Is It Power Pop?!

PART ELEVEN: Eric Skodis

This is a guest post series about power pop featuring some of my favorite music writers. We’ll be sharing a new installment every few weeks or so (while supplies last). Full series here.

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Is It Power Pop?

By Eric Skodis

An interesting and compelling question. One I’ve not had to think about before.

Most people, I think, when pressed about whether a band is “power pop” or not, would likely need to answer two important questions (and perhaps a few follow ups…):

Is the band “poppy” (i.e.; do they write mostly major-keyed songs)?

Do they have incredibly catchy hooks that stick with you from first listen to the thousandth? Is it not too musically imposing, threatening, complex or overwhelming? Does it have mass appeal, in that it would be palatable for the masses at large, not requiring mathematic degrees and deep knowledge of musical theory, but rather an easy, simplistic form that is easily digestible and quickly absorbed into the psyche, and communicating—rather quickly—the point, thrust and premise of the song, without a great deal of effort by the listener to grapple with any highfaluting, lofty concepts or sophisticated musical aptitude?

Does it do so with power?

Is this already established “pop” music delivered with a higher modicum of heaviness, drive, grit, punch, energy, attitude, and…you know…power? Has it been injected, imbued, modified, bolstered with any type of rock and roll/blues aspects that lend it a characteristic of masculinity, sensuality, urgency, or passion that pulls it out of the safe, unthreatening confines of simple “pop”?

If it resembles the latter, in any way, shape or form, then it most definitely is power pop. If not, then it’s just pop.

Here are five of my favorite power pop tracks.

“On Top Of The World” by Cheap Trick

I was 14 years old when I first heard this song, my best friend turning me onto the album Heaven Tonight (1978). To me, it represents all of the very best (and necessary) aspects of what makes a true power pop song; a heavy-ass, driving, (minor-keyed), almost menacing rock riff at the top (and reprised throughout the song), giving way to sticky-sweet, almost ballad-like verses (oddly enough, it breaks the pop rules by not even really having a true chorus, per se). I guess you could say the outro—Can you hear me? Can you see me? You’re on top of the world tonight…—is the chorus. It’s heavy AND gorgeous.

“My Sharona” by The Knack

I’ll never forget being knocked out of my seat by the driving, pounding drums of Bruce Gary the first time I heard this perfect offering of a late-‘70s/early-‘80s-cusp, genre-defining classic, power pop masterpiece. This song should be taught in music classes as a perfect example of how to write a seamless, bullet-proof power pop song. It’s flawless and relentless and rocks like fuck. I never don’t get excited and jump up and down (or air-drum) when this song comes on. Chef’s kiss.

“Dance The Night Away” by Van Halen

It’s always irked me that Van Halen got erroneously lumped in with the boneheaded, ‘80s hair-metal crowd as a “heavy metal band.” They’re not and they never have been. They’re a pop band that plays heavy rock (or, as drummer Alex used to say, they’re “big rock”). No example is more evident of that than this song, a shimmering party anthem so ebullient, so rife with late-‘70s, SoCal stoney zeitgeist and celebratory, teenaged optimism (and a nice companion piece to “Jamie’s Cryin’,” from the first VH album). To me, this song really shows off their power pop side nicely. Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Judas Priest or Mötley Crüe never would’ve written this song. If that’s not proof, I don’t know what is.

“Just What I Needed” by The Cars

It’s really hard to choose which Cars song I like the best (or consider a “better power pop song” than another), but I think if I had to, at gunpoint, this would be my pick. Another flawless power pop song that has all the goods: tight, chunking guitar intro that grabs you and then slams your head into the curb; those drum/bass quarter and eighth notes; the floating 2-4 snare hits in the first verse; Ben Orr’s sexy AF, sultry vocals; Greg Hawke’s plaintive synth line; Roy Thomas Baker’s patented Wall-O-Vocal™ chorus harmonies; a massive chanting chorus tag, and a killer-no-filler guitar solo by Elliot Easton—it’s really just a perfect song.

“Go All The Way” by Raspberries

You didn’t think I was going to make a power pop list without including Raspberries, did you?! This song (aside from being included on every single all-time greatest power pop list) is kind of the go-to template for what would become the power pop genre, further cementing them into the power pop panoply as one of its most intrinsic, vital, and defining bands. And I, personally, have always just loved what an unusual and weird, little song it is (since hearing it as a child in heavy rotation on now-legendary SoCal AM radio station stalwart, 93KHJ). It starts with this killer, heavy, two-note guitar riff over rocking drums, then breaks into an almost ‘50s/Doo-wop verse, with schmaltzy “crooning” by Eric Carmen, before breaking further into uber-schmaltz with a chorus you’d expect to hear Bobby Darin croon in the early ‘60s. It’s a perfect (if not altogether highly unconventional) song, but that’s always been its allure to me.

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Eric Skodis grew up in the sun-baked, laid-back, lotus-petal-eating, languid palm-tree-lined wonderland of the San Fernando Valley in the wild and wooly 1970s. He was fed a steady diet of rock, pop, show tunes, jazz, classical and film scores by his parents who also bought him a drum set. Eric cut his teeth in the ‘80s L.A. club scene before joining Imperial Drag in the mid-‘90s. He has since performed with Redd Kross, Jane Weidlin, Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. & Jason Falkner, and Cheap Trick. His latest project is Fantastic Black, a duo with Aaron Tap.

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Previously On “Is It Power Pop?!”

Is It Power Pop?!

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