POP-A-LOOZA: My Top Ten Power Pop Acts

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 my recent celebration of my top ten power pop acts.

My notion of power pop was generated in large part by Bomp! magazine's power pop issue in 1978. I subsequently wrote a history of power pop (written originally for Goldmine magazine, then rewritten and expanded as my contribution to John M. Borack's book Shake Some Action). That piece was supplemented by "The Secret History Of Power Pop," which I co-wrote with Gary Pig Gold. I wrote an essay about East Coast pop bands for the 2003 East Coast International Pop Overthrow program book. I wrote the liner notes for Rhino Records' 1997 power pop compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The '90s, and a separate short piece called "Power Pop 101." I've also written a ton of single-artist power pop pieces, far too many too list here. Feel free to romp through the extensive array o' options in my blog's power pop category. Pack a lunch.

My first-ever book proposal was for a power pop book in 1993. Shake Some Action (no relation to John's book; we just both dig the Flamin' Groovies) would have been a guide to power pop music, but the potential publisher wasn't interested. You can read its short unfinished and abandoned story here.

A couple of decades passed between that first book proposal and my next attempt to snag a book deal. Neither of my two current book notions are specifically about power pop, though each book has some overlap with the power pop story. The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is on hold, but not forgotten. In the mean time, I just finished the complete submission for another book due out in late 2022. I can't provide any details yet, but it is a nonfiction music book, and it has a publisher. A listing of some of the acts who are mentioned at least in passing in this book--the Beatles, the Monkees, the Dave Clark Five, the Flashcubes, Blodwyn Pig, the Chairmen of the Board, the 1910 Fruitgum Company, the Ramones, the Runaways, Lesley Gore, Holly and the Italians, the Plasmatics, the Sex Pistols, the Who, the Kinks, Blondie, Love, the Chambers Brothers, KISS, the Bay City Rollers, Cheap Trick, the Searchers, the Standells, Elvis Presley, the Seeds, Talking Heads, the Clash, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Heartbreakers, the Yardbirds, 10cc, Bruce Springsteen, the Dictators, Girlschool, Motörhead, the Doors, Chris Spedding, the Pretenders, the Paley Brothers, the Grateful Dead, the Honeys, Jefferson Airplane, and many more--doesn't really offer much clue to the book's subject matter. I'll tell you more when I can.

But for now; back to power pop! My top ten power pop acts provide the topic for 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.

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