Harald Pettersen
100 ‘Near You’ – Tacklebox, from On (Rockville Records, 1993)
An early 1990s Power Pop (PP from hereon in!) band from Massachusetts. Definitely one for the ‘Power’ corner, this could be an out-take from The Who’s underrated A Quick One album. "You don’t have to tell me that you love me, you don’t have to show me that you care, you don’t have to do nothing, I’m happy to be with you!" In other words, the guy's persuaded the gal to put out at last! Awww, nerd-love at its cutest…
99 ‘Tarnished Silver Screen’ - Three Hour Tour, from Three Hour Tour (Parasol, 1994)
Formed from the ashes of almost-PP band the Choo Choo Trains, Illinois’ Three Hour Tour write nice loose, songs. Here, for instance, there’s some cool Ringo-drumming, buzzsaw guitars just the right side of Punk Pop, and a melodic vocal sung with throaty passion. Probably the best PP song about a girl’s descent into porn since J Geils Band’s ‘Centerfold’: "Your mother and your father live in shame ‘cos of you/But at least you didn’t use the name they gave you". They also had the impeccable taste to include a cover of another PP classic, Slade's ‘When Your Lights Are Out’ (see below)…
98 ‘Sanity In The Asylum’ – Matt Keating, from Tell It To Yourself (Alias, 1993)
Keating is part of a modern PP-rooted movement that was keen to take the form into more adult areas, both lyrically and musically: fellow travellers including Chris Von Schneidern, Adam Schmitt and husband and wife team Aimee Mann and Michael Penn. The reason such artists are not represented in this list is not because of lack of talent (they’ve all written and recorded some great songs) but because by smoothing out the rough edges of PP they have taken away some of its central characteristics: the genre is by definition all about dumb, teenage, knockabout rock’n’roll. Keating and his ilk have more in common with the Joni Mitchells and Jackson Brownes of this world than with the Raspberries or Rubinoos, even though their music can at times
An early 1990s Power Pop (PP from hereon in!) band from Massachusetts. Definitely one for the ‘Power’ corner, this could be an out-take from The Who’s underrated A Quick One album. "You don’t have to tell me that you love me, you don’t have to show me that you care, you don’t have to do nothing, I’m happy to be with you!" In other words, the guy's persuaded the gal to put out at last! Awww, nerd-love at its cutest…
99 ‘Tarnished Silver Screen’ - Three Hour Tour, from Three Hour Tour (Parasol, 1994)
Formed from the ashes of almost-PP band the Choo Choo Trains, Illinois’ Three Hour Tour write nice loose, songs. Here, for instance, there’s some cool Ringo-drumming, buzzsaw guitars just the right side of Punk Pop, and a melodic vocal sung with throaty passion. Probably the best PP song about a girl’s descent into porn since J Geils Band’s ‘Centerfold’: "Your mother and your father live in shame ‘cos of you/But at least you didn’t use the name they gave you". They also had the impeccable taste to include a cover of another PP classic, Slade's ‘When Your Lights Are Out’ (see below)…
98 ‘Sanity In The Asylum’ – Matt Keating, from Tell It To Yourself (Alias, 1993)
Keating is part of a modern PP-rooted movement that was keen to take the form into more adult areas, both lyrically and musically: fellow travellers including Chris Von Schneidern, Adam Schmitt and husband and wife team Aimee Mann and Michael Penn. The reason such artists are not represented in this list is not because of lack of talent (they’ve all written and recorded some great songs) but because by smoothing out the rough edges of PP they have taken away some of its central characteristics: the genre is by definition all about dumb, teenage, knockabout rock’n’roll. Keating and his ilk have more in common with the Joni Mitchells and Jackson Brownes of this world than with the Raspberries or Rubinoos, even though their music can at times