Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is the third chapter in my rock rag reminiscence series He Buys Every Rock 'n' Roll Book On The Magazine Stands, turning its glowing spotlight on Bomp! magazine and power pop.
"Power pop means pop with POWER! Not some whimpering simp in a Beatles haircut." My understanding of power pop as a genre, a concept, and/or an approach to rock 'n' roll music began with Bomp! magazine in 1978. In Bomp!'s power pop issue, writers Greg Shaw and Gary Sperrazza! sketched the parameters of what is and isn't power pop, and their ideas continue to provide the blueprint for what power pop means to me. It's why I reject the notion that no record made before 1970 can be called power pop, and it's why I insist that The Ramones have to be part of the power pop discussion. My idea of power pop expands to include the early Beatles and Badfinger's "Baby Blue" and "No Matter What"--Greg 'n' Gary excluded both acts--but my power pop vision still mirrors the Bomp! power pop equation: the teen pop of Shaun Cassidy plus the anarchic force of The Sex Pistols equals the power pop ideal of the early Who.
Bomp! has influenced everything I've ever written about power pop. Here are but a few of the rants and raves I've slapped together under that influence:
The Kids Are Alright! The History Of Power Pop
The Rubinoos: The Power Pop Hall Of Fame
East Coast Bands Are Hip (And Why I Don't Wish They All Could Be California Bands)
Shake Some Action (Power Pop Book Proposal)
Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery: My First Flashcubes Show
The Ramones: The Power Pop Hall Of Fame
The Spongetones: The Power Pop Hall Of Fame
The Flamin' Groovies: The Power Pop Hall Of Fame
The Everlasting First: The Romantics
Pezband: The Power Pop Hall Of Fame
The Greatest Record Ever Made! The Flashcubes, "No Promise"
That's a sample, and it all exists--from my mind to the page--because Bomp! magazine introduced me to the name of my favorite music. My memories of Bomp! provide the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl
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