It was Pete Townshend, in 1967, who first used "power-pop" to describe his own band's focus on heavy riffs and pop hooks. But it wasn't until the late '70s that the term really described a genre. The big names were Cheap Trick, the Romantics and the Knack-just lurking behind them were the Beat, whose debut album was a power-pop classic though not a commercial success. They changed their name later to the Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British ska band the Beat and continued to write many amazing power-pop songs but still never garnered much in the way of sales. Even now, in the 2000s, their albums rock with the same driving intensity-and Collins' penchant for ear worms seems unending.
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It was Pete Townshend, in 1967, who first used "power-pop" to describe his own band's focus on heavy riffs and pop hooks. But it wasn't until the late '70s that the term really described a genre. The big names were Cheap Trick, the Romantics and the Knack-just lurking behind them were the Beat, whose debut album was a power-pop classic though not a commercial success. They changed their name later to the Paul Collins Beat to avoid confusion with the British ska band the Beat and continued to write many amazing power-pop songs but still never garnered much in the way of sales. Even now, in the 2000s, their albums rock with the same driving intensity-and Collins' penchant for ear worms seems unending.
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44 S Almaden Avenue, San Jose, CA 95113
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