Rock In My World

70's Power Pop Flashback

Flamin' Groovies - Shake Some Action
The Rubinoos - The Girl
20/20 - Yellow Pills

I'm on a little power pop kick, trying to get out of a funk I've been in all year. Nothing makes me feel better than the blissful sounds of 3 chords chiming out on electric guitars over some soaring harmonies and a driving drum beat. This week's flashback is a three-fer, since we could all use a little lift from the battering of bad news we've been having lately.
This week, those Flamin' Groovies were on my playlist, so join me in flashing back to the power pop of 1976. (The year Dazed And Confused, one of my favorite Linklater movies, takes place!) The Groovies were signed to Sire Records, which was pretty indie in the seventies, with such bands as Talking Heads and The Ramones.
Next up is The Rubinoos, a power pop duo from Berkeley, CA, who signed with a new label, Berserkley Records, in 1975, when they were young teens. Their first record, The Rubinoos, debuted in 1977 and charted a mild hit with a cover of Tommy James' I Think We're Alone Now.
Finally we have 20/20, a Tulsa, OK band with a power pop fanzine named after one of their songs, Yellow Pills. The fanzine went bust in the nineties, but there are several power pop compilations cds available here and there online. I have two of them, and I find them highly addicting, which has sent me on a quest to find the rest.