11 Comments

and the difference between power and jangle pop is?

Expand full comment

Imo, The amount of power chords

Expand full comment

my guys! some of my favorite songs are in here

also: every single one of these songs both is and isn’t power pop

Expand full comment

👀

Expand full comment

Lol. This is the beauty of Power Pop!

Expand full comment

Power Pop = Lead Singer + Crunchy Guitars. Think: Matthew Sweet, XTC (Mayor of Simpleton / Earn Earn Enough for Us), The James Gang

Expand full comment

I discovered "Slipping Away" back in the mp3 blog days. Dave Edmunds had a lot of really good, overlooked music. And you can’t go wrong with The Cars. They're one of those rare bands everybody can agree on.

Expand full comment

This is great! Is there a BPM factor that plays into the Power aspect?

Expand full comment

these songs are also some of my favorites, and what i like best about whatever power pop is. my lifelong goal will be to write a song as good as "Little Mascara," or at least capture the feeling i get when i hear it, in one of my own songs. i remember hearing "Love is for Lovers" the first time when Andy Creighton from the brilliant power pop band The World Record, covered it at an acoustic show. check that band out, if you're unfamiliar.

Expand full comment

Nice framing. My defining artist is Matthew Sweet. He absolutely owned the field from late '80s through mid-90s.

Expand full comment

Excellent selections! With your (very reasonable) litmus test of a sense of want, I guess "I Want You to Want Me" is the platonic ideal of a power pop song since it has double the want.

Expand full comment