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International Women's Day Playlist: Women of Power Pop

Amelinda, here. Your friendly station Content Marketing Manager. We may have met digitally on social media or through our email newsletter, and like most of us here, I'm a big music nerd and musician.

I’ve been obsessed with music since my earliest memories and my favorite format is vinyl, so I’ve been collecting records for a long time. I spin power pop and garage rock records at least once a month at Strange Town, for their “Matriarchive” female-only, vinyl-only DJ nights which happen every Wednesday.

Power pop is a genre I got really into because it’s a perfect blend of catchy hooks and harmonies juxtaposed with longing or heartbreak/yearning that’s really addictive. It also pulls in a lot of genres I like from glam to '60s-era girl groups, garage rock and punk, but has been decidedly “uncool.”

While I didn’t grow up in the heyday of the era in the late '70s, I’ve read having a journalist label your band “power pop” a mark of death because albums first labeled with the genre didn’t sell and some bands felt it meant their music wasn't as substantial, merely surface level pop.

I fell into the genre through Badfinger’s heartbreaking and powerful songs with that touch of '60s nostalgia and Dwight Twilley. I also love Merseybeat stuff and bands like the Left Banke the Zombies… and I feel like power pop was an American version of the British stuff.

Being a musician myself I had to wonder who the women were making this music, right? I mean of course they were out there, but looking back at retrospectives of power pop, you rarely see a mention. So, I’m sharing this playlist today of some of my favorites of the women of the era and hopefully it will be a jumping off point for listeners to do their own digging.

In some power pop online groups I’m a member of, what is and isn’t part of the genre is hotly contested, but I’m going to go with the punk ’n’ roll and “skinny tie” side of the genre – however you want to label it, it’s a good time and fits well in any playlist with the guys.

Nikki Corvette and the Convertibles | Courtesy photo

Tracklist:

Nikki Corvette and the Convertibles – “Young and Crazy”

Holly and the Italians “Tell That Girls to Shut Up”

MnMs – “I’m Tired”

The Shivvers – “Please Stand By”

The Go Gos – “We Got the Beat”

Josie Cotton – “He Could Be the One”

The Muffs – “Sad Tomorrow”

The Donnas – “Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine”

Tina and the Total Babes – “Tongue Tied”

The Sugar Stems “We Only Come Out at Night”

Lisa Mychols 3 - “Bruce Foxton”

Ex Hex – “How You Got That Girl”

Baby Shakes “Teenage Cloud”