Power pop
| Power pop | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1960s, United Kingdom and United States |
| Typical instruments | |
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Power pop is a pop rock music subgenre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, clear vocals and crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed.
In the 1980s and 1990s, power pop continued as a commercially modest genre but by the mid-1990s through the 2000s, power pop was mainly in the underground.
While its cultural impact has waxed and waned over the decades, power pop is among rock's most enduring subgenres.
Power pop is a more aggressive form of pop rock that is based on catchy, melodic hooks and energetic moods. Author John M. Borack stated in his book Shake Some Action – The Ultimate Guide to Power Pop that the genre has often been applied to varied groups and artists with "blissful indifference" noting labeling of the genre to Britney Spears, Green Day, the Bay City Rollers and Def Leppard.
The origins of power pop date back to the early-to-mid 1960's with what Allmusic calls: "a cross between the crunching hard rock of the Who and the sweet melodicism of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, with the ringing guitars of the Byrds thrown in for good measure". It was Pete Townshend, of the English rock band the Who, that 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." The Small Faces are often cited as being among the progenitors of power pop. The Who's role in the creation of power pop has been cited by singer-songwriter Eric Carmen of the Raspberries, who has said:
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