Power Pop
131 articles
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Raspberries
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 6 July 1972
RASPBERRIES opens with the finest burst of lightweight English rock I've heard all year, a raunchy 16-bar guitar intro, and followed by a verse that ...
The Wackers: Bodega Club, San Jose, California
Live Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, September 1972
ROCK 'N' ROLL returned to the Pit recently and scored a technical knockout, as the Wackers invaded the Boogie Capital of San Jose, the Bodega ...
Raspberries: The Story of the Raspberries
Interview by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, October 1972
"I couldn’t say what I wanted to say till she whispered 'I Love You', so please, baby, go all the way..." ...
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Melody Maker, 21 October 1972
LORAINE ALTERMAN talks to the group that's bringing 'smartness' back to rock ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Fresh (Capitol)
Review by Mark Shipper, Phonograph Record, December 1972
THEY'RE A monument to youthful exuberance, a triumph of pure adolescent joyousness over post-teen disillusionment, and maybe just the last straw it's gonna take to ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Fresh
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Creem, February 1973
IT STARTS off with that unforgettable drum fill from ‘Loco-Motion’, now over a decade old, and then right into the opening chords from ‘One Fine ...
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, June 1973
I WISH, I wish, I wish. There's this song, 'I Remember A Time', on Blue Ash's debut album. Not that the whole album isn't magnificent, ...
Raspberries, Stories: The Raspberries, Stories: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Dan Nooger, The Village Voice, 4 October 1973
RIDING HIGH ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Side 3
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 11 October 1973
SINCE THEIR last time out, the Raspberries must have heard Blue Ash, or some vaguely threatening noises from the other side of Ohio, because a ...
Blue Ash: Can Blue Ash Sing The Whites?
Report by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, January 1974
YOU REMEMBER Blue Ash. They put out an album last year that all the critics loved. It was sort of Beatle-Byrdsish, yet quite original in ...
Review by Gary Sperrazza!, Shakin' Street Gazette, 14 March 1974
OK, HERE'S THE STORY: Alex Chilton, fresh from his Memphis residence with the Boxtops ('The Letter', 'Cry Like A Baby', 'Sweet Cream Ladies') heads to ...
Big Star: No Glam, Just Rock and Ram
Profile and Interview by Jon Tiven, Circus, May 1974
WITHOUT EVEN an ounce of glitter in their cosmetic kit, Big Star is a band that's making it without devices or gimmicks, unless you call ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Starting Over (Capitol)
Review by Gene Sculatti, Zoo World, 26 September 1974
MAYBE YOU had 'em pegged wrong, in the matching mod suits, Eric Carmen mincing like the late Paul McC with an Ohio accent. But hey, ...
Big Star: 'September Gurls' (Privilege 1002)
Review by Marty Cerf, Phonograph Record, November 1974
Alex Chilton & Big Star: Innocent, But Deadly ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Starting Over
Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975
APPARENTLY UNKNOWN to most of the British pop press and record buyers alike, the Raspberries have made six highly successful singles (five of them made ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Starting Over
Review by Dave Marsh, Let It Rock, April 1975
A YEAR AGO, the Raspberries seemed like nothing so much as a prefabricated rock band in the tradition of the Monkees. ...
Dwight Twilley Band: 'I'm On Fire' (Shelter SR 40380)
Review by Marty Cerf, Phonograph Record, May 1975
FOR THE moment there are but two titles that have any meaning for me. One is 'Tell Her No' by Del Shannon. The other is ...
The Kinks: Schoolboys In Disgrace
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
I LIKE THE KINKS a lot, but have to say that this album is a pretty uninspired collection of product. ...
Eric Carmen: Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 29 January 1976
ERIC CARMEN looks like his music, the slickness of which is so overwhelming that the ragged edges are jarring until you realize they've been placed ...
Interview by Alan Betrock, New York Rocker, March 1976
NORMALCY FADES into obscurity as insurgents seek deliverance. Abruptly the backbeat returns. Then it all seems so clear. The Nerves are at one with the ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
ABOUT EIGHT OR nine months ago I was preposterously drunk in the Bottom Line club in New York watching the Roger McGuinn Band. ...
Interview by Howie Klein, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 1977
Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander, playing San Francisco for the first time, talk about their whacky image and stage personas, being well supported by record company Epic, and how they should be written about in the Gay press!
File format: mp3; file size: 31.4mb, interview length: 34' 18" sound quality: ****
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, May 1977
THE RUBINOOS, Beserkley Records' hot new quartet of Bay Area teenagers, lead off their debut album with a new version of Tommy James' 1967 classic ...
AUDIO: Blondie's Debbie Harry & Chris Stein (1977)
Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1 May 1977
This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Blondie's Debbie and Chris. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
The Hollywood Stars: Hollywood Stars: Hollywood Stars (Arista)
Review by Wesley Strick, Circus, 9 May 1977
THEY KIND of sound like a network game show, don't they? Frisky with the promise of big bucks for the right formula. Eager but not ...
Greg Kihn, The Rubinoos: Greg Kihn: Again; The Rubinoos: The Rubinoos (Beserkley)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE recently pointed out that, if they had come out now instead of the mid-60’s, 'You Really Got Me' and 'Doo Wah Diddy' wouldn’t ...
Pezband, Sweet: Sweet: Off The Record (Capitol STAO-11636); Pezband: Pezband (Passport PP98021)
Review by Toby Goldstein, Crawdaddy!, July 1977
SUGAR POPS ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 July 1977
THE RUBINOOS sing a song all about how rock & roll is dead. It shouldn't really worry them either way, because in Rubinoo-land everyone's a ...
Cheap Trick: Sight Gags For Simps
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1977
IT ALL STARTED innocently enough. There I was, sitting in the office of an ordinarily credible marketing honcho at Epic Records discussing Marc Bolan and ...
Dwight Twilley: Twilley Don’t Mind
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, August 1977
EVERYBODY KNOWS that people who write record reviews are supposed to complain every so often about what a crummy year it’s been for music, and ...
Cheap Trick: In Color (Epic PE-34884)
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 22 September 1977
Cheap Trick's comical treat ...
Dwight Twilley Band: Twilley Don't Mind (Shelter)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
ALL THE OMENS seem up there in the ascendant for Dwight Twilley. All the rock critics love him to death and even the most austere ...
Dwight Twilley: The Dwight Twilley Band
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
EVEN ACROSS thousands of miles of trans-Atlantic telephone cable and several time zones Dwight Twilley exudes excited confidence. He's sure the time has come for ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 November 1977
ANYTHING BUT a cheap trick, in fact. You may wonder why you keep seeing this bunch mentioned in esoteric magazines like Who Put The Bomp ...
Greg Kihn: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
BY WAY of introduction, says Greg Kihn, short, smiling, bopping, "We're from Berkeley; that means we don't give a shit about nothing". ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
(AND YES, THEY DO WANT TO BE TEEN IDOLS...) ...
Cheap Trick: Smart, Sleek and Debonair
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1978
AMERICA'S A FUNNY place for rock music. Just when you assume that the well of talent that unleashed classic outfits like the Velvet Underground, Doors ...
Power Pop part 1: Suddenly, Everything Is Power Pop!
Overview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 11 February 1978
A BRAND NEW YEAR and a brand new word for the media to fool about with, eh? What's it all about then, this Power Pop ...
Power Pop part 2: The C&A Generation In The Land Of The Bland
Comment by Jon Savage, Sounds, 18 February 1978
TICK TOCK f – the clock/the pendulum swings...Oh it's so inevitable in post-punk letdown – the Pistols' 'split': sooooo symbolic – that attempts would be ...
Guide by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
If one may hazard an absurd guess based on no real information, it will probably be around November of this year when some smart punk ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
THERE IS nothing especially new about this power pop hullaballoo, y'know. As a sub-genre it has existed in a succession of shapes and guises for ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
NO MORE GOOD GUYS ...
Cheap Trick: Heaven Tonight (Epic)
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, August 1978
DANIEL AND GLORIA met at a rock flea market when their hands reached for the one over-priced copy of Hackamore Brick's One Kiss ...
Interview by John Tobler, Blank Space, 1979
AND DON'T forget that title – it’s not The Shoes, but simply the plural of the footwear without the definite article. There are four Shoes, ...
Greg Kihn: Kihn-Esthetic Responses
Interview by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, January 1979
GREG KIHN is up for this one. ...
Cheap Trick, Fundamental Ache And The Concept Of Divine Effort
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 February 1979
SINCE THE onset of 'serious' rock criticism in the late Sixties there seems, for the most part, to have been a parting of the ways ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Best Of The Raspberries (Capitol)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 17 March 1979
THE ONE clever thing that Eric Carmen's earlier outfit did was to put Overnight Sensation out in the summer, the one time the record could ...
The Knack: Starwood, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, New York Rocker, April 1979
ONCE UPON a time, The Knack was a movie starring (I believe) Michael Caine and Rita Tushingham. Set in swinging London, the plot revolved around ...
Retrospective by Dan Matovina, Trouser Press, May 1979
WHAT WOULD eventually become Badfinger started out as a part time local band in Swansea, Wales during the post-Mersey beat boom of 1964-66. Back then ...
The Knack: How You'll Be Getting It
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 June 1979
I LEANED over and whispered in the ear of the blank-looking blonde girl seated next to me: "I'm a stranger in this town, so maybe ...
The Knack: Get The Knack (Capitol EST 11948)****½
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 June 1979
Talkin' 'bout re-generation ...
Cheap Trick: An Afternoon Of Reality Therapy With Rick Nielsen & Cheap Trick
Report and Interview by Richard Riegel, Creem, July 1979
"IT'S LIKE I always tell people," says Rick Nielsen, "'I'm not a conservative, I'm a realist'." ...
Cheap Trick: Wake Up, Rick – You're The First Superstar of the '80s
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
LET'S NOT mince words. The basic premise here is the why, wherefores and whatevers backing up the simple contention that within the next 12 months ...
Cheap Trick: Dream Police (Epic)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
BRIEFLY, THIS is the fifth time in four years that Cheap Trick have vented their prodigious energies. Dream Police was made before Live At The Budokan made Cheap Trick ...
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, October 1979
PREAMBLE: In these inflationary (and indifferent) times, one expects a great deal from the investment of his/her time and/or money. Consequently, I have designed this ...
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 29 November 1979
IN THE BEGINNING, Cheap Trick was lovable because they tried to pull off the toughest trick in the book: making rock that was both bonehead-hard ...
Cheap Tricksters Deny Plans For Global Conquest
Report and Interview by Richard Riegel, Creem, December 1979
Term Mass Invasion A "Dream Police Action" ...
Report by Richard Riegel, Creem, January 1980
PACKS FEW FACTS, JACK (BUT STACKS OF TRACKS PUT THE PAX ON FLACKS' YAKS) ...
Profile and Interview by Steven X Rea, Trouser Press, March 1980
LAST SUMMER, holed up in Sound City Studios in the industrial pits of the San Fernando Valley, four musicians known collectively as 20/20 were deep ...
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, March 1980
HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20/20. In '79-'80, a pop renaissance is supposedly under way, stirring itself from a long hibernation like a groggy Boo Boo Bear, ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, March 1980
"Nothing's been inflated and nothing's been enlarged/What you're looking at, baby, is the original model..."— Will Birch, 1977 ...
The Knack: Knuking The Knack Inside Their Own Reactor
Report and Interview by Richard Riegel, Creem, April 1980
Connubial Alliance Invades the Heart Of the Beast ...
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, April 1980
I CAN'T ACCEPT Shelley Hack as a Charlie's Angel (Spelling-Goldberg should burn in Nielsen purgatory for rejecting Claudia Jennings, who proceeded to smash up her ...
Beat, The (U.S.): The Beat (US): Beating For Pleasure
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 19 April 1980
THE KNACK without the goofball, Tom Petty without the peroxide and angst, the Beatles without the suffix. ...
The Knack: ...But The Little Girls Understand (Capitol SOO-12045)
Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, May 1980
"THE SONGS are an assortment of feelings and emotions expressed redundantly as only the Knack can...This record is very dear to me and my bank ...
The Plimsouls: The Plimsouls (Planet P-13)
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 1 March 1981
Plimsouls: L.A.'s Savior? ...
Review by Robot A. Hull, Creem, April 1981
IT WAS IN 1977, The Year of the Anti-Christ, that Shoes released their official debut, Black Vinyl Shoes, on their own private label. In its ...
The Knack: Round Trip (Capitol ST 12168)
Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1982
THE KNACK'S last album not only drew critical catcalls for its attempt to plagiarize mid-'60s British pop but it failed to repeat the popular success ...
Altered Images: Pinky Blue (Epic)
Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 8 May 1982
IF THE jolly-jolly blancmange and Jellytot frills on the cover of Happy Birthday didn't, like the kid at the party who stuffed all the eClares, ...
Marshall Crenshaw's True Pop Ways
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, September 1982
"I don't try to hang anybody up or get anybody over-involved in my hang-ups. I don't try to bore people with my problems. The main ...
Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall's Law
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
ELVIS COSTELLO LOVES HIM... BUT NOBODY ELSE HAS EVER HEARD OF HIM! WE BRING YOU MARSHALL CRENSHAW – THE MOST ANONYMOUS NAME IN POP. SNAP: ...
Rick Springfield: Are You Ready To Rick?
Profile and Interview by Annene Kaye, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
"All my girlfriends talk about is, like, how it would be to meet Rick and y'know, they talk about making out with him and stuff... ...
Shake Some Action! The bands that put the Bomp in U.S. beat
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, The History of Rock, 1984
IN THE mid-Sixties, within the music of groups like the Kinks, the Byrds and the Who, musical aggression and melodic invention had co-existed. But with ...
38 Special, Dwight Twilley: 38 Special: Strength In Numbers (A&M); Dwight Twilley: Wild Dogs (A&M)
Review by Craig Zeller, Creem, October 1986
AT WORK, we play the radio constantly. A good part of the time it's tuned to the local oldies station. The other day I was ...
Roxette: Sweden's Roxette Is Making It Big Almost by Accident
Interview by J.D. Considine, Baltimore Sun, 23 September 1989
ALL AROUND THE WORLD, pop groups dream of making it big in America. Not only is the United States home to the biggest and most ...
Live Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, November 1993
AT THE BACK OF the hall stood a tall and bulky figure, taking light refreshment and delivering his expert verdict on the performance of the ...
The Posies: Frosting on the Beater
Press Release by uncredited writer, DGC Records, Spring 1993
A DECADE AGO, two puny kids ages 13 and 14 began a band. These were formative music years, of course, but while others might have ...
Peter Case, The Plimsouls: The Soul of the Plimsouls
Report and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, The Bob, October 1995
HOW IRONIC that it took a film about an RTD bus careening through the spaghetti network of Los Angeles freeways, unable to slow below 50 ...
Jason Falkner: Top Cat: Jason Falkner
Profile and Interview by Mike Mettler, Guitar Player, October 1996
JASON FALKNER loves "B" guitars and oddball gear. A tasteful, pop-savvy craftsman in the tradition of George Harrison, Andy Partridge, Neil Finn and Jon Brion, ...
Fountains of Wayne Bubble with Power Pop
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 28 November 1996
ADAM SCHLESINGER is a busy boy. His band, Fountains of Wayne, has just released its debut album, a winning blast of power pop with textures ...
Amy Rigby, Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw/Amy Rigby: Park West, Albany, NY
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
ON THE first date of an East Coast mini-tour, Marshall Crenshaw and Amy Rigby are playing things semi-safe: Park West is a club sandwiched between ...
Review by Paul Lester, Uncut, August 1997
Cheap Trick: meta-metal power pop ...
Cheap Trick: Light of the Trick
Interview by Tom Cox, Uncut, August 1997
The return of the pioneering power-pop band. ...
Scruffs: The Scruffs: Wanna Meet The Scruffs?
Review by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, May 1998
THE MOST part of the whole wave of CD reissues is seeing these obscure gems that you're positive no one else could possibly care about ...
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 23 November 1998
A FEW DAYS on the concert circuit with the Canadian band Sloan defy just about all the usual rock 'n' roll expectations. ...
The Real Kids: It's Been Real: The Real Kids
Interview by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, 1999
IN THE SPRING '78 issue of Bernie Kugel's cool fanzine Big Star there is an article by Miriam Linna called "The New Sounds of the ...
Ken Stringfellow, The Posies: The Dandy: Getting Romantic with Ken Stringfellow
Interview by Everett True, The Stranger, 1999
CONFESSION: I never liked the Posies. Felt they were too much in thrall to the sweet, spiked pop of Big Star. Disliked their skinny ties ...
Blondie: It was 40 Years Ago Today: The Story Of Blondie's Parallel Lines
Retrospective by Steve Pafford, 'The MOJO Collection' (Canongate), 2000
DESPITE BEING the last act out of the original New York punk scene to be offered a record deal, the blond ambition of ex-Playboy Bunny ...
Dwight Twilley: Magical Mystery Man
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 April 2000
The name Dwight Twilley probably doesn't ring a bell, but to the cognoscenti he's a rock'n'roll legend blessed with pop sensibility and irresistible animal magnetism. ...
Retrospective by Tom Cox, Uncut, August 2000
BASED ON the bittersweet songcraft of Big Star's "lost" classic debut, No 1 Record, Chris Bell is often referred to as the McCartney to Alex ...
The Posies: Blooming In The Afterlife: The Posies
Retrospective and Interview by Mac Randall, launch.com, 16 August 2000
IF YOU MEASURE a band's activity by the complexity of its release schedule, then you'd have to conclude that the year 2000 has been an ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
Eric Carmen, b. 11 August 1949, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Wally Bryson, b. 18 July 1949, Gastonia, North Carolina; Jim Bonfanti, b. 17 December 1948, Windber, ...
Cheap Trick: Roxy Theatre, Atlanta
Review and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 2001
THE GUY next to me is in his late thirties. He has a mullet and he's about one beer away from being legless. When he ...
We Have the Power: A novice’s passport to the glorious sonic world of Power Pop
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, 5 May 2001
"Power pop is what we play. What the Small Faces used to play and the kind of pop the Beach Boys played in the days ...
Gary Pig Gold's Top Ten All Time Power Pop People (in Chronological Order)
Guide by Gary Pig Gold, fufkin.com, July 2001
CERTAINLY WE COULD all be arguing blue-faced until that mythical Next Big Thing finally arrives over just what exactly IS "Pop," Powerful or otherwise. ...
Skinny Tie Heaven! The RBP Power Pop Top 100, Part One (100-51)
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, August 2001
Chiming and choogling, winsomely pretty and archly melodic, freshfaced and faux-naif... yep, it's that formidable sub-genre POWER POP, a blissful marriage of melody and energy ...
Skinny Tie Heaven! The RBP Power Pop Top 100, Part Two! (50 - 1)
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, September 2001
William Higham concludes his epic list by nominating the Top 50 PP classix of all time... ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Rebirth Of The Cool
Guide by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, November 2002
Who are they? The inspired combination of two of Cleveland's finest unsung rock bands of the late '60s – Cyrus Erie and The Choir – ...
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, 2003
MENTION THE NAME of the Jook a decade or so ago, and chances are, you'd be met with a blank gaze from anybody outside of ...
The New Pornographers: Bands to watch: The New Pornographers
Profile and Interview by Jason Cohen, Spin, June 2003
They may look like mild-mannered grad students, but they're actually super-rockin' Canadians!: Todd Fancey, Neko Case, Blaine Thurier, Carl Newman, Kurt Dahle, and John Collins ...
Big Star: Big Star Story (Rykodisc)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, November 2003
Mildly unsatisfactory smattering of tracks by genius Memphis quartet/trio – the acme of twisted '70s power pop. ...
Emitt Rhodes: Happy Happy, Joy Joy: Emitt Rhodes
Retrospective and Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA CityBeat, 22 January 2004
EMITT RHODES still doesn’t know what hit him. Thirty years ago, he was the new Paul McCartney, an ambitious kid who craved the perfect pop ...
Badfinger: Magic Christian Music/No Dice/Straight Up
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, August 2004
TAKING THEIR NAME from the working title for 'With A Little Help From My Friends', it's ironic that Badfinger's famous pals could also be a ...
The Knack: One Hit Wonder: The Knack — 'My Sharona'
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2004
Date: July 14,1979 Chart position: 6 Available: My Sharona (Capitol) ...
Hanson: Underneath (Cooking Vinyl)
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 February 2005
THE YOUNGEST Hanson brother was aged just 11 when the Tulsa trio released the mighty 'Mmmbop' in 1997. Now they've leapt into a kind of ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, October 2005
WITNESSES TO BIG STAR'S comeback shows in 1993 would often find themselves shoulder-to-shoulder with sundry teary-eyed power poppers whose own bands owed a huge debt ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: House of Blues, Los Angeles
Live Review by Bill Holdship, LA CityBeat, 27 October 2005
IN 1972, NOTHING sounded quite like the Raspberries' 'Go All the Way' and 'I Wanna Be With You' when they came roaring out of mono ...
The dB's: Spies In The House Of Pop: The dB's and their star-crossed third album, Like This
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, June 2006
BY THE SUMMER of 1982 things were looking a bit grim for the dB's. ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries' 'Go All The Way '
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, July 2006
VITAL STATISTICS LABEL: Capitol PERFORMERS: Eric Carmen – vocals/piano/guitar Wally Bryson – lead guitar David Smalley – bass Jim Bonfanti – drums PRODUCER: Jimmy Ienner CHART DEBUT: 19 August 1972 HIGHEST CHART POSITION: 5 ...
Overview by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, August 2006
(Note: the following piece was written prior to the recent release of the wonderful UK 2CD set At Full Speed: The Complete Sire Recordings, which ...
The Pursuit Of Happiness: None Of Your Rubbish
Retrospective by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 2006
This month, retrieved from the void of obscurity: kidult-oriented Canadian pop glory. ...
Buzzcocks: The Making of 'Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)'
Retrospective and Interview by Gavin Martin, Uncut, March 2008
Treasured by John Peel, the 1978 powerpop perennial by Manchester's melodic punks ...
Interview by Paul Lester, Record Collector, September 2008
As he turns 60 and prepares a new album and UK tour, Todd Rundgren surveys his brilliant 40-year career as a producer, solo artist and ...
The dB's, Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey: Peter Holsapple: An Interview
Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Bucketfull of Brains, Fall 2009
IN '82 WE WERE all listening to the dBs' second album, Repercussion. The Barracudas, having been shown the ejection seat by EMI, were in a ...
Dwight Twilley Band: Live From Agora (Gigatone)
Review by Dave Laing (Australia), Ugly Things, 2010
POWER POP ICONS the Dwight Twilley Band shared a number of attributes with Big Star apart from the obvious '70s power pop connection. Both band's ...
Sloan: Happy 20th Birthday Sloan: The Band That Most Made Me Want To Write For A Living
Report and Interview by Tom Cox, tom-cox.com, 11 May 2011
ALL WRITERS HAVE an early turning point or moment of encouragement that kicks off their career in earnest, gives them that little extra push to ...
Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full Of Holes
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, August 2011
Lost souls and unsung heroes still stalk the landscape for Fountains Of Wayne — but has the well of compassion run dry? ...
Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes
Review by Johnny Sharp, bbc.co.uk, 1 August 2011
Wry New York power-popsters can pen a tune, but can't quite win your heart. ...
Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes
Review by Johnny Sharp, bbc.co.uk, 1 August 2011
Wry New York power-popsters can pen a tune, but can't quite win your heart. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 July 2012
FORMED IN 1986, the Swedish duo Roxette were one of the biggest pop phenomena of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2012, the vast arena isn't ...
Paley Brothers: The Paley Brothers: The Complete Recordings
Sleeve notes by Gene Sculatti, Real Gone Music, 2013
"PEOPLE looked at us and said, 'What are you guys?'" says Jonathan Paley. ...
Eric Carmen: "I Wanted to Find Where the Magic Was"
Profile and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 26 March 2014
VERY FEW articles about Eric Carmen (including, sadly, this one) do not include the term "power pop" somewhere to describe the music he's made with ...
Big Star, The Box Tops, Alex Chilton: Holly George-Warren's Alex Chilton
Memoir by Binky Philips, Huffington Post, 11 April 2014
When I was running the East Village record store, St Mark's Sounds in the 1980s, Alex Chilton's LP Like Flies On Sherbert [sic] was a ...
Chris Bell: He was the Cosmos: The Tragedy of Chris Bell
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2015
NOTE: This article is comprised of adapted excerpts from my big MOJO story written about Big Star and published in February 2000 – BH. ...
The Lemon Twigs: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 December 2016
Michael and Brian D'Addario dress like they're in a 70s panto, but any suggestions of pastiche are demolished by the humbling beauty of their songs. ...
Overview by Dave Laing (Australia), I Like Your Old Stuff, 25 March 2017
"Pete Townshend coined the phrase [power pop] to define what the Who did. For some reason, it didn't stick to the Who, but it did ...
Eric Carmen, Raspberries: Why (the) Raspberries Mattered
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2018
THEY HAD TO be kidding, right? "Raspberries"? That's only a few degrees removed from "1910 Fruitgum Company." And then there were the poufy hair, the ...
Grin, Nils Lofgren: How Nils Lofgren Almost Became the Next Big Thing
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2019
THE ADVERTISEMENT for Grin, the first album that positioned Nils Lofgren front-and-center in his own band, said "until recently, only insiders could be absolutely certain ...
Wheatus: How We Made 'Teenage Dirtbag'
Interview by Henry Yates, The Guardian, 22 May 2019
Author's note: This is the original version of the piece submitted to the Guardian. ...
Roxette: 'It Must Have Been Love': Roxette's power ballad is a masterpiece of pain
Essay by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 December 2019
By following the Motown blueprint of blending ecstatic music with agonised lyrics, Roxette created the ultimate breakup song — and the late Marie Fredriksson delivered ...
Roxette: Marie Fredriksson obituary
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 December 2019
COMMANDING FEMALE VOCALISTS were never more popular than in the late 1980s, and for a time Marie Fredriksson, whose voice could blister paint or seduce ...
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