my power pop addiction, no. 2 (74)

Power pop was initially a plaintive cry for help from artists who refused to accept the collapse of the 60s dream. So it was backwards looking in some respects, recalling the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, the Hollies… And yet, as the genre evolved from the late 60s onwards, contemporary motifs were assimilated into the music. The skinny tie thing you get with, say, the Cars and the Knack, signaled the malleability of power pop, some room for growth, and the potential for the music to be at once somewhat regressive but also part of the New Wave. The historical fragmentation of the 70s created a musical landscape rife with these kinds of mixed messages and pastiche. Don’t forget that when Tom Petty first broke onto the scene, the suits didn’t really know how to market the guy and tried for awhile to sell him as both a skinny tied New Waver and a 70s-style arena rocker. Only later did he become an unambiguous staple of the hesher crowd. But try listening to American Girl without any preconceived notions of what Tom Petty became at the height of his popularity and I think you’ll agree it’s one of the greatest power pop songs ever recorded, a throwback that also manages to bring elements of harder 70s rock into the fold. It puts the power in power pop. The same can be said for My Sharona. There’s so many great examples, actually, and I’ll try to get to the ones I love the most in the coming weeks. Tonight’s song is one of my favorites, from the Dwight Twilley Band’s first album, Sincerely, an absolute must-have for anybody who joneses perpetually for tight, punchy hooks. The song yearns for a return to 60s pop with its dazzling California-style harmonies and the rich resonance of the hollow-body guitar playing, but the organ leaves no doubt that the music is a product of the 70s. I actually don’t care much for that organ, subtle though it is, probably because I don’t like to be reminded that the dream is dead and long gone…