Best Power Pop Songs of All Time?

brendan benson - tiny spark
lemonheads - confetti
teenage fanclub - neil jung

You should put some Shoes on there, and don't forget Material Issue's "Valerie Loves Me" on there. (BTW, Jim Ellison was a member of Green for awhile back in the day, though I don't think he played on Elaine.) You might as well put on some early Posies and Smithereens, too.

Yo La Tengo - Bitter End
Magnapop - Lay it Down

see also: "September Gurls," "In The Street," and "Back Of A Car."

why not some current: The Exploding Hearts - 'I'm a Pretender', The Star Spangles - "Which One of the Two Of Us Is Going To Burn This House Down"

Second (or third) the Big Star suggestions

"Can't Hardly Wait" by The Replacements.

Sounds a lot like it to me.

Like all Posies albums, it falls about after the first five songs.

1. The Who: I Can See For Miles
2. Nazz: Open My Eyes
3. Badfinger: No Matter What
4. The Raspberries: Go All The Way
5. Todd Rundgren: Couldn't I Just Tell You
6. Blue Ash: Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her)
7. Big Star: September Gurls
8. Dwight Twilley: I'm On Fire
9. The Flamin' Groovies: Shake Some Action
10.Pezband: Baby It's Cold Outside
11.Cheap Trick: I Want You To Want Me
12.Fotomaker: Where Have You Been All My Life
13.The Rubinoos: I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
14.The Records: Starry Eyes
15.The Knack: My Sharona
16.Shoes: Too Late
17.20/20: Yellow Pills
18.The Romantics: What I Like About You
19.Phil Seymour: Precious To Me
20.Rick Springfield: Jessie's Girl
21.Marshall Crenshaw: Someday Someway
22.The Plimsouls: A Million Miles Away
23.The Spongetones: She Goes Out With Everybody
24.The dBs: Love Is For Lovers

Of course Big Star--Back of a Car and the inevitable September Gurls are essential; also In the Street and When My Baby's Beside Me

The Move have to be in there somewhere too:
Flowers in the Rain; Wild Tiger Woman; Wave Your Flag and Stop the Train; Omnibus; Hello Susie; Fire Brigade

Easybeats are pretty proto-powerpop too:

Sorry; Remember Sam; Bring a Little Lovin'; Friday on My Mind; Heaven and Hell; Wait a Minute.

Cheap Trick--If You Want My Love

Diesel Park West--All the Myths on Sunday, the greatest Big Star rip ever

Records--Teenarama

Pursuit of Happiness - "Shes So Young"

Jellyfish - "The King Is Half Undressed"

Big Star - "Daisy Glaze"

Elliott Smith - "Son Of Sam"

Sparks - "Amateur Hour", "Tips for Teens"
Cheap Trick - "Surrender"

I'm quite sure you guys know this band. But I thnik we don't speak a lot about it. "Only Forever" is a wonderful album, one of my favorite of the 90s.

That's all I wanted to say :)

not controversial, just rong

controversial opinion: some of the aor/power pop crossover stuff from the early '80s (balance, martin briley) is fucking good

i have a hard time getting past the production. what’s the best 90s stuff iyo?

jellyfish

also cotton mather

i think there’s something too formally dramatic and muso to make jellyfish powerpop for the most part and i really like both things. Jellyfish are just fucking awesome.

what’s the best 90s stuff iyo?

Red Kross, Lady in the Front Row & Jimmy's Fantasy

Sloan
The Grays
The Loud Family

Never could get into Jellyfish. Too close to psychedelia I guess.

I have a soft spot for Buffalo Tom, but never loved the Posies or the Gin Blossoms

(and I absolutely adore TFC but they transcend "power pop")

I love Buffalo Tom but never really thought of them as power pop. I suppose if jangle is a major component of the genre, they do have plenty of that.

Their 2018 album is pretty solid, btw.

The track listing for Rhino's Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of the '90s (released, rather prematurely, in 1997):

Matthew Sweet - "I've Been Waiting"
Jellyfish - "That Is Why"
Ride - "Twisterella"
Gigolo Aunts - "Cope"
The Rembrandts - "Rollin' Down the Hill"
Tearaways - "Jessica Something"
The Posies - "Solar Sister"
The Wondermints - "Proto-Pretty"
The Lemonheads - Into Your Arms"
Redd Kross - "Lady in the Front Row"
The Grays - "Same Thing"
The Rooks - "Reasons"
The Greenberry Woods - "Trampoline"
Velocity Girl - "I Can't Stop Smiling"
Velvet Crush - "Hold Me Up"
Zumpano - "The Party Rages On"
P. Hux - "Every Minute"
Idle Wilds - "You're All Forgiven"

I know a few of those artists but I honestly can't recall any of those specific songs offhand aside from "Same Thing."

the first jason falkner solo album is also top notch

there's a KEXP version of Twisteralla I've watched at least a dozen times, what a band what a song. (Wouldn't consider it power pop though??)

by the way he took the '90s off but the toms put another record out last year and it's fucking great

I saw the Sugarplastic once in the '90s - they seemed like an actual power pop band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8HVyrkwc88

90s power pop I like (not in any order): Spongetones, Sneetches, Perspex Whiteout, Teenage Fanclub, Posies, Velvet Crush, Fountains of Wayne

didn't really like Buffalo Tom. Gigolo Aunts were OK

Velvet Crush's first two albums are essential
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqD6Z8KYUGw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHSMg0oGsII

I've never really been able to get into Matthew Sweet or Redd Kross bar a few songs here and there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKsxO9FfxLg

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

Velvet Crush's first two albums are essential
📹

📹

Gentle Breeze ended up recorded again on the fourth album though

Could never get into Heavy Changes. Found them sometimes good but not so great after Teen Symphonies

Not mentioned and underrated: Chainsaw Kittens

Gentle Breeze ended up recorded again on the fourth album though

Could never get into Heavy Changes. Found them sometimes good but not so great after Teen Symphonies

It's a bit better than I remember it. Listening to Heavy Changes again today and it's just so bland, dunno what happened

I always post Mayflies USA on power pop threads becz their first two albums are some of my favorites from the '90s/'00s and they never got a lot of attention.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dZhmS0zWwM

Frisbie! I remember buying that record based on a breathless review on salon.com

For me their bid for power pop immortality is Vertigogo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7v0y0o0kVc

"Might Be Right" by White Reaper might be in my all time top ten. Has any power pop song in recent years come close, or eclipsed it? I'd love to know.

powerbump

it's really, really good.

i'm gonna go looking for some recent tunes that i think are in the same ballpark. i'll be back!

that whole album (all 29 mins of it) kills imo, as does the previous one

In the meantime, this recently compiled mix by one of my favorite music websites is an absolute treasure trove of garage-y power-pop:

http://www.ravensingstheblues.com/mixtape-young-hearts-unite/

for recent stuff, I absolutely love the Number Ones (from Dublin), this is the lead track from their last single, they haven't released that much recently but are still active afaik:

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

this is my fave song off their album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeJdW9-urUk

they are a lot of fun live

I'm not sure if powerpop is exclusively a boys club, but this song by The Beths seems to fit the genre pretty well:

https://thebethsnz.bandcamp.com/track/lying-in-the-sun