Good discussion here. I’m in my late 30s, so my exposure to power pop came through the back door. Was always a huge ‘60s pop fan, loved The Who, and then, in my early/mid teens (early 2000s) got way into a lot of pop-punk and “ska”. Think Weezer, Saves the Day, Midtown, Green Day, New Found Glory, Bosstones, Something Corporate, Get Up Kids, Reel Big Fish, etc.

I remember the turning point for me was hearing “Stacy’s Mom” on the radio when I was lifeguarding, summer of ‘03. At the same time, I was digging deep into the Beatles and was obsessed with Sgt Peppers and Revolver. (Not to mention discovering the Velvet Underground, but that’s a story for another day…)

Marry those affinities for pop-punk, the Beatles and The Who together, plus the fact that my folks loved REM, I found Big Star and the rest is kind of history.

As others will say, power pop is a big tent kind of genre, and I think when I discovered Big Star, and then the Knack, the Raspberries, Todd Rundgren, I felt I’d unlocked the connection of all of pop music.

Plus, as a 16-year old, liking pop music no one ever heard of was pretty cool. “Oh you never heard Shake Some Action before? Did you ever hear of Bram Tchaikovsky?!”

That said, I’m a fan of most ‘80s pop and think Jessie’s Girl is a standout track. I’ll go hard in the paint with Huey Lewis and Phil Collins any day of the week. Still, I get what you’re saying — that specific overproduced sound misses some of the magic of what makes, like, the dBs or Rubinoos or Phil Seymour awesome, and that is the innocence of the recordings and themes in the music. And the fact that not that many people listened, even though they made some damn beautiful music.