Talk About Power-Pop

[Henry Spencer]

If you're gonna bring Jimmy Eat World into this, I would be lax if I were to go without mentioning Jawbreaker. I considered them and JEW to fall more into the "pop punk" camp and less into the "power pop" one, but I suppose such generic considerations are arbitrary when we're talking about what are essentially pop songs jauntily played with catchy guitars.

 

 

Dear You is fantastic, and probably the hookiest, catchiest thing to be associated with nineties alterna-rock this side of the first Weezer album.

[Giuseppe Zangara]

Danny, you tool. "Alex Chilton" is better than "September Gurls"? "The Ballad of El Goodo"?

 

And all this Third Eye Blind talk is giving me an ulcer. The only good thing they ever did was lift the riff from "Sweet Jane."

[Kinetic]

I don't care for "September Gurls" at all. I mean, I like a fair number of Big Star songs, but they've just never really meant anything to me. It's entirely possible that they'll someday click for me, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

I have little to no experience listening to Big Star, but I too like "Alex Chilton" more than most songs in general. Tough competition.

[PLAGIARISM!]

Though I'm not huge on Big Star either, I think 'September Gurls' edges 'Alex Chilton'. But its by no means an open and shut case.

[Annabelle]

thirteen is the best big star song, i figure

 

evan dando does an arresting version of el goodo on the empire records soundtrack. i'll always be faithful to that guy.

[Kinetic]

thirteen is the best big star song, i figure

 

Word. I forgot all about that song. I had a dream about it one time.

[Anorak]

90's power pop

 

The Posies - Frosting On The Beater

Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

[Guest Epic Narcissism]

Hello, friends. Would anyone anywhere happen to have or know where I could find a good copy of Jules & the Polar Bears' Fenetiks? I found it on Soulseek, but it was a rip of a bad cassette. Unacceptable. It'd be apprec'd!

[JJ Johnson]

Are you familiar with the Blogspot trick? That's how I find all of my music.

[Guest Epic Narcissism]

What's the Blogspot trick? I already tried Shareminer and had no luck. That might be the only existing copy on the Internet, for all I know.

[JJ Johnson]

I tried it for what you're looking for, actually, and it turned up no results at all, but for future reference: Do a Google advanced search for the artist name and album name and limit the search to blogspot.com. Most of the time, it'll turn up blogs with Rapidshare or MegaUpload links. Had I done a bulleted list, this sentence would instead be the "profit" bullet.

[Guest Epic Narcissism]

That's what Shareminer.com does, but it finds more places than Blogspot. I've been trying to find Jules Shear stuff for over a year now, since I read his interview in the Songwriters on Songwriting book I have, and I can never find anything in stores or on Soulseek. How elusive.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

Weezer.

 

I've decided I'm not going to hate Weezer anymore. I want to be a cool kid, just like everybody else. Tonight and tomorrow, it's gonna be nothing but blue album, Pinkerton, and green album until I don't hate them anymore. I'm skipping the albums that I know suck. I'm peeling open the eyelids of my ears. In 24 hours, I will love Weezer or hate them more than anything in this world. I need you to wish me way more than luck.

[Kinetic]

Oh, man. A couple of runs through those clunky, go-nowhere "wha wha girl trouble" duds on Pinkerton and your head really is going to explode.

[Guest Cal Moriarty]

Yeah, I still only like "El Scorcho." The blue album is a little better than I remember it being, but still, this is nothing special. It's not the music I hate so much as the praise. Guess I had to be there. I sort of was, I mean I was alive and listening to music, just the wrong kind. I might be able to get some use out of this for like a month. Pinkerton still sucks. The green album is okay. Thus concludes my Weezer experiment, ahead of schedule.

[PUT THAT DICK IN MY MOUTH!]

Weezer really isn't very good. Nostalgia keeps telling me that I should love them because I had the blue album on cassette back in '94 (I was a pretty hip seven year old), but I just can't bring myself to enjoy them anymore.

[Annabelle]

the first two weezer albums are still great. pinkerton's popularity has obviously been amplified by the characterization of it. but i enjoy the rivers/matt sharp musical interplay. the blue album is just fun. why deny yourself fun because weezer has been dropping musical turds for the past 10 years? deny surf wax america? ok, the sweater song blows. but you know...

[Guest WhackingCockDick]

I can see exactly why everyone would love "My Name Is Jonas," and I think it's really good too, but it's not very fun, is it? It made me feel sad and miss walking to elementary school. At any rate, at least I'll acknowledge the first half of the "but what about the blue album and Pinkerton?" line as not being bullshit.

 

 

[PLAGIARISM!]

I really like 'Tired of Sex'.

[godthedog]

i've never really been able to get into 'pinkerton'. first 2 tracks are nice, but after that it just gets repetitive. i've been telling myself for years to get the blue album, but i've just never gotten around to it. meanwhile, the ultra-underappreciated 'american thighs' continues to get better every time i listen to it. would that be considered power-pop? they're pretty bubble-gummy. would it be considered power-pop if louise post wore glasses?

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I hate Weezer almost as much as I hate Sublime. This will not change.

[Guest WhackingCockDick]

Oh, fuck Sublime.

[Kinetic]

If all music can be categorized as being either Apollonian or Dionysian, then Czech--probably through no fault of his own--is definitely an Apollonian kinda guy. Sublime, on the other hand, is like a beer-soaked, spooge-filled condom thrown in the face of overbearing parents, uncaring teachers, and girls that won't give you the time of day. Sublime is all about being alive, man; alive as a teenager with a pocket full of trouble and nothing to lose. It's just not your world, brother. Stick to the Steely Dan.

[godthedog]

i threw a spooge-filled condom at my friend once (it had been tied shut). sadly, i was not listening to sublime at the time.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

If all music can be categorized as being either Apollonian or Dionysian, then Czech--probably through no fault of his own--is definitely an Apollonian kinda guy. Sublime, on the other hand, is like a beer-soaked, spooge-filled condom thrown in the face of overbearing parents, uncaring teachers, and girls that won't give you the time of day. Sublime is all about being alive, man; alive as a teenager with a pocket full of trouble and nothing to lose. It's just not your world, brother. Stick to the Steely Dan.

 

Haha. Dude, I was running from the cops though muddy cornfields with a pocket full of blotter acid at 17 and I think Sublime blows dogs for quarters.

[Edwin MacPhisto]

Upon reflection, I feel that Oingo Boingo's "Not My Slave" should have been a monstrous power-pop hit. All it needed was a montage involving Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, or Andrew McCarthy, and it would have been earth-dominating.

[Annabelle]

i used to love the shit outta sublime. i dont' care for 'em not so much because i think they suck but because i listened to them too much in high school. if they kept making records i dunno where my opinion would lie.

[Kinetic]

I never really cared for them, but I had quite a few blob-like stoner friends for whom they were the pinnacle of popular music. They're better than Staind, I'll give em that.

[Annabelle]

its the ultimate high school music. nearly every kid (i guess mostly stoners) like punk rock, reggae, and hip hop. i guess sublime had all that. one band i can't really stomach that i used to love are the beastie boys. arrgh. i can still handle me a little santeria but not no sleep til brooklyn.