This week, K-Chuck Radio brings you some classic “power pop” songs. These are the tracks that show a strong influence by the Beatles, the Who and the Kinks – along with a mixture of classic American pop music like the Box Tops and the Rascals. Again, many of these tracks may not have gotten the airplay they should have, but they’re given another go-round on your home for the oldies, K-Chuck Radio. And let’s start with –
TOMMY HOEHN was a Memphis singer-songwriter who worked with Alex Chilton in Big Star, and then later recorded this classic power pop track “Blow Yourself Up.” Really good stuff.
Why BIG STAR isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is an absolute mystery. Here’s Alex Chilton and the crew with the song “Thirteen.”
THE RASPBERRIES, featuring lead vocalist / songwriter Eric Carmen, epitomized the stellar sound of power pop. Here’s their ballad “Let’s Pretend,” on K-Chuck Radio.
Even though everybody from Nilsson to Celine Dion to half the auditioners on American Idol have taken a whack at this song, take a listen to the originals, as BADFINGER belts out “Without You.”
STEVIE WRIGHT was the lead singer of the Easybeats, and this song “Evie” was his #1 Australian power pop hit. Be warned. It’s over 11 minutes long and has three movements – including a center ballad section. It’s the longest song to ever reach #1 on any pop music chart.
TOMMY KEENE was a favorite artist on my college radio station, and here’s a live performance of his biggest power pop hit, “Places That Are Gone.”
THE HEADBOYS got some serious love on WHCL, and here’s their minor power pop hit, “The Shape of Things To Come.”
This is the song that THE RUBINOOS should use as ammunition for suing Avril Lavigne for copyright infringement. Take a listen to “I Want To Be Your Boyfriend” and tell me if you hear one of Avril’s songs in it.
SHOES. Great band. Never got the respect they deserved. Here’s “Too Late.”
And finally, here’s BRAM TCHAIKOVSKY, who sing about what may be a very interesting date from a very interesting place. Check out “Girl Of My Dreams,” right here on K-Chuck Radio!
Chuck The Writer 
I was a big Raspberries fan. Somewhere in the house I grew up in lies their debut album, which had a scratch-‘n-sniff sticker of their logo. If it still smells like raspberries, some manufacturer deserves mighty big kudos.
Glad to see here that the group apparently had a following in Japan, too …
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Get the Knack!!!!
The Records – “Starry Eyes” and “Teenarama.”
Saw Bram Tchaikovsky get booed off the stage at Nassau Coliseum opening for The Cars in 1979. The Cars were so bad (zero stage presence, zero charisma), the crowd started booing 20 minutes into the set and chanting for Bram Tchaikovsky.
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Oh Chuck – God bless ya and K-Chuck Radio! This is one of my absolute favorite sub-genres, and very glad to see Bram, Big Star, Badfinger and The Raspberries get a mention (Girl of my Dreams never got enough of a push either, y’know?).
And I have to put in a plug for “Starry Eyes” by The Records, “China” by Red Rockers, “She Sheila” by The Producers, and “Good Girls Don’t” by The Knack (available in both dirty and clean versions, haha).
Did you know the Rubinos actually did sue Lavigne and Co. and received a settlement?:
http://www.judiciaryreport.com/avril_lavigne_settles_suit.htm
@Jay – I have that Rapberries album…I’ll have to let you know if it still has the raspberry scent when I get home!
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I haven’t heard of Shoes since I was 15. My big sister had their ‘Present Tense’ album and I thought they were the coolest thing. Songs full of hooks and lyrics that spoke to every teenager’s angst.
Thanks for giving them a shout-out on the Web, Chuck.
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“Thirteen,” “Let’s Pretend” and “Without You” all are great songs by those bands, but they’re ballads, not power pop. “In the Street,” “Go All the Way” and “No Matter What” are better representative of the genre — crunching, definitive power-pop anthems.
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Wes –
Point taken. However, I did want to show some of the lesser heard sounds by these groups – heck, I could have played “No Matter What” and “I Wanna Be With You” and “Don’t Lie To Me,” since we all know that Badfinger, Big Star and the Raspberries are the holy trinity of power pop – but I wanted something that wasn’t already heard on oldies radio about a dozen gazillion times (and sadly, in the case of Big Star, even heard at all).
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