I’ve recently watched the latest edit of The Power Pop Movie, and have come up with the following review. You can find more information about this documentary at https://powerpopmovie.com
I’m pretty sure I never heard the term ‘power pop’ until around 1977, when it was used to describe the debut album from the Chicago-based group Pezband. The Who’s Pete Townshend is often credited with coining the term in 1967, but it didn’t catch on until it was applied to 1960s-influenced bands from the 1970s and beyond. Filmmaker Justin Fielding was well-acquainted with power pop’s history and set out to celebrate its appeal and often-poignant stories in a feature-length documentary. The quest has taken longer than Fielding anticipated, but as of now, there’s a good chance he’ll be sharing The Power Pop Movie with the world soon, if he can find studio support for a public release.
Not everyone is an admirer of power pop, and there are musicians who resist having that label applied to their work. Fielding explores their reasons, as well as why it’s sometimes dismissed by critics and record company execs. The Power Pop Movie is a well-crafted, thoroughly researched effort that will please the genre’s dedicated followers and perhaps draw new converts into appreciating the genre and its artists. That’s primarily due to Fielding’s ability to enlist a virtual army of music industry people to offer their stories and feelings about power pop.
The documentary concentrates more on interviews than performance footage, and it hooks viewers with interesting commentary from relevant musicians such as Marshall Crenshaw; Todd Rundgren; REM’s Mike Mills; Peter Holsapple from The dB’s; Big Star’s Jody Stephens; Paul Collins; Peter Case; Mitch Easter; The Bangles’ Vicki and Debbi Peterson; Raspberries’ Eric Carmen, Jim Bonfanti, and Scott McCarl; and The Smithereens’ Jim Babjak and Dennis Diken. Chicago fans will be happy to see Jeff Murphy, John Murphy, and Gary Klebe of Shoes; Material Issue’s Mike Zelenko and Ted Ansani; The Handcuffs’ Brad Elvis; Pezband’s Mimi Betinis; Off Broadway’s Cliff Johnson; and longtime Cheap Trick member Bun E. Carlos offering their thoughts. It would take up too much space to list all the musicians who participated, and while some don’t identify as power pop, the various perspectives are fascinating.
The movie opens by exploring power pop’s connection to the original British Invasion, with a heartfelt tribute to Badfinger, including commentary about them by Zombies founding members Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, and Chris White. Some interviewees describe power pop as The Beatles with harder guitars. This illustrates a conundrum that the general public sometimes resents new bands that strive to sound like the most popular band ever, even when those new bands make records that sound like can’t-miss hits. Fielding also explores how the media has viewed and affected the success of power pop; with commentary from International Pop Overthrow founder David Bash; as well as from authors and journalists, including Ken Sharp; Cary Baker; Moira McCormick; Mary Donnelly; Ira Robbins; Not Lame Recordings’ Bruce Brodeen; John Borack; and Michael Chabon.
Ultimately, The Power Pop Movie makes a valid point that the genre has never left us and retains its lifelong fans while finding new ones in today’s music-streaming era. There’s a shout-out to the Wild Honey Foundation and the charity concerts it often stages in California featuring power pop icons. On a sad note, some of the musicians interviewed for The Power Pop Movie have since passed away. Hopefully, this documentary will spark pleasant memories of how much Badfinger’s Joey Molland; The Muffs’ Kim Shattuck; The Records’ John Wicks; the aforementioned Eric Carmen and Cliff Johnson; Emitt Rhodes; Blondie’s Clem Burke; Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger; Tommy Keene; and others contributed to the music scene.
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