User:OnBeyondZebrax/sandbox/Power pop

Power pop is rooted in The Beatles' use of harmony singing, strong melodic lines, guitar riffs, and lyrics about love. The term itself was coined in 1967 by Pete Townshend of The Who. By 1970 the distinctive stylistic elements of power pop could be heard in the British group Badfinger Although the formative influences on the genre were primarily British, the bands that developed and codified power pop in the 1970s were nearly all American. Spurred on by the emergence of punk rock and new wave, power pop enjoyed a prolific and commercially successful period in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The biggest chart hit by a power pop band was The Knack's debut single, "My Sharona", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks in the summer of 1979.

In the 1980s and 1990s, power pop continued as a commercially modest genre. Artists such as The Spongetones, Marshall Crenshaw, Del Amitri, The Smithereens, Enuff Z'Nuff, Matthew Sweet, Tommy Keene, Redd Kross, Material Issue, Let's Active and The Posies drew inspiration from the past.In the mid-1990s through the 2000s, power pop was mainly in the underground with acts such as Sloan. Power pop traits are also currently displayed by North American bands such as Gin Blossoms, The Posies, The New Pornographers, and Jimmy Eat World. The influence of power pop is also apparent in contemporary British groups such as Silver Sun, Snow Patrol, The Futureheads, Maxïmo Park, and Farrah.