Power pop 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.^[1][2]

Formative years: mid 1960s through the early 1970s[link]

Writing for Allmusic, John Dougan described the genre's origins:

The musical sourcepoint for nearly all power-pop is The Beatles. Virtually all stylistic appropriations begin with them: distinctive harmony singing, strong melodic lines, unforgettable guitar riffs, lyrics about boys and girls in love; they created the model that other power-poppers copied for the next couple of decades. Other profound influences include The Who, The Kinks, and The Move, bands whose aggressive melodies and loud distorted guitars put the "power" in power-pop.^[3]

Pete Townshend of The Who coined the term "power pop" in a 1967 interview in which he said: "Power pop is what we play—what the Small Faces used to play, and the kind of pop The Beach Boys played in the days of 'Fun, Fun, Fun' which I preferred."^[4] The Beatles and The Byrds, along with The Who, The Small Faces and The Beach Boys, are often cited as the progenitors of power pop.^[5]

Influential British rock band The Kinks in 1965.

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" and "Happy Jack" — 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 Who's role in the creation of power pop has been cited by singer-songwriter Eric Carmen of the Raspberries, who has said:

"Pete Townshend coined the phrase to define what the Who did. For some reason, it didn't stick to the Who, but it did stick to these groups that came out in the `70s that played kind of melodic songs with crunchy guitars and some wild drumming. It just kind of stuck to us like glue, and that was OK with us because the Who were among our highest role models. We absolutely loved the Who."^[6]

The Beatles released harder-edged, yet melodic, singles such as "Paperback Writer" and "Day Tripper" in 1965–66, 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 and expansion of the power pop style, such as The Hollies and The Monkees, as well as "softer" acts such as The Beau Brummels, The Cowsills, The Zombies, and the "bubblegum" singles of the Kasenetz-Katz production team. Other acts such as the Knickerbockers, The Easybeats and the Outsiders contributed iconic singles. Writer John Borack has noted, "It’s also quite easy to draw a not-so-crooked line from garage rock to power pop."^[7]

Alex Chilton, of Big Star, seen in 2004.

By 1970 the distinctive stylistic elements of power pop were clearly evident in recordings by the British group Badfinger, with singles such as "No Matter What", "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day" serving as templates for the power pop sound that would follow ^[8]:50.

Although the formative influences on the genre were primarily British, the bands that developed and codified power pop in the 1970s were nearly all American. The Raspberries' 1972 hit single "Go All The Way" is an almost perfect embodiment of the elements of power pop and that group's four albums can be considered strongly representative of the genre. Some of Todd Rundgren's early and mid 1970s solo work also touched on power pop, as did the recordings of Blue Ash, The Flamin' Groovies, Artful Dodger and The Dwight Twilley Band. The most influential group of the period may have been Big Star. Though Big Star's initial early 1970s career met with no commercial success, they developed an avid cult following and members of later bands like R.E.M. and The Replacements spoke enthusiastically of their esteem for the group's work. The Replacements even recorded a song entitled "Alex Chilton" in honor of Big Star's frontman.

Commercial peak: late 1970s to early 1980s[link]

Cheap Trick playing in 1978.

Spurred on by the emergence of punk rock and new wave, power pop enjoyed a prolific and commercially successful period in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Although coined in the 1960s, and used as early as 1973 in reference to Sweet^[9], the term "power pop" was not widely used until around 1978. This unique band are often overlooked by so called music historians / researchers which is mainly due to the fact that they never had a major No. 1 hit record. But amongst the people who were actually there at the time The Pleasers were a massive force to be recon with as it was this bands brand of music and fashion that helped pave the way for their contemporary's. As the novelist Michael Chabon has written, "Power pop in its essential form... did not come into existence for a number of years after it was first identified. Like so much of the greatest work turned out by popular artists of the 1970s, true power pop is quintessential second-generation stuff."^[10] The term was often used in reference to critics' favorites Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe, whose style was viewed as a less-threatening version of punk rock.^[11][12] Los Angeles-based Bomp! magazine championed power pop in its March 1978 issue, tying the genre's roots to 1960s groups like The Who and The Easybeats through Raspberries of the early 1970s.^[13]

Like their punk brethren, late–1970s power pop groups favored a leaner and punchier sound than their early–1970s predecessors. Some occasionally incorporated synthesizers into their music, though not to the same degree as did their new wave counterparts. Representative singles from the period include releases from the Bomp! Records label by 20/20 ("Giving It All"), Shoes ("Tomorrow Night") and The Romantics ("Tell It to Carrie"). Major label groups like Cheap Trick, The Cars and Blondie merged power pop influences with other styles and achieved their first mainstream success with albums released in 1978. Cheap Trick's 1979 album Cheap Trick at Budokan went triple platinum in the United States,^[14] and singles such as "Surrender" and "I Want You To Want Me" brought power pop to an international audience.

Doug Fieger of The Knack performing.

Visually taking their cue from 1960s British Invasion groups, some power pop bands decked themselves out in skinny ties and matching suits. Other groups such as the The Romantics adopted matching red leather outfits reminiscent of 1950s rock n roll stars such as Little Richard. Some bands such as The Beat adapted the look of punk rocker contemporaries such as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.

The biggest chart hit by a pure power pop band was The Knack's debut single, "My Sharona", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks in the summer of 1979. The accompanying platinum-selling album, Get the Knack, paved the way for major label debuts that fall by The Pop, Shoes, 20/20 and The Beat. However, "My Sharona"'s ubiquitous radio presence that summer spawned a popular and critical backlash against the band, which in turn led to a backlash against the power pop genre in general. Few of the power pop albums which followed Get the Knack charted at all, and those that did attained only middling positions on the Billboard 200. The Romantics had a minor hit with "What I Like About You" in early 1980, but, by then, power pop was seen as a passing fad by many critics.^[15] Most of this crop of bands continued to release albums throughout the early 1980s, but with the exception of The Romantics' In Heat (1983), none garnered much attention. Other groups such as The Plimsouls and the dB's found a home on college radio, where power pop would endure for the remainder of the decade.

United Kingdom[link]

Nick Lowe playing in 1980.

The term power pop, as used in the United Kingdom, referred to a somewhat different style of music than that of the United States. The Evening Standard used the term in January 1978 while writing about The Rich Kids and Tonight.^[16] Other British bands labelled as power pop included The Jam, The Boys, The Pleasers, Squeeze, Buzzcocks, Starjets, The Vapors and The Chords. The term became something of a catchall, as 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 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 cover of The Nerves' "Hanging on the Telephone", demonstrated Blondie's power pop side. The most notable Australian power pop band of the period was probably The Innocents; rock historian Glenn A Baker claimed they were "the greatest power pop band since the demise of Raspberries".^[17]

Having influenced the development of power pop from the beginning, British rock group The Kinks made several well-received songs in the style in their 1984 album Word of Mouth, such as "Do It Again".^[18]

Contemporary power pop: 1980s to 2000s[link]

The New Pornographers in concert.

In the 1980s and 1990s, power pop continued as a commercially modest genre. Artists such as the Spongetones,^[8]p. 58 Marshall Crenshaw, Del Amitri, Enuff Z'nuff, The Smithereens, Matthew Sweet, Tommy Keene, Redd Kross, Material Issue and The Posies drew inspiration from Big Star, the Beatles, and glam rock groups of the early 1970s like T.Rex and Sweet.^[19] Albums such as Jellyfish's Bellybutton (1990) and Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque (1991) would be greatly influential within the genre, but few translated to mainstream success.

In the mid-1990s through the 2000s, power pop flourished in the underground with acts such as Sloan. Independent record labels such as Not Lame Recordings, Parasol, 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".^[20] 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 Gin Blossoms, Fountains of Wayne, The New Pornographers, Guided By Voices, Semisonic, Jimmy Eat World, The Click Five, The Dandy Warhols, Sloan, The Apples in Stereo, Cotton Mather, and Fastball. The influence of power pop is also apparent in contemporary British groups such as Silver Sun, the Futureheads, Maxïmo Park, Farrah, The Feeling, Razorlight, Babyshambles and The Libertines. There is also a movement of bands directly inspired by the British powerpop sound made popular in the late 1970s. "Boy bands" like the Jonas Brothers have also sometimes been referred to as "power pop."^{[21][22][23][24]}

The Click Five interviewed in April 2006.

Festival bills[link]

International Pop Overthrow - named after the song of the same name by Material Issue - is a power pop festival that has been organizing events since 1997. Originally taking place in Los Angeles, the festival has expanded to several locations over the years including Chicago, New York, Boston, Cleveland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, and Liverpool, England (the latter event included performances at the re-created Cavern Club).

Books and internet resources[link]

Ken Sharp and Doug Sulpy released Power Pop: Conversations With the Power Pop Elite in 1997. The book contained interviews with power pop artists from throughout the genre's history. Sharp has also written books on Raspberries and Cheap Trick.^[25] In 2007, John Borack published Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide in association with power pop label/retailer Not Lame Recordings. The book contained essays by several writers including Borack, a list of 200 "essential albums," and an accompanying CD.

The popular blog PowerPop includes daily entries on "the precursors, the practioners, and the descendants of power pop."^[26]

Notable power pop singles[link]

Certain power pop songs have had substantial mainstream visibility or commercial success, have been critically described as being emblematic of the genre, or are regularly cited as being influential to later performers. These include:

• The Who – "I Can See for Miles" (1967)^[27][28]
• Badfinger – "No Matter What" (1970)^[29][30]
• Todd Rundgren - "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1972)^{[8][30]p. 10}
• Raspberries – "Go All the Way" (1972)^{[8][31]p. 13[29][30][32]}
• Big Star – "September Gurls" (1974)^{[8]p. 13[29][30]}
• Cheap Trick – "Surrender" (1978)^{[8]p. 16[32]}
• The Cars – "Just What I Needed" (1978)^{[8][30]p. 10}
• Buzzcocks – "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" (1978)^[32]
• The Records – "Starry Eyes" (1979)^{[8]p. 140[29]}
• Nick Lowe - "Cruel to Be Kind" (1979)^[30][33]
• The Knack – "My Sharona" (1979)^{[8]p. 59[29]}
• Shoes - "Too Late" (1979)^[34][35]
• The Romantics – "What I Like About You" (1980)^{[8]p. 140[29]}
• Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl" (1981)
• Marshall Crenshaw – "Someday, Someway" (1982)^[29][30]
• The La's - "There She Goes" (1990)^[36]
• Matthew Sweet – "Girlfriend" (1991)^[23][37]
• Weezer – "Buddy Holly" (1994)^[30]
• The Wonders - "That Thing You Do" (1996)
• Gin Blossoms – "Follow You Down" (1996)^[38]
• Jimmy Eat World – "The Middle" (2001)^[39][40][41]
• Fountains of Wayne – "Stacy's Mom" (2003)^[42][43]
• OK Go – "Here It Goes Again" (2006)^[23]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Article about power pop from Rolling Stone 1979, RS306
• Information about power pop from Allmusic

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Look up power in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Power may refer to:

Philosophy[link]

• Power (philosophy), the ability to control people or events

Physics[link]

• Power (physics), the rate at which work is performed or energy is converted
• Electric power, the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by a circuit
• Human power, the rate of work performed by a human
• Motive power, an agent used to create motion
• AC power, power in an alternating current electric circuit
• Optical power, the degree to which a lens converges or diverges light
• Transmitter power output, the power used by a radio transmitter
• Effective radiated power, a standardized theoretical measurement of the power of a radio transmitter
• Power spectral density, a real function denoting the power or energy of a signal
• Electrical power industry, companies generating electricity for the electrical grid

Mathematics[link]

• Exponentiation
• Statistical power
• Power of a point

Surname[link]

• Power (name)

Computing[link]

• IBM Power (software), an IBM systems software operating system enhancement package that provided spooling facilities for the IBM/370
• IBM POWER, a RISC microprocessor architecture developed by IBM
• POW-R, a set of commercial dithering and noise shaping algorithms used in digital audio bit-depth reduction

Film[link]

• Power (1986 film), a 1986 film about how political power affects both those who wield it and the people they try to control
• Power (2012 film), an upcoming Bollywood film
• The Power (film), a 1968 science fiction film, based on the Frank M. Robinson novel

Music[link]

Albums

• Power (Barrabás album)
• Power (Boys Noize album)
• Power (Ice-T album)
• Power (Kansas album)
• Power (Q and Not U album)
• The Power (album), an album by Vanessa Amorosi
• Power, an album by SSD (band)
• Power, an album by Lakeside (band)

Songs

• "Power" (Helloween song)
• "Power" (Kanye West song)
• "The Power" (Snap! song)
• "Power", a song by Lipps Inc. from Mouth to Mouth
• "Power", a song by Rainbow from Straight Between the Eyes
• "Power", a song by The Temptations
• "Power" (KMFDM song)
• "The Power", a song by Manowar from Louder Than Hell
• "The Power", a song by Cher from Believe
• "Power" (Juvenile song)
• "Power", a song by Fields of the Nephilim
• Power, a song by B.A.P

Literature[link]

• Power (novel), a 1962 novel by Howard Fast detailing the rise of the fictional Benjamin Holt to lead a powerful labor union
• Power (2004 novel), a by J. A. Stiehl novel about a boy who develops superhuman abilities of nearly god-like proportions
• Power (play), a play by Nick Dear that explores the events that led King Louis XIV of France to become absolute monarch
• The Power (novel), a 1956 book by Frank M. Robinson, on which the 1968 film is based
• The Power (self-help book), a 2010 book by Rhonda Byrne
• Girl Got Game, originally Power!! a manga series about a girl whose father forces her to pretend to be a boy to play on a basketball team
• Power: A New Social Analysis, a sociology book by Bertrand Russell that defines powers as one's ability to achieve goals

Sports and games[link]

• West Virginia Power, a minor league baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the Class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates
• Port Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed "Power", an Australian rules football club based in Port Adelaide, South Australia
• Phil Taylor, an English darts champion, nicknamed "The Power", who has won a record 15 World Championships

Other[link]

• 2C-P, this psychedelic phenethylamine is popularly known as power
• Power, Montana, a census-designated place in Teton County, Montana, United States
• Power98FM, an English-language radio station in Singapore, owned by SAFRA Radio
• De Coelesti Hierarchia, a Pseudo-Dionysian work on angelology which has an order of angels called "Powers"
• The Power (XM), an XM satellite radio channel
• Pittsburgh Power, American Football League team in Pittsburgh, PA
• J. D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information services firm
• Power Corporation of Canada, a Canadian conglomerate known for its active participation in Canadian politics

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up pop in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Pop may refer to:

Music and dance[link]

• Pop music, a musical genre
• Pop!, a UK pop group
• Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
• PoP!, the fictional band in Music and Lyrics
• Pop (U2 album)
• Pop (Mao Abe album)
• Pop (Gas album)
• Pop (Same Difference album)
• Pop (Joachim Witt album)
• "Pop" (song), by 'N Sync
• Popping, a style of dance

People[link]

• Iggy Pop, musician
• Iulian Pop, Romanian mayor of Cluj
• Gregg Popovich, National Basketball Association head coach
• Pop Chalee, also known as Merina Lujan (1906–1993), American painter, muralist, performer and singer
• Pop Corkhill (1858-1921), American Major League Baseball (MLB) player
• Pop Dillon (1873-1931), American MLB player
• Pop Foster (1878-1944), American MLB player
• Pop Gates (1917-1999), American basketball player and Harlem Globetrotters coach
• Pop Ivy (1916-2003), American football player and coach
• Pop Levi, English singer, musician, record producer and filmmaker
• Pop Robson (born 1945), English footballer
• Pop Schriver (1865-1932), American MLB catcher
• Pop Smith (1856-1927), Canadian MLB player
• Pop Snyder (1854-1924), American MLB player, manager and umpire
• Pop Tate (baseball) (1860-1932), American MLB player
• Glenn Scobey Warner (1871-1954), American football player and coach better known as Pop Warner
• Pop Williams (1874-1959), American MLB pitcher

Sports and games[link]

• Pop (professional wrestling)
• Pop (video game)
• Pokémon Organized Play, a trading card and figure organization
• Prince of Persia

Computing and technology[link]

• Package on package, a circuit packaging technique
• Parallel Ocean Program, an ocean circulation model
• Partial-order planning, an algorithm
• Point of Presence, a demarcation point between communications entities
• Post Office Protocol, an Internet e-mail protocol
• An operation of a stack data structure

Media and publications[link]

• Pop (UK TV channel), a UK channel
• Pop (fashion magazine), a British fashion magazine
• Pop Magazine (Australia), a sports magazine
• Pop (Swedish magazine)
• POP TV, a Slovenian television network
• Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, a medical journal

Places[link]

• Pop River (Jijia), Romania
• Pop River (Sadu), Romania
• Puerto Plata Airport, IATA code POP
• Poppleton railway station, station code POP
• Pacific Ocean Park, an amusement park

Other uses[link]

• Eton Society, an organization at Eton College, nicknamed "Pop"
• Pay on production
• Plaster of Paris
• Persistent organic pollutant, an organic compound resistant to degradation
• Pop art, a visual art movement
• Pop culture, the mainstream phenomena of a society
• Pop, another term for soft drinks
• Population, the collection of humans or organisms in a given area
• Probability of precipitation, a weather forecasting measure
• Problem-oriented policing, a policing strategy
• Process Oriented Psychology
• Progestogen only pill, a contraceptive
• Point of Purchase used often in retail
• Proof-of-payment, a fare collection approach

See also[link]

• Pops (disambiguation)
• PoP (disambiguation)
• Popping (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.