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1[floatboxright:
2Primary Stylistic Influences:
3+ RockAndRoll, GarageRock, HardRock, UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion (both the Merseybeat and the Mod aspects of it), Girl Groups, {{Rockabilly}}, {{Doowop}}, JanglePop
4]
5[floatboxright:
6Secondary Stylistic Influences:
7+ {{Pop}}, ProtoPunk, ArenaRock, FolkRock, GarageRock, later bands often influenced by PunkRock, NewWaveMusic and AlternativeRock
8]
9
10->''"Power pop is what we play — what Music/TheSmallFaces used to play, and the kind of pop Music/TheBeachBoys played in the days of "Fun, Fun, Fun" which I preferred."''
11-->--'''[[Music/TheWho Pete Townshend]]'''
12
13Power pop is Music/TheBeatles [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] Music/TheWho.
14
15That's literally all there is to it. Power pop emerged as a genre in the middle of The60s, and its basic characteristics have remained unchanged since then. Power pop basically denotes bands that try to sound like a cross between Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheWho. There's an emphasis on strong melodies and heavy use of Beatles-styled vocal harmonies, but this is married to loud guitars and somewhat "aggressive" drumming borrowed from the Who (with the jangly 12-string guitar sound of Music/TheByrds often thrown in for good measure). The result? Well, pop rock music with balls, so its popularity probably isn't that surprising. Power pop is also notable for its LyricalDissonance, given its cheerful sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, despair, or self-empowerment.
16
17Fittingly, the term "power pop" was coined by Pete Townshend in a 1967 interview (quoted above) to describe his band's style. Their early singles like "I Can't Explain", "The Kids Are Alright" and "Substitute", helped [[TropeCodifier codify]] the genre, merging typical strong Beatle-ish GarageRock and pop rock melodies with driving R&B-inspired rhythms and massive Marshall-stacked guitars. The Beatles themselves released harder-edged singles that helped inspire the genre, such as "Day Tripper" and "Paperback Writer", and Music/TheKinks pretty much invented the style with the {{epic riff}}y "You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night", which were the template for "I Can't Explain".
18
19The70s represented the decade where Power pop came into its own as a genre, represented by artists like Badfinger (who enjoyed the patronage of Music/TheBeatles), The Raspberries, famous [[CultClassic cult band]] Music/BigStar, NRBQ, [[Music/ToddRundgren Nazz and Todd Rundgren]]. The genre also reached the peak of its mainstream popularity in the late seventies, represented chiefly by Music/CheapTrick and others like 20/20, Music/TheCars, and Music/TheKnack. Thanks to dumb British journalists who tended to use "power pop" as a catchall term, lots of bands that weren't primarily power pop got lumped into the genre, such as Music/TheJam, Music/{{Squeeze|Band}}, the Music/{{Buzzcocks}}, Music/ElvisCostello, Music/{{Blondie|Band}}, Music/{{XTC}}, and Music/NickLowe (most of these bands were [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]], PunkRock or early AlternativeRock, with Squeeze and Nick Lowe being the closest to bona-fide Power Pop).
20
21Power pop dropped out of the spotlight after the end of the seventies due to the massive HypeBacklash against The Knack's smash hit "My Sharona". However, it continued to thrive underground and proved to be an important influence on AlternativeRock bands - many of the early alt-rock bands, such as Music/{{REM}}, played JanglePop and owed a massive debt to power pop, especially Music/BigStar. The genre has still had its occasional moments of mainstream success, such as Music/MatthewSweet's "Girlfriend", Music/GinBlossoms' "Hey Jealousy", Music/{{Weezer}}'s "Buddy Holly", Music/FountainsOfWayne's "Stacy's Mom", and Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance".
22
23PopPunk bands often [[BlatantLies claim to be]] power pop. Considering Music/TheWho inspired many of the first punk bands, this may not be surprising.
24
25Do not confuse this term with anthemic adult-contemporary/pop songs and/or power ''ballads'', which are often mislabeled as "power pop".
26----
27
28Artists commonly associated with the genre:
29[[index]]
30* 20/20
31* Music/TheAllAmericanRejects
32* Music/AllTimeLow
33* Music/AltJ
34* Music/TheApplesInStereo
35* Music/ArtfulDodger (not the British Garage producer, the 70s American band)
36* Music/{{Ash}}
37* Music/AsianKungFuGeneration
38* Music/{{Badfinger}} (probably the TropeCodifier for the genre)
39* Music/BadNerves
40* Music/TheBangles
41** ''Music/AllOverThePlace''
42* Music/BayCityRollers
43* Music/{{Beabadoobee}}
44* Music/TheBeat (Paul Collins' band, not to be confused with the British Music/TwoTone band, called The English Beat in the US)
45* Music/BrendanBenson
46* Music/BestCoast
47* Music/BigStar
48* Music/BlueAsh
49* Music/BradJones (No, not that Creator/BradJones)
50* Music/{{Bread|Band}} (Usually considered SoftRock balladeers, but a lot of their album tracks and BSide material qualify. "Down on My Knees" could easily pass for a Badfinger song)
51* Music/TheBrobecks
52* Music/BrotherKite (also {{Shoegazing}})
53* Music/TheCars (straddling the line between Power pop and {{New Wave|Music}})
54* Music/CheapTrick
55* Music/TheClickFive
56* Music/ElvisCostello
57** 1977 - ''Music/MyAimIsTrue''
58** 1978 - ''Music/ThisYearsModel''
59* Music/CottonMather
60* Music/MarshallCrenshaw
61* Music/TheDandyWarhols
62* Music/{{DAY6}}
63* The dBs (also JanglePop)
64* Music/DelAmitri
65* Music/DirtyLooks (not the glam metal band)
66* Music/{{Dodgy}} (also {{Britpop}})
67* [[Music/EnuffZNuff Enuff Z'Nuff]] (although they had the misfortune of being labeled as a HairMetal band because [[ExecutiveMeddling that's what their label]] Creator/AtcoRecords said they were.)
68* Music/{{Everclear}}
69* Music/TheExplodingHearts
70** ''Music/GuitarRomantic'' (2003)
71* Music/TheEyes
72* Music/{{Fastball}}
73* [[Music/TheFlaminGroovies The Flamin' Groovies]], at least in the post-Roy Loney era.
74* Music/BenFolds
75* Music/TheFormat
76* Music/FountainsOfWayne
77* Music/GinBlossoms
78* Music/{{Graduate}} (mainly known for being [[RetroactiveRecognition an early band]] of [[Music/TearsForFears Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's]]. Despite being marketed as a TwoTone band on the basis of their [[OneHitWonder sole hit]] "[[Music/ElvisCostello Elvis]] Should Play Ska", their actual sound is much closer to this.)
79* Music/{{Hanson}}
80* Music/JulianaHatfield
81* Music/{{Hazel}}
82* Music/TheHudsonBrothers (with their TV career and TeenIdol image they're usually remembered as a bubblegum band, but with their obvious love for UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion they were much closer to Big Star than The Archies)
83* Music/TheJam
84* Music/{{Jellyfish}} (although by their second album, they'd moved in a more BaroquePop direction)
85* Music/JimmyEatWorld (from ''Bleed American'' onwards)
86* Music/KaiserChiefs
87* Music/{{Kenickie}}
88* Music/TheKnack
89* Music/TheLas
90* Music/TheLemonTwigs
91* Music/NickLowe
92* Music/{{Ludo}}
93* Music/MarcyPlayground
94* Music/MaterialIssue
95* Music/ModFun
96* Music/MotionCitySoundtrack
97* Music/TheMonroes (a case of OneHitWonder)
98* Music/TheMove
99* Music/NadaSurf
100* Music/TheNewPornographers, particularly on their early albums.
101* Music/NewRadicals
102* Music/{{NRBQ}}
103* Music/OkGo
104** 2006 - "Music/HereItGoesAgain"
105* Music/OneOKRock
106* Music/TheOutfield
107* Music/ParadeOfLights
108* Music/{{Paramore}}
109* Music/{{Pezband}}
110* Music/LizPhair, especially the songs where she's working with a full band. ("Supernova", "Rocket Boy" and the like.)
111* Music/{{Phantom Planet|Band}}
112* Music/ThePillows
113* Music/ThePlimsouls
114* Music/ThePoohSticks
115* Music/ThePosies
116* Music/{{Ramones}} (though more often recognized as a PunkRock band)
117* Music/TheRaspberries (the first American band to hit it big with this style)
118* Music/TheRecords
119* Music/TheReplacements
120* Music/TheRomantics
121* Music/JeffRosenstock
122* Music/TheRubinoos (straddling the line between Power Pop and bubblegum)
123* Music/ToddRundgren (his early band Nazz explicitly molded their sound on The Beatles and The Who, and his solo career has generally been at the junction of Power Pop and ProgressiveRock)
124* Music/{{Shoes}}
125* Music/SilverSun
126* Music/SkeletonStaff
127* Music/{{Sloan}}
128* Music/TheSmallFaces
129* Music/SmashMouth
130* Music/TheSmithereens
131* Music/SnowPatrol
132* Music/{{Spacehog}} (combined with alternative rock and glam rock)
133* Music/{{Sparks}} (one of their [[GenreBusting many]] styles, the one that first brought them popularity in 1974-1975)
134* Music/SpinDoctors
135* Music/RickSpringfield
136* Music/TheSpongetones
137* Music/{{Squeeze|Band}}
138* Music/BillySquier
139* Music/SuperFurryAnimals
140* Music/{{Supergrass}} (also Britpop)
141* Music/TheSupernaturals (also Britpop)
142* Music/MatthewSweet
143* Music/{{Switchfoot}}
144* Music/TallyHall
145* Music/TeenageFanclub
146* Music/ThirdEyeBlind
147* Music/TommyTutone
148* Music/TheTubes (a style adopted after ''The Completion Backward Principle'')
149* Music/DwightTwilley (and his earlier work, The Dwight Twilley Band)
150* Music/TheUnswept
151* Music/UrgeOverkill
152* Music/WalkTheMoon (especially amplified on ''Talking is Hard''; also DancePunk and [[NewWaveMusic New Wave Revival]])
153* Music/{{Weezer}} (also Alternative Rock, PopPunk, and, [at least on ''[[Music/WeezerTheBlueAlbum The Blue Album]]'' and ''Music/{{Pinkerton}}''], [[EmoMusic Emo]])
154* Music/{{Wheatus}}
155* Music/TheWho (TropeNamer)
156** 1965 - ''Music/MyGeneration''
157** 1966 - ''Music/AQuickOne''
158** 1967 - ''Music/TheWhoSellout''
159* Music/{{XTC}}
160* Music/{{Zumpano}} (a precursor to The New Pornographers)

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