Who is the greatest POWER POP band of all time ?

Help!I'maRock! said:
The Clash were punk.

But all of this is why I say "oh, I play rock music" and don't get further into labels. Because they don't matter.
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This is what we're getting to the root of. Joe Strummer understood genre, that it's real and historical, and that it's something you embrace, fight, or pretend to ignore. He understood this language. He also understood that there's power in not talking about it; language is power, and why give away that power to fucking Van Halen fans?
 
Flamencology said:
This is what we're getting to the root of. Joe Strummer understood genre, that it's real and historical, and that it's something you embrace, fight, or pretend to ignore. He understood this language. He also understood that there's power in not talking about it; language is power, and why give away that power to fucking Van Halen fans?
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Sammy fans will weed themselves out eventually. :embarrassed:
 
Flamencology said:
I suspect that many listeners fail to recognize that so many of the musicians being discussed here had art school educations, and what exactly that entails.
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Indeed. Moreover, I suspect this specific shitfit is its own pop fan variation on "town v. gown." Though it is disheartening that the one known librarian in this knife fight is so bothered by finicky distinctions. Must not be a cataloger/technical services weirdo.
 
What's the genre that is similar, but with more obvious American influences? Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have some clear power pop material...being obviously influenced by the Beatles and Animals. Their biggest, most immediately obvious influence, however, would be the birds...who were their own thing before being influenced by the Beatles while also influencing the Beatles.
 
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Based on the criteria established herein, you'd have to consider U2 and REM. Maybe even Tom Petty...
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
What's the genre that is similar, but with more obvious American influences? Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have some clear power pop material...being obviously influenced by the Beatles and Animals. Their biggest, most immediately obvious influence, however, would be the birds...who were their own thing before being influenced by the Beatles while also influencing the Beatles.
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I'd say that the stuff that is often lumped together as Heartland Rock is an example of this kind of Americana-influenced post-British Invasion guitar pop. Petty, Springsteen, John Hoosier Mellonballs...all seem to try and split the difference between the Brit Invasion and Dylan while reckoning with the fallout of punk by embracing Power Pop punchiness and economy without the venom or art school moves of punks.

I mean, these types of acts aren't doing straight up power pop, but you can hear similarities.
 
Technical definitions:

Pop has both a melody and a counter melody.

Power Pop has both a melody and a counter melody, where the melody is voiced on a guitar and the counter melody is voiced in the backing vocal.

Non technically, power pop has a guitar driven melodic hook and lots of oohs and aahs.
 
I'm probably gonna take some heat for this, but I don't get the love for Cheap Trick. Sure they have some ace tracks ("He's A Whore" is a stone-cold classic), but I've never heard one of their official albums* that was as good all the way through as say, Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque or any of Big Star's records (even "Third"). I like the idea of Cheap Trick, but their actual music just falls short for me.



*However, their 1997 re-recording of In Color that was never released kicks all kinds of ass:
http://www.xtrmntr.com/cheaptrick/incolor/
 
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