what's the 5 best power pop albums for you? just to see if I missed a band totally.

Keeping it down to five is tough. How about:

Raspberries Starting Over
Artful Dodger Rave On
Cheap Trick Cheap Trick ('77)
Plimsouls Everywhere At Once
Nick Lowe Pure Pop For Now People


Dern, Exploding Hearts and Tsar should be in there too.

i guess this all depends on where a person draws lines between power pop and pop punk. but in my definition i'd say:

the beat
big star - #1 record
jellyfish - bellybutton
nick lowe - pure pop for now people
milk n cookies

Nada Surf - Let Go

This.
+
Rhett Miller's - The Instigator

alright, cool. that's something! thanks. the nick lowe album has been mentioned twice and I don't know that so I guess I check that first.

Taste is taste and all but, seriously, c'mon.

I have never been good at categorizing music, but would like to nominate Fountains of Wayne - st

a bunch of albums listed above + Sloan's Twice Removed/One Chord To Another/Navy Blues.

I haven't heard any of your 5, but I'll check them out.

def in my top 5

Radcliffe and Z hit some essentials.

The Colors - S/T
Tweed - Fashion EP
Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action
I've always loved The Romantics s/t.
The Toms - S/T

get the Yellow Pills compilation

Posies-Frosting On The Beater

also

The Lemonheads - Its A Shame About Ray OR Come On Feel

Avoiding any albums already mentioned (I completely second the Nick Lowe, Big Star, and Cheap Trick nods.):

Teenage Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britain
Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Emitt Rhodes - Emitt Rhodes (is that one really "Power Pop"?)
Velvet Crush - Teenage Symphonies to God

NOTE: I had a hard time picking any one Teenage Fanclub record. It could have just as easily been Bandwagonesque. But I tried to keep it to one album per artist.

Tories, Wonderful Life.

With the Tories' debut album Wonderful Life, this Southern California foursome makes good on the work left undone by a Northern California foursome: the Jellyfish. While Wonderful Life is thankfully not a Jellyfish rip-off, it does take the most engaging elements and styles from the two Jellyfish albums, particularly Spilt Milk, and incorporates them into the Tories' own sound. Lead vocalist Steve Bertrand is also a lyrical dead ringer for Andy Sturmer, and that only solidifies the comparison. The similarities between the Tories and the Jellyfish may be pronounced, but that's very far from a bad thing. For a '90s power pop band to sound like one of the best and most short-lived acts of the same decade is even welcome, as the Jellyfish had so much farther left to go. That being said, Wonderful Life can stand on its own merits; the soaring "Gladys Kravitz" (the album's first single) references the neighbor on Bewitched, and pop songs like the catchy "Happy" or the ballad title track speak for themselves. There's also a distinct Southern California sensibility, such as the lyrics to the glammy "Spaceships in the Sky" or the ballad "Greenhill," and it's nearly always enjoyable when bands inject local flavor into their music. In fact, there isn't a weak track here, and that's a lot to say for any album, never mind a debut.

No doubt. Hearty second.

mag earwhig

For me...

Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend

that sounds interesting, gonna check that soon. thanks! I'll listen to nick lowe tomorrow at work.

Do not leave without hearing these three posted (if you haven't):

Nada Surf
Posies
Matthew Sweet

The Knack : "Get The Knack" ( ridiculous that this hasn't been mentioned yet )
TSAR : self-titled debut ( in my all-time Top 5 )
Material Issue : "Freak City Soundtrack" ( any of their albums would qualify, but I like the production on this one best )
Marshall Crenshaw : self-titled debut ( jangly )
60 Ft. Dolls : "The Big 3" ( vastly underrated/unknown in the US )

Disclaimer - I tend to like a LOT of power in my power pop.

agreed

obv