SEWARD: Power pop music genre remains underappreciated
Column: Exploring Humanity with Sam Seward
As a genre name, power pop seems like it would have a significant amount of commercial appeal. It incorporates a powerful duo of pop hooks combined with rock instrumentation, placing it distinctively in the center of the rock and pop listener Venn diagram. This would especially translate today, given that numerous rock bands explore several genres, like, for example, Imagine Dragons.
Although the band's critical appeal has staggered, it has maintained chart success throughout its entire career while still maintaining some elements of rock music within its sound. On the other hand, power pop has remained an underground concern despite its seemingly perfect combination for success.
Surprisingly, other, much more commercially unfriendly genres, like punk and its many offshoots, have achieved consistent chart success and continue to do so with acts like Olivia Rodrigo revitalizing the 2000s pop-punk sound to phenomenal success. Pop punk has endured — why not power pop?
The primary theory behind this stagnation of power pop's commercial success is that it simply has never been cool, but it did not start that way. Pete Townshend, co-founder of the band, The Who, originated the term power pop in 1967, stating that "Power pop is what we (The Who) play — what The Small Faces used to play and the kind of pop The Beach Boys played in the days of 'Fun, Fun, Fun.'"
While Townshend includes two of the most influential groups of the 1960s in his description, he also omits numerous predecessors to power pop with numerous future power pop acts taking inspiration from The Beatles, The Kinks and The Byrds, to name a few.
Power pop had all the right foundational steps to gain a commercial foothold in the 1970s. At least for one group, it did, as Cheap Trick landed three top 10 Billboard singles in the decade, tripling the amount of top 10 hits that Pink Floyd gained in its entire career. Badfinger, too, landed three top 10 hits.
Numerous other power pop groups from that decade did not gain much commercial appeal, but the ironically named Big Star and Elvis Costello both gained critical respect, with Costello's album "This Year's Model" landing on top of the 1978 Pazz and Jop Critics Poll, above acclaimed albums such as Bruce Springsteen's "Darkness at the Edge of Town" ranked sixth and fellow power-poppers The Cars' self-titled debut ranked ninth.
When looking back on the 1970s, many, for good reason, look at the progressive rock acts as the primary staple of the decade. Albums such as Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon," Yes' "Close to the Edge" and Jethro Tull's "Aqualung," among other progressive rock staples, have all stood the test of time even while their commercial appeal was dwarfed by the commercial appeal of power pop.
Power pop's commercial appeal also did not last after the 1970s. The Knack's "My Sharona" single effectively killed the power pop boom in 1979 after its instant rise to chart success, with some critics considering them to be "a manufactured group, something meant to echo The Beatles and nothing more."
Furthermore, the frequent presence of "My Sharona" on pop radio bred contempt for the single and toward the power pop genre as a whole.
That being said, power pop has bubbled into the underground for decades, with bands such as The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub and Car Seat Headrest reviving the genre for anyone who cares to listen, although it is not the power pop of the 1970s. The Replacements were more punk-inclined, Teenage Fanclub relied on distortion to further drive its melodies and Car Seat Headrest lingers more toward a Pavement-esque indie rock sound.
Weezer has come the closest to true power-pop revitalization with its 1994 Blue Album, even tapping former frontman of The Cars Ric Ocasek to produce, gaining solid amounts of radio and MTV airtime. While Weezer has maintained a massive cult following, the band never really replicated its early success, with the lone exception being its 2005 single "Beverly Hills."
It is also considered by many Weezer fans to be one of their worst songs, so make of that what you will.
So why does power pop not get its flowers? The uncoolness argument slips back into the conversation. Many bands who use The Beatles or The Beach Boys as inspiration will use their more experimental work as the basis for their pieces. Examples include Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" being inspired by The Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun," or the entirety of Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavilion" sounding like an updated take on The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds."
Sure, these inspirational bands have their merits, but their true artistic peaks came later in their career, which makes idolizing the earlier parts of these 1960s groups basic and, therefore, "uncool."
While I do enjoy Radiohead and Animal Collective, I also find myself adoring groups like The Replacements, or Teenage Fanclub or Car Seat Headrest, despite their "uncool" foundations. Power pop has never gotten the credit it deserves, which is fine.
Artistic inspiration can and should come from anywhere, coolness factors be damned. So long as you can create something true to yourself, coolness does not matter. What matters is that it matters to you.
Samuel Seward is a junior in the School of Arts and Sciences, majoring in political science and minoring in English. His column, "Exploring Humanity with Sam Seward," runs on alternate Wednesdays.
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