A Few Power Pop Gems

Power Pop. The sound of melodies and hooks produced by big guitar-based rhythms and sweet harmonies. Usually. The sound dates back to the Beatles, Who, Beach Boys and Byrds. The tag was originally applied to Raspberries, Big Star, and Badfinger in the early seventies and later to Romantics, Dave Edmunds and Dwight Twilly. I took a stab at definition by example back here.

Since the eighties, there's been many a great power pop band. Only a few, and those are often on the fringe of the genre, have become big stars. The rest develop cult followings and tour clubs like mad to make a living. Whatever music you like, it can be hard to keep up, and so some slip through the cracks. Like most of these:

Splinter The Place I Love 1974. This overlooked gem was released on George Harrison's Dark Horse label and features Harrison producing and playing guitar. Never straying far from Badfinger/Beatles territory, the harmonies and songwriting are excellent.

Beagle Sound On Sound 1992. A Swedish band that sounds surprisingly American. None of those awkward non-English phrasings. Pretty much perfect power pop. The 1993 follow-up Within is good, too.

Something Fierce (MN) A Sound For Sore Ears 1996. Not to be confused with the Houston punk band with the same name, This Something Fierce pounds out catchy toe-tapping melodies.

Ice Cream Hands' Memory Lane Traffic Jam 1997 (great title) is a great place to start. The Good China 2007 rivals and maybe even betters it. Aussie band does power pop like they were born to it. 

Sloan's latest is right there with their best. It's been since the late nineties that they put together a string of three great ones, but 12 2018, Steady 2022, and now Based on the Best Seller 2025 are all excellent.

I've also updated the the Labels list over on the right so there is now a Power Pop label you can click on to see all of the Power Pop related entries.