Music Banter - Guilty Pleasures Abound! It's Power Pop Week!

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Il Duce, if you're a good judge of whether a band is power pop or not, can you confirm or deny Freak Kitchen as such? I posted a few tracks near the top a while back, in case you're unfamiliar.

When people ask me to put on some pop related music I usually reach for their stuff, and they complain the guitarist shreds too well for them to be pop.

I just like to think of it as they're a pop act that have great instrumentation.

Similar to Minus the Bear. I wouldn't know if THEY were "power-pop" either. I think some of their work likes the power in power-pop...

There's another genre called noise pop, I don't remember if the bands you name fall into that or not. Power pop is a pretty conventional rock sound but with punchy melodies in a tight form.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Il Duce (Post 1132360)

^^they're more pop-punk than power-pop

I consider it a power pop song by a (poppy) punk band. I just checked and they seem to be regarded an important influence on power pop.

edit :

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Notable power pop singles

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:

Badfinger – "No Matter What" (1970)
Todd Rundgren - "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1972)
Raspberries – "Go All the Way" (1972)
Big Star – "September Gurls" (1974)
Cheap Trick – "Surrender" (1978)
The Cars – "Just What I Needed" (1978)
Buzzcocks – "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" (1978)
The Records – "Starry Eyes" (1979)
Nick Lowe - "Cruel to Be Kind" (1979)
The Knack – "My Sharona" (1979)
Shoes - "Too Late" (1979)
The Romantics – "What I Like About You" (1980)
Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl" (1981)
Marshall Crenshaw – "Someday, Someway" (1982)
The La's - "There She Goes" (1990)
Matthew Sweet – "Girlfriend" (1991)
Weezer – "Buddy Holly" (1994)
The Wonders - "That Thing You Do" (1996)
Gin Blossoms – "Follow You Down" (1996)
Jimmy Eat World – "The Middle" (2001)
Fountains of Wayne – "Stacy's Mom" (2003)
OK Go – "Here It Goes Again" (2006)

Conventional power pop normally has quite 'clean' smooth but punchy rock-like vocals I think, at least back in it's heydey it probably did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrd00d (Post 1132564)

Il Duce, if you're a good judge of whether a band is power pop or not, can you confirm or deny Freak Kitchen as such? I posted a few tracks near the top a while back, in case you're unfamiliar.

When people ask me to put on some pop related music I usually reach for their stuff, and they complain the guitarist shreds too well for them to be pop.

I just like to think of it as they're a pop act that have great instrumentation.

Similar to Minus the Bear. I wouldn't know if THEY were "power-pop" either. I think some of their work likes the power in power-pop...

they sound more like alt-metal/nu-metal to me

Alt metal maybe, nu metal ... absolutely not.

I know, I know... I asked.

I saw the video for Fountains of Wayne's 'Stacey's Mom' the other day. Still love the song (and most of their material, really), but that video makes me much more uncomfortable now that I'm an adult who has dealt with underage admirers.

Coheed and Cambria anyone?:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SATCHMO (Post 1132739)

Coheed and Cambria anyone?

No, thank you.

I think Weezer became 'Power Pop' despite being a much more interesting band in their early years. Here's the last two songs they made that I like. I'm certainly no expert on this particular sub-sub-genre but these sound like what I think of as power pop.

Although generally labeled as britpop, Supergrass should also fit the bill. :)

Like this song from their debut. Short, guitary, punchy and catchy.