Here’s a discussion of my selections for the Power Pop mix, Volume 11 of the Green Monkey Music Project.
What the heck is power pop? You can read various definitions on the web and still not have a clue. It became clear to me how unclear the concept was when I started looking for my selections.
Surrender – Cheap Trick
From Heaven Tonight, their third album. I have absolutely no doubts about this song’s power poppiness. If you open up a dictionary to the page with the entry on power pop, chances are it will play this song.
Twist Top – The Clean
Another fantastic pop song from The Clean. You really should consider picking up their two-disc Anthology collection, or risk me calling you a loser.
Substitute – The Who
Some really nice early power pop from The Who. I had a strong hankering to include A Quick One, but this one is more straightforward and rockin’.
Boys Don’t Lie – Shoes
The Shoes were a somewhat obscure (to people outside of Chicago, at least) power pop group hailing from Zion, Illinois. Pretty vocals, heavy-but-not-too-heavy guitars, the recipe for a perfect power pop song.
Life on the Line – Raincoats
A band and album that I discovered several years ago, but quickly became one of my favorites. This song has one of my favorite lines in any rock song, a combination of great lyrics and awesome vocal delivery: “Her logic was too tangled, I couldn’t untangle it”. I don’t know… I might be stretching the concept of power pop with this one. This song I was the most unsure of. Still, it has great guitar and nice drums. It’s power pop to me, dammit.
Go All The Way – The Raspberries
Okay, if someone said I couldn’t use Cheap Trick’s Surrender as an example for power pop, I would use this song instead. The chorus is so pretty, and the opening guitar riff is so rocking. I would not be surprised if Angus Young of AC/DC wore out a few 45’s of this song.
Feelin’ Alright – LEN
Okay, I substituted this song at the last minute for Big Country’s In A Big Country. I have just heard that BC song too many damn times. This has a nice pop feel to it, and for some reason I like that they use the word “dumb” in the lyrics.
Electric Version – The New Pornographers
Something from this millenium? Well, okay. This is a great pop song from a great power pop band.
I love the self-titled Raincoats album. I’m not sure what you call it. It’s so unusual it should almost have its own genre.
Shoes sings my all time favorite Christmas song, “This Christmas”. It’s on the Yuletunes CD. Highly recommend it.
I love “Surrender.” Every time I go home to visit, I have to play it on my niece’s Guitar Hero game.
“Substitute” is my all-time favorite Who song!
I’ll get my post up by tomorrow.
As always, I thank you for introducing me to new tunes.