Let's Go Pop: A Power Pop Mix By I Rock Cleveland

I never intended to put together a 24 song, 77 minute power pop mix. It just happened. One night I found a reissue of Flippin Out, a mid-nineties power pop gem by the Boston band, Gigolo Aunts, on eMusic. Later that same night, I found myself buying the out-of-print three decade power pop compilation, Poptopia, that Rhino released in 1997 (for a considerable mark-up I must add). It didn't end there, as the next two weeks I was obsessively scouring the internet and tearing through my old cd rack in search of the best power pop music ever made. The result of my obsession was a 24 song, 77 minute power pop mix that could have easily been over 50 songs and three hous. The songs included in Let's Go Pop span four decades and include the obvious, obscure, and under-appreciated, yet they all have one thing in common: dangerously high levels of rockingness. Power pop isn't meant to be difficult. There's nothing to get here. The songs focus on memorable melodies and solid songwriting, backed by simple guitar, bass, and drums arrangements. You don't need a long-winded, scrabble word loving, critic to tell you why this music is essential. All you need is speakers and ears. Rock. 1. Arlo - Culture.mp3 2. Ultimate Fakebook - Valentines.mp3 3. The Young Sportsmen - Under The Rocks and Stars.mp3 4. Redd Kross - Lady In The Front Row.mp3 5. Material Issue - Valerie Loves Me.mp3 6. The Posies - Flavor Of The Month.mp3 7. Michael Penn - No Myth.mp3 8. Cheap Trick - Come On, Come On.mp3 9. Graham Coxon - Tell It Like It Is.mp3 10. Uptown Sinclair - Girlfriend.mp3 11. Superdrag - I Guess It's American.mp3 12. The Replacements - Alex Chilton.mp3 13. The Killjoys - Today I Hate Everyone.mp3 14. Weezer - You Gave Your Love To Me Softly.mp3 15. Johnny Nobody - Sunny Days.mp3 16. The Smithereens - Behind The Wall of Sleep.mp3 17. The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed.mp3 18. Gigolo Aunts - Where I Find My Heaven.mp3 19. Brendan Benson - Spit It Out.mp3 20. Josie And The Pussycats - Pretend To Be Nice.mp3 * 21. Sloan - I Hate My Generation.mp3 22. Teenage Fanclub - Star Sign.mp3 23. Matthew Sweet - I've Been Waiting.mp3 24. Big Star - September Gurls.mp3 Download in a handy zip-file Pretend To Be Nice was written by Adam Schleisinger (Fountains of Wayne) for the Josie And The Pussycats soundtrack and was co-produced by David Gibbs (Gigolo Aunts) with Babyface. Kay Hanley (Letters To Cleo) sings lead, Michael Eisenstein (Letters To Cleo) played guitar and bass, Rick Menck (Velvet Crush, Matthew Sweet, and Gigolo Aunts) played drums, and Bif Naked sang backups. Freely available promo tracks were used where available. Support the artists featured in this mix and find a new favorite disc. Please note: Due to the ginormous volume of this mix, these tunes will only be available for a very limited time. One last note: Many thanks to Harry from Tha Bomb Shelter for supplying the Michael Penn track. Recommended Listening: Sloan (I celebrate their whole discography), Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub, Open Up And Say Awesome by Ultimate Fakebook, Live At The Budokan by Cheap Trick, Frosting On The Beater by The Posies, The Poptopia Collection by Rhino, and just about every artist included in this mix.