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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Re: quintessential power pop |
| Date | Tue, 19 Aug 2003 23:58:38 -0500 |
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> Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 16:35:43 -0500
> From: "Billy G. Spradlin" <bgspradlin@cablelynx.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: quintessential power pop
> Message-ID: <200308192134.h7JLYSFh008894@lvapp13.prod.networkip.net>
>
> I have always felt that LOUD guitars doesnt always equal Power Pop. I have
> always felt that the origins of Power Pop began in the late 50's with
> Buddy
> Holly (the grandfather of Power Pop - someone a couple years ago on the
> list
> called him that) and The Everly Brothers (where Rock vocal harmony began).
>
>
I don't disagree with the seminal importance of Buddy Holly and the
Everly Brothers, but as I've said on this list more than once, it all starts
with Chuck Berry.
> Along came Phil Spector and a cavalcade of Girl Groups, Brian Wilson's
> great
> vocal arrangements (and huge productions after he stopped touring) along
> with
> the Four Seasons, Motown's Pop-influenced R&B and Bacharach-David's
> amazing
> songwriting in the early 60's. The Beatles were able to bring all those
> influences together into a tight package that could be easily emulated.
> The
> Hollies added powerful Everly influenced vocals and in-your-face
> arrangements,
> the Searchers added the Jangle. The early Kinks, Small Faces and The Who
> added
> guitar Power. Also the USA backlash of the Byrds, Raiders, Turtles, Lovin
> Spoonful and so many Garage Bands added to the form.
>
> To me Power Pop existed in the mid 60's rather than the usual explanation
> that
> Power Pop started in the late 60's-early 70's with The Nazz, Badfinger,
> Raspberries, and Big Star.
>
The usual explanation is that power pop began with the Raspberries,
Badfinger, and Big Star at the turn of the decade as a backlash against the
growing ponderousness of rock, and as an attempt to revive the three-minute
verities of 1964 and 1965 as an alternative to that aforementioned ponderous
rock. It does make sense to look at the origins of power pop that way, even
if Pete Ham, Alex Chilton, Eric Carmen, etc., never put it in quite those
terms themselves; since it's essentially a classicist and derivative
subgenre, it only stands to reason that its progenitors would also have
something of a secondhand approach to their music, although nobody would
question the fact that a band like Big Star was able to create something
completely new while aspiring to revive something old.
On the other hand, Pete Townshend *did* come up with the term "power
pop" as far back as 1966, so there is some justification to Billy's
assertion that mid-sixties music can fall into that category as well --
although the actual utility of "power pop" as a functional term for his or
any other band's music may have existed only in his mind at the time.
> Thats why I chose an early Who, Hollies and a rare single from The New
> Colony
> Six in my list of favorites. Its not the loudness of the guitars that
> count -
> its also an urgancy - "emotional power" (as you called it) in the vocals
> and
> also the way the song is arranged (get to that hook fast!) that tag a song
> as
> Power Pop for me.
>
I'll stick with the more prosaic definition, which is that the
"power" in "power pop" refers to a certain amount of sonic punch in the
music. Again, since Towser coined the term in reference to his own band, I
think that it's pretty apparent that that's the definition he had in mind as
well. The Who had one hell of a lot more oomph than the New Colony Six
(although the early, "At the River's Edge" era NC6 was a legit garage band
rather than the sappy MOR pop outfit of their later hit-single period). And
the Who's oomph (along with their ass-backwards instrumental approach,
smash-it-up stage show, and their links to the mod and pop-art movements)
was their signature feature at the time.
I love the Beach Boys, but to me they're a pop band, not a power pop
band. Power pop may chime, jangle, and soar, but it's gotta thump as well.
Gregory Sager
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