I see that gauntlet and I pick it up.

A friend of mine (not me, just so we're clear) went into a fit of powerpop collecting on the back of exhausting his sixties Who and Kinks opportunities. He was happy with The Records, seemed pleased enough with the first Beat album, didn't care much for 20/20 (I tend to agree) but reserved his ire for Big Star. 'Is this powerpop?' he said. And what he meant I think was are these druggy, disenchanted and melancholy pop songs related to the genre, really? Aren't Big Star just a little too bleak and inaccessible to qualify as 'powerpop'? Of course such a major issue took three seconds of the evening to forget. But now I wonder. Is a dirge like 'Holocaust' fit to sit alongside 'Teenerama' or 'Walking Out On Love' or 'Substitute'? And if there's an issue with Big Star, where does that leave Badfinger?
 

David you make fine points.......as a fan of all mentioned bands as well as others who loosely fit the defined genre....i simplify my understanding of the term powerpop to mean a merging of sweet melody and guitar rifferama.....now that fits a tonne of bands I know....so the only question left for the fan....is just deciding on a powerpop flavour that is the sweet to the ears........personally... drudgy melancholic pop songs maybe should have a sub genre all of their own because the rifferama (power) is missing.....
Cheers
Duane
 

I think with Big Star it's more of an influence thing. They tend to get quoted by loads of bands as being a major influence, ( Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, etc.). Indeed Jon and Ken from The Posies now make up half of the current Big Star lineup ! I'm not too sure about quoting "Holocaust" David, in my opinion "Thirds/Sister Lovers" was really more of an Alex Chilton album rather than a bona fide Big Star release. The first two albums are the ones that generally get mentioned when people talk about them in Powerpop terms.
A sub-genre? Who knows Duane? Could be! One of my headaches when people ask me about Powerpop is how to describe it to 'em! It usually starts with "well.........er....it's really melodic stuff but with crunchy guitars!" However, that then leaves out some of my favourite bands....The Pillbugs, Jellyfish etc ! Were the Replacements powerpop? they certainly did some really great melodic songs with, on occasion, more crunchy guitars than you could shake a stick at, but I've never read about 'em being described as powerpop.
At the end of the day I suppose it's all down to personal preference.
David, point your friend in the direction of Not Lame records and tell him to order the "Shake Some Action" book, which goes a long way in trying to describe what powerpop is, who influenced who, and the authors personal list of the top powerpop bands! Then direct him to Wicked Cool records to order The Chevelles album! he could do no better !

Cheers, Andy