Best Power Pop band?

Big Star are the greatest and finest exponents of this thing we call Power Pop, but there are plenty of innovative greats since their brief appearance in the early 70's, from the new wave era, and since in the 80's, 90's and 2000's. Who are they? I'll tell you tomorrow! :)

You must like power pop to think they are great though, obv.

But it's probably just me.

but Twice Removed and One Chord to Another? Oh lordy!

m.

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Lemonheads - Come and feel the Lemonheads
Lemonheads - Its A Shame About Ray
Fountains of Wayne - Fountains of Wayne
The Posies - Frosting on the Beater
Teenge Fanclub - Grand Prix
Teenge Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
Teenge Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britain (The Best Of will be awesome, too)

The first track on Brendan Benson's new album is the best power-pop song I've heard in a while. Very uplifting. Haven't listened to the rest of the rec enough to judge, but I don't think anything matches that one. I always think of Ash as being too trashy to be labelled "power-pop", but their "1977" album is rather good.

If you can only afford one of these recs, make it either "It's a Shame About Ray" or "Grand Prix." The Lemonheads have been written out of history a bit, unfairly in my opinion. That album is very short, but it's so simple and enjoyable, you'll play it to death. It's a fixture on my stereo in the Summer months. And "Grand Prix" is the Fannies' masterpiece. Unspeakably tuneful, with great sloppy guitars. Silver Sun, incidentally, are awful.

Matthew Sweet - I Thought I Knew You
Lemonheads - Confetti
Teenge Fanclub - Neil Jung

There's a view that if it hadn't been for the Beatles in 1962,or more importantly 1964 (from a US perspective), then
the western middle class might all be humming Frankie Avalon, Pat Boone, Adam Faith and Shadows songs in
the new millennium. A Sobering thought!

Luckily for us, the Beatles did appear, and so wrote the blueprint for the Pop Song of the latter 20th Century. The seductive sound of two guitars, bass and drums, a clever hooking melody and harmonies is so strong, that to deviate from it, is close to ex-communication from life itself.

Slightly later, but almost at the same time, other British bands, like the Who, the Kinks and the Move, built on the Beatles blueprint with heavier guitars, lyrics beyond the simple love song to mold the sound which the Americans called the British Invasion.

Not content with merely aping this challenge from their old colonial enemies, the Americans in the form of the Byrds (with a nod to the Searchers and Hollies as well as the Beatles), a maturing Beach Boys, the Turtles and a thousand garage bands across the US, took the blueprint and fired it right back at the British to produce a cornucopia of variations on the original style.

It was Pete Townshend that coined the term Power Pop, when asked by a Brit music paper in the late 60's "What type of music do the Who play?", and so by 1969, the term and pretty much the style had been born.

It lay dormant for a period, during which time the Beatles called it a day, songs, hair and guitar solos got much longer and young white men generally discovered the blues, merged it with their pop chops and called it progressive. Woodstock happen, bands got it together in the country, LP's started to sell in the quantities usually reserved for singles, and rock music had arrived as Art.

Meanwhile in 1971/1972, in Memphis, where modern pop music arguably started with Elvis back in the 50's, Alex Chilton, teen hero of the Box Tops and Anglophile Chris Bell hatched a marriage of all that was good that had gone before and came up with Big Star. Released to a world that was not ready for them in 1972 and 1973 respectively, Big Star's first two albums define what we come to know and love about modern Power Pop. A left field slant on 60's pop, big chiming guitars, irresistible hooks, economical solos, the right mix of hard and soft, Chilton's sloppiness married to Bell's exactness. Almost 30 years on it's still close to heaven.

I found my copies of #1 Record and Radio City in a remainder store for 50 pence a piece in the mid 70's - I couldn't believe my luck - it was like I'd found the crown jewels and nobody knew.

Big Star weren't alone, in England there was Badfinger who were at the time tragically overshadowed by their boss labelmates at Apple, then beset by management, financial and later double suicide - but their musical legacy is achingly wonderful. Nick Lowe's band Brinsley Schwarz were alone voice in the 70's pub rock land penning slightly country tinged melodic songs when all around was prog! In the States there was the magnificent Raspberries, who by the time they made the last and greatest album were clouded by their previous teen appeal, but leader Eric Carmen possess one of the finest pop voices of all time.

The Stories, Dirty Angels, Blue Ash and Dwight Twilley were also major shakers working in a similar area in the early to mid 70's.

By the time the punk era came along, the die was cast and Powerpop was subsumed into what journalists called New Wave, but early significant artists would include Chris Stamey and the DB's, The Shoes, The Beat, The Romantics, The Rubinoos, The Paley Brothers, The Knack, 20/20, Pezband The Cars. From England: The Records, The Jags, The Starjets, Squeeze, XTC and The Freshies.

From then on, it kind of explodes, and then we are moving into the realms of another article. The weird thing about all this, is why the classic pop blueprint set by the Beatles all those years ago, although captivating and full of hooks, has apart from one or two exceptions, generally been so unpopular with record buyers? We have to fast-forward many years before the appearance of REM in the 80's and later Britpop in the shape of Oasis and Blur etc in the 90's.

However, Power pop is amazingly alive and well, and for the most part it's still residing in the cult ghetto that has been its home since the early 70's. No matter, the basic elements of classic pop and power pop – lush melodies, big hooks, focused energy, and unabashed enthusiasm – have been handed down through three generations of musicians and endured despite the radical changes in popular music over the same period. Somehow Power Pop seems to always find a way back into our consciousness, usually in conjunction with other kinds of popular music (i.e., disco, grunge) hitting spectacular new lows.

new power popsters are gripweeds (rainbow quartz) and thomson (poptones) ... the children of teenage fanclub.

but shit, and man alive, please don't forget about velvet crush, from teenage symphonies to god, heavy changes, soft sounds, this rhode island quartet have everything and probably the best drummer on the scene - rick menck, who is presently drumming for the tyde.

god, there are so many great power pop records.....like, dunno, VELVET CRUSH, EVERYONE MUST BUY SOFT SOUNDS OR DOWNLOAD IT.

my other favourite is swearing at motorists...

alfie is good twee pop (twisted nerve, now regal)

add about a thousand dittos on the sloan front, but erm, naysayers are wrong. pretty together is their best album since twice removed. YES IT IS, fuck off OCTA obsessives.

the insomniacs were probably one of my favourite power pop bands. and bangs did a passable live impression of a power pop band. you've really got to be a trio to pull it off successfuly.

You are quite right. Husker Du and Sugar are not power pop-especially Husker Du (and they're NOT emo either if anyone enquires.) Husker Du is more of post-punk/pop punk than anything else. Sugar can strain the line especially on Copper Blue-but Beaster and F.U.E.L. are indie rock. Matthew Sweet (to me) seems to be a good representation of power pop.

THE LILYS - NANNY IN MANHATTEN!

Smeared is utter classic but not pop.

I'd say the The Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady falls into the hinterland of this catagory.

wow, the gripweeds are still together? gah, have supported them several times. i liked them cause they were the only garage band in the NY/NJ area who did not have yet another chick bassist (yers truly included) but a chick LEAD GUITARIST who kicked major ass.

but lilys and asteroid no.4, no, no, not powerpop. psychedelic garage-pop.

(can you tell how many hours i've spent actually debating this?)

But frankly, power pop is like a huge fuckin' insult term. It means you don't play strong enough to be rock! Like emo to pop-punk, it's like saying "but yer really wimpy!"

argh! Yancey topped me before I even got this posted! Flamin' Groovies are better. But Sloan are probably the best goin' strong today.

let's not get personal.....it's just his ass is rather large, and, occassionally the freakshow of his RATHER LARGE ASS

let's not get personal.....it's just his ass is rather large, and, occassionally the freakshow of his RATHER LARGE ASS DOES GET IN THE WAY...

what i am saying is justified, it's absolute rubbish, their back catalogue compared to Velvet Crush.

i mean, the Velvet Crush have Rick Menck for chrissakes, not some fat ass shit from halifax....and the Velvet Crush bath...

but comparing them both, and compare, soft sounds to pretty together, and you will see i have a very valid point!!

sloan are rubbish as usual, as proven by shocking scientifical observation.

velvet crush still went out and released heavy changes though they were dropped at that time. sloan would not do that. they would live off of cancon money and bitch in the press! because they are rubbish, as usual.

And Sloan were shocked out of their one-hit rubbishness. Sloan still talk about it!!!!...maybe....shocka....it's not really that good of an album. egos hurt, tour bus taken away, cancon not states money beckons, etc.etc.

Heavy Changes is cool, they did something different and went rock.

one chord to another, i rate, but the others, no!

it was almost if canada was saying 'no...we will make them the beatles, screw all over you'....

i think doomie secretly IS one of chris murphy's ex-girlfriends. aaah, so much makes sense now...

http://www.thestrokes.com/photos/1c/1c4.jpg

thinking "duh, even i know that doomie is jealous of chris murphy..."

http://www.theonion.com/onion3813/record-store_clerks.html

http://www.thestrokes.com/photos/5c/5c13.jpg

LOOK OUT, CANADIA!!! WATCH OUT, SLOOOOOOO-AN!

Those Sloan boys are going to be excited about leading the lead roles in the musical "Going Down the Road"

But frankly, power pop is like a huge fuckin' insult term. It means you don't play strong enough to be rock! Like emo to pop-punk, it's like saying "but yer really wimpy!"

Anthony, do you hate wimps?

not to say they're a bad band... not really my thing, but I can see why people were into them... just not at all powerpop

also would concur on hoodoo gurus, teenage fanclub and brendan benson (who incidentally puts on a pretty good live show).

Cherry Red had a really cheap deal on a 3CD set of early Shoes material 73-78.
Already reduced plus 20% off during January. So came out at about £8.

Haven't really heard the contents but the band self recorded 3 or 4 lps before they got signed to a larger label.

20% off any old product on Cherry Red label with a code that's on the label website. Until end of month.
So I think might be any non new release product specifically on the sub label of the name.

But half price or less anyway. If the further reduction missed.
I haven't really heard the band and just saw the set on an email the label sent me. Have been aware if the existence of an l.p. called Black Vinyl Shoes for decades. But nor sure to what extent I've heard the band though think what I've heatd has been good.

I've been wondering: debuting in 1968, were (the) Nazz the last of the "original wave" of power-pop bands? Or the first of the revivalists of the sound? Or were they not part of the genre at all?