Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
A power-pop enthusiast turned country songwriter/performer turned rock & roll performer, Bill Lloyd earned his badge on Music Row by writing hits for others, but later as part of the duo Foster & Lloyd. After Foster & Lloyd split up in 1990, Lloyd moved on to a solo career with frequent stints as a sideman guitarist.
Born in Kentucky...
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Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
From his tenures with the Sneakers and the dB's on through to his subsequent solo projects, singer/songwriter Chris Stamey remained a linchpin of the jangle-pop renaissance. Born December 6, 1954 in Chapel Hill, NC, he was raised in the Winston-Salem area, and alongside longtime friend and collaborator Peter Holsapple, he first surfaced in 1972... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
Though the Dwight Twilley Band only had one hit (Twilley had another on his own), Twilley and partner Phil Seymour created an enduring and highly memorable brand of power pop that blended Beatlesque pop and Sun rockabilly "slapback" echo. Only a fraction of the band's early output was made available at the time, but these records are highly... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
After spending the '80s as an unappreciated jangle pop guitarist with Oh-OK and Lloyd Cole, as well as a solo artist, Matthew Sweet emerged in 1991 as the leading figure of the American power pop revival. Like his British counterparts Teenage Fanclub, Sweet adhered to traditional songcraft, yet subverted the form by adding noisy post-punk guitar... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 00s
Ours began in 1992, and built a strong following playing shows in New York City. By 1997, the band had sparked a label bidding war, and when the smoke settled, they signed a deal with Dreamworks Records. For their first record, Distorted Lullabies, Ours worked with legendary producer Steve Lillywhite. The record was released in 2001, and was met... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 80s, 90s
It may not have the hip thing to do at the time but Shoes carried on the pure pop traditions of the Beatles and the Raspberries during the late '70s and early '80s with a charming innocence and execution unmatched by the more derivative bands lumped into the category "power pop."
Shoes was formed by in Zion, IL, in 1975 by Jeff...
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Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
After first gaining acclaim for a densely melodic sound which anticipated the coming emergence of grunge, Scotland's Teenage Fanclub spent the remainder of their career as torch-bearers for the power pop revival, unparalleled among their generation for both their unwavering adherence to and brilliant reinvention of the classic guitar pop... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s, 00s
The Raspberries cut through the epic pretensions and pomposity of '70s-era rock to proudly reclaim the spirit and simplicity of classic pop, recalling the heyday of the British Invasion with their exquisitely crafted melodies and achingly gorgeous harmonies. The group was formed in Mentor, OH, in early 1970 by singer/songwriter Eric Carmen and... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s
The Replacements initially formed in 1979, when Paul Westerberg joined a garage punk band formed by brothers Bob (guitar) and Tommy Stinson (bass) and drummer Chris Mars. Originally, the band was called the Impediments, but they changed their name to the Replacements after being banned from a local club for disorderly behavior. In their early... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 60s, 70s, 90s, 00s
Tommy Hoehn is another in a long line of musicians from Memphis who should have been big but never even came close. Hoehn's first claim to fame was providing background vocals for Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers. He also sang some backups for another legendary "lost" Memphis band, the Scruffs. In the mid-'70s he recorded the classic power pop... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 80s, 90s, 00s
Hailing from Bethesda, MD, Tommy Keene is a guitarist and singer/songwriter who plays and writes melodic guitar-based pop/rock. As a child, Keene played classical piano before picking up guitar and drums. He spent his teenage years drumming in a rock trio called Blue Steel, whose original guitar player, Mike Lofgren, was the younger brother of... [+] Read More
Genre: Rock/Pop
Decades Active: 70s
Van Duren was part of the early Memphis power pop scene that spawned the legendary Big Star, and made several underexposed, small-label records during the late '70s. Duren began playing in bands at the age of 13 in 1966 and attended high school with eventual Big Star drummer Jody Stephens; he auditioned to replace Chris Bell in Big Star in 1974,... [+] Read More
