Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and a form of pop rock[2] based on 👏 the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds.[3][4] It typically incorporates 👏 melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and cheerful sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, despair, or 👏 self-empowerment. The sound is primarily rooted in pop and rock traditions of the early to mid-1960s, although some artists have 👏 occasionally drawn from later styles such as punk, new wave, glam rock, pub rock, college rock, and neo-psychedelia.
Originating in the 👏 1960s, power pop developed mainly among American musicians who came of age during the British Invasion. Many of these young 👏 musicians wished to retain the "teenage innocence" of pop and rebelled against newer forms of rock music that were thought 👏 to be pretentious and inaccessible. The term was coined in 1967 by the Who guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend to 👏 describe his band's style of music. However, power pop became more widely identified with later acts of the 1970s who 👏 sought to revive Beatles-style pop.
Early 1970s releases by Badfinger, the Raspberries, and Todd Rundgren are sometimes credited with solidifying the 👏 power pop sound into a recognizable genre. Power pop reached its commercial peak during the rise of punk and new 👏 wave in the late 1970s, with Cheap Trick, the Knack, the Romantics, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, and Dwight Twilley among 👏 those enjoying the most success. After a popular and critical backlash to the genre's biggest hit, "My Sharona" (The Knack, 👏 1979), record companies generally stopped signing power pop groups, and most of the 1970s bands broke up in the early 👏 1980s.
Over subsequent decades, power pop continued with modest commercial success while also remaining a frequent object of derision among some 👏 critics and musicians. The 1990s saw a new wave of alternative bands that were drawn to 1960s artists because of 👏 the 1980s music they had influenced. Although not as successful as their predecessors, Jellyfish, the Posies, Redd Kross, Teenage Fanclub, 👏 and Material Issue were critical and cult favorites. In the mid-1990s, an offshoot genre that combined power pop-style harmonies with 👏 uptempo punk rock, dubbed "pop-punk", reached mainstream popularity.
Definition and etymology [ edit ]
