*** 1970's Album Draft - Commentary Thread ***

[BuckyBuckner]

The Beatles gave birth to power pop. Other '60s bands like The Zombies, The Turtles, The Animals, the Beach Boys, even Chilton's prior band The Box Tops, and many others, ran with it. Many 1960s Garage Bands are also considered to be power pop. Perhaps Big Star influenced a few later bands with their style of power pop, but even if you look at that period in the early 1970s, groups like Badfinger, the Raspberries, Three Dog Night, it was already rampant.

I guess everything I've read from just about everyone is wrong. The Beatles didn't have the power elements, their songs had too many arrangements and were too complex to be power pop. They had the pop but not the power. Big Star took the pop and simplified it.

[Erik]

I find it very interesting to know when you first listened to each album you are picking.

Who's Next (1971) -- 1982 (age 11) -- one of the first cassettes I bought.
Sticky Fingers (1971) -- 1987-ish (age 16) -- heard it in full on the radio, didn't own it (on CD) until age 18 or so.
Animals (1977) -- 1987-ish (age 16) -- got it on cassette in 10th or 11th grade.
Something/Anything? (1972) - 1989 (age 18) -- got it on cassette during the summer between high school and college. Wore it out during college, then got it on CD.
Off the Wall (1979) -- 2011 (age 40) -- I knew the singles but never heard the full album until I started poking around on Youtube and delving into '70s funk.
John Barleycorn Must Die (1970) -- 1987-ish (age 16) -- arrived in my cassette collection sometime around the same time as Animals.

[senorsheep]

No they're not prog, just saying Wire had that artsy/pretentious streak to them, making them spiky heirs to their older prog predecessors. Punks like the Dead Boys would sing "Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth". Punks like Wire would sing "Ex-Lion Tamer", which a quick perusal of the lyrics shows to not be about retired animal trainers but about, well, I have no idea what it's about. Like all their puzzling, inscrutable artsy/fartsy songs.

It's about the emptiness of doing nothing with your life but watching other people on TV. I think. It sure sounds great, in any case. Thanks for giving me an excuse to post it!

[revo]

I guess everything I've read from just about everyone is wrong. The Beatles didn't have the power elements, their songs had too many arrangements and were too complex to be power pop. They had the pop but not the power. Big Star took the pop and simplified it.

Writing for Allmusic, John Dougan described the genre's origins:
"The musical sourcepoint for nearly all power pop is The Beatles. Virtually all stylistic appropriations begin with them: distinctive harmony singing, strong melodic lines, unforgettable guitar riffs, lyrics about boys and girls in love; they created the model that other power poppers copied for the next couple of decades. Other profound influences include The Who, The Kinks and The Move, bands whose aggressive melodies and loud distorted guitars put the "power" in power pop."

Pete Townshend of The Who coined the term "power pop" in a 1967 interview in which he said: "Power pop is what we play—what the Small Faces used to play, and the kind of pop The Beach Boys played in the days of 'Fun, Fun, Fun' which I preferred."[5] The Beatles and The Byrds, along with The Who, The Small Faces and The Beach Boys, are often cited as the progenitors of power pop.

Several groups that arose in the wake of The Beatles' success were important in the evolution and expansion of the power pop style, such as The Hollies and The Monkees, as well as "softer" acts such as The Beau Brummels, The Cowsills, The Zombies and the "bubblegum" singles of the Kasenetz-Katz production team. Other acts such as The Knickerbockers, The Easybeats and The Outsiders contributed iconic singles. Writer John Borack has noted, "It's also quite easy to draw a not-so-crooked line from garage rock to power pop."

By 1970 the distinctive stylistic elements of power pop were clearly evident in recordings by the British group Badfinger, with singles such as "No Matter What", "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day" serving as templates for the power pop sound that would follow.
Although the formative influences on the genre were primarily British, the bands that developed and codified power pop in the 1970s were nearly all American. The Raspberries' 1972 hit single "Go All The Way" is an almost perfect embodiment of the elements of power pop and that group's four albums can be considered strongly representative of the genre. Some of Todd Rundgren's early and mid-1970s solo work also touched on power pop, as did the recordings of Blue Ash, the Flamin' Groovies, Artful Dodger and The Dwight Twilley Band. The most influential group of the period may have been Big Star. Though Big Star's initial early 1970s career met with no commercial success, they developed an avid cult following and members of later bands like R.E.M. and The Replacements spoke enthusiastically of their esteem for the group's work. The Replacements even recorded a song entitled "Alex Chilton" in honor of Big Star's frontman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_pop

"Some key songs by Badfinger and The Move were power pop before the genre really existed, and once the sound became more viable and widely imitated, it was easier to trace the roots of the genre back to rockabilly, doo-wop, girl groups, and the early records of The Beatles, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, and The Who.

Power pop evolved throughout the ’70s and early ’80s, running parallel and sometimes absorbing other trends like glam rock, pub rock, punk, new wave, college rock, and neo-psychedelia. But for the core power-pop sound—the one that came closest to breaking through to the mainstream and challenging ’70s rock radio’s preference for grandiosity—the best place to start is with The Raspberries. "

http://www.avclub.com/article/a-beginners-guide-to-the-heyday-of-power-pop-1972--86527

[senorsheep]

This one live album rule sucks, we're going to have to allow one more if we go 25.

I think David Bowie live albums, being the apotheosis of all music, should not count as either David Bowie albums or live albums, but should be a special category unto themselves, and everyone should be required to have at least two of them on their roster.

[DMT]

I think David Bowie live albums, being the apotheosis of all music, should not count as either David Bowie albums or live albums, but should be a special category unto themselves, and everyone should be required to have at least two of them on their roster.

Exactly.

[senorsheep]

Writing for Allmusic, John Dougan described the genre's origins:

Whole lotta spoilers in that post...

[revo]

Whole lotta spoilers in that post...

LOL. Anyone who didn't know those bands is not participating in this draft!

[BuckyBuckner]

Whole lotta spoilers in that post...

Yeah, seriously. A few from my list, not surprising with my love of power pop.

Revo, I get what you are saying, and you are probably right. I guess for me, I've always felt that Big Star defined power pop in what we think about today. I still think the Beatles are more of a pop band but I see what the guy from allmusic is saying.

[Mithrandir]

You guys need to get a room with Bowie....Geez.....

[Erik]

LOL. Anyone who didn't know those bands is not participating in this draft!

I'm guessing Mith hasn't heard of at least 2/3 of the bands mentioned. But he wasn't going to take them anyway.

[DMT]

You guys need to get a room with Bowie....Geez.....

Don't worry, there's still a few left

[BuckyBuckner]

I'm guessing Mith hasn't heard of at least 2/3 of the bands mentioned. But he wasn't going to take them anyway.

Of course he hasn't heard them, they weren't playing garages in his neighborhood.

[Mithrandir]

Of course he hasn't heard them, they weren't playing garages in his neighborhood.

You have that backwards. I was afraid to go see the garage bands, so if they were playing i wouldn't have seen them. Keep up if you're going to make fun of me

[johnnya24]

Why? See Gaffer's post on the previous page.

Yeah it was a nice gesture by Gaffer .... but let's face it ... I don't think anyone is this draft would ask for it back. Chance was never going to ask Gaffer to give it up. Even Mith wouldn't ask for his favourite Rush record back in a similar situation