Power Pop – Page 7 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Watermelon Men – Seven Years

For everyone that follows me on the weekend…I’m working on a home project and I will only post one Twilight Zone each day with no music posts this weekend. Have a great weekend.

This song was released in 1985 on the Watermelon’s album Past, Present and Future.

The Watermelon Men were a Swedish five piece band that were around from the mid Eighties up till 1994. They had quite a following in Sweden, Germany, England, among other places.

The band is still popular over ten years after they ceased. They are praised in power pop circles in Europe. They were mostly known for garage rock and brought good melodies with jangly guitars in a lot of their music.

When they were together they released three albums, an Ep, and three singles. One album remains unreleased…it’s up in the air on if it will come out.

The guitar player Imre von Polgar died in the tsunami disaster in Khao Lak in 2004. Shortly after, the band reformed for a one time show in his memory.

Seven Years

If the man can’t choose which way to go
If the girl don’t know where she belongs
Then you’re apt to say all the love can’t kill the pain
Till they meet, he’ll be a traveling man
When his hope was buried in the ground
In tears she left her man behind
The you’re apt to think seven years has passed today
Till they meet, she’ll dream her life away

You won’t feel, you’ll meet her someday
And in his arms, she’ll always stay
But it’s the story
No one ever fades

In surprise they think
When they both run from themselves
Till they meet, the story has no end

You won’t see, you’ll meet her someday
And in his arms, she’ll always stay
But it’s the story
No one ever fades

Nikki and the Corvettes – He’s A Mover

Great way to start a morning listening to this 60s influenced guitar riff. It’s a pure joy power pop song.

Nikki was influenced by The Stooges and the MC5 in her teen years, before a friend pushed her on stage in the Detroit punk scene in 1978. Nikki and The Corvettes formed and recorded their self-titled and only studio album in the late ‘70s in Detroit. It was released in 1980 by Bomp! Bomp! records. This song was on that self-titled album.

The album they released influenced many starting bands in the years to follow. Nikki didn’t realize this until it was reissued in 2000. The band was short lived. They were only together from 1978-1981. Nikki returned to music in 2003 with Nikki and the Stingrays. They released an album called Back to Detroit.

In 2009 she formed a band called Gorevette and they opened up for Blondie and the Donna’s at a few shows.

Sorry I couldn’t find the lyrics…Just enjoy the song!

Emitt Rhodes – Long Time No See…. Power Pop Friday

It’s a shame this guy didn’t get the recognition he should have. He was obviously influenced by the Beatles and Paul McCartney especially.

Emitt was turned down by A&M Records so he built a studio in his parents garage. Rhodes recorded his first album (Emitt Rhodes) in that studio. ABC/Dunhill Records signed him and they released his album as well as the next three albums he recorded.

He played all the instruments himself and recorded on a four track tape machine. ABC/Dunhill then transferred the tapes to 8 track and Emitt redone all of his vocals.

This song is on his debut album Emitt Rhodes and every song is quality. The first single Fresh as a Daisy peaked at #54 in the Billboard 100 while his album Emitt Rhodes peaked at #29 in 1970.

The album was a critical success – Billboard called Rhodes “one of the finest artists on the music scene today” and later called his first album one of the “best albums of the decade“.

Unfortunately Emitt passed away in 2020 in his sleep.

From Wiki: Italian director Cosimo Messeri shot a documentary movie about Emitt Rhodes’s vicissitudes: life, past, present, troubles and hopes. The movie, titled The One Man Beatles, was selected for the International Rome Film Festival 2009, and it received standing ovations. In 2010 The One Man Beatles was nominated for David di Donatello Award as Best Documentary of 2010. Its US premiere screening was scheduled for May 29, 2010, at the Rhino Records Pop Up Store in Westwood, California.

Long Time No See

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

It’s been a rough road to ride, says the sun in the West
It’s been hard but I get by with a moment to rest.

Been thinking all the time that things will get better
And living all alone can’t make me much sadder
It’s been hard but I’ll get by.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

It’s been a long time, I remember you well
It’s been a long time no see, where you been keeping yourself?

You’ve been staying all alone when you should be playing
Been feeling all alone when you should be praying
It’s been a long time no see.

Oh oh oh oh, yeah
Oooh…

Badfinger – Lost Inside Your Love

I haven’t posted a Badfinger song in a while…and this is the first one I’ll post that came after Pete Ham passed away. Pete Ham was the principle songwriter but Joey Molland and Tom Evans were no slouches. This edition included Tony Kaye, formally of Yes.

This song is slow but the melody is fantastic. This song was long after Pete Ham was gone from the band in 1975. This song was written by bass player Tom Evans. In 1977 the guitar player Joey Molland and Evans started the band back after the death of Ham.

They were signed by Electra Records and released an album called Airwaves. I remember when I was around 11 I saw this in a cutout bin…I bought it because I’d read so much about them from Beatle books. It’s a good album considering there is no Pete Ham

The album flopped, only hitting #125 in America. “Lost Inside You Love”, however, was selected to be the album’s first single release. Backed with the Joey Molland-written track “Come Down Hard”, the song, like the album, was not successful, not charting in America or Britain. Another single followed named “Love Is Gonna Come at Last”, that same year which got some radio play.

In 1983, after a dispute with former bandmate Joey Molland over royalties for the song “Without You”, Tom Evans hanged himself in his garden only eight years after Pete Ham did the same.

Lost Inside Your Love

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of your life you’ve been the winner in me
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To leave me one more time
Are you leaving me one more time?

[guitar solo (Joey Molland)]

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a winner with you
What can I say or do?
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

LOST INSIDE YOUR LOVE [solo demo version] (Tom Evans)
What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a victim of you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

What can it be, who can I see?
All of my life you’ve been the loser in me
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love

Is it any wonder there’s no reason why?
Is it all because I left it open wide for your pride
To lose me once again
Am I losing you once again?

What can I say, what can I do?
All of my life I’ve been a loser with you
What can I say or do?
I’m lost inside your love
Lost inside your love
Lost inside your love.

Barracudas – We’re Living In Violent Times

This 80s band started off as a surf band and then they switched to a more garage band sound. The song has a 1960s feel…it would be expected from a band who had a song called (I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again.

The Barracudas are an English-Canadian band that formed in 1978 when Robin Wills (from London) met Jeremy Gluck (from Ottawa) and they are now based in England. The band’s original line-up consisted of Jeremy Gluck (vocals), Robin Wills (guitar and vocals), Starkie Phillips (bass and vocals) and Adam Phillips (drums).

The band broke up in 1984 but reformed in 1989. In 2005 they released their back catalog and that provided a boost to their career. They started to release singles and an album in 2014. They ended up with more compilations albums than regular releases.

This song was released in 1981 on their debut album Drop Out.

There was also a sixties band with the same name.

Jeremy Gluck: Radio was an enormous influence. You can’t imagine now how important it was then, it would seem sentimental to get into it. There were some good local stations, like CFRA, that played the Top 40 – I remember calling them like crazy in hope of my “Bang-a-Gong” request hitting paydirt. But the best was on FM. The night my top FM DJ played all of ‘Quadrophenia’ days before its release was one of many highlights. At night through the crystal clear winter skies I could tune in dozens of American stations, and discovered a lot of music and madness that way. Radio is magic: the first time I heard a record of mine on radio (John Peel show!), it was an epiphany.

Jeremy Gluck is the author and founder of the Nonceptualism art manifesto…yea don’t ask me but he described it.

“Nonceptualism is about the (an) end to art, and the end of the idea of an artist in self-concept and conception and execution of work, as we and consider it…but maybe it’s also my way of saying, It’s about an end to some or all of me as I’ve conceived myself since conditioning began – as it does with all of us – not long after birth. Which I like…”

We’re Living In Violent Times

Stayed in all day
I was scared of getting killed
Didn’t pick up my pay
I know I’ll just get bills
Maybe it’s all in my frozen mind
We’re living in violent times
Maybe it’s in my mind
We’re living in violent times
Took the news off the TV
It always depresses me
Put my new car in the garage
I’m so scared of a crash
I couldn’t wait to turn off the lights
We’re living in violent times
I tell ya
We’re living in violent times
Protested
Guess I should look at the bright side
And be glad just to be alive
I’ll be happy right now
If I come through this and survive
I’m not imagining this I see the signs
We’re living in violent times

Bevis Frond – Lights Are Changing ….Power Pop Friday

The slightly distorted 12 string guitar and Nick Saloman’s voice gives a strong Byrds sound. The song though is just good with or without the Byrds sound. Lights Are Changing was released in 1987 and this is what I wish was playing on the radio in my area.

Nick Saloman began performing thirty years ago as a guitarist in cover bands during the late 1960s in London. In 1979 he formed a band called the Von Trap Family.

In 1986, Saloman released a ninety minute cassette to a few friends of himself playing original material under the alias The Bevis Frond name. The first releases was under his own record company Woronzow records.

This song was on the Triptych album released in 1988. Saloman is productive if nothing else. They have released 27 albums. https://bevisfrond.bandcamp.com/

On the bands first recordings Saloman played many of the instruments. Members include Cyke Bancroft, Dominic Colletti, Martin Crowley, Graham Cumming, and Rie Gunther.

The band has had many members through the years but they are there to do Nick Saloman’s music projects. Their albums have had underground success.

Nick Saloman: “When you’re [as old as I was at the time] and you’ve never gotten anywhere, you kind of think that you’ve had it. So I just started doing self-indulgent stuff on my own without worrying about things like getting a record deal. I honestly didn’t think anyone would care. But lo and behold, people were interested, and it changed my life.”

Lights Are Changing

Disappearing out of sight along the open road
Into indistinct horizons – they had no time to reload
Like a silver bullet from a gun, an arrow from a bow
Like an equine star you hear about me everywhere you go

All through nebulae I was racing in my mind
I tripped on the light fantastic and I’ve never looked behind
You slow down you slow down my lights are changing
You slow down you slow down our lights are changing
You fly so high yeah and you move so fast
You’re running blindly from the past
Slow down you slow down green lights are changing

Oh changing all the time
Oh changing all the time

Looking through these hollow eyes across the great unknown
Growing greater every second, growing harder with each stone
Yeah and you who judge your freedom by the quantity you score
Would it make you any freer if you took a little more?

All that summertime I revolved around your eye
In accelerating spirals in an asymmetric sky
You slow down you slow down my lights are changing
You slow down you slow down my lights are changing
You fly so high yeah and you move so fast
You’re running blindly from the past
Slow down slow down green lights are changing

Oh changing all the time
Oh changing all the time
You slow down you slow down lights are changing
You slow down you slow down my lights are changing
Well you slow down you slow down my lights are changing

…

Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms ….Power Pop Friday

I hardly ever post #1 songs but when this song came out our radio station liked it. No they LOVED IT. I kid you not it was on every hour. It got to be a running joke with my friends on how many times we would hear this song in an afternoon.

It was either this song or the Outfield song “Your Love”…they were a year apart but they seemed joined at the hip on our rock radio station. The two songs had distinctive openings…Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight and Josie’s on a vacation far away…

Our band was playing in a bar at this time and we would just play the opening line and mock it… Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight It must have been something I ate… everyone applauded and laughed because they were as tired of it as we were.

After a few years I hardly heard it anymore and then something happened…I started to like it…a lot! It is a fun 80s style power pop song that I probably liked when I first heard it but I heard it too many times back then. It was written by Cutting Crew lead singer Nick Van Eede.

They formed in London in 1985 and hit big with their first album Broadcast with two hit singles.

The song was huge…it peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #4 in Canada, and #50 in New Zealand.

Nick Van Eede:“Yes, I cannot tell a lie. It’s a song written about my girlfriend (who is actually the mother of my daughter). We got back together for one night after a year apart and I guess there were some fireworks but all the time tinged with a feeling of ‘should I really be doing this?’ Hence the lyric, ‘I should have walked away.

I know it sounds corny but I awoke that morning and wrote the basic lyrics within an hour and wrote and recorded the demo completely within three days.”

From Songfacts

Richard Branson started Virgin Records in England in 1972, but it wasn’t until 1987 and the release of Cutting Crew’s Broadcast album that Virgin broke through in America. Nick Van Eede told us about his experience with the record company: “We were signed to Siren records which was part of Virgin so we were always a little bit on the outside but it was the ’80s and they certainly put their money where their mouth was. We were flown to New York for the initial recordings of the album and this is where we got a great recording of ‘I’ve Been In Love Before.’ Then we were flown to Australia to shoot videos… all a bit crazy really. We gave them their first US #1 with ‘(I Just) Died In Your Arms’ but the company soon outgrew us as music stars were changing in the early ’90s. We wrote one slightly veiled song having a pop at US A&R antics in our ‘Between A Rock And A Hard Place’ from The Scattering (1989) album. I sang, ‘I got a brick but I can’t find a window,’ as they continually blocked our album’s release for months making us lose so much momentum.”

Mika used a great deal of this song on his 2007 track “Relax (Take It Easy).” Says Nick: “I know as well as any other song writer that these things can happen and its just the way of the composing world. I am completely confident Mika stumbled in to it accidentally and I am proud to be given the co write… Kerching!!!”

This song has been sampled or interpolated by a number of rap and R&B artists. Jay-Z did a remake of the song, and Amerie used it on her track “I Just Died.”

This was used in the Stranger Things episode “Suzie, Do You Copy?” (2019) and the Cold Case episode “Lonely Hearts” (2006). It also appears in these movies:

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Hot Rod (2007)
Never Been Kissed (1999)

In a 2020 Planters commercial that aired during the Super Bowl in 2020, Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes are riding the Peanutmobile, singing along as this song plays on the radio. Mr. Peanut is driving. When he swerves to avoid an armadillo, the vehicle goes off a cliff and the three are left hanging by a tree. To save the others, Mr. Peanut plunges to a fiery death. His elegy reads: “Mr. Peanut. 1916-2020.”

(I Just) Died In Your Arms

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must have been something you said
I just died in your arms tonight

I keep lookin’ for somethin’ I can’t get
Broken hearts lie all around me
And I don’t see an easy way to get out of this
Her diary, it sits by the bedside table
The curtains are closed, the cats in the cradle
Who would’ve thought that a boy like me could come to this

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must’ve been something you said
I just died in your arms tonight
Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must’ve been some kind of kiss
I should’ve walked away
I should’ve walked away

Is there any just cause for feelin’ like this?
On the surface, I’m a name on a list
I try to be discreet, but then blow it again
I’ve lost and found, it’s my final mistake
She’s loving by proxy, no give and all take
‘Cause I’ve been thrilled to fantasy one too many times

It was a long hot night
She made it easy, she made it feel right
But now it’s over, the moment has gone
I followed my hands not my head, I know I was wrong

Oh I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must’ve been something you said
I just died in your arms tonight
I, I just died in your arms tonight
It must’ve been some kind of kiss
I should’ve walked away
I should’ve walked away

…

Primal Scream – Gentle Tuesday

I have heard mostly the 90s music from this band…I recently found this album from 1987 and love it. They formed in 1982 in Glasgow Scotland and are still together today. The only original member left is lead singer Bobby Gillespie. They have shifted in sound through the years. This song was during their power pop period.

This song was on the Sonic Flower Groove album released in 1987. It was met with mixed to bad reviews at the time. The bad reviews caused internal strife within the band. Two members Jim Beattie and Gavin Skinner subsequently resigned. The band then changed directions and shifted to a more rock sound. In the mid-eighties a Byrds sound was not exactly the height of popularity but it would start taking off with bands like REM soon after.

I love the jangling guitar and the overall sound of the song and album. This song, Imperial, Treasure Trip, and many more make this a very good album to me.

Most reviewers now look back on the album with praise. It charted at #62 in the UK charts in 1987. Gentle Tuesday peaked at #87 in the UK charts in 1987.

Gentle Tuesday

Shadow masking matters
Can’t conceal the way you really feel
It doesn’t fit our souls exist
That of they asked me how it is

New morning dew for you
Sweet honey hips your lips
Hold spells when cast they dwell
Like magic in your kiss

Confusion colours cruel designs
Unhappy girl, you’re out of time

Gentle Tuesday
Sad and lonely eyes
Gentle tuesday
See yourself tonight

Memories as fat as bees
Presents a mess of poison tears
A word unkind that tricks our minds
We really warned before your time

Happiness, nothing less
A universal way
Bad seeds but fruit are sweet
You choke on empty days
Confusion colours cruel designs
Unhappy girl you’re out of time

Fountains of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom …. Power Pop Friday

It’s hard not to like this song. it’s fun and the video should not to be missed. When I was growing up…I don’t remember any friend’s moms looking like Rachel Hunter though.

The song was credited to Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger…but Schlesinger wrote it. Stacy’s Mom was released in 2003 on the Welcome Interstate Managers album.

The intro resembles the Cars Just What I Needed and they even asked Ric Ocasek to be in the video for the song. He never responded but they had some tributes to him in the video. A license plate reads “I ♥ RIC” and a young kid dressed similar to Ocasek with dark hair and sunglasses. They also re-created the scene from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which featured the Cars’ “Moving in Stereo.”

Adam Schlesinger said that he had Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” in the back of his mind when he wrote Stacy’s Mom… “It was a contrast of that story against a track that sounded like ’80s new wave, like The Cars or something.”

Adam also said that one of his friends when he was 11 or 12 was attracted…not to his mom but to his grandmother. He told Schlesinger that she was “really hot.” That incident helped him write the song.

It peaked at #21 in the Billboard 100, #11 in the UK, and #13 in Canada in 2003

The band Bowling For Soup has been misidentified as the band that did Stacy’s Mom. Youtube and even some of their fans even thought they were the band that did the song…so…they covered it! They do sound somewhat like Fountains Of Wayne.

Jaret Reddick (Bowling for Soup leader) said that by finally releasing their own version of the song, “I’ve basically just taken care of a large part of the population that’s been wrong for years, and I’ve made them right.” The cover art for their version of the song release reads: “Finally you can say this is your favorite song by BFS and not look like an idiot!”

Unfortunately Adam Schlesinger passed away on April 1, 2020 from complications of Covid-19…he was only 52 years old.

Songfacts

The Cars’ influence is obvious – just compare the intro of their track, “Just What I Needed,” to the intro of “Stacy’s Mom” to hear for yourself.

This song was a commercial success and reached #1 on iTunes’ Most Downloaded Songs chart. In 2004, it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Pop Performance. Adam Schlesinger told us “Stacy’s Mom” “is definitely the biggest of my own band stuff.” Schlesinger added to Bullz-Eye.com that he does not think Fountains of Wayne will achieve the same level of success they did with “Stacy’s Mom” ever again: “I think ‘Stacy’s Mom’ was a fluke thing where it was the right song and the right video, and you kind of had the novelty factor, and all that stuff. And you can’t really make that happen again.”

Actress and model, Rachel Hunter, portrayed Stacy’s mom in the song’s official video – directed by Chris Applebaum. Parts of the video bear a striking resemblance to the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. At one point in the movie, a character named Brad is in a bathroom fantasizing about his sister’s friend and the friend walks in on him. His sister’s name, coincidentally, is Stacy. .

The song featured in a commercial for the Cadillac SRX, which shows a woman picking up her daughter from school. As she does so, men gaze longingly at her “beautifully practical and practically beautiful” …car.

Stacy’s Mom

Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on

Stacy, can I come over after school? (after school)
We can hang around by the pool (hang by the pool)
Did your mom get back from her business trip? (business trip)
Is she there, or is she trying to give me the slip? (give me the slip)

You know, I’m not the little boy that I used to be
I’m all grown up now, baby can’t you see

Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
She’s all I want and I’ve waited for so long
Stacy, can’t you see you’re just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong but I’m in love with Stacy’s mom

Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on

Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? (mowed your lawn)
Your mom came out with just a towel on (towel on)
I could tell she liked me from the way she stared (way she stared)
And the way she said, “you missed a spot over there” (a spot over there)

And I know that you think it’s just a fantasy
But since your dad walked out, your mom could use a guy like me

Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
She’s all I want, and I’ve waited so long
Stacy, can’t you see you’re just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong
But I’m in love with Stacy’s mom

Stacy’s mom has got it goin’ on
She’s all I want and I’ve waited for so long
Stacy can’t you see you’re just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong
I’m in love with (Stacy’s mom oh oh)
I’m in love with (Stacy’s mom oh oh)
Stacy can’t you see you’re just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong, but
I’m in love with (Stacy’s mom oh oh)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacy%27s_Mom

…

Raspberries – Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)

This is my second song pick for Hanspostcard’s song draft. The Raspberries Overnight Sensation (Hit Record).

Bruce Springsteen: “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record) should go down as one of the great mini-rock-opera masterpieces of all time”

In the nineties I bought the Raspberries greatest hits. I listened with headphones to each song until I heard this one. I stopped and listened to it repeatedly. It’s one of those songs that goes beyond other songs…It is truly a pop-rock symphony. I was amazed that I never heard this before.

Overnight Sensation (Hit Record) is an epic, ambitious, grand, lofty, extravagant, and brilliant song from the Raspberries. They were swinging for the fences when they made this song and they hit it out of the park. It’s on the album Starting Over released in 1974.

Put some headphones on and listen to this completely to the very end… When I hear it, I think this is what it would sound like if The Who, Beach Boys, and Beatles made a song together…this would be it. Musically you have a little of everything. Sliding bass lines, tasteful guitar licks, great vocals, a sax solo that gives way to more lyrics as the song morphs into an AM radio sound… and then comes a solo piano.

Stay until the very end because they dupe you into a fake ending and the drums will come in as if the world is going to end. Then… a Beach Boys final huge crescendo wave will wash over you like a warm summer moonlit night. It’s a wall of sound of ecstasy that you wish would go on forever.

The song is about trying to make it in the music business. It’s Eric Carmen singing with desperation wanting a hit record on the radio. After this album, the Raspberries were no more. This was Eric Carmen at his absolute best before he went solo and became an ordinary pop singer. He would never try anything this ambitious again.

Certain songs we all know are timeless. In a perfect world this one deserves to be on that list. I don’t use the word masterpiece a lot but I would consider this song one. The musical arrangement is second to none in terms of arrangement, production, and harmonies.

Although “Go All The Way” was their big hit of their career…this one is in a different league and they never equaled it. Most people don’t know this song and it’s a musical injustice. I only hope more people discover it.

The three best power pop bands of the early to mid-seventies were Big Star, Badfinger, and The Raspberries. Badfinger were the most successful (and they paid dearly for it), Big Star wasn’t even known, and The Raspberries had one top ten hit with few very good minor ones. All three of these bands were too rock for pop radio and too pop for rock radio…in varying degrees they fell into the cracks of history… none of them had long careers.

John Lennon was said to be a fan of the group. He was producing Nilsson’s Pussycats at the same time The Raspberries were making this album at the Record Plant. John supposedly was blown away by Overnight Sensation.

The song peaked at #18 in the Billboard 100 and #22 in Canada in 1974.

Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)
Well I know it sounds funny
But I’m not in it for the money, no
I don’t need no reputation
And I’m not in it for the show

I just want a hit record, yeah
Wanna hear it on the radio
Want a big hit record, yeah
One that everybody’s got to know

Well if the program director don’t pull it
It’s time to get back the bullet
So bring the group down to the station
You’re gonna be an overnight sensation

I’ve been tryin’ to write the lyric
Non-offensive but satiric too
And if you put it in the A-slot
It’s just got to make a mint for you

I fit those words to a good melody
Amazing how success has been ignoring me
So long
I use my bread making demos all day
Writing in the night while in my head I hear
The record play
Hear it play

Hit record, yeah
Wanna hit record, yeah
Wanna hit record, yeah (number one)

Cheap Trick – Come On, Come On …. Power Pop Friday

It’s been a while since we covered Cheap Trick and the time has come now. This is a power pop gem from the In Color album released in 1977. Cheap Trick is one of those bands that can cross genres with rock, pop, and heavy metal fans liking them.

This album was released the year before their Cheap Trick at Budokan album that would break their career open. This album has the studio version of I Want You To Want Me that would be a hit off of that live album

This album is a great album as well. It has Southern Girl, Hello There, and The Clock Strikes Ten just to name a few.

In Color peaked at #73 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1977 (I found no Canadian chart for this)…and #30 in Japan…a country which would be important in their career. The song was written by Rick Nielsen.

This song reminds me of a warm seventies evening around twilight cruising with your friends…with a Cheap Trick T-Shirt on of course.

Come On, Come On

Ooo I’m feelin’ good
Oh so good
Don’t you ruin it tonight, tonight
It’s been so long since I don’t know when
Ooo treat me, treat me, treat me right
Don’t be like sheep and follow the flock
Show me you really want to be mine

Come on, come on
I know you can do it
Come on, come on
There ain’t nothing to it
Come on, come on
I know you believe me
Come on, come on
You can see the real me
Every day, every day
I need you, I want you
Come a little closer to my face
Oh little girl
I need you now

Teenage Fanclub – What You Do To Me ….Power Pop Friday

Power pop was well and alive during the 1990s. I remember this song in the early 90s but I never caught who did it. I heard it on our local alternate channel Lightning 100.

This band was from Scotland and they formed in Bellshill near Glasgow in 1989. They were influenced by Big Star, Badfinger, and the Byrds. They signed to the indie label Creation Records in Britain.

This song was off of their 3rd album Bandwagonesque and it was released in 1991. This was their breakthrough album in the US where it was distributed by Geffen Records. The album was voted album of the year by Spin magazine beating out Nevermind by Nirvana. Some critics called this album Big Star’s 4th because of the influence.

The album had several Top 20 hits on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, including Star Sign, The Concept, and this song What You Do to Me. They played this song on Saturday Night Live on April 27, 1992.

Singer guitarist Norman Blake wrong this song.

The song peaked at #31 in the UK and #19 on the US Alternate Charts in 1991. The album peaked at #22 in the UK and #137 in the Billboard Album Charts. The album was #1 in the Billboard Heatseeker Album Charts.

From Wiki: The cover is designed by Sharon Fitzgerald. When Kiss member Gene Simmons, who had trademarked the logo of a moneybag with dollar symbol, was made aware of the record he sent a letter to Geffen Records, who in turn gave in and sent Simmons a cheque, according to Simmons’s book Sex Money Kiss.

The band is still together and has released a total of 11 studio albums.

What You Do To Me

What you do to me…
I know, I can’t believe
There’s something about you
Got me down on my knees.

What you do to me…
What you do to me…
What you do to me…
What you do to me…

What you do to me…
I know, I can’t believe
There’s something about you
Got me down on my knees.

What you do to me…
What you do to me…
What you do to me…
What you do to me…

…

Keys – I Don’t Wanna Cry…. Power Pop Friday

This fantastic English band was active between 1979 through 1983. The Keys attracted a lot of attention. They had a producer who I would have never guessed. Joe Jackson…I just never thought of him producing a power pop record.

The band included main songwriter and bassist Drew Barfield, guitarists
Steve Tatler and Ben Grove, and former Paul McCartney and Wing’s drummer Geoff Britton.

They were signed to A&M records and released the U.K. their only LP “The Keys Album”. The album drew rave reviews, but unfortunately it didn’t sell very well. Besides the album, the label released six singles. Due to a lack of interest The Keys split in 1983.

I listen to the album and I see why they got great reviews…I just can’t figure why they didn’t sell. I Don’t Wanna Cry was the A side and the B side was a song called Listening In. I have the video below…both songs are good power pop.

David Silvia from Allmusic: One of powerpop cornerstones ever. A hidden classic and a real masterpiece. Pop at it’s best

I Don’t Wanna Cry

Was it really just our last good night
when I saw the light and I know
that you’ve been telling lies
Oh, no, not me, I don’t wanna cry
You could talk about it all night long
but the feeling’s gone and
I don’t need you to tell me why
Oh no, not me, I don’t wanna cry

‘Cos you know, I’ve got you figured out
and you have got, nothing to shout about
if this is love, I don’t really wanna play
I wanna know why you want to stay

I know all about your little plan
find a fool and check up the thing you can
well, it seems is never gonna be that way
I wanna know what you want to stay
ESTRIBILLO

Oh no, not me, I don’t wanna cry
Oh no, not me, I don’t wanna cry
I don’t wanna cry
I don’t wanna cry
I don’t wanna cry
I want to know what you want to stay

Let’s Active – Every Word Means No…. Power Pop Friday

This is great 1980s college radio power pop. Everything is there you want…the jangle and the jangly hook.

Let’s Active was formed in 1981 by Mitch Easter, a guitarist and songwriter best known as a record producer, with Faye Hunter on bass. Drummer Sara Romweber, then 17 years old, joined to form the original trio two weeks before their first live performance. Their first performance was opening for R.E.M. in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981.

Let’s Active was critically praised but like their peers did not sell a ton a records. This song was on the 1983 EP Afoot and they would go on to release three more LPs in all before breaking up in 1990.

Mitch produced REM on their Chronic Town EP, Murmur, and Reckoning. Easter also produced Marshall Crenshaw, Suzanne Vega, and bunches of indie acts. He also took a trip to Memphis in 1978 with members of the dB’s to meet two members of Big Star.

Romweber quit the band in 1984 after the release of the Afoot EP and their debut full-length, Cypress. Later, she co-founded the group Snatches of Pink and performed with her brother as the Dex Romweber Duo. In 2014, she reunited with Mitch Easter as Let’s Active for a benefit show. She would die of a brain tumor in 2019. Bassist Faye Hunter died in 2013.

Mitch Easter:

“I could not imagine myself singing in a Johnny Winter-style voice about ‘I just wanna make love to you,’ but the new goofball lyrics were something I could pull off,’ “I read an article with Andy Partridge of XTC back then where he was saying at no other time in history would he have been allowed to be the singer in a band. And I felt just like that, you know.

“I had this weird voice, but now maybe I could be allowed to sing without suffering some hopeless comparison to Gregg Allman.’

Every Word Means No

Watching for a sound to lead me to where ever you are
I can’t help it I will always love you

It used to be no words could come between us
Any time was right for secret meetings
It’s different now and when you speak
Every word means no
Every word means no

I’m thinking, of things that never come to life
You’re going through some things so shallow
There’s nothing to fight

It used to be no words could come between us
Any time was right for secret meetings
It’s different now and when you speak and
Every word means no
Every word means no

And it’s just anathema
I haven’t lost my way
I’m looking around in directions
‘Cause all I ever thought about was you
I never noticed anything but you
Predicting, puts me down on shaky ground
I keep on thinking your looking at me
Do you want me around

It used to be no words could come between us
Any time was right for secret meetings
Now and then I forget the rules have changed
You always remind me
That every word means no, every word means no

dB’s – Black and White ….Power Pop Friday

The Db’s were a great unknown power pop band…who would influence many bands but not sale many records. The band members were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby, and Gene Holder.

All of the members are all from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but the band was formed in New York City in 1978. They never broke through to the masses but they were heard on college radio in the 80s.

“Black and White,” is the leadoff track to The dB’s debut album Stands for Decibels, and it is pure power pop. The dB’s were signed to the U.K. label Albion, which had trouble licensing the record for American distribution…. and subsequently went un-promoted in radio and only received sporadic play from college radio stations.

The Stands for Decibels album was ranked at number 76 on Pitchfork‘s list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. The dB’s would released 6 albums in all. The last album was released in 2012 when the members reunited.

The dB’s broke up in 1988 and Peter Holsapple would go on to be an auxiliary guitarist and keyboardist for REM on the Green tour. He then helped in writing and recording their Out Of Time album. Holsapple subsequently worked with Hootie & the Blowfish as an auxiliary musician.

The dB’s worth checking out.

Good story on two of the members meeting two Big Star members:

In May of 1978 two members of the dB’s Will Rigby, Peter Holsapple, and future R.E.M producer Mitch Easter made a pilgrimage to Memphis. They were about the only people in America who, while attending high school in the early ’70s, were under the impression that Big Star was a major band.

Their first stop was Danver’s…a restaurant that former Big Star’s Chris Bell worked at and his father owned. They passed a note to the server to talk to Chris and out he came. He was shocked that fans would track him down. It had been 6 years since the Big Star debut album was released. They were impressed by how nice he was to them.

Bell invited them to join him after work at a ferny bar-café called the Bombay Bicycle Club. Here, while Bell played backgammon with a buddy, the three guys peppered him with questions: What kind of guitar did he play? How did he get those great sounds?

Bell wondered if the boys were up for maybe checking out a Horslips (local rock band) concert. They instead decided to go over to Sam Phillips Recording Service to visit Alex Chilton, Bell’s former Big Star bandmate, then making his experimental album Like Flies on Sherbert. Bell and Chilton exchanged quiet hellos before Bell went home.

A few days later Alex Chilton drove Easter and Rigby (Holsapple had already left) around Memphis, showing them the old Sun Studios building (which had a Corvair parked inside it), and taking them up a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. He pulled out a cassette and played a song on a junky little cassette player that took his visitors by surprise.

Chilton played the guys a Chris Bell song. He was raving about it saying it was Chris’s best song and it was the ultimate “Big Star song “…the song was I Am The Cosmos which the public had not heard at this point.

Chris Bell would die in a car wreck on Decemeber 27, 1978…only 7 months after this happened.

Chris Stamey on Big Star:“They were my favorite, and as far as I knew they were popular all the way across America. At least for that moment, I forgot about Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.”

Peter Holsapple on meeting Chris Bell and I Am The Cosmos: “that the person who made all that beautiful music was a right-on kind of guy, too.” “It’s that kind of rife-with-sadness record, but it’s realized with the same imploding beauty that Big Star had. I mean, I Am the Cosmos-it’s just wry enough to make you turn your head and do a double-take, you know, the first sixteen thousand times you listen to it.”

Black and White

I, I never would hurt you
But even if I did you
You never would tell me
Oh, we are finished
As of a long time ago
As of a long time ago
I stop
I don’t enjoy you anymore
Well I guess I just don’t enjoy you anymore
Well I guess it’s all laid out in black and white
You don’t like it at all

Love
Love is the answer
To no question
But thanks for
Oh, the suggestion
I know I don’t care at all
Yeah, I know I don’t know anything at all
But I stop

I don’t enjoy you anymore
Well, I guess I just don’t enjoy you anymore
Well, I guess it’s all laid out in black and white
You don’t like it at all
You don’t like it at all
You don’t like it at all
(In black and white)