All Kindsa Girls! Power Pop

A New 40-Song Power Pop Playlist

Sep 07, 2024

This playlist is dedicated to all the September, cynical, rock n roll, sad, glad, good, Sunday and American girls.

I wrote about power pop songs featuring “boy” in the title a couple weeks ago, an essay and playlist intended as a preemptive response to the genre’s countless songs featuring “girls.” So, we’re doing things a little out of order.

As previously mentioned, songs about girls written and performed by brokenhearted boys is one of the most persistent power pop tropes, but this playlist also features female (-fronted) acts including Holly and the Italians, The Muffs and Blondie.

Admiration comes in many forms so it’s no mystery why “girls” are a never-ending subject of youthful fascination, but from a genre perspective it’s worth noting that the big four bands that are often cited as power pop progenitors—The Beatles, The Who, The Beach Boys and The Byrds—all recorded odes to “girls.”

When it comes to power pop, all roads lead back to the ‘60s.

We kick things off with The Bangles excellent mid-‘80s cover of “September Gurls” by Big Star.

That song will always be near the top of my list when it comes to legendary power pop tracks, but I’ve already written about the original recording at length and included it on previous playlists, so we’re going with another favorite version here.

I named this playlist after the legendary song “All Kindsa Girls” by The Real Kids. Other genre-defining tracks featured include “Girl Of My Dreams” by Bram Tchaikovsky, “Rock N Roll Girl” by Paul Collins Beat, “Another Girl Another Planet” by The Only Ones, and “American Girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

These playlist are fun to research and a great way to (re)discover songs and artists. (Although, it was a real challenge keeping this one to just 40 songs!) A few newer-to-me favorites are “Underwater Girl” by The Tweeds, “Kayla Girl” by The Fatal Flaw, and “My Quiet Girl” by Janne Borgh Fanclub.

I hope you find a few favorites here as well, but feel free to drop links to other power pop “girl” tracks in the comments. As always, I’ve included both Spotify and YouTube versions of the playlist.