What Is Power Pop?

What Is Power Pop?

• Answer:

  Power Pop is that level of rock music that falls somewhere above bubble gum but below heavy metal. But even in that broad category, it has a niche as music that is commercially accessible, hovers around 3 minutes in playing time, limits the guitar solos, and is driven by hooks and chorus. Generally, power pop bands don't get a lot of artistic recognition, but do get commercial air time. Power pop bands tend to have a short shelf life as successful touring bands, but their music lives on in best-of decade collections and at oldies stations. Origins Some would say that power pop started with rock and roll in the mid-1950s, while others credit the Beatles' emergence in the mid-1960s as the dawn of power pop. However, these early bands were setting templates that would be used by other groups in the future and never considered themselves as power pop. It is possible to say that power pop as an actual genre exploded in the late 1960s as an alternative to the "flower power" and "acid rock" sounds hitting the airwaves. Record companies were looking for bands to play on the radio to combat that sound as well as commercialize it for themselves. Emergence and Growth In the United States and England, power pop began to emerge in the early 1970s as music that teens could listen to and their parents wouldn't be upset by. The sound of the early 1970s bands was guitar driven and had repetitive bass lines. Songs were usually two or three verses with choruses breaking them up. Representative power pop bands at that time included Bad Finger, Elton John, Sweet and the Rasberries. Bands that weren't power pop included Yes, Genesis Led Zeppelin and the Who, to name just a handful. Lifeline of a Power Pop Band Very few bands enjoyed being labeled power pop and started to experiment with other sounds after one or two albums. Being musicians, they wanted critical success and acceptance from their peers. By the mid-1970s, Elton John was recording more complex songs that were longer and more ornate. Sweet did the same thing. But that didn't kill power pop. Record companies simply found new bands, such as the Babys, the Knack, the Jam and Cheap Trick, to fill the void in the late 1970s and to today. Going Back and Forth on Power Pop Bands such as Yes and Genesis were the kings of so-called "prog rock," which was hugely successful in the 1970s. Using extended jam sessions, themes that held albums together and magical imagery, prog bands claimed to be artists. Yes and Genesis recorded albums that only be described as power pop in the early 1980s that made them a lot of money. Power Pop as an Alternative to the Alternative Power pop normally does best on the airwaves and in the minds (and ears) of fans when styles of music change. For example, when late 1970s punk rock ebbed, it was replaced by power pop bands such as the Cars and Elvis Costello under the monicker of New Wave. After grunge music fell apart in the mid-1990s, power pop came back bolstered by bands such as Blur and Fountains of Wayne. Power pop, for better or for worse, fills a void until a new genre---rap, hair metal, boy bands---takes the stage. Commercial Success Equals Commerical Time Since many power pop songs were staples of FM (and AM back when AM was cool), songs by these bands tend to show up in television shows and commercials decades after their release. The reason for this is that advertisers know these songs are catchy and want people to buy their products.