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.
We did things a little differently for this installment in the series. Rob Janicke recently published the book SLACKER: 1991, Teen Spirit Angst, & the Generation It Created, so I specifically asked him to pick five grunge songs that he thinks veer into power pop territory.
Is It Power Pop?
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My earliest memories of music are baked in guitar riffs, energetic grooves, catchy soundscapes, and vocals I could sing along with.
As a toddler in the late ‘70s, this meant a lot of radio hits by artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Elton John, and other mega-stars of the era. There are a lot of pretty melodies and interesting sounds in the music I mentioned, especially for a six-year old.
I had no idea then, but in some ways, I was enjoying the sounds of not only Top 40 gold, but the rock and roll sub genre of power pop.
The early-/mid-‘80s saw the introduction of heavy metal and punk rock into my musical sphere. Again, guitar riffs, big grooves, catchy (albeit faster/heavier) soundscapes, and vocals I could still sing along with.
Bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and The Clash completed endless spins on the crappy record player tucked away in the corner of my bedroom. Just as my ears perked up in the ‘70s, a new, heavier version of music had taken hold, but still with elements of the melodic sound of power pop.
As the ‘90s approached, a strange mutation of previous musical sounds and styles began to emerge from the underground.
Although mostly tuned down to drop d, the guitar riffs were still catchy as hell, the choruses were big and dripping with hooks, and the lyrical content was introspective and often sad, but the melodies were bold and even pretty, allowing a sing-a-long like previous decades. Power pop snuck its way in again.
Here are five power pop songs disguised as grunge.
“About A Girl” by Nirvana
The song that made me go to the record store and buy Nirvana’s debut album Bleach in 1989, is a jangly, upbeat, sing-a-long, power pop song that just happens to be drenched in what would become the grunge aesthetic.
Nirvana did not start the grunge movement, but they brought it to the mainstream and beyond where it’s lived for 35 years and counting. Here’s the thing about Nirvana, though. Kurt Cobain was influenced by many genres of music, including power pop. Bands such as The Beatles, The Knack, The Frogs, and The Vaselines were all included on Cobain’s personal Top 50 albums list.
“1979” by The Smashing Pumpkins
Off of the 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, The Smashing Pumpkins had its highest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 with “1979,”peaking at number 12. The Pumpkins are known for hard-driving rhythms, big drums, and loud, distorted guitars, mixed with some very well-placed psychedelic accents, yet “1979”—a power pop song at its core—became their most popular release. The infectious guitar line grabs you from the start and carries you through soft/mellow vocals, melody for days, and just enough happy electronica to make you feel like you’re floating throughout the entire song.
“This is Shangrila” by Mother Love Bone
Andy Wood, the larger-than-life frontman of Mother Love Bone, one of the early Seattle bands credited with starting the grunge movement, was a glorious mashup of glam and arena rock combined with power pop sensibilities washing over every song he sang. His ear catching falsetto, mixed with big hooks and melodies made Mother Love Bone more of a power pop band than people might realize.
Included on the band’s only full-length studio album, Apple, released in 1990, “This is Shangrila”—with its cascading sound effects intro, infectious, staccato/funk based guitar riff, and Wood’s vocal melodies—is power pop grunge at its finest.
“Island In The Sun” by Weezer
I don’t really know what to call Weezer other than a really great band who wrote about a thousand ear worms throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s. Are they pop punk, power pop, grunge? I have no idea. But they did become massive in the throes of the mid-‘90s grunge takeover, so for the purposes of this piece—at least for today—Weezer is grunge enough.
“Island In The Sun” off Weezer’s 2001 album Weezer (commonly referred to as The Green Album) has a swinging feel that is undeniably happy, catchy, and upbeat. The melodies, as with most Weezer songs, are beautiful and instantly memorable, leaving just enough room for some fuzz and distortion to keep their genre ambiguity alive.
“Big Me” by Foo Fighters
This one is a no-brainer for this list as far as I’m concerned. Released in 1996, “Big Me” was the fourth single off the band’s self-titled, debut album. And by “band” I mean Dave Grohl because, at that point, he was the Foo’s sole member.
More a lullaby than a grunge song, this track is all positivity, sway, upbeat swagger, and melodic gold. If by some weird twist of fate the Foo Fighters failed as a band, Mr. Grohl—as evidenced by “Big Me”—could’ve been a top-notch jingle writer for food and car commercials. If you hear this song just once, it will stick to you for the rest of your life.
Rob Janicke is a former indie record label owner, writer, and author. His book, SLACKER: 1991, Teen Spirit Angst, & the Generation It Created, explores early ‘90s alt rock and grunge, and the impact they had on the generations that followed.
Previously On “Is It Power Pop?!”
Is It Power Pop?!
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.
Love the inclusion of Mother Love Bone.