Editing Power pop (section)

===1970s–1980s: Commercial peak and decline===
[[File:Cheaptrick1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Cheap Trick]] playing in 1978]]

A recognizable movement of power pop bands following in the tradition of the Raspberries started emerging in the late 1970s,<ref name="Allmusic" /> with groups such as [[Cheap Trick]], [[the Jam]], [[the Romantics]], [[Shoes (band)|Shoes]], and the Flamin' Groovies, who were seen as 1960s revivalist bands.{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|p=127}} Much of these newer bands were influenced by late 1960s AM radio, which fell into a rapid decline due to the popularity of the [[album-oriented rock|AOR]] and [[progressive rock (radio format)|progressive rock]] FM radio format.{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|p=138}} By 1977, there was a renewed interest in the music and culture of the 1960s, with examples such as the ''[[Beatlemania (musical)|Beatlemania]]'' musical and the growing [[mod revival]].{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|pp=124, 127}} [[AABA form]]s and [[double backbeat]]s also made their return after many years of disuse in popular music.{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|pp=139–140}}

Spurred on by the emergence of punk rock and new wave, power pop enjoyed a prolific and commercially successful period from the late 1970s into the early 1980s.<ref name="Earles">{{cite web|last=Earles|first=Andrew|url=http://magnetmagazine.com/2002/09/07/power-pop-the-70s-the-birth-of-uncool/|title=Power Pop: The '70s, The Birth Of Uncool - Magnet Magazine|date=September 7, 2002|website=magnetmagazine.com|access-date=August 21, 2018|archive-date=August 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821062637/http://magnetmagazine.com/2002/09/07/power-pop-the-70s-the-birth-of-uncool/|url-status=live}}</ref> Throughout the two decades, the genre existed parallel to and occasionally drew from developments such as glam rock, [[Pub rock (United Kingdom)|pub rock]], punk, new wave, [[college rock]], and [[neo-psychedelia]].<ref name="Murray" /> AllMusic states that these new groups were "swept along with the new wave because their brief, catchy songs fit into the post-punk aesthetic."<ref name="Allmusic" /> Most bands rejected the irreverence, cynicism, and irony that characterized new wave, believing that pop music was an [[high art|art]] that reached its apex in the mid-1960s, sometimes referred to as the "poptopia". This in turn led many critics to dismiss power pop as derivative work.{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|p=128}}

Ultimately, the groups with the best-selling records were Cheap Trick, [[the Knack]], the Romantics, [[Tommy Tutone]] and [[Dwight Twilley]], whereas Shoes, [[the Records]], [[the Nerves]], and [[20/20 (band)|20/20]] only drew cult followings.<ref name="Allmusic" /> Writing for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' in 1978, [[Jay Cocks]] cited [[Nick Lowe]] and [[Dave Edmunds]] as "the most accomplished purveyors of power pop", which he described as "the well-groomed stepbrother of punk rock". Edmunds was quoted: "Before the New Wave{{nbsp}}[...] There was no chance for the little guy who buys a guitar and starts a band. What we're doing is kids' music, really, just four-four time and good songs."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Cocks|first=Jay |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916235,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214030551/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916235,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 14, 2009 |title=Bringing Power to the People|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=June 6, 1978}}</ref> Cheap Trick became the most successful act in the genre's history thanks to the band's constant touring schedule and stage theatrics. According to Andrew Earles, the group's "astonishing acceptance in Japan (documented on 1979's ''[[Cheap Trick at Budokan|At Budokan]]'') and hits '[[Surrender (Cheap Trick song)|Surrender]]' and '[[I Want You To Want Me]],' the Trick took power pop to an arena level and attained a degree of success that the genre had never seen, nor would ever see again."<ref name="Earles"/>

The biggest chart hit by a power pop band was the Knack's debut single, "[[My Sharona]]", which topped the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart for six weeks in August–September 1979. However, the song's ubiquitous radio presence that summer spawned a popular and critical backlash against the band, which in turn led to a backlash against the power pop genre in general.{{sfn|Cateforis|2011|p=127}} Once the Knack failed to maintain their commercial momentum, record companies generally stopped signing power pop groups.<ref name="Hilburn"/> Most bands of the 1970s milieu broke up in the early 1980s.<ref name="Allmusic" />