What is power pop ?

WRITE ME EXPLAINING WHAT IS POWER POP FOR YOU

        Randy Anthony www.chainstoressuck.com

“What is pop? It's a musical question that has baffled and thrilled me since, as the Raspberries sang, I left the cradle. The Beatles started it all, and ever since then, young men (and, let's face it, they are mostly men) in tight pants have sought to thrill young women with their catchy melodies and cool guitars. Over the years, the definition and hipness quotient of pop have wavered, but, at least after the "power" got added in the 70's, the stigma lifted. Now, the lines between punk, alternative, and pop have blurred, and hundreds of bands practice the art of pop in its many forms”.                  

        All Music Guide      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”.

  Lee E. Coursey http://www.thecrayfish.com/popfish/pphist.shtml

 “Well, to be honest, power pop, like so many other shortcut musical labels, covers a fairly wide range of music. At its core, however, power pop means (to me, at least,) guitar-oriented pop music with strong melodic content. My favorite power pop music comes from bands who use standard rock and roll instrumentation (electric lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums,) whose songs feature major chords, tight vocal harmonies, and melodies that I can remember. Often, musicians and writers mention the word hooks when describing good power pop music. Generally speaking, this term refers to catchy guitar riffs or melodies that grab listeners and stick with them long after they have heard the music. The music known as power pop spans a range of sounds, from so-called jangle-pop to bubblegum, goof-pop, and even punk-pop. At its core, however, power pop remains guitar-oriented, melodic pop music exemplified by bands like Badfinger, The Raspberries, Teenage Fanclub, Sloan, Fountains of Wayne, and many, many others. Power pop music, with its driving guitar riffs, catchy melodic hooks, and clean vocal harmonies, derives its roots from bands like the Beatles and Badfinger. Songs like the Beatles' Day Tripper and Badfinger's No Matter What typify the original power pop sound, whose boundaries have been explored and expanded over the past three decades. Unforunately, in this age of post-grunge, folk-pop, hip-hop and other hyphenated musical styles, power pop music receives very little radio airplay outside of college stations”.