Shake Some Action!
What's power pop?
Power pop (or powerpop) is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. Recordings tend to display production values that lean toward compression and a forceful drum beat. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers. While its cultural impact has waxed and waned over the decades, power pop is among rock's most enduring subgenres.
Wikipedia
Who's power pop?
Badfinger, Dwight Twilley Band, Big Star, The Raspberries, Blue Ash, 20/20, Cheap Trick, Shoes, The Records, The Motors, The Spongetones, Marshall Crenshaw, The Knack, The Smithereens, Jellyfish, Teenage Fanclub, Weezer, Brendan Benson...
and many, many more
What's this tumblr all about?
This is a place for videos, songs, photographs, URLs, articles.. anything and everything power pop. A celebration of jangly guitars and sweet harmonies! A cornucopia of choruses and chords!
Who runs this Tumblr?
Hi! My name is Mark, I'm a 27-year-old English geek, and there is (slightly) more to my life than power pop.. if you enjoy these posts I'd love it if you followed my personal Tumblr :)
The Monroes - What Do All The People Know (Merv Griffin show 1982)
A San Diego-based band, The Monroes released one five-track EP on the small Japanese-owned label Alfa. This catchy song slowly crept up the charts, peaking at #59. As the band toured to support the single, Alfa decided to pull out of the US market, destroying the momentum built up already and putting an end to any follow-up recordings. The rest of the EP isn’t up to the standard of this track, sadly, but What Do All The People know remains an early New Wave classic still in American radio rotation.
Paul McCartney - Come And Get It [Live at Unipol Arena, Bologna - 26-11-2011]
Paul wrote and demoed this song in 1969. A copy of the demo was given to the members of Badfinger so they could learn the song before Paul took them into the studio to produce it.
Badfinger’s Come And Get It was used in the film The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, and when released as a single it reached number 7 in the USA and number 4 in the UK. Many listeners thought it was The Beatles releasing a single under a pseudonym.
42 years later, here’s Paul playing the song live on stage for the very first time.
Erlend Øye - Thirteen (Live at Trænafestivalen 2011)
Erlend talks a little about Alex Chilton and does a quite lovely cover of Big Star’s Thirteen in this acoustic performance. He says this is Big Star’s best song.. and I think I’m in total agreement. It’s certainly their most innocent and heartfelt, that’s for sure.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
James Broad - Scared (Iive at Norwich Arts Centre 27th April 2011)
Mr. Broad, frontman of the long-running-but-now-mostly-retired English band Silver Sun, dusted off his guitar and travelled to my city, Norwich, to play a special acoustic set in aid of Japan. I managed to catch James after the show and had a chat with him about Silver Sun and power pop in general. That will be posted on the blog soon, but for now, enjoy James doing Scared (and segueing into another very well-recognised tune somewhere in the middle)..
Dwight Twilley - I’m On Fire (live at Rockabilly’s, early 1980s)
Dwight Twilley’s longtime guitarist and friend Mr Bill Pitcock IV passed away on April the 8th at the age of 59. An understated and underrated guitar player, he can be heard on virtually all the Twilley recordings.
Where most people heard him first is probably this song, the Dwight Twilley Band’s debut single, whose title could easily apply to Bill’s incredible guitar work. RIP, Mr Pitcock.
Teenage Fanclub circa 1994.
The Concept/Satan/September Gurls/The Older Guys/What You Do To Me/Goody Goody Gumdrops.
Badfinger - Come And Get It (live at Beat Club)
On 2 August 1969, Paul McCartney presented his demo to Badfinger (then called The Iveys) telling them, “Okay, it’s got to be exactly like this demo.” His “carrot” for the band was his offer to produce this song and two other Iveys originals for the movie, The Magic Christian, since he had a contract to supply three songs for it. The band followed his instructions.
McCartney auditioned each of the four Iveys to sing lead on “Come and Get It”. Ultimately, he picked fellow Liverpudlian Tom Evans to be lead singer instead of any of the three Welshmen, Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, or Mike Gibbins.
The single was released on Apple Records on 5 December 1969. “Come and Get It” was a hit single for the band, peaking at No. 7 in the United States, and No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
