Power Pop from the 1990s

Dambuilders, "Shrine"? I can't decide.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, May 19, 2011 9:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

An old band of mine opened up for them at the Grog Shop in Cleveland back in 1996. Nice folks.

from 1990, one of the greatest power-pop albums of the decade:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNrWZBzP6_I&feature=related
(Material Issue's Jim Ellison was in a very early lineup of Green in the 80s)

<3 <3 <3 <3 that first Polara album! thx for the vid! Evan; "source of light" is great (as is "taupe" & "letter bomb" & "squelch")

wonder if this counts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcU7kz8nVhU

An even better Gigolo Aunts cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=387u-Q7XBx4

Man, Boston really was ground zero for 90's power pop, wasn't it? Almost forgot about Fuzzy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTmIiYcd3Ow

yall remember For Squirrels? their grungy '85-REM/skatepunk hybrid album Example got a lot of exposure after their lead singer died in a car accident. This was the big single from the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBbl3RpgNN4&feature=fvwrel

<3 <3 <3 <3 that first Polara album! thx for the vid! Evan; "source of light" is great (as is "taupe" & "letter bomb" & "squelch")

― excitebikable boy (Drugs A. Money), Friday, May 20, 2011 9:16 AM (45 minutes ago)

Yes! Though that album has some cheesy moments from what I remember. Like some shameless synthetic horn use.

made it all that much greater imo

my introduction to power pop was probably from The Adventures of Pete & Pete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY_3uxzkoV4&feature=related

I miss the 90s obsession with sunny suburbs.
Every music video took place on someone's lawn.
Happy times for me.

i could hang out in this thread all day :)

bad timing with work crunch and a 90s power pop thread! Shite!

Dambuilders! Polara!

I love this thread!

This is the grey area, I know, but I think some of the riot girl stuff made for great power-pop: Bratmobile's "Richard," Mary Lou Lord's "Some Jingle Jangle Morning," Bikini Kill's "False Start," a few Scrawl songs. Some wouldn't call it power-pop; for me, it's the quiet, yearning side alluded to above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgNdIdMqEcY&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=activeactive

Velvet Crush - In The Presence Of Greatness
Sneetches - 1985-1991

Holsapple and Stamey's Mavericks was alright.

Whale's Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe!

Minor 90s single that kind of sounds like Oasis but it still gets in my head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ8VhWN2oD8

Three O'clock's Michael Quercio's 90s band Permanent Greenlight definitely belongs here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ac-M5GSGIU&feature=related

just to explain a couple of the iffier names suggested in this thread so far

The Best 50 Powerpop Albums according to RYM

x-posts Yeah I love Bikini Kill a hell of a lot but I definitely wouldn't include them here.

x-post - Some off that list are so good like - Brendan Benson: Lapalco - amazing <3 <3 but not 90s

Whale's Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe!

― wabi sabi, Friday, May 20, 2011 5:04 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark

ah thread's over isn't it

i figured you'd gotten fed up way before that lol!!!

yeah I just heard that Hobo Slobo song; this is what Chumbawumba is like without the snooty politics, huh?

Just to clarify: Bikini Kill in general, no, not even close. But that one song, "False Start," to me you can make a case for that. It's got all the rudiments of power-pop.

if the thread is over, is it okay if I just post Lil Markie youtubes until I leave work

Weird. "False Start" sounds really familiar. Must be something I taped off the Carleton station when I was in high school.

That Permanent Greenlight song is fantastic!

how can fountains of wayne not be here?

never heard a FoW song I really liked tbh...def belong here though

is Ivy powerpop?

no just pop

red dragon tattoo is pretty ace powerpop imo

mavericks referenced above is more chamberpop

Try "Amity Gardens" or "Troubled Times" from Utopia Parkway. Never quite fell in love with FOW the way others did,.but most of that album is top notch.

If I had to choose one favorite FOW song from the 90s it would be Red Dragon Tattoo but Utopia Parkway has a bunch of great tracks, especially Troubled Times, The Valley of Malls, Go Hippie, and Amity Gardens. Then again they are one of my favorite bands...

Cotton Mather's Kontiki is a very up-and-down listen but its up moments are just about perfect. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsE1AM5-KHI
Album's easily available for download/preview with a Google search.

Surprised not to see the Grays mentioned here - a short-lived band that involved both Jason Falkner and Jon Brion. And of course every Jason Falkner album is worth getting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvGXlgokjs4

I've never heard anything by the Grays, but I came across their name once or twice in The War Against Silence; I'll bet they're really good aren't they?

YouTube code (to reduce embeds): EE-znePV0UQ

Weird that they have their own Vevo channel. RS links are active here: http://powerpopoverdose.blogspot.com/2008/04/grays-ram-sham-bo-1994.html

The Grays one and only album is fantastic, if you can still find it. I think I got it around 97-98 and it was a struggle to get ahold of a copy even then. But, you know, this is the internet, so...

I thought that Cotton Mather record was pretty fantastic too, even if it's been a good decade since I've spun it.

Kontiki has a sense of pacing and restraint that's rare in a lot of power pop albums, which often plow away with one head bopper after another, perhaps sprinkling in a a slowish country track here and there. Or maybe the band just enjoys the sound of slow tracks. Either way, it really heightens the impact of a song like Password or My Before and After, which is not on YouTube for some reason.

i really like powerpop and falkner, but i didn't like the grays. it seemed kind of flaccid and rembrandts-y iirc.

^reminded me of this Christian rock CD my mom got me when I was in high school; band was called 'pfr'

thanks to this thread i was reminded i have sloans 'pretty together' in the archive.

not heard this in years.

sounds wonderful.

other additions of worth : superdrag

fucking loved'em, and one of my first experiences of using the web to track down releases that never reached the UK.