Norm de Plume

This thread is an offshoot of one we had here some time ago. Please list your fave songs of the Power Pop genre. I'll start (in no particular order):

The Searchers:
-"Murder in My Heart"
-"You are the New Day"
-"Hearts in Her Eyes"
-"Coming from the Heart"
-"Love's Gonna be Strong"
-"Silver"

Marshall Crenshaw:
-"Cynical Girl"

The Plimsouls:
-"How Long Will it Take?"
-"Magic Touch"
-"Now"

The Records:
-"Starry Eyes"

The Rubinoos:
-"Amnesia"
-"Drivin' Music"
-"Gone to Seed"
-"I Wanna be Your Boyfriend"

The Byrds:
-"Chimes of Freedom"

Bram Tchaikovsky:
-"Girl of My Dreams"

Shoes:
-"Now and Then"
-"In My Arms Again"
-"I'll Follow You"
-"Inside of You"

Dwight Twilley:
-"Perfect World"
-"Why You Wanna Break My Heart"
-"Shooting Stars"
-"I'm on Fire"

Richard X. Heyman:
-"World of Indifference"
-"Falling Away"
-"Caught in a Lie"

Big Star:
-"Catch the Sunrise"
-"September Gurls"

Norm de Plume

^That's a good one that just failed to make my list. Also from Lowe, "So it Goes", "7 Night to Rock", "I Knew the Bride", "The Rose of England", and "Half a Boy and Half a Man". And from Lowe's Rockpile, "Teacher, Teacher".

DGibFen

The New Pornographers - "Use It"; "The Laws Have Changed"

nodeerforamonth

Flaming Groovies: "Shake Some Action"
Nick Lowe: "So It Goes"
Cheap Trick: "Surrender", "Southern Girls"
The Sweet: "Fox On The Run"
Bay City Rollers: "Rock 'n Roll Love Letter"
Ginger: "I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter"
The Rich Kids: "Ghost Of Princess Towers"
Matthew Sweet: "Sick Of Myself"
Fountains Of Wayne: "Stacy's Mom"
The Hollies: "Pay You Back With Interest"
Old 97s: "King Of All The World"
Squeeze: "Up The Junction"
Silver Ginger 5: "Rock 'n Roll Girls"
Goo Goo Dolls: "There You Are"

Chrisedge

I had a cassette back in the day by "Great Buildings" (Saw them at Knotts with Tutone, or the Plimsouls) and I googled them one day and found the main guys in that band, Phil Solem and Danny Wilde later formed The Rembrandts...

Not sure how it would hold up today...but I would like to hear that 1981 release...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rembrandts

JPRaup

The New Pornographers discography

Rocketdog2000

Man I've tried and tried, but after hearing the band, I still fail to understand how they would be considered "Power Pop". It's not to imply they are bad, but "Power Pop" they ain't. Straight up Indie rock, to these ears. Spoon are more "Power Pop".

mikelowry

Early Teenage Fanclub e.g. Bandwagonesque

wendersfan

The Only Ones - "Another Girl, Another Planet"

atlantamoi

Massive list of faves, but these are the ones that still make me wanna scream and holler:

Number one... right at the top:

The Records "Starry Eyes". Perfect song.

Teenage Fanclub "Sparky's Dream", "Don't Look Back"
Marshall Crenshaw "Cynical Girl"
Matthew Sweet "I've Been Waiting"
Big Star "September Gurls"
Spongetones "Have You Ever Been Torn Apart", "This Kiss Is Mine Tonight"
Chris Stamey "I Thought You Wanted To Know"
Delays "Nearer Than Heaven"
New Pornographers "Letter From An Occupant"
NRBQ "I Want You Bad"
Pushtwangers "Boyfriend"
Tommy Keene "Places That Are Gone"
Flying Color "Dear Friend"
Merrymakers "Im in...Love!"

Agh... this could go on and on, but that'll do for now. I'm always on the lookout for that perfect slice of three minute juiced up pop.

atlantamoi

Weird, I'd switch those two bands in your description.

JAA

Gots to have some Raspberries!

Go All The Way
Tonight

[email protected]

The Neighborhoods - "Prettiest Girl" (Boston band, THE perfect pop song)
The Motors - "Love and Loneliness"
The Church - "Unguarded Moment"
The Raspberries - "Go All The Way"
The Knack - "My Sharona"

And I agree with a lot of the ones listed above. Norm de Plume, you have great taste!!!

JANK

Here's a top contender, "The Streets of Your Town" - The Go-Betweens

Giles

I know I'm seeing examples here, but how is "power pop" actually defined?

Rocketdog2000

Well, I'm not saying that I don't consider Spoon "Indie rock", too - just that out of the two, I get more of a "power pop" feel from them. I guess it's the "power" part of the equation where I take issue.

I hear a song like "I Summon You" by Spoon, and it easily ranks amongst my other favorite "power pop" songs. (that list to follow when I really have the time to make it)

On the contrary, and again this is just personal taste and no comment on how good the band are or aren't, but the New Pornographers do absolutely nothing for me. The reverse may be more true for you, and that's fine.

I also don't mean to imply that you (or anyone else) are wrong to include them on your list(s) - because you're not. I'm just saying that to me, personally, I wouldn't, because I don't hear it.

Rocketdog2000

Here's the definition from Wiki...

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, it's among rock's most enduring subgenres.

dom56

Agree, I would also add these to the list.

Ecstasy
Let's Pretend
I Wanna Be With You

Giles

ohhh, there a boatload of songs that I could cull from my collection that'd fall into that catagory, the first one that springs to mind is:

Straw - Sailing Off the Edge of the World

Shiv Shankly

How about some Smithereens:

"Behind the Wall of Sleep"
"Strangers When We Meet"
"Blood and Roses"
"Only a Memory"
"A Girl Like You"

golden_rod

"Dreaming" by Blondie.

Adam Tyner

"The Slow Descent into Alcoholism", "Twin Cinema", "All for Swinging You Around", and "The Laws Have Changed" are a few of the New Pornos' songs that fit my description for power pop. The band hates that label and takes every possible opportunity to say that they're not a power pop act. Heck, I wonder if "Challengers" turned out the way it did so people would stop calling them that.

A few other songs that immediately spring to mind:

Jellyfish: "All I Want Is Everything", "The King is Half Undressed", "New Mistake"
XTC: "Mayor of Simpleton", "Senses Working Overtime", "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love" (I'm in the middle of my annual listen-to-the-entire-XTC-discography-fest, coincidentally)
Tuscadero: "Freak Magnet"
The Young Fresh Fellows: "Still There's Hope"
The Galactic Heroes: "Get Up"
Ash: "Jack Names the Planets"
Sloan: "Penpals"

cungar

My favorite of all time:

The Plimsouls: A million miles away


Shoes: Tomorrow Night
Matthew Sweet: Sick of Myself
Dwight Twilley: Nothing's ever going to change
Badfinger: No Matter What

Norm de Plume

Thanks. So do you. In fact, "Love and Loneliness" is a great song, but I didn't list it because I figured it isn't Power Pop (too much keyboard). Same goes for Squeeze's brilliant "Goodbye Girl", which I wanted to list. But the same could apply to a few of my listed songs, like a couple of the later Shoes and Twilley songs (synth-heavy).
The definition of Power Pop is a little amorphous, but P.P. songs are usually not much longer than 3 minutes, fast-paced, stress jangly guitars, and are lyrically inconsequential.
Of the ones I listed, the most pure Power Pop songs are probably "Cynical Girl", "Starry Eyes", "Girl of My Dreams", "Magic Touch", "How Long Will it Take", and anything by the Rubinoos (Paleophonic is a great album) or off the glittering The Searchers album Sire Sessions: The Rockfield Recordings, which I can't recommend highly enough to Power Pop connoisseurs.

Thanks for all the recommendations. Time to allmusic them.

rw2516

What about The Grassroots?

Two Divided By love
Temptation Eyes
Midnight Confessions
Sooner Or Later