Power pop (or powerpop) is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. Recordings tend to display production values that lean toward compression and a forceful drum beat. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers. While its cultural impact has waxed and waned over the decades, power pop is among rock's most enduring subgenres.
The Who, inspired by the melodicism of The Beatles and the driving rhythms of American R&B, released several songs — "I Can't Explain", "The Kids Are Alright", "Substitute", "I'm a Boy", "Happy Jack", "So Sad About Us", and in 1967, "Pictures of Lily" — in their early mod phase (1965-1966) that can be considered the first true power pop songs. These songs are propelled by Keith Moon's aggressive drumming and Pete Townshend's distinctive power chords, and have strong melodies and euphonic harmonies.
The Beatles took inspiration from The Who's contemporary singles and released hard-edged, yet melodic, singles such as "Paperback Writer" and "Day Tripper" in the mid 1960s, as well as album tracks such as "And Your Bird Can Sing". However, four years before the term "power pop" was coined, The Beatles were already recording a series of influential hits that some have retroactively classified as power pop, including "From Me to You", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Can't Buy Me Love".
Several groups that arose in the wake of The Beatles' success were important in the evolution of the power pop style, such as The Beau Brummels, The Hollies, and The Zombies. Other acts such as the Knickerbockers, the Easybeats and the Outsiders contributed iconic singles.
In the early 1970s, the form was further codified by the work of The Raspberries (who may have been the first band to earn the power pop appellation, in a mid-1970s article in Rolling Stone).
At this stage, British pop had taken a stylistic turn (notably, with the rise of glam). The bands performing music that was later to be labeled power pop were nearly all American. The first albums by Big Star and the Raspberries are considered among the genre's essential recordings. Some of Todd Rundgren's early and mid 1970s solo work also touched upon the emerging genre, as did the recordings of Blue Ash, The Flamin' Groovies, Artful Dodger, and The Dwight Twilley Band.
Rundgren, The Raspberries, and The Dwight Twilley Band achieved sporadic chart success during the period. However, the most influential of all the early-to-mid 1970s "pre" power pop-era groups was arguably Big Star, who released two unsuccessful albums and spent years relegated to cult status. Big Star's reputation rose in the early 1980s, after bands like R.E.M. and The Replacements spoke enthusiastically of their work. The Replacements even recorded a song entitled "Alex Chilton" in honor of Big Star's frontman.
These new power pop groups favored a leaner, punchier, more punkish attack than their early-1970s predecessors. Some, such as 20/20, The dB's, and Shoes, occasionally incorporated synthesizers into their music, though not to the same degree as did their New Wave counterparts. Visually, taking their cue from the tie-wearing, matching white-suited Raspberries (who had taken their own visual cues from the early 60's British Invasion groups), some of the young power poppers decked themselves out in skinny ties, matching shirts, or, in the case of the Romantics, matching red leather outfits.
One of these "skinny-tie" bands, The Knack, released perhaps the most successful power pop single of all time, "My Sharona," which spent six weeks in the number one position of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. Other notably successful power pop singles of the era included Cheap Trick's "Surrender," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "American Girl," and The Romantics' "What I Like About You".
Other British bands labelled as power pop included Squeeze, Buzzcocks, The Vapors, and The Chords. Many of these groups have also been described as mod revival, punk rock, or New Wave. Lacking the influence of American pioneers such as Big Star and The Raspberries, these bands were more directly inspired by 1960s beat music bands, particularly The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles). They also took a cue from the energy and aesthetics of the contemporary punk movement, speeding up the tempo of their music.
Other UK artists of the late 1970s commonly identified as power pop were the new wave bands XTC and Elvis Costello & The Attractions. They played driving, melodic music, but neither group sported the mod image or overt 1960s influence of The Jam and their followers.
A handful of successful bands in the United Kingdom did boast the traditional power pop sound as inspired by The Raspberries and Big Star. Singles from such groups, such as The Records' Starry Eyes, Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind, and Bram Tchaikovsky's Girl Of My Dreams, rivaled or even surpassed their American counterparts in capturing the essential elements of power pop. Perhaps as a consequence, these bands were more commercially successful in the United States than in their homeland.
Additionally, the American New Wave group Blondie was often labelled as "power pop" by the UK press. The band's second single, a cover of The Nerves' "Hanging on the Telephone," demonstrated Blondie's power pop roots.
In the mid-1990s through the 2000s, power pop flourished in the underground, with acts such as The Shazam and Sloan. Independent record labels such as Not Lame Recordings, Kool Kat Musik and Jam Recordings specialized in the genre. The sound made a mainstream appearance in 1994 with Weezer's commercially successful Blue Album and hit single "Buddy Holly". In the late 1990s, several Scandinavian power pop groups such as the Cardigans, Merrymakers, and Wannadies enjoyed a modicum of critical favor.
Power pop traits are also currently displayed by North American bands such as Fountains Of Wayne, New Pornographers, Jimmy Eat World and The All-American Rejects, and by pop punk bands such as Blink-182, Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup and Good Charlotte. Teen pop and pop rock bands such as the Jonas Brothers have also been described as being in the power pop tradition. The influence of power pop is also readily apparent in contemporary British groups such as Silver Sun, the A Sides, the Futureheads, Maxïmo Park, Farrah, The Feeling, Razorlight, and Babyshambles.
Power pop (or powerpop) is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. Recordings tend to display production values that lean toward compression and a forceful drum beat. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers. While its cultural impact has waxed and waned over the decades, power pop is among rock's most enduring subgenres.
The Who, inspired by the melodicism of The Beatles and the driving rhythms of American R&B, released several songs — "I Can't Explain", "The Kids Are Alright", "Substitute", "I'm a Boy", "Happy Jack", "So Sad About Us", and in 1967, "Pictures of Lily" — in their early mod phase (1965-1966) that can be considered the first true power pop songs. These songs are propelled by Keith Moon's aggressive drumming and Pete Townshend's distinctive power chords, and have strong melodies and euphonic harmonies.
The Beatles took inspiration from The Who's contemporary singles and released hard-edged, yet melodic, singles such as "Paperback Writer" and "Day Tripper" in the mid 1960s, as well as album tracks such as "And Your Bird Can Sing". However, four years before the term "power pop" was coined, The Beatles were already recording a series of influential hits that some have retroactively classified as power pop, including "From Me to You", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Can't Buy Me Love".
Several groups that arose in the wake of The Beatles' success were important in the evolution of the power pop style, such as The Beau Brummels, The Hollies, and The Zombies. Other acts such as the Knickerbockers, the Easybeats and the Outsiders contributed iconic singles.
In the early 1970s, the form was further codified by the work of The Raspberries (who may have been the first band to earn the power pop appellation, in a mid-1970s article in Rolling Stone).
At this stage, British pop had taken a stylistic turn (notably, with the rise of glam). The bands performing music that was later to be labeled power pop were nearly all American. The first albums by Big Star and the Raspberries are considered among the genre's essential recordings. Some of Todd Rundgren's early and mid 1970s solo work also touched upon the emerging genre, as did the recordings of Blue Ash, The Flamin' Groovies, Artful Dodger, and The Dwight Twilley Band.
Rundgren, The Raspberries, and The Dwight Twilley Band achieved sporadic chart success during the period. However, the most influential of all the early-to-mid 1970s "pre" power pop-era groups was arguably Big Star, who released two unsuccessful albums and spent years relegated to cult status. Big Star's reputation rose in the early 1980s, after bands like R.E.M. and The Replacements spoke enthusiastically of their work. The Replacements even recorded a song entitled "Alex Chilton" in honor of Big Star's frontman.
These new power pop groups favored a leaner, punchier, more punkish attack than their early-1970s predecessors. Some, such as 20/20, The dB's, and Shoes, occasionally incorporated synthesizers into their music, though not to the same degree as did their New Wave counterparts. Visually, taking their cue from the tie-wearing, matching white-suited Raspberries (who had taken their own visual cues from the early 60's British Invasion groups), some of the young power poppers decked themselves out in skinny ties, matching shirts, or, in the case of the Romantics, matching red leather outfits.
One of these "skinny-tie" bands, The Knack, released perhaps the most successful power pop single of all time, "My Sharona," which spent six weeks in the number one position of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979. Other notably successful power pop singles of the era included Cheap Trick's "Surrender," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "American Girl," and The Romantics' "What I Like About You".
Other British bands labelled as power pop included Squeeze, Buzzcocks, The Vapors, and The Chords. Many of these groups have also been described as mod revival, punk rock, or New Wave. Lacking the influence of American pioneers such as Big Star and The Raspberries, these bands were more directly inspired by 1960s beat music bands, particularly The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles). They also took a cue from the energy and aesthetics of the contemporary punk movement, speeding up the tempo of their music.
Other UK artists of the late 1970s commonly identified as power pop were the new wave bands XTC and Elvis Costello & The Attractions. They played driving, melodic music, but neither group sported the mod image or overt 1960s influence of The Jam and their followers.
A handful of successful bands in the United Kingdom did boast the traditional power pop sound as inspired by The Raspberries and Big Star. Singles from such groups, such as The Records' Starry Eyes, Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind, and Bram Tchaikovsky's Girl Of My Dreams, rivaled or even surpassed their American counterparts in capturing the essential elements of power pop. Perhaps as a consequence, these bands were more commercially successful in the United States than in their homeland.
Additionally, the American New Wave group Blondie was often labelled as "power pop" by the UK press. The band's second single, a cover of The Nerves' "Hanging on the Telephone," demonstrated Blondie's power pop roots.
In the mid-1990s through the 2000s, power pop flourished in the underground, with acts such as The Shazam and Sloan. Independent record labels such as Not Lame Recordings, Kool Kat Musik and Jam Recordings specialized in the genre. The sound made a mainstream appearance in 1994 with Weezer's commercially successful Blue Album and hit single "Buddy Holly". In the late 1990s, several Scandinavian power pop groups such as the Cardigans, Merrymakers, and Wannadies enjoyed a modicum of critical favor.
Power pop traits are also currently displayed by North American bands such as Fountains Of Wayne, New Pornographers, Jimmy Eat World and The All-American Rejects, and by pop punk bands such as Blink-182, Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup and Good Charlotte. Teen pop and pop rock bands such as the Jonas Brothers have also been described as being in the power pop tradition. The influence of power pop is also readily apparent in contemporary British groups such as Silver Sun, the A Sides, the Futureheads, Maxïmo Park, Farrah, The Feeling, Razorlight, and Babyshambles.
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