' and 'The Ghost At #1'.

[Wat_Tyler]

36. and probably the Lemonheads - maybe 'Dawn Can't Decide'

[patcox2]

38. Maybe Lemonheads, definitely the Mighty Mighty Lemondrops

Hmm, Lemonheads are to me a pretty good cover band, their version of "Mrs. Robinson," and especially of "Different Drum" are divine, but most of their original music I heard is too laid back, stoner slacker in tone (I can't be bothered to feel enthusuiasm) and this goes against Power Pop, which is all about enthusiasm, infectious joyous enthusiasm, much more important than talent, in this genre. Thats another reason its punky.

Mighty Lemondrops - "My Biggest Thrill"

And they remind me of the Housemartins, the incredible housemartins, remember "Happy Hour?"

Strangest bit of trivia I ever heard; FatBoy Slim was the guitarist for the Housemartins.

[Phillycat]

44. You definitely haven't listened to the right Lemonheads.

Most of it is just as you describe power pop being.

[patcox2]

49. Maybe so, I had the album with "its a shame about ray"

Is the upbeat stuff before or after that?

[Phillycat]

53. Well, on that album, here's the track listing:

1 Rockin Stroll--power pop (from the definition you give)

2 Confetti

3 It's a Shame About Ray

4 Rudderless--power pop

5 My Drug Buddy

6 Turnpike Down

7 Bit Part--power pop

8 Alison's Starting to Happen--MAJOR power pop

9 Hannah & Gabi

10 Kitchen

11 Ceiling Fan in My Spoon

12 Frank Mills

13 Mrs. Robinson--I would say so.

Maybe you should go back and listen to the record again. :)

[Phillycat]

42. Feels good to be Jesse on the inside today...

Also Ship without a Rudder.

[jandrok]

37. The Cars and Cheap Trick

The entire first album by the Cars was a primer on power pop. Practically a greatest hits collection all unto itself.

But my vote for the greatest power pop song of all time would go to Cheap Trick's "Surrender". Freakin' genius.


Surrender
Words and Music by Rick Nielsen


Mother told me, yes, she told me I'd meet girls like you.
She also told me, "Stay away, you'll never know what you'll catch."
Just the other day I heard a soldier falling off some Indonesian junk that's going round.

Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.

Father says, "Your mother's right, she's really up on things."
"Before we married, Mommy served in the WACS in the Philippines."
Now, I had heard the WACS recruited old maids for the war.
But mommy isn't one of those, I've known her all these years.

Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.

Whatever happened to all this season's losers of the year?
Ev'ry time I got to thinking, where'd they disappear?
When I woke up, Mom and Dad are rolling on the couch.
Rolling numbers, rock and rolling, got my Kiss records out.

Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away, ay, ay, ay.

Away.
Away.

[patcox2]

43. Agreed, good ones. NT

nt

[mitchum]

39. "Shake Some Action" Flamin' Groovies

[Beer Snob-50]

48. Just about anything by Squeeze!

[crispini]

51. Old 97s!

Satellite Rides and Fight Songs are by far the most power-poppy of the CDs.

Try downloading "Rollerskate Skinny," and "Indefinitely," from here: http://www.old97s.com/discography/index.html and you'll see what I mean.

Sweet power pop goodness! Beware, though, a lot of their other CDs get out of the power-pop genre per se and are quite twangy. Which I I also like, but YMMV.

[mr blur]

59. "Time For Action" - Secret Affair

Awful band, great song

[48pan]

60. Metallica - Breaking the Law

ACDC - She's Got the Jack
Back in Black
Hell's Bells

[patcox2]

62. Gag, Ack, Barf; wrong door, you want heavy metal pop

Not that these are bad songs, but they ain't power pop, are they? You must be joshing me.

[Wat_Tyler]

70. Wasn't that a Judas Priest song?

[greendog]

61. the "Jesus of Cool" himself...Nick Lowe

...his first two solo albums, 78 and 79 (I think).

Jesus of Cool (Pure Pop For Now People)

Labor Of Lust

[CanuckAmok]

64. Anything by The Jam, particularly "All Around the World".

[Norbert]

69. BADFINGER - No Matter What

[Wat_Tyler]

71. 'Go Your Own Way', even though it's by Fleetwood Mac is a classic

of the genre.

[motely36]

72. What About Me

Moving Pictures. One of the best songs of the 80s.

Although now that I read the posts above, I guess it doesn't qualify. Still a great song. :)

[Norbert]

73. The Spongetones - (My Girl) Maryanne

[Norbert]

74. Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet

[theorist]

88. "Superbaby" by Matthew Sweet is a great one, too.

[XNASA]

91. "Evangelene" or "Sick of Myself" come to mind as well.

And then there's Cheap Trick.........

[Kenneth ken]

75. a really short list to consider

in no particular order:

The Bangles - A Hazy Shade Of Winter
Marshall Crenshaw - Cynical Girl
Pretenders - Complex Person
The Pogues (?) - 500 Miles
Tom Petty - American Girl
The Knack - Good Girls Don't

[jpgray]

76. In honor of John Peel, I'll go with "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones

But also "He's a Whore" by Cheap Trick, and "I Wanna Destroy You" by the Soft Boys.

[warrens]

77. Mud: Dyn-O-Mite, Tiger Feet, etc

Lesser-known Chinn-Chapman band than Sweet, had even more over-the-top stuff than they did, though. But they're more bubblegum. The power pop master is Dwight Twilley. Eccentric as he is, his songs stick in your head and his production is past immaculate. You can hear every handclap, distinctly.

I'm on Fire might be the all-time best power pop song.

[Norbert]

78. Big Star - September Gurls

I'm another Alex Chilton fan.

[Kat45]

79. REM, Radio Free Europe; Romantics, What I Like About You

Those two come to mind right off.

[cedahlia]

81. Belly

"Feed the Tree" is probably their most famous song, but they had other really great songs that could be considered power pop...

"Superconnected"
"Now They'll Sleep"
"Seal My Fate"

(those are my personal favorites.)

[flamingyouth]

83. "The Real Thing" by the Pointed Sticks

Gotta have some of that great Vancouver '70s stuff in there.

[Norbert]

84. The Wondermints - Carnival of Souls

Incidently this was the band Brian Wilson used when he did his live CD.

[Norbert]

85. The Who - I Can't Explain

[tngledwebb]

86. 'Feel'

by Big Star.

[WCGreen]

87. Supertramp

Several Songs from the Breakfast in america album

"Life is a Highway"

"Go your own way" by Fleetwood Mack

"Won't get fooled again" by the Who

"Lady Madonna" or "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles

"Blinded by the Light" Manfred Mann

[Norbert]

89. The Pernice Brothers - Let That Show

[Norbert]

90. Material Issue - Kim the Waitress

[bbernardini]

92. "Don't Give Up On Me" by Graham Colton Band

[Norbert]

93. XTC - Earn enough for Us