Angus Andrew, Liars
“Territorial Pissings,” Nirvana
Nirvana made pop songs to throw-up to with their power chords, tortured vocals and teenage angst. “Territorial Pissings” marked the U.S. with that acidic stench that will never wash away.

Patrick Berkery, Bigger Lovers
“Surrender,” Cheap Trick
It’s an obvious choice. But in my estimation, “Surrender” is not only the best power-pop song for all time, but one of the great rock songs ever. It’s all youthful exuberance, new experiences and ripping guitars: pure power pop for now suburbanites. In their prime, Cheap Trick were master lyricists (“She also told me stay away, you’ll never know what you’ll catch”; brilliant, Mr. Nielsen) and craftsmen (that key transposition in the third verse is like moving a giant boulder and discovering eternal sunlight), and “Surrender” shows why. I’ll take the studio version, with its bubbling keyboards and Bun E.’s killer circa-‘77 drum sound.

Josh Berwanger, Anniversary
“Open My Eyes,” Nazz
In today's music world, how you look seems to be more important than the music you play. I reminisce back to the Nazz, who dressed cooler than most and played music that sounded as cool as they looked. “Open My Eyes,” the title track on their debut album, is a power-pop song that expands the boundaries before the boundaries were set. Great riff, great percussion and a great style.

Matthew Caws, Nada Surf
“Black & White,” dB’s
In my record-listening life, there have been about 20 songs that I spent almost an entire day listening to after I heard them for the first time. This is one of them. What was going on that day? Were they high? Had they had all the coffee in Hoboken? Had the drummer just fallen in love with his next girlfriend just after his last one showed him the door? He sounds the most tweaked in a band of live wires, playing the entire song like an intro. This song/arrangement/production is so tight, fast, excited, nervous, catchy, deftly played and sung (and almost too high for the singer’s range, which makes it even better) that you can’t help but want to hear it again and again. What more could you want from a power-pop song? Strange self-contradictory break-up lyrics? Check. A melody so needy that you believe every word? Yup. Killer guitar hook? Of course. An ending that speeds up? Out of step with the music of its time? Naturally. Great stuff.

Britt Daniel, Spoon
“Yes It’s True,” Flamin’ Groovies
I bought my first Flamin’ Groovies album when I was 18 because I’d seen their name in the Trouser Press Record Guide and was into the idea of being able to tell people in my hometown that I owned a record called Teenage Head. And I liked it, but it surprised me because it sounded like an American Rolling Stones and I was expecting a pop record. Then a couple years later, I heard Shake Some Action, and it all made a lot more sense. It’s a pretty startling transition between their ‘71 and ‘76 albums. Shake Some Action is all pop songs with chimey guitars, recorded by Dave Edmunds just after the band had relocated to England. My favorite song is “Yes It’s True” because of the weird drum beat and the great two-part harmonies that sound so calm and collected as they’re singing words so sad.

Nate Greely, Arlo
“Blitzkrieg Bop,” Ramones
There’re about five Ramones songs that tie for best power-pop song ever, but “Blitzkrieg Bop” is the archetype. Rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t get any simpler or better than this. They are also the ugliest band ever, which is pretty cool. Plus, they got their name from the alias Paul McCartney used to use.

Ed Hogarty, Bigger Lovers
“Ginger,” Lilys
Although the Lilys have been all over the map stylistically throughout their career, this song from A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns qualifies as pure pop magic. The amount of drama and tension generated by the slowly building intro (ride cymbal into guitar into floor tom into ... explosion!) is amazing, and I still get goose bumps every time I hear it. After that, the song is all urgency, running along at breakneck speed as Kurt Heasley sings about a girl who comes and goes (but mostly goes) and throwing lawn darts through maps. By the time it’s over, the song has been going for around five minutes, but it barely feels like half that.

Scott Jefferson, Bigger Lovers
“Ain’t That Nothin’,” Television
They softened up the slightest bit on their second LP, Adventure (which, for some reason beyond either my comprehension or knowledge, hasn’t been reissued on CD—ever) and the iciness of Marquee Moon thawed with the help of beautiful songs like this one. It has it all: sparse, throbbing intro, jabbing guitars dancing around each other, simple ascending and descending riffs and organ swashes throughout the verses, almost too-casual call-and-response in the choruses and outro. All the classic Television perks. It even has two big-rock guitar solos from Richard. The stripped-down arrangements and unadulterated production renders this song (and album) ageless. And there’s nothing more pop than youth.

Ryan Maynes, Arlo
“I Get Around,” Beach Boys
You might not consider it “power pop,” but that’s only because the guitars aren’t distorted. It’s catchy and seems simple, buts it’s also as complex and beautiful as anything by Mozart.

Mac McCaughan, Superchunk
“Starry Eyes,” Records
One of those songs that when you hear it on the radio for the first time has you being the guy in the record store saying, “It kind of goes like this [humming randomly], and the words are something about starry this and that,” to the blank expression on the face of the clerk. I finally found the seven-inch in a used bin around 1985, years after i first heard it. It’s one of those perfect pop songs that makes you wonder how come no one ever wrote it before.

Mirah
“Kimberly,” Patti Smith
Because I like its driving restraint and because I don’t really know what power pop means except that I’m supposed to answer “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey.

Mark Rozzo, Champale
“Free Again,” Alex Chilton
If, in the American power-pop pantheon of the ‘70s, Big Star is the Beatles, then the Raspberries are, in my opinion, the Association and Cheap Trick are the Dave Clark Five. It’s almost a shame to saddle Big Star with the well-intentioned-yet-ultimately-limiting label “power pop,” so superior are they to the nearest competition. So you were guessing I’d go for “September Gurls” or “Mod Lang” or “El Goodo”? Actually, I vote for a pre-Big Star Chilton tune I’ve just loved playing and listening to for the past 14 years or so: “Free Again,” Chilton’s brilliant bubblegum kiss-off to his teen-idol days with the Box Tops (my favorite ‘60s American group, next to the Byrds). Three chords, pedal steel and a rhyme scheme that only a dedicated smart-ass could dream up: “Again” rhyming with “again” over and over and over (again). I really like the original vocal that was finally revealed on the 1970 compilation that Ardent put out. (An earlier version had been released, for which Chilton re-cut the vocal in his sardonic ‘80s style.) The performance shows Chilton—American pop’s one-man living timeline—at a crucial and wonderfully awkward personal crossroads, as he just begins to dismantle the soul-man growl of his musical adolescence in favor of a vulnerable tenor perfected by late nights out at the Plantation Inn, copious Quaaludes and the very best repertoire in all of power pop.

Steven Scott, Irving
“Song Against Sex,” Neutral Milk Hotel
The images Jeff Mangum creates with his lyrics are absolutely surreal, and this song exemplifies his ability to make me become completely absorbed. The creative production is just pure fun.

Sean Spillane, Arlo
“Blood And Roses,” Smithereens
Says bandmate Nate Greely, “Sean was not available to answer why he likes this song, but I think he likes it because of the cute outfits that the band wears.”

Bret Tobias, Bigger Lovers
“Nothing Is Wrong,” dB’s
It breaks my heart every time I hear it. I fell in love with this wistful gem long before I knew anything about Big Star, so its derivative nature has never bothered me. Two near-perfect versions to choose from: the demo from Ride The Wild Tom Tom in all its ragged glory and the Hammond-driven proper take from Repercussion. It’s the simplest lyric imaginable, delivered in beautiful harmony by two guys who caught way more than their fair share of shit for not being able to sing.

John Vanderslice
“Tired Of Sex,” Weezer
A pretty amazing song. Our narrator, a rock slut par excellence, lists this week’s action (“Monday night I’m making Jen, Tuesday night ... ”) and, in a brilliant twist, begs for our sympathy: “Why can’t I be making love come true?” Patrick Wilson gives a drum seminar, and the always interesting Brian Bell plays a juiced-up, wicked guitar solo.

Davey von Bohlen, Promise Ring
“September Gurls,” Big Star
You've got to lean to Big Star, as leaders of the pack.

Chris Walla, Death Cab For Cutie
“Solar Sister,” Posies
It’s the Posies’ finest moment, the perfect balance of bombastic tricky cheapness and vocal creme fraische. I can’t understand half the words, but it doesn’t seem to matter that much. I learned more about singing harmonies with this record in my car than I did in three years of choir.