Comments on: Power Pop: The ’90s, Attack Of The Clones http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2002/09/05/power-pop-the-%e2%80%9990s-attack-of-the-clones/ Real Music Alternatives Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:58:28 -0800 hourly 1 By: mistercharlie http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2002/09/05/power-pop-the-%e2%80%9990s-attack-of-the-clones/comment-page-1/#comment-7895 mistercharlie Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:04:51 +0000 http://www.magnetmagazine.com/?p=28932#comment-7895 Part of the griping about lack of sales for "power pop" is that many of its proponents just don't write good songs. They have all the trappings, stylistically, of the music they're inspired by or are trying to emulate (The Who Sells Out, or #1 Record, or whatever), with "vintage" gear, good drum fills or harmonies, but the songs just aren't there, both melodically or lyrically. The truth is, in any genre, it's hard to write a great song. And in a world where folks want to put themselves in a narrow Power Pop box, they often end up sounding like freshman college songwriting project submissions. Not, of course, that a "great" song (it's all subjective of course) is a prerequisite for a hit. Matthew Sweet said it best: maybe you should be a musician/songwriter because you HAVE TO, because you are compelled to, not because you want to. And maybe, by the way, another problem isn't the music, it's the packaging, the label. I didn't, for instance, hear anybody calling those coupla gigantic singles from that band Jet "power pop" songs, or crowing of a power pop revival, even though they could have. Part of the griping about lack of sales for “power pop” is that many of its proponents just don’t write good songs. They have all the trappings, stylistically, of the music they’re inspired by or are trying to emulate (The Who Sells Out, or #1 Record, or whatever), with “vintage” gear, good drum fills or harmonies, but the songs just aren’t there, both melodically or lyrically. The truth is, in any genre, it’s hard to write a great song. And in a world where folks want to put themselves in a narrow Power Pop box, they often end up sounding like freshman college songwriting project submissions.

Not, of course, that a “great” song (it’s all subjective of course) is a prerequisite for a hit. Matthew Sweet said it best: maybe you should be a musician/songwriter because you HAVE TO, because you are compelled to, not because you want to.

And maybe, by the way, another problem isn’t the music, it’s the packaging, the label. I didn’t, for instance, hear anybody calling those coupla gigantic singles from that band Jet “power pop” songs, or crowing of a power pop revival, even though they could have.

]]>