What do you think?
Rate this book
Go All the Way: A Literary Appreciation for Power Pop
Fun, bright, and playful, Power Pop is a sometimes adored, sometimes maligned, often misunderstood genre of music. From its heyday in the '70s and '80s to its resurgence in the '90s and '00s, Power Pop has meant many things to many people. In Go All the Way, today's best and brightest writers go deep on what certain Power Pop bands and songs mean and have meant to them. Whether they love or hate it, Go All the Way is a dive into the Beatles-inspired pop rock of the last five decades.
Audio CD
First published January 1, 2019
16 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
August 16, 2020
Kimley and I discuss this book on our podcast BOOK MUSIK. You can hear it here: Book Musik Podcast.
December 7, 2019
These essays on power pop won’t gain the genre new fans, but it’s a nice survey of bands past and present and their effect on the writers of each piece. I preferred the deeper dives (for instance, into Jellyfish and Sloan) over the “power pop is such an under appreciated genre” pieces, but I enjoyed the collection as a whole.
April 28, 2020
I’ve had this book on my radar for sometime now and got it as a surprise recent Birthday present from my elder son, his partner and the grandkids.
I know this is supposed to be a book review but like the majority of the contributors to this book I feel I’ve got to explain my love of ‘Power Pop’. I was born in 1958 and my childhood musical memories are firmly Beatles related. It was their music that springs most to mind when remembering my formative years. I used my pocket money to buy some of their singles, watched them on television and also remember going to the cinema with my mother to see their movies. I didn’t have the money to buy any of their albums and being an only child, I didn’t have a big brother or sister’s record collections to plunder. However my older cousin’s boyfriend (now husband) was a big fan and when they were ‘babysitting’ me he would let me listen to his Beatles albums. As I grew up I formed a diverse taste in music but I was always drawn to that tight 3 minute pop song, with chiming guitars, great melody, hooky chorus and three part harmonies. I must admit it wasn’t till Britpop hit in the nineties that I came to discover that there was this whole genre known as Power Pop and that it was the type of music that I had always loved. I went back in time and discovered Big Star, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick and countless others and I also discovered that there was a current scene too and got into Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, Velvet Crush and Jellyfish, to name a few.
This book is a must for Power Pop fans and the contributors have all written essays on varying aspects of the genre. They mostly all explain what their understanding of the genre is and how they came to be fans and their seems to a consensus as to the roots of Power Pop being the Beatles, Beach Boys and the Who. The range of the essays though vary, in that some argue why a favourite band of theirs should be considered Power Poppers and others argue why their favourite band isn’t (ELO/Jeff Lynne). One of my favourite stories is from Alison Anders who recounts her time in London where she blags a job as a barmaid at the Hope and Anchor just as the Pub Rock explosion took off. Another favourite was from an author whose crime novels I’ve just began to read, Joe Clifford. He deems to makes the case for The Hold Steady being part of the Power Pop genre via a story about interviewing one of the band members. However his tale reveals more about him, his writing and his autobiographical influences which he has used to inform his writing and in particular his Jay Porter series.
An essential read for fans of the genre and also for someone wanting to explore the genre. Just beware, like me, I’m sure it’ll get you researching new bands on the internet and hunting out their recording, just like most music books that I read do !!
I know this is supposed to be a book review but like the majority of the contributors to this book I feel I’ve got to explain my love of ‘Power Pop’. I was born in 1958 and my childhood musical memories are firmly Beatles related. It was their music that springs most to mind when remembering my formative years. I used my pocket money to buy some of their singles, watched them on television and also remember going to the cinema with my mother to see their movies. I didn’t have the money to buy any of their albums and being an only child, I didn’t have a big brother or sister’s record collections to plunder. However my older cousin’s boyfriend (now husband) was a big fan and when they were ‘babysitting’ me he would let me listen to his Beatles albums. As I grew up I formed a diverse taste in music but I was always drawn to that tight 3 minute pop song, with chiming guitars, great melody, hooky chorus and three part harmonies. I must admit it wasn’t till Britpop hit in the nineties that I came to discover that there was this whole genre known as Power Pop and that it was the type of music that I had always loved. I went back in time and discovered Big Star, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick and countless others and I also discovered that there was a current scene too and got into Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, Velvet Crush and Jellyfish, to name a few.
This book is a must for Power Pop fans and the contributors have all written essays on varying aspects of the genre. They mostly all explain what their understanding of the genre is and how they came to be fans and their seems to a consensus as to the roots of Power Pop being the Beatles, Beach Boys and the Who. The range of the essays though vary, in that some argue why a favourite band of theirs should be considered Power Poppers and others argue why their favourite band isn’t (ELO/Jeff Lynne). One of my favourite stories is from Alison Anders who recounts her time in London where she blags a job as a barmaid at the Hope and Anchor just as the Pub Rock explosion took off. Another favourite was from an author whose crime novels I’ve just began to read, Joe Clifford. He deems to makes the case for The Hold Steady being part of the Power Pop genre via a story about interviewing one of the band members. However his tale reveals more about him, his writing and his autobiographical influences which he has used to inform his writing and in particular his Jay Porter series.
An essential read for fans of the genre and also for someone wanting to explore the genre. Just beware, like me, I’m sure it’ll get you researching new bands on the internet and hunting out their recording, just like most music books that I read do !!
February 16, 2024
Paul Myers' collection of essays, "Go All the Way," celebrates the genre known as "power pop" while failing to define it. I, too, "know it when I hear it" and would struggle to describe it other than name bands and songs that exemplify it. That's pretty much what this book does in a fun and geeky, if not educational, manner. There are three things the contributing writers pretty much agree on:
1. The early Beatles started it all.
2. The Raspberries took it to the next level.
3. Cheap Trick are the best known and most successful group of the genre.
After that, we get deep dives on Weezer, Fountains of Wayne, KISS, XTC and other artists who may or may not be power pop. Better still are the personal recollections of what power pop has meant to people, young and old. The book certainly dredged up some earworms and made me smile.
1. The early Beatles started it all.
2. The Raspberries took it to the next level.
3. Cheap Trick are the best known and most successful group of the genre.
After that, we get deep dives on Weezer, Fountains of Wayne, KISS, XTC and other artists who may or may not be power pop. Better still are the personal recollections of what power pop has meant to people, young and old. The book certainly dredged up some earworms and made me smile.
September 13, 2020
Various authors take on power pop to mixed results. For a genre so close to my heart, I left frustrated and disappointed overall, but a few essays, whether more personal or more tightly focused on particular musicians (Liz Phair, Guided by Voices, XTC) struck a chord.
August 15, 2020
Tosh and I discuss this on our Book Musik Podcast.
This compilation of short essays by a wide range of writers (including Michael Chabon and Allison Anders among others) explores the minutiae of what constitutes power pop exactly, whether or not it is even desirable to be lumped into this subgenre and which bands are considered power pop, with bands like Bad Finger, The Raspberries, Big Star, and Cheap Trick generally being considered the prototypes. Despite its effervescent appeal, fans of power pop are deadly serious about its nuances. Both celebrated and maligned, power pop is a nebulous genre and after reading this book things still seem murky to us. But like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart pronounced in an attempt to define porn, we know it when we see it!
This compilation of short essays by a wide range of writers (including Michael Chabon and Allison Anders among others) explores the minutiae of what constitutes power pop exactly, whether or not it is even desirable to be lumped into this subgenre and which bands are considered power pop, with bands like Bad Finger, The Raspberries, Big Star, and Cheap Trick generally being considered the prototypes. Despite its effervescent appeal, fans of power pop are deadly serious about its nuances. Both celebrated and maligned, power pop is a nebulous genre and after reading this book things still seem murky to us. But like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart pronounced in an attempt to define porn, we know it when we see it!
September 7, 2021
I haven't read this book yet, therefore this bit of writing is a grotesque abuse of goodreads, the interent, everything I and we ought to stand for ... the collapse of all things wholesome and good will no doubt result, imminently, therefore the clock is ticking - please read the following quickly, in a single sitting and commit to memory as best you can, your life may depend on it (on the speed of your reading not on the content therein - there will not be a test ... )
I have 'awarded' five stars anyway, as I do all books as a matter of policy. In the next-to impossible circumstances of their being even a semi-person in existence who gives a damn what I think of a book, and uses this as consumer guidance, I apologise.
It's a bunch of essays on Power Pop so one knows already whether the book will be of interest. I wanted to use this opportunity to witter on about Power Pop. I may be wrong (feel free to correct me) but I think the term was originated by Greg Shaw in a 1978 issue of Bomp! Greg included a Power Pop top 50, which is full of good stuff. But he simultaneously sparked annoyance from some quarters, who felt he was trying to bury Punk, whilst simultaneously promoting a variant that was more to his own taste, and there is an element of truth to this. A bit like the 'New Wave' dastardly elements concocted to render Punk more palatable to mainstream tastes, but with a greater historical (i.e., ten year old back catalogue items) sweep and less emphasis on remorselessly pushing contemporary product.
There's a lot to discuss/argue over already. Are we any the wiser as to what Power Pop is? Big Star and Cheap Trick seem like the constant elements. But perhaps only some of their output. In what universe is 'Kangaroo' or 'Holocaust' 'Power' or 'Pop'? Like most rock genres, we end up with a parlour game, fun with friends, categorising who is and who isn't.
The enterprise feels built on somewhat shakey ground to me. It's very much an American idea and from an American perspective. Nick Lowe and Squeeze may have written power pop type songs but they also transcend the genre (as anyone who lasts does). The main British contribution to the Power Pop pop at the time was The Pleasers, who sported '64 Beatles attire.
One essay defines Power pop as beatles-worship, but, again, were beatles even power pop? Maybe some songs, Please Please Me, Taxman, Your Bird Can Sing, etc. They wrote songs in all styles. So does the Power Pop devotee only listen to the small number of beatle songs that fit the bill?
It feels slightly chauvinistic to assert that the Americans don't understand British pop movements, that they don't appreciate that 'Mod' was a social movement more than a musical movement, and the music the Mods listened to was black American. The Americans see Mod in terms of The Who, and to some extent The Kinks, perhaps the Beatles and more appropriately the Small Faces. It's not wrong per se, but those groups had a more compex relationship to Mod than might be apparent. Beatles had virtually zero to do with Mod. Kinks predated Mod also to a large extent. The Who and Small Faces were formed and calculated to exploit the Mod movement, arguably clothes-horses the Small faces were the more legitimately Mod - the Who wore the clothes, put up to it by early manager and avowed mod pete Meaden, but disliked them and later brought in other elements - Pete's art school influences for instance, Pop Art ... Keith Moon's love of surf music is apt to mention here ... Beach Boy harmonies applied to the robust proto-power-trio musicianship of the early Who is more fully-formed Power Pop than anything Beatles played ... yet they were not constricted by any generic formulas ... The Ready Steady Who EP of 1966 is possibly disposable to the 'Classic Rock', album oriented consumer - but it's a more vital snapshot of an era than many of the groups later, more heralded releases. Nearly all cover versions, this is 1966 euphoria on wax - cover versions of Beach Boys and Jan And Dean (no one in England drove a 'Bucket T'), complete with parping French horn, the 'Batman' theme, and a cracked, loopy original called 'Disguises', verging on psychedelia, with weird lyrics about a boy being surprised by his girl turning up in - you guessed it -disguises.
Inspired by The Who, Birmingham's Move were formed by a fusion of players from the city's top groups. They initially wowed audiences at a club called something like 'the Cedar Rooms', and played hard hitting soul and Motown covers - not much of this made it to vinyl, but one can get an idea from 'Move theme/Don't Throw Stones At Me' included as bonus track on the CD of their debut LP, and another blazing 1966-7 EP, 'Something Else' (a title also used by The Kinks for an LP), recorded live at the Marquee.
Power Pop, whatever it is, seems already formed from a fusion of disparate influences. An essay in the book argues ELO cannot be Power Pop - let's pretend to take that seriously for a moment. Jeff Lynne was in the Move, but late-Move, and by then the group had moved into playing more elaborate music with varying tempos and lengths. In the mid 60s, he was in The Idle Race, described by himself as 'an attempt to combine George Formby with something or other'. And this seems so, with mostly whimsical, eccentric songs - but they did rock on killer-riff numbers like Days of Broken Arrows and Hurry Up, John, which would both surely meet Greg Shaw's criteria for Power Pop. If 'Sweet Talkin' Woman' isn't Power Pop you can all get stuffed.
In the states, the ne plus ultra of Power Pop seems to be Gene Clark's 'Feel A Whole Lot Better', as performed by The Byrds. A masterpiece, it has inspired much use adjectives such as 'jangley' (a word that actually provokes nausea in me from overexposure), and 'shimmering'. The Gene Clark story incorporates a lot of wonderful music that takes him far away from Power Pop, as indeed does The Byrds. The creation of that group's early music is also the subject of heated speculation, with some going to an extreme and claiming it was largely concocted by studio musicians, as manufactured as The Monkees. I will stir this pot by asserting that all Pop, even Slayer, are manufactured to a greater or lesser extent.
It could be argued there is nothing interesting to be said on the subject of Power Pop, that Frank Zappa was after all correct. But such a blanket dismissal would mean to never examine the contents of Greg's Power Pop Top 50. If there is no essay in this book that does so, even peripherally, then one star is hereby solemnly and grave-facedly removed from the above.
Greg shows for the most part excellent taste here, citing such unjustly overlooked gems of the 1970s as Marcu Hook Roll Band, Pagliaro, The Equals' godlike 'I Can See But You Don't Know' etc., alongside a diverse selection including punks like Ramones and Sex Pistols, and Abba - whose early records contain quintessential examples of Power Pop. It's funny to watch people twist and writhe at the mention of Abba, as salt poured on a slug. Abba is certainly less wimpy than some of I Am The Cosmos LP (speaking of which, the epic stylings of the magnificent title track surely belong to some other strain of Rock-bombast).
Nietszche wrote 'mankind does not advance - it does not even exist'. Claude Bessy wrote 'there's no such thing as New Wave, it's just a figment of some lame cunt's imagination'. As a much more equivocal liberal than those two reprobates, ha!, I propose that yes, Virginia, there is a Power Pop, but do not fear him. Calmly, outline the relative merits of The Bay City Rollers 'Shang-A-Lang', David Cassidy's 'Please Please Me', and inform him that your all-gurl guitar band is recording a track-for-track remake of Erasure's 'Pop! 20 Hits', to be offered for sale on your bandcamp page, that will surely provoke debate and delight in equal measure. Do not turn your back on him as you slowly exit the room, taking care not to trip over.
We have to know - did Power pop survive the arrival of Synth-pop? Was it from thenceforth made into a retro format (if it wasn't already)? Or did some mutant-fusion emerge? Close investigation usually offers evidence of the latter. Macca's 'Temporary Secretary' is very much 1980's equivalent of Paperback Writer or Eleanor Rigby. To the would-be jangling Rickenbacker supremacist who gnashes and wails at such a prospect, I put it that the Monkees 'teardrop city' showed that the ticket to ride formula was barren as early as '67. You never say what you are not going to do.
I think Greg liked to invent musical sub-genres, because who doesn't? Making a convincing case for a particularly aesthetic is step one, and making it seem exciting, fresh and full of possibility. the trouble is that the raw materials are usually put together unslefconsciously. When the groups come along who obligingly produce power pop, or punk or 'mod' records, they have strait-jacketed themselves to a formula, a small pool of influences, and they want a strict set of rules to abide by. The 'scene' that follows ultimately becomes a matter of rigid policing. What Pop fun?
Greg played pop auteur all along in Bomp!, the fanzine and the label, a forerunner of what is now pretentiously called 'curatorship'. Greg's CV could legitimately claim he brought 'genuine commitment and enthusiasm' to the task at hand though - and a sense of humour, which is frequently the first casualty in a Pop skirmish.
Most of Greg's ideas did gain a lot of traction, and last time I looked still formed supporting columns in the Rock-pop infrastructure, though I am disappointed his ACID PUNK top ten was not more influential.
Alex Chilton must've been amused to have his music considered Power pop after about 1975, although maybe the genre is a broader church than i am giving it credit for.
A Power Pop Top Ten (not definitive, just some that spring to mind)
Sparks - How Are You Getting Home?
Abba - Does you Mother Know?
Mike McGear - Giving Grease A Ride
Urinals - Sex
Chairmen Of The Board - Everything's Tuesday (surely Motown and HDH are the epitome of Power Pop?)
Bee Gees - Jumbo
Richard Hell - I'm Your Man
Channel 3- You Make Me Feel Cheap
Zombies - I Want Her She Want's Me (or the Mindbenders cover version)
Queen - You're My best Friend
I think of Nik Cohn's admonishment in Awopbopaloobopawopbamboom: 'What did it have over Superpop?'
What indeed? Cohn was lamenting the fracturing of the mighty, monolithic 'Pop' colossus, as it was until about 1968.
Why the fragmentation? And did it come from the industry, or us 'Kids'?
For further discussion, amongst yourselves if you like, the question of whether a genre such as Power pop legitimately exists, in the sense of clearly discernable characteristics, and is there then an evolution of the style, does it's influence percolate - or is the form intimately tied to a specific set of places, at a certain time?
One reviewer has commented that very few women are considered as Powerpoppers. Not having read the book I cannot offer an opinion, but for arguments sake it might be worth considering. I don't think it's necessary to institute a quota system, because once the gnre is defined, it will become obvious that musicians of all persuasions produce power pop music, not just the ones who adhere most strongly to the cliches (a Genre product has to advertise that it's a Genre product, though - too much 'originality' in the mix could alienate consumer units). (The 'game' of genre can and must be taken to an extreme by some, if only as a philosophical exercise - Cherie Currie described a Runaways song that was composed by having a computer analyse Beatle lyrics used most frequently, and the song constructed from the results. Unsurprisingly, the results were pathetic. Extremism in genre may push the form to the limit, be pathetic to observe, show the limitations and soullessness of such an exercise, or come across as an act of fan devotion beyond rationality - or all the above ...)
It would be to split hairs and disingenuous to claim The Go-Gos were 'New Wave' and therefore disqualified from being Power Pop. Likewise, Kim Wilde's 'Kids In America', Toni Basil's 'Mickey' and Cliff Richard's 'Wired For Sound' MUST be accepted into the Power Pop pantheon. If this demand is not met the National Guard will be deployed to force admission, and there will be no Pop tarts, power pop tarts, for anyone.
The hallowed Vaticans of Power pop will be all abuzz, because if Tony basil is admitted, where does that leave Devo? Do we want those creeps tainting our shimmering, jangly majesty with their sarcasm? We can allow in some Cliff - In The Country, for instance, his cover of Blue Turns To Grey - but we already have a cut-off in 1961 to keep rock n rollers out. Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran are as Power Pop as dammit. Bobby Fuller Four - Pamela, Never To Be Forgotten ... Tommy Roe, Sheila ... if we don't maintain our Power-pop identity, if we don't preserve the spirit around a handful of treasured icons, we are under siege from all sides ... BUT FROM THE LEFT: but if we don't allow for change, admit new blood, we are fossils. If we refuse to recognise a close relative, strangely dressed as they may be, we are fools to ourselves ...
The Bangles are quintessentially power pop, they even cover The Merry-Go-Round and for gods sake September Gurrrls - the ultimate P-Popper, the splash from which the ripples radiate out, the Power Pop 'Moment' - from which one is either heading toward or receding away from. But as we have seen, it was not created in a vacuum, nor a hoover.
I have 'awarded' five stars anyway, as I do all books as a matter of policy. In the next-to impossible circumstances of their being even a semi-person in existence who gives a damn what I think of a book, and uses this as consumer guidance, I apologise.
It's a bunch of essays on Power Pop so one knows already whether the book will be of interest. I wanted to use this opportunity to witter on about Power Pop. I may be wrong (feel free to correct me) but I think the term was originated by Greg Shaw in a 1978 issue of Bomp! Greg included a Power Pop top 50, which is full of good stuff. But he simultaneously sparked annoyance from some quarters, who felt he was trying to bury Punk, whilst simultaneously promoting a variant that was more to his own taste, and there is an element of truth to this. A bit like the 'New Wave' dastardly elements concocted to render Punk more palatable to mainstream tastes, but with a greater historical (i.e., ten year old back catalogue items) sweep and less emphasis on remorselessly pushing contemporary product.
There's a lot to discuss/argue over already. Are we any the wiser as to what Power Pop is? Big Star and Cheap Trick seem like the constant elements. But perhaps only some of their output. In what universe is 'Kangaroo' or 'Holocaust' 'Power' or 'Pop'? Like most rock genres, we end up with a parlour game, fun with friends, categorising who is and who isn't.
The enterprise feels built on somewhat shakey ground to me. It's very much an American idea and from an American perspective. Nick Lowe and Squeeze may have written power pop type songs but they also transcend the genre (as anyone who lasts does). The main British contribution to the Power Pop pop at the time was The Pleasers, who sported '64 Beatles attire.
One essay defines Power pop as beatles-worship, but, again, were beatles even power pop? Maybe some songs, Please Please Me, Taxman, Your Bird Can Sing, etc. They wrote songs in all styles. So does the Power Pop devotee only listen to the small number of beatle songs that fit the bill?
It feels slightly chauvinistic to assert that the Americans don't understand British pop movements, that they don't appreciate that 'Mod' was a social movement more than a musical movement, and the music the Mods listened to was black American. The Americans see Mod in terms of The Who, and to some extent The Kinks, perhaps the Beatles and more appropriately the Small Faces. It's not wrong per se, but those groups had a more compex relationship to Mod than might be apparent. Beatles had virtually zero to do with Mod. Kinks predated Mod also to a large extent. The Who and Small Faces were formed and calculated to exploit the Mod movement, arguably clothes-horses the Small faces were the more legitimately Mod - the Who wore the clothes, put up to it by early manager and avowed mod pete Meaden, but disliked them and later brought in other elements - Pete's art school influences for instance, Pop Art ... Keith Moon's love of surf music is apt to mention here ... Beach Boy harmonies applied to the robust proto-power-trio musicianship of the early Who is more fully-formed Power Pop than anything Beatles played ... yet they were not constricted by any generic formulas ... The Ready Steady Who EP of 1966 is possibly disposable to the 'Classic Rock', album oriented consumer - but it's a more vital snapshot of an era than many of the groups later, more heralded releases. Nearly all cover versions, this is 1966 euphoria on wax - cover versions of Beach Boys and Jan And Dean (no one in England drove a 'Bucket T'), complete with parping French horn, the 'Batman' theme, and a cracked, loopy original called 'Disguises', verging on psychedelia, with weird lyrics about a boy being surprised by his girl turning up in - you guessed it -disguises.
Inspired by The Who, Birmingham's Move were formed by a fusion of players from the city's top groups. They initially wowed audiences at a club called something like 'the Cedar Rooms', and played hard hitting soul and Motown covers - not much of this made it to vinyl, but one can get an idea from 'Move theme/Don't Throw Stones At Me' included as bonus track on the CD of their debut LP, and another blazing 1966-7 EP, 'Something Else' (a title also used by The Kinks for an LP), recorded live at the Marquee.
Power Pop, whatever it is, seems already formed from a fusion of disparate influences. An essay in the book argues ELO cannot be Power Pop - let's pretend to take that seriously for a moment. Jeff Lynne was in the Move, but late-Move, and by then the group had moved into playing more elaborate music with varying tempos and lengths. In the mid 60s, he was in The Idle Race, described by himself as 'an attempt to combine George Formby with something or other'. And this seems so, with mostly whimsical, eccentric songs - but they did rock on killer-riff numbers like Days of Broken Arrows and Hurry Up, John, which would both surely meet Greg Shaw's criteria for Power Pop. If 'Sweet Talkin' Woman' isn't Power Pop you can all get stuffed.
In the states, the ne plus ultra of Power Pop seems to be Gene Clark's 'Feel A Whole Lot Better', as performed by The Byrds. A masterpiece, it has inspired much use adjectives such as 'jangley' (a word that actually provokes nausea in me from overexposure), and 'shimmering'. The Gene Clark story incorporates a lot of wonderful music that takes him far away from Power Pop, as indeed does The Byrds. The creation of that group's early music is also the subject of heated speculation, with some going to an extreme and claiming it was largely concocted by studio musicians, as manufactured as The Monkees. I will stir this pot by asserting that all Pop, even Slayer, are manufactured to a greater or lesser extent.
It could be argued there is nothing interesting to be said on the subject of Power Pop, that Frank Zappa was after all correct. But such a blanket dismissal would mean to never examine the contents of Greg's Power Pop Top 50. If there is no essay in this book that does so, even peripherally, then one star is hereby solemnly and grave-facedly removed from the above.
Greg shows for the most part excellent taste here, citing such unjustly overlooked gems of the 1970s as Marcu Hook Roll Band, Pagliaro, The Equals' godlike 'I Can See But You Don't Know' etc., alongside a diverse selection including punks like Ramones and Sex Pistols, and Abba - whose early records contain quintessential examples of Power Pop. It's funny to watch people twist and writhe at the mention of Abba, as salt poured on a slug. Abba is certainly less wimpy than some of I Am The Cosmos LP (speaking of which, the epic stylings of the magnificent title track surely belong to some other strain of Rock-bombast).
Nietszche wrote 'mankind does not advance - it does not even exist'. Claude Bessy wrote 'there's no such thing as New Wave, it's just a figment of some lame cunt's imagination'. As a much more equivocal liberal than those two reprobates, ha!, I propose that yes, Virginia, there is a Power Pop, but do not fear him. Calmly, outline the relative merits of The Bay City Rollers 'Shang-A-Lang', David Cassidy's 'Please Please Me', and inform him that your all-gurl guitar band is recording a track-for-track remake of Erasure's 'Pop! 20 Hits', to be offered for sale on your bandcamp page, that will surely provoke debate and delight in equal measure. Do not turn your back on him as you slowly exit the room, taking care not to trip over.
We have to know - did Power pop survive the arrival of Synth-pop? Was it from thenceforth made into a retro format (if it wasn't already)? Or did some mutant-fusion emerge? Close investigation usually offers evidence of the latter. Macca's 'Temporary Secretary' is very much 1980's equivalent of Paperback Writer or Eleanor Rigby. To the would-be jangling Rickenbacker supremacist who gnashes and wails at such a prospect, I put it that the Monkees 'teardrop city' showed that the ticket to ride formula was barren as early as '67. You never say what you are not going to do.
I think Greg liked to invent musical sub-genres, because who doesn't? Making a convincing case for a particularly aesthetic is step one, and making it seem exciting, fresh and full of possibility. the trouble is that the raw materials are usually put together unslefconsciously. When the groups come along who obligingly produce power pop, or punk or 'mod' records, they have strait-jacketed themselves to a formula, a small pool of influences, and they want a strict set of rules to abide by. The 'scene' that follows ultimately becomes a matter of rigid policing. What Pop fun?
Greg played pop auteur all along in Bomp!, the fanzine and the label, a forerunner of what is now pretentiously called 'curatorship'. Greg's CV could legitimately claim he brought 'genuine commitment and enthusiasm' to the task at hand though - and a sense of humour, which is frequently the first casualty in a Pop skirmish.
Most of Greg's ideas did gain a lot of traction, and last time I looked still formed supporting columns in the Rock-pop infrastructure, though I am disappointed his ACID PUNK top ten was not more influential.
Alex Chilton must've been amused to have his music considered Power pop after about 1975, although maybe the genre is a broader church than i am giving it credit for.
A Power Pop Top Ten (not definitive, just some that spring to mind)
Sparks - How Are You Getting Home?
Abba - Does you Mother Know?
Mike McGear - Giving Grease A Ride
Urinals - Sex
Chairmen Of The Board - Everything's Tuesday (surely Motown and HDH are the epitome of Power Pop?)
Bee Gees - Jumbo
Richard Hell - I'm Your Man
Channel 3- You Make Me Feel Cheap
Zombies - I Want Her She Want's Me (or the Mindbenders cover version)
Queen - You're My best Friend
I think of Nik Cohn's admonishment in Awopbopaloobopawopbamboom: 'What did it have over Superpop?'
What indeed? Cohn was lamenting the fracturing of the mighty, monolithic 'Pop' colossus, as it was until about 1968.
Why the fragmentation? And did it come from the industry, or us 'Kids'?
For further discussion, amongst yourselves if you like, the question of whether a genre such as Power pop legitimately exists, in the sense of clearly discernable characteristics, and is there then an evolution of the style, does it's influence percolate - or is the form intimately tied to a specific set of places, at a certain time?
One reviewer has commented that very few women are considered as Powerpoppers. Not having read the book I cannot offer an opinion, but for arguments sake it might be worth considering. I don't think it's necessary to institute a quota system, because once the gnre is defined, it will become obvious that musicians of all persuasions produce power pop music, not just the ones who adhere most strongly to the cliches (a Genre product has to advertise that it's a Genre product, though - too much 'originality' in the mix could alienate consumer units). (The 'game' of genre can and must be taken to an extreme by some, if only as a philosophical exercise - Cherie Currie described a Runaways song that was composed by having a computer analyse Beatle lyrics used most frequently, and the song constructed from the results. Unsurprisingly, the results were pathetic. Extremism in genre may push the form to the limit, be pathetic to observe, show the limitations and soullessness of such an exercise, or come across as an act of fan devotion beyond rationality - or all the above ...)
It would be to split hairs and disingenuous to claim The Go-Gos were 'New Wave' and therefore disqualified from being Power Pop. Likewise, Kim Wilde's 'Kids In America', Toni Basil's 'Mickey' and Cliff Richard's 'Wired For Sound' MUST be accepted into the Power Pop pantheon. If this demand is not met the National Guard will be deployed to force admission, and there will be no Pop tarts, power pop tarts, for anyone.
The hallowed Vaticans of Power pop will be all abuzz, because if Tony basil is admitted, where does that leave Devo? Do we want those creeps tainting our shimmering, jangly majesty with their sarcasm? We can allow in some Cliff - In The Country, for instance, his cover of Blue Turns To Grey - but we already have a cut-off in 1961 to keep rock n rollers out. Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran are as Power Pop as dammit. Bobby Fuller Four - Pamela, Never To Be Forgotten ... Tommy Roe, Sheila ... if we don't maintain our Power-pop identity, if we don't preserve the spirit around a handful of treasured icons, we are under siege from all sides ... BUT FROM THE LEFT: but if we don't allow for change, admit new blood, we are fossils. If we refuse to recognise a close relative, strangely dressed as they may be, we are fools to ourselves ...
The Bangles are quintessentially power pop, they even cover The Merry-Go-Round and for gods sake September Gurrrls - the ultimate P-Popper, the splash from which the ripples radiate out, the Power Pop 'Moment' - from which one is either heading toward or receding away from. But as we have seen, it was not created in a vacuum, nor a hoover.
March 14, 2022
Must read for power-pop fans
May 1, 2023
no words to properly express my disappointment
March 1, 2024
According to this book it takes a certain type of person to appreciate "power pop." I guess I am that person because it is my favorite genre of all. Supposedly, you cannot be a "serious" person to like this stuff. And being ten years old at the right time helps. Of course, the term is defined a bit more narrowly as comprising post-sixties bands (think Big Star, Flamin' Groovies, and Badfinger).
Many bands do not like being called "power pop" because in the music biz, it is like "box office poison." That was news to me but, with the exception of Cheap Trick and Weezer, it seems to be largely true. Even the Knack and Raspberries were more like one-hit-wonders. There was even a scene in Danny Boyle's Pistol in which Glen Matlock is derided by Johnny Rotten for liking "power pop."
Anyway, this is a deep dive and includes a lot of bands I do not know. Frank Zappa once said, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I can only read about "Aeolian cadences" when it concerns a song I already know. However, there were some good personal stories included that I wished were longer, like about the guy who lived one floor above Alex Chilton on Thompson Street in the village, and the other about the American girl who lucked into a job bartending in London at a place that turned out to be "ground zero" for "pub rock" [precursor to a lot of British power pop and punk].
It was one of those books that had me taking a lot of notes. However, I hear there is a movie in the works, The Power Pop Movie. If their website is any indiction, it could end up being longer than Eric Von Stroheim's Greed [and I would watch all of it].
I also noticed they were inviting recommendations for "most overlooked power pop band." My vote goes to Wanderlust whose album Prize was one of my favorites in about 1995. They had some sort of Philly connection which is how I found out about them while working for a label called Big Pop. It was impossible to buy for a long time, but I downloaded it from Amazon because my CD was going wonky. And maybe I would be remiss if I did not mention All About Chad.
Many bands do not like being called "power pop" because in the music biz, it is like "box office poison." That was news to me but, with the exception of Cheap Trick and Weezer, it seems to be largely true. Even the Knack and Raspberries were more like one-hit-wonders. There was even a scene in Danny Boyle's Pistol in which Glen Matlock is derided by Johnny Rotten for liking "power pop."
Anyway, this is a deep dive and includes a lot of bands I do not know. Frank Zappa once said, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I can only read about "Aeolian cadences" when it concerns a song I already know. However, there were some good personal stories included that I wished were longer, like about the guy who lived one floor above Alex Chilton on Thompson Street in the village, and the other about the American girl who lucked into a job bartending in London at a place that turned out to be "ground zero" for "pub rock" [precursor to a lot of British power pop and punk].
It was one of those books that had me taking a lot of notes. However, I hear there is a movie in the works, The Power Pop Movie. If their website is any indiction, it could end up being longer than Eric Von Stroheim's Greed [and I would watch all of it].
I also noticed they were inviting recommendations for "most overlooked power pop band." My vote goes to Wanderlust whose album Prize was one of my favorites in about 1995. They had some sort of Philly connection which is how I found out about them while working for a label called Big Pop. It was impossible to buy for a long time, but I downloaded it from Amazon because my CD was going wonky. And maybe I would be remiss if I did not mention All About Chad.
May 14, 2020
I think I've always loved power pop, even before I knew it was a genre unto itself. And it's clear I'm not alone. There's a common thread running through much of this collection of essays and asides in appreciation of the genre. Can anyone truly define what it is? The consensus seems to be that it's much easier to define what isn't power pop than what is. For me, that hits home, as I think I've always been able to discern when a song or artist sits outside of the style. But, to consider whether something fits within that category, there can often be arguments amongst those who think they know. Another common thread from the artists' perspective is a reluctance to accept the designation. Whatever the case, the usual suspects are name dropped often here: Big Star, Raspberries, the Beatles, the Who, Sloan, Cheap Trick, Tommy Keene, Matthew Sweet. Many others are mentioned too. In fact, I kept a pen and paper to jot down the names of artists that have managed to fly beneath my own power pop radar: Gravelberrys, Orange Peels, Ozma, the Leftovers, Off Broadway, Cheepskates. My quest to collect as much power pop as I can continues! Make no mistake, this is not a definitive "bible" about power pop, but if you are a fan you will find this an engaging, clever and thought-provoking read.
January 26, 2022
Power Pop. No one knows what it is but we all know it when we hear it.
This collection of essays vacillates from describing/defending the genre, spotlighting specific artists (Weezer, Big Star, ELO, Liz Phair, Cheap Trick, Sloan and Jellyfish are among the subjects of specific essays) and memoir.
While I enjoyed all of it, those memoir pieces are the highlights.
Specifically filmmaker Alison Anders and novelist Joe Clifford, whose meditation on brotherhood and The Hold Steady had me weeping (on a plane, no less!) and Carrie Courogen's defense of Liz Phair's eponymous 2003 record (one which I adored and am anxious to revisit now that I've finished the book). Those three resonated with me and while I am always appreciative of the mentions the granddaddies of the genre (You know that The Knack and Alex Chilton will feature in a book of this subject) always seem to attain I'm left wanting to read more about the subterranean Power Poppers (some get cursory mentions), like, The Jags, The Pop Group, Sorrows, The Shivvers, Teen Machine, Graduate, The Keys, The Heats, The Cry, etc.
I look forward to the sequel.
This collection of essays vacillates from describing/defending the genre, spotlighting specific artists (Weezer, Big Star, ELO, Liz Phair, Cheap Trick, Sloan and Jellyfish are among the subjects of specific essays) and memoir.
While I enjoyed all of it, those memoir pieces are the highlights.
Specifically filmmaker Alison Anders and novelist Joe Clifford, whose meditation on brotherhood and The Hold Steady had me weeping (on a plane, no less!) and Carrie Courogen's defense of Liz Phair's eponymous 2003 record (one which I adored and am anxious to revisit now that I've finished the book). Those three resonated with me and while I am always appreciative of the mentions the granddaddies of the genre (You know that The Knack and Alex Chilton will feature in a book of this subject) always seem to attain I'm left wanting to read more about the subterranean Power Poppers (some get cursory mentions), like, The Jags, The Pop Group, Sorrows, The Shivvers, Teen Machine, Graduate, The Keys, The Heats, The Cry, etc.
I look forward to the sequel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2022
Mixed bag of essays on power pop. Don't look for a comprehensive history of the genre; the focus is either on a single artist (and sometimes, annoyingly, why they are NOT really power pop - why do we need 2 chapters on Jeff Lynne/ELO if that's the case?), or autobiographical vignettes describing how a specific artist had an impact on the author's life. The essay on Fountains of Wayne, written before Adam Schlesinger's untimely 2020 death from COVID, made me cry. And I will love Dave Holmes forever for writing about the criminally unheralded Tommy Keene (another artist gone too soon).
The book's opening essay comes from Justin Fielding, an independent filmmaker who has been working on a power pop movie for years. If it is ever released, it will celebrate this genre much more than a book ever could. Until then, Go All The Way (and its sequel Go Further: More Literary Appreciations of Power Pop) will have to suffice.
The book's opening essay comes from Justin Fielding, an independent filmmaker who has been working on a power pop movie for years. If it is ever released, it will celebrate this genre much more than a book ever could. Until then, Go All The Way (and its sequel Go Further: More Literary Appreciations of Power Pop) will have to suffice.
February 17, 2022
"Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop" is a series of essays that all come at the genre in different ways and with different focuses, which makes sense since the first big question about power pop is: What is power pop?
The Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Big Star, The Knack, The Rubinoos, maybe Jellyfish, maybe the Posies, probably not ELO but maybe Jeff Lynne - the music is hard to pin down but it's great to listen to.
Usually, it's defined as 2 guitars, bass and drums, great melodies, layers of harmonies, crunchy guitars, more hooks than a tackle box - and heavy pre-"Sgt. Pepper" Beatles influence. Happy songs about sad people. Well not sad entirely but disappointed and rejected maybe. "I want you to want me." "I wanna be your boyfriend." "I've been waiting."
There are a lot of interesting articles here, and some are just lists, and some are memories of the writers that don't honestly seem to fit and are only barely about power pop.
But I Iove reading about music because of the memories triggered and the songs playing in my head.
The Raspberries, Cheap Trick, Big Star, The Knack, The Rubinoos, maybe Jellyfish, maybe the Posies, probably not ELO but maybe Jeff Lynne - the music is hard to pin down but it's great to listen to.
Usually, it's defined as 2 guitars, bass and drums, great melodies, layers of harmonies, crunchy guitars, more hooks than a tackle box - and heavy pre-"Sgt. Pepper" Beatles influence. Happy songs about sad people. Well not sad entirely but disappointed and rejected maybe. "I want you to want me." "I wanna be your boyfriend." "I've been waiting."
There are a lot of interesting articles here, and some are just lists, and some are memories of the writers that don't honestly seem to fit and are only barely about power pop.
But I Iove reading about music because of the memories triggered and the songs playing in my head.
March 7, 2020
Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop, edited by Paul Myers and S.W. Lauden, is a collection of essays that look at and sorta define what power pop is. Well, defines it as each of the contributors define it, for whatever that is worth. It isn't a genre, it isn't even a sub-genre since the examples all cross genre lines. So more than anything it seems to be songs that have some sonic similarities but are primarily distinguished by how they are received by the listener. Thus many songs that were loved and listened to but never considered power pop by some listeners were immediately perceived and appreciated as power pop by others. Go figure. For me, the definition or even the existence of this "type" of music is less important than the music itself, however you might want to pigeonhole it.
The essays were varied in both quality and purpose, but on the whole were quite good. Though the word literary is in the book title don't expect polished essays that always make some point. If you are comfortable with that then you will enjoy the book. Each contributor brings something to the overall discussion, usually focusing on an artist and/or a song in particular. Once the "is it or isn't it" stuff is completed, the truly interesting aspects come through. Namely, what these songs meant for these listeners and how the songs still make them feel. Any music lover will be able to appreciate these stories.
I was familiar with more of the smaller bands than I expected to be, but that is largely due to some of the places I lived and the sheer number of shows I used to take in when I was younger. That said, even the ones I had heard of and maybe heard, I had largely forgotten them. If you're like me and enjoy looking for music online, then this book will have the added benefit of being a great springboard into either new-to-you music or largely forgotten music. I had quite a few under each heading.
I did enjoy trying to understand what these artists and songs shared that supposedly make them so distinct as to have their own pigeonhole. I didn't buy into the whole "power pop" as a distinctive type of music thing but that did not detract from the enjoyment of the book/CDs (I have the CD audio version of the book, "7 hours on 6 CDs"). I don't think of story pop as its own category either even though they may all tell stories, since the songs would run the gamut from country, R&B, pop and through all types of rock. Likewise this mysterious grouping called power pop. But if those who like to have a thing of their own, well, there you go, have power pop. No one is hurt whether there is a strong distinction or merely some general similarities.
I definitely recommend this to lovers of popular music. The attempts to distinguish the style is interesting but the discussions of artists and their music, and how listeners were affected, are the true gems in this collection.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
The essays were varied in both quality and purpose, but on the whole were quite good. Though the word literary is in the book title don't expect polished essays that always make some point. If you are comfortable with that then you will enjoy the book. Each contributor brings something to the overall discussion, usually focusing on an artist and/or a song in particular. Once the "is it or isn't it" stuff is completed, the truly interesting aspects come through. Namely, what these songs meant for these listeners and how the songs still make them feel. Any music lover will be able to appreciate these stories.
I was familiar with more of the smaller bands than I expected to be, but that is largely due to some of the places I lived and the sheer number of shows I used to take in when I was younger. That said, even the ones I had heard of and maybe heard, I had largely forgotten them. If you're like me and enjoy looking for music online, then this book will have the added benefit of being a great springboard into either new-to-you music or largely forgotten music. I had quite a few under each heading.
I did enjoy trying to understand what these artists and songs shared that supposedly make them so distinct as to have their own pigeonhole. I didn't buy into the whole "power pop" as a distinctive type of music thing but that did not detract from the enjoyment of the book/CDs (I have the CD audio version of the book, "7 hours on 6 CDs"). I don't think of story pop as its own category either even though they may all tell stories, since the songs would run the gamut from country, R&B, pop and through all types of rock. Likewise this mysterious grouping called power pop. But if those who like to have a thing of their own, well, there you go, have power pop. No one is hurt whether there is a strong distinction or merely some general similarities.
I definitely recommend this to lovers of popular music. The attempts to distinguish the style is interesting but the discussions of artists and their music, and how listeners were affected, are the true gems in this collection.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
August 2, 2020
Great little book. A lot of the essays tread similar ground; I'm not sure I need to be told at least half a dozen times that Pete Townsend coined the term Power Pop, or that My Sharona was Power Pop's commercial peak, but if you're interested in the subject there's plenty to enjoy and some great discoveries to be made along the way.
May 1, 2025
Serious Music Nerd book. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing...
Power Pop is apparently just about anything that someone likes that falls into a very broad category of music. This book makes it clear that the definition is entirely nerd based (subjective) and the love of it is obsessive (a good thing).
You have to like it to like it. But I do so...
Power Pop is apparently just about anything that someone likes that falls into a very broad category of music. This book makes it clear that the definition is entirely nerd based (subjective) and the love of it is obsessive (a good thing).
You have to like it to like it. But I do so...
September 18, 2021
This book has a bunch of essays about a ton of bands who either fall into the power pop genre or just outside of it. I love power pop and got to learn about new songs and bands to me. What more could you ask for?
October 28, 2025
Fun essays on Power Pop. If you’re well versed, it’s not too revelatory, but if you’re new to the genre there are a ton of lesser known bands you’ll be checking out. I very much enjoyed the piece on Paul Stanley’s love of The Raspberries.
Read
August 7, 2020Decent collection of essays. Nothing earth shattering. Biggest takeaway... If your band gets labeled Power Pop you're doomed. But I already knew that.
April 15, 2022
Great to hear people's different ideas of what exactly Power Pop means to them and which bands they liked and wrote about!
did-not-finish
December 30, 202412/29/2024 DNF in chapter 2. I thought I was getting into a history book, but this is a collection of essays.
September 15, 2023
The writing was all very good. I loved the various styles and perspectives and although, as the book constantly alludes to, I disagreed with a lot of the content’s relevance to Power Pop, I enjoyed every article as exactly the type of music nerdery that I subscribe to.
March 3, 2020
A disappointing essay collection which amounts to less than the sum of its parts, alternating between conventional music criticism ("what is power pop?" and "is this album power pop?" keep coming up, but they're far from the most interesting questions about the genre) and personal memoirs. Many of the essays are too brief to say anything substantial. The best, Carrie Courogen's "Liz Phair the Poptimist," steps far outside the typical canon of power pop to mount a convincing defense of Liz Phair's self-titled album, but it engages with a contemporary defense of the value of a mainstream pop aesthetic (ironically, one that Pitchfork has recently adopted enthusiastically, in an essay devoted to attacking their original review of the album) while power pop tends to be defined by sticking to a mainstream pop/rock aesthetic circa 1966 in the present day.
November 28, 2024
Skipped a few essays but a fun light read about some of my favourite bands.🎸🎤🛵
February 13, 2022
As a huge fan of the Power Pop genre, the essays that make up this book are pure gold to me. Cheap Trick, The Knack, Weezer, Big Star, ELO and many other bands are either written about or referenced in this. Excellent book if you love the music!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews