Barry Adamson
“Jump,” Van Halen
Reason? It’s the greatest slice of cheese I’ve ever tasted.

Steve Albini
The bands you mention (Big Star, Raspberries, Flamin’ Groovies, Cheap Trick, Dwight Twilley, Shoes, dB’s, Matthew Sweet, Posies) are utterly unrelated. I can tolerate some of them, love the Flamin’ Groovies and Cheap Trick and have a profound hatred of the rest. I cannot bring myself to use the term “power pop.” Catchy mock-descriptive terms are for dilettantes and journalists. I guess you could say I think this music is for pussies and should be stopped.

Todd Baechle, Faint
“Godstar,” Psychic TV
Psychic TV may not normally be considered power pop, but this song—about Brian Jones—fits the criteria.

Marko DeSantis, Sugarcult
“Surrender,” Cheap Trick
Scientifically proven to be a perfect power-pop song. Honorable mention: the Only Ones’ “Another Girl, Another Planet.”

Ira Elliot, Nada Surf
“Tonight,” Raspberries
Innocent, swaggering, bombastic and a three-minute-and-40-second trip to power-pop heaven. Consider, if you will, the McCartney-esque opening count (a-one, two, three, fowah!) leading to the thrilling opening riff, followed by the cocksure Stones groove peppered with thunderous, rolling Keith Moon drum fills. And the guitar tones—none of that limp, jangly shit here, ladies. These are men. How about Eric Carmen’s vocal acrobatics—just dig the melody line of the blissfully short verses and the octave jump at the end of “So be my love tonight.” Bob Pollard, my ass. OK, the lyrics are inane, symptomatic of most great power pop, but these inane lyrics border on that kind of Ramones/stoopid perfection that few can deliver. “You looked too young to know about romance (oh, yes you did), but when you smiled I had to take a chance, I had to take a chance and be with you toni- hite!” Right on. Enrique Iglesias says that to some chick every fuckin’ night, my friend. Gene Simmons and Bon Scott have made similar lyrical overtures. It’s classic. You gotta have a sense of humor about this stuff. It was 1973 after all. Give him some points for directness at least. Now let’s talk about the call-and-response middle eight for a second. The band is so hot at this point that not only does Eric lose the ability to speak English (“Frightened you a warm up shoe, hey”?), but he’s so turned on that as the guitar solo begins, he is forced to exclaim—and this may be the greatest moment in the whole recording—“Hey, git down!” How ‘70s can you get? Of course it helps to have a picture of the band in your mind as you listen to this song. I have a video of an old Don Kirchener Rock Concert featuring the world’s greatest ‘70s prom group playing this song, and if you can imagine Eric with his huge well-coifed rock bouffant in a short white jacket (no shirt, ladies), tight-ass white bellbottoms and a white Les Paul Special, workin’ it like Mick with a bad attitude, then that might help. While a lot of ‘70s power-pop bands trafficked in groupie pick-up anthems (Cheap Trick’s got a ton of ‘em), this one tops the heap with its combination of self-assurance and coyness. “I just wanna make you feel good inside, baby.” Fuck, this guy was good. Of course most Raspberries songs are hard to defend (try as I might) since they’re merely and obviously pale imitations of their favorite groups, but here they throw the Beatles, the Who and the Beach Boys into the pot and come up with something only they could create: the greatest power-pop song ever recorded, American or otherwise. No wait, I meant “Go All The Way.”

Jamie Jack Frost, Makers
“Pretty Please Me,” Quick
It’s terribly catchy and quite powerful, as well. Plus, Steve Hufsteter provides one of the most insane guitar solos I’ve ever heard.

David Gedge, Cinerama
“Favor,” Arcwelder
There’s not much to say about it, though, which is probably why it’s good power pop. It’s tuneful, it’s succinct and it rocks. It’s just a shame they spelt “favour” wrongly!

Tony Goddess, Papas Fritas
“Ridin’ In My Car,” NRBQ
That’s so fucking hard. “Bastards Of Young” by the Replacements? “September Gurls” by Big Star? “Ridin’ In My Car”? I’m going to go with “Ridin’ In My Car.” It’s my favorite power-pop song of all time because, like “September Gurls,” it gets its power from the rhythm and its pop from the harmony/melody. It gets through two verses, two choruses and a perfect bridge in less than a minute and a half. It has a guitar solo that brings even more melody to the music. The lyrics are perfect: “non-fatal heartbreak.” And NRBQ is the greatest band alive. Just ask Paul Westerberg.

Ira Kaplan, Yo La Tengo
“I Want You Bad,” NRBQ
Though it’s hard to pass up such power-pop classics as Big Star’s “Kanga Roo” and the Flamin’ Groovies’ “Slow Death,” I think I’m going to choose a song by a band even less appropriately pigeonholed.

Tommy Keene
“Play On,” Raspberries
It’s the Raspberries’ “A Hard Day’s Night.” The lyrics are very “rock cliché”—“Play your hits and all the girls will come”—but the main riff is classic, and the too-high-for-my-high-school-band-to-cover harmonies are amazing. The record it’s on, Starting Over, is the quintessential power-pop album, a perfect blend of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Who. It was their attempt to shed their teenybopper image, and “Play On” sort of chronicles their frustration.

Jeff Kelly, Green Pajamas
“Teenarama,” Records
I just went and listened to the 45, and I had to put it on again right after. It has, after all, what may very well be the perfect power-pop couplet: “Sugar candy is all you ever eat/You’re so skinny, you’re so sweet.”

Damian Kulash, OK Go
“Debaser,” Pixies
It’s tough to resist answering with a Cheap Trick song—there is no question that “Southern Girls” is on infinite repeat in heaven. But the truth is, by the time I heard the Rockford Four, they were preaching to the converted. At age 12, my life was saved by the Pixies; by the first chorus of “Debaser,” I was in full-on revelation. Appropriately it was as if Black Francis were speaking in tongues—I still have no idea what is really meant by his monstrously powerful train wreck of vocals, ranting nonsensically about some obscure 1920s art film. But that song—and the whole of Doolittle—is like a musical manifesto: willfully and dunderheadedly simple, but perfect, music.

Martyn Leaper, Minders
“The Freed Pig,” Sebadoh
It’s a super-emotional song Lou Barlow wrote about a soured relationship with a former band member (J Mascis), a quick outburst of anger channeled into a great pop song. I’ve felt that way about bandmates before, and writing songs as a form of therapy scratches an itch. And it’s cheaper than going to the shrink.

J Mascis
“I Don’t Mind,” Buzzcocks; “First Time,” Boys
Why? It works for me, and I don’t really know what to elaborate on. I just dig.

Ric Menck, Velvet Crush
“September Gurls,” Big Star; “Go All The Way,” Raspberries
It’s a tie. “September Gurls” because it’s supremely melodic, emotionally powerful and three or four simple fuckin’ chords. “Go All The Way” because it’s rock candy on a car radio.

Chris Mills
Fountains Of Wayne, Fountains Of Wayne
My drummer laid it on me as we were winding our way down the West Coast, and it’s a record I’ve never gotten tired of listening to. The hooks on this thing are so sweet, you would think it was made out of candy. And it’s got just the right amount of suburban snottiness. It’s a also one of my favorite driving records. I once blew out two tires on a rented sedan, driving too fast to “Survival Car.”

Tim Pagnotta, Sugarcult
“A Million Miles Away,” Plimsouls
Because every time it comes on in a bar, everyone wants to make out. Honorable mention: Squeeze’s “Another Nail In My Heart.”

Doug Powell, Swag
“Love Is For Lovers,” dB’s
This is a song that makes me hate Peter Holsapple and never want to write another song again. There are a good deal of Holsapple songs that informed my own writing style, but none is as resonant to me as this one. It’s concise, catchy, clever, a little dark and achy all at once.

Matt Pryor, Get Up Kids
“Surrender,” Cheap Trick
In 2001 when we were on tour with Weezer, Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen asked if they could come out and play “Surrender” with us at a show in Milwaukee. It was one of the most exciting and surreal moments of my life. I still love that song. I’d give my left arm to be able to write a song half that good. It’s perfect pop, the chorus just repeats itself but never goes stale. To me, that’s the test of a truly great pop song.

Justin Robinson, Agenda
“Shake Some Action,” Flamin’ Groovies
It’s got all the jangly guitar chords you could ever want, which is, to me, the hallmark of a great power-pop song. Plus, it’s super fuckin’ catchy. It’s the best song the Byrds never wrote.

Adam Schmitt
“My Sharona,” Knack
As much as I hate to admit it, it’s everything great and insipid about power pop, all rolled into one song.

Jen Sbragia, All Girl Summer Fun Band
Very Very Powerful Motor or The Question Is No, Fastbacks

Elizabeth Sharp, Ill Ease
“Unbelievable,” EMF
I’m not sure why. It’s pop music, you’re not supposed to understand! Probably the same reason anyone likes a pop song—it’s been drilled into our heads so relentlessly, when we hear it on the radio we spit it back out and sing along uncontrollably.

Matthew Smith, Outrageous Cherry
“Go All The Way,” Raspberries
This song always does it for me. It gives me chills up the back of my neck, makes me ignore traffic ordinances. It’s got too many hooks to be merely bubblegum. I’d say it’s more like a sugar-coated atom bomb. It explodes out of the radio every time like a thousand songs simultaneously.

Tobin Sprout
“So You Are A Star,” Hudson Brothers
Creamy, wordy, somewhat-nerdy, overproduced sugar oozing from huge speakers. It’s power pop in its glory—and from the Hudson Brothers, who were really funny.

Chris Stamey
“September Gurls,” Big Star
A wonderful moment for treble, melody and astrology. “When My Baby’s Beside Me” is a close second. Although I think your question should be “American power-pop recording,” not “song”: The sound and arrangement and production and mix were often the thing. I’m also very partial to (the dB’s) “Love Is For Lovers”; even though I’m not on that one, it might seem self-serving to thus cast my vote.

Sarah Utter, Bangs
In Color, Cheap Trick
This is my absolute favorite genre of music! There is no way I can pick just one, but I would have to say In Color is definitely up there. Also, the Real Kids’ “All Kindsa Girls” and “My Baby’s Book” are classics for sure.

Steve Wynn
“Baby Blue,” Badfinger
In addition to the prerequisite harmonies, descending arpeggios and “stop-the-presses” middle eight, this song has always floored me because it’s just so damn sad. He’s lost the girl forever and will have to live with only memories and melancholy and still he can’t help but leave a melodic souvenir. The knowledge that the song’s singer/writer, Pete Ham, killed himself only a few years later only adds to the beautiful misery. Man, I need a drink.

Sid Griffin
“Overnight Sensation,” Raspberries
Usually people have some restraint when recording and producing, but on this one, every trick in the book is tried and yet the ship doesn’t ever sink, it actually sails. Ballad into rocker and then back again, sound suddenly drops into AM high-frequency fuzziness at surprise coda, Who drum fills outta nowhere, Spector wall-of-sound production drops to quiet, small piano intimacy—wow. Everything including the kitchen sink.

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