Power pop

I heard a song that... [singing] I can't remember the lyrics of it, but it reminded me of-

I think they referred to him and the music he made and the band he was in as power pop

Okay.

No.

When I think power pop, I think like Squeeze.

You know what I mean? Or like, um, Cheap Trick.

You know what I'm saying? Or like The Nerves.

That's what I think of power pop-

What would you say? Pub Rock.

Pub Rock more than the other things they get called like Power Pop or Rockabilly.

They're not Power Pop.

That's why I kept saying I don't know as much about Power Pop as this

obsessive person over here.

But I didn't hear that.

It's just because Nick Lowe's part of it is why they're considered Power Pop.

Okay.

Well, up next, here's another new one from Spy Genius.

But is it power pop?

The Sheldon of the slogan hunt is bitter batter pitch for one fantastic plastic plebiscite.

The Prince of Persecution mania spits bitter, battering grudges to the judges who should dare to name his lines.

So he points up to the skies until Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is that a dead cat on the table? Is it a turd? Is it a zane? Is it a streaming tower of Babel? Is that a bomb? Is that a fuse? Is that a budget I jipped off? Is it a ruse? Or is it our bomb? Is it our bomb? Cheers for Long John Silverback The Pirate King of the River Tactics No fears he'll eat you for a sack He'll blow your ass down into matchsticks Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is there a dead cat on the table? Is it a bird? Is it a bird? Is that a bomb? Is that a fuse? Is that a magic, magic drop? Is it a ruse? Or is it power pop? Is it power pop? Hooray for Dr.

Doctrinaire! He'll don't shake, he'd shake to prove See you next time.

Never wonder how scrutiny became a name for mutiny and reasons and to treason by unholy writ.

But you can decide.

And Charlotte Caffey joined on lead guitars a little bit later that year.

You know what wasn't present yet, though, Bill? What? Uh, no, I don't go ahead and tell me the band's signature new wave power pop sound.

Yes, that's right.

They actually started as a punk band kind of running in the same circles as groups like the germs, uh, X fear and the nerves, you know, kind of, kind of those late seventies LA, uh, punk bands, but that started to change.

So you go ahead and take it away, man.

Yeah, so first let me tell you about how I discovered the Go-Go's in this album, because it's not a great story.

The story is a few years ago, in the middle of doing the podcast, the Go-Go's showed up in a playlist that was like, hey, you like Power Pop, what about the Go-Go's? And I was like, you're right, this is good.

And then I went, let me now listen to more of their stuff than I ever had before.

Was Petty cool with punks?

I think early on there was a little bit of an association with New Wave and Power Pop.

Yeah.

I know Punks weren't into Springsteen at this time.

Yeah.

Everything about the Heartbreakers like kind of band arrangement was pretty accessible.

And yeah, I mean, it had that power pop, you know, birds, Beatles kind of emphasis on just having a really catchy tune.

Yeah.

Only Three Lads, episode 335.

Top five power pop songs of the 90s with Dean Brownrout.

We are here.

You heathen, you're here.

we do have bigger and

better things at hand here.

Yes, we're talking about the top five power pop songs of the 1990s.

We've talked about this in other Power Pop episodes, but it's almost comical because fans get so worked up over the term Power Pop and gatekeeping who or what is and is not Power Pop.

So Badfinger were a... super, super talented band.

Lots of people now think they invented Power Pop.

They were ahead of the game, basically, in terms of what became Power Pop and people like The Knack and so on in the late 70s.

And tragically, their career was sort of like really buggered in a way by Apple's mess

Yes, and they were notable for being a two-songwriter group, a bit like the early Beatles before George got involved.

And just in the sense that we've all kind of been, in in the record business on kind of a a low-key level for a long time you know putting out records on little indie labels and everyone kind of knows about everyone and um i honestly don't remember how we first uh connected but um yeah they they put out a number of records for me it was great

oh the joys we lived for and then is it power pop as well

yeah which which was a bit of a bit of a piss take considering that a you know that bigster are known as a power pop label and that record was me expressing a fair amount of disdain for the power pop scene And there are no power pop songs on it.

In fact, there's a handful of synth pop tunes that, you know.

So it's quite a funny little record.

It's nearly flawless.

It's kind of a more muscular entry into the power pop canon.

It's got a great set of sparkling originals, mostly from the pen of bassist Frank Sesich and lead guitarist Bill Bartolin, who's also called Cupid.

There's also a Beatles and a Dylan cover.

Frank Sesich actually notably joined Stiv Bader's backing band after the Dead Boys.

Their great classic record, No More No Less, remained frustratingly out of print for like 35 years after its release.

With Power Pop fans, they're kind of a big deal, but definitely they should have been huge.

So I'm going to go with Blue Ash as my number five.