I loved the Producers and Off Broadway.. Worked with both bands and they were not only good, but a very nice bunch of guys. I still listen to there songs today 40 year later.

The Producers. You Make the Heat. Awesome.

Todd Rundgren as a solo artist as well as his bands The Nazz & Utopia did a lot of excellent power pop that could easily fill up a whole segment. Songs like Love In Action, Open My Eyes, We Gotta Get You A Woman, Time Heals, Couldn't I Just Tell You, You Cried Wolf, and many more that are classic power pop songs.

This brings a tear to my eye. It was true in the 80’s and in the 60’s and 70’s as well. There were HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of performers who produced great music and are long gone and almost forgotten, except by the precious few like us. Today? I don’t think so.

Producers were awesome. Most underrated band of the 1980's. Really talented guys who wrote great tunes!!

What a great list! Thank you! If you ever do one on Boston bands, the ones that just missed the big time include #TheNeighborhoods (Prettiest Girl); #TheLyres (Don't Give It Up Now); #ModernLovers (Roadrunner); #NewEngland (Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya); Face-To_Face (10-9-8, Under The Gun); and #TheDelFuegos (Don't Run WIld; I Still Want You). I bet if you listen to a couple of those songs I mention, you'll be like "I know that one!" Thanks again, Bijan!

When i was watching this list i thought of the Producers, and then Boom! there they were at #1. Saw them live in Savannah in the mid 80s they were Awsome!! Glad you showed all these forgotten Bands some love 👍

Plimsouls/Fishbone/Busboys/Missing Persons/Twenty Twenty/Gary Myrick(guitar talk.. great mtv vid -"cant stand the heat! "/Rockpile/Nick Lowe/Dave Edmonds.....🙃

Great Video! Thank you for reminding me how old I am. 43 years ago I bought the Speedies Single '' Something on my mind'' I loved it! Played it all the time throughout the 80's also around the same time saw the Mosquitos and the Smithereens on the same bill at the Lonestar Cafe in nyc. Where did the time go? So many bands, so little time. Love Pop Rocks Radio,Let's all work to keep Power Pop alive.Thanks Bijan you have given us a platform to voice our love for all things Power Pop!

Good job making Atlanta's The Producers #1. They were playing the same big rock bars in the South that my bands were in the early 80s. I met the band's lawyer through a guitarist I knew in Birmingham and heard a lot of their songs on a cassette he had before they were released. The bass player Kyle Henderson was also in an earlier band called Whiteface that was incredibly talented & did all sorts of styles, all 4 guys were lead singers. The Producers should have been big stars, but it was a record company political problem that prevented it; that happens a lot. Their first album was like a greatest hits album.

thanks for the memory jog. sad to hear we've lost cliff johnson, he was a great guy. I got to open a few shows for them on the first US tour. great lists, keep 'em coming! cheers, cletis carr, sneakers (1978-82)

It's good to see some Aussie power pop in a list for a change (yes, I'm from the land down under). 🎸

I saw the Producers around 1990 in my college town at a bar that doubled as a laundromat. They should've been bigger. I worked in college radio, and we all played them a lot on our shows.

I was in awe to see The Speedies on this video, as I went to the same high school with Greg Cruzen(probably misspelling the last name). He gave me a 45 of Let Me Take Your Foto. Great song, great group! I for the longest time have had a picture of him I randomly took at a party he was at. Lost touch after graduation, I hope he's doing well.

The Producers are an amazing band, one of my favorite all time. I grew up in Atlanta and saw them many times. Kyle Hendersons bass playing was a big influence on me. Check out their first 2 albums for sure. Amazing stuff.

Great stuff. New sub here! 3 of my favorite examples from this era were New Jersey's Quincy and their self titled debut. The Fools from Massachusettes ( I was smitten with their album Sold Out). Also Philadelphia act The A's. Keep poppin!

The Producers!!!

"What's he got that I ain't got?" I STILL listen to The Producers! I tried and tried and tried to help them break through by playing the egg-suckin' grooves off that first elpee on the radio. I also played Off Broadway's debut on radio when it was first released. Ah, well...at least we tried.

I have The Producers and You Make the Heat. Awesome power pop!

Great stuff, and thank you for the IPO shout out!

The Plimsouls were a Hollywood mainstay at the Central and Starwood clubs in the early 80's. Great band that should have been hugh.

New subscriber. After many years I thought I knew my power pop. Wrong! Not one of these bands was on my radar and all deserve to be. I know The Pursuit of Happiness was mentioned in comments for another of your vids, but Moe Berg had a band prior to them called The Modern Minds. You should check out the single "Theresa's World" - power pop perfection!

You mentioned the Illinois bands and it made me think of The Elvis Brothers and their debut album Movin’ Up. “It’s So Hard” got a bit of airplay outside of Chicagoland.

Love The Producers and Off Broadway.

This is a very good list, cause the only band i knew vaguely was The Producers cause they were on a compilation i had in my 20's

Thanks for including The Mosquitos!! A very talented band with many great original songs that unfortunately weren’t heard by enough people. But last year a double CD compilation of studio & live recordings was released on Kool Kat (and Bandcamp) and a compilation record came out on Area Pirata. Worth a listen, seek them out!

Yeah, Mosquitos! How about Dirty Looks?

What is the song @ <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="15">0:15</a> seconds into the video? I recognize it, but cannot place it.

I remember Off Broadway, helps growing up in Wisconsin. They got air play even in the central part off the state.

The Producers are AWESOME!

I saw the Producers and Romantics in VA years ago. hadn't heard of the Producers then, good stuff. The Romantics, Classic!

Love The Innocents. Their album POP FACTORY is a classic.

When I saw the thumbnail title, I immediately thought "I wonder if they considered Off Broadway?" Hooray! Full moon turn my head around and' 'round...

Man, I wish I could create quality vids like Pop Rocks Radio!!

Please could you include Silver Sun in your next video? This 90s Power Pop band had moderate success in their native UK (a few top forty singles) but didn't amount to much elsewhere.

There is a Chicago-Based podcast that focuses on obscure power pop and AOR called 1000 Greatest Misses. It might your new favorite podcast!

I was recently reminded of a Canadian band called Trooper. My brother listened to them a lot in the late 70s

I’ll give you one………4 out of 5 Doctors. Not sure how they didn’t make it big. Great DC band when I went to school at the University of Maryland.

I think criminally overlooked is The Explosives from Austin, TX. Active in the late 70's, early 80's, their singles were amazing. They had minor success with Girl Like You. They backed up Roky Erickson in the late 70's and again in the early 2000's when Roky started performing again. Definitely a shame they never made much of dent in the power pop scene.

I absolutely loved The Producers and I am glad I am not the only one.

Marvelous 3

The Producers - forgotten? really? Lots of airplay, MTV hits, great band! Granted they should have been bigger, but they weren't forgotten!

Saw the Producers at the Attic in Myrtle Beach on a Tuesday night in 1985 or 86. I think that I was the only person there who was a fan, great show.

Two bands that I think should be at the top: Twenty Twenty, a synth pop rock band with great hooks, is up there. However, the band that caused another band to rename itself The English Beat, was The Beat. Pop culture missed out on this amazing band(now called The Paul Collins Beat), and millions of people never heard this amazingly tight band. No one like them. Trust me on this! Their debut album The Beat is awesome.

Pezband from a Chicago suburb - Oak Park I believe

I saw Off Broadway when they came out opening for Judas Priest in Hammond Indiana. They were great! Not a bad song on their first album. I bought it and The Producers albums when they first went on sale.

One very underrated and missed power pop band of the early '80's was a band from my hometown of Tallahassee, Florida. Does anyone out there remember the Swimming Pool Q's? But you guys are absolutely right about the Producers. Those guys freakin' rocked!

I saw The Producers open for Cheap Trick and they nearly stole the show! But.....ya know.......CHEAP TRICK!

A newer band you might not know, but well worth checking out is Suzy and Los Quattro. I'm not sure if they're still together or not, I'm afraid. They're from Barcelona, Spain, and while their songs are in English, their Facebook is in Spanish, and... no habla. They do some great covers of songs by Phil Seymour and Candy, have awesome originals, and even recorded and toured with the Rubinoos! Well worth your time to check into.

The producers are still kicking ass..

Off Broadway's On was a fixture on my Freshman year turntable.

Shoes, the boys from Zion, IL has always been my favorite! I also like Hawks from Fort Dodge, IA.

The Raspberries (to me) are the ultimate power pop band. There is a band you didn't touch upon that are great. The band is called, "Myracle Brah" led by Andy Bopp they are out of Baltimore, Maryland & have had several CD's out. Check out the song , "No More Words" from their last CD 'Can You Hear The Myracle Brah?" Classic power pop in the vein of the Raspberries.

Ever heard of Fotomaker? You could do a whole segment just on them. They were a power pop supergroup out of NYC / Long Island in 1978 which included two members of The Rascals and the guitarist from the Raspberries, but the two stars of the band were two unknown Long Island Italians who wrote and sang all the songs. Their first album could have been a greatest hits album as there wasn't a weak song on it. They did other styles as well, but they really nailed power pop. They were signed to Atlantic Records and dropped after the 3rd album which was an absolutely horrible Disco album they did in desperation.

I always thought The Romantic got left behind. Killer life shows.

I liked Steel Breeze "You Don't want Me anymore" 1982.

New Orleans had some solid power pop in the late 70's/ early80's. The Dukes were in the vein of Cheap Trick, The Cold were local celebrities, Lenny Zenith & RZA was described as being "like a teenage Elvis Costello."

Buddy, all power pop is great!

I had to retrieve my post because it vanished. This is what I typed as a response... Countdown episodes get an annual replay on an allnight music show in Australia called RAGE, and it's that show I source most of my material from, including Countdown. Unfortunately, the ABC had about 100 episodes of 70's Countdown erased due to cost saving. It remains a sore point in Countdown history. However, the full episodes that have survived are available for viewing on the Internet Archive. A youtube channel called TassieTV uploads old Countdown episodes on his channel almost daily. That channel is worth checking out. When Countdown was concluded in 1987, a new music show called RAGE began airing on the ABC (Countdown's channel). Rage is an allnight music program that takes up Friday and Saturday nights and 2 hours around 2am for the rest of the week. It's currently the oldest music-video show in the world. In 1993, Rage began it's Countdown marathon. This is typical of Countdown: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gqymg6qb1bHehoU.html Elton John was a regular guest on Countdown and is good friends with host, Ian ''Molly'' Meldrum. Unfortunately, Molly has been in declining health since falling off his ladder (literally, not figuratively) on Christmas 2011.

Off Broadway went by Off Broadway USA because there had already been a British band by the name of Off Broadway. I have their records and saw them live once.

The Aquanettas and NZ’s The Exponents. Perhaps more of the one hit wonder variety tho both bands created masterpieces - Mind Full of Worry & Why Does Love Do This To Me?

How about The Hitmen? Super unknown power pop band from 79-82 ish... And there was another similar band called The Radiators who I believe were from Australia (not the New Orleans band). I always wondered why neither band got huge.

The Pop was incredible.

I confess I’ve never heard any of the bands in the video. I would like to add 2 bands: first from my Baltimore, The Ravyns, well known for that song from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Raise on the Radio). The other one is Billy Satellite, from California’s Bay Area. They wrote and recorded an eventual huge hit for Eddie Money, I Wanna go Back!

Power Pop is my genera. It’s perfect for a record collector. It was at the peak of distribution but not a genera that continues to have collectibility.

Flamin’ Groovies and The Elvis Brothers

The Cold out of New Orleans in the early '80's was a great one to consider!

British act "The Chords" will forever top the list for me....

Wouldn't a Keytar be less back breaking? After awhile that keyboard with the strap had to hurt.

I'm not sure what you'd consider "forgotten", or for that matter "Power Pop"... I suppose they're both subjective on some level... but I'd suggest Material Issue (Chicago), The Redwalls (Chicago) and The Kings (Vancouver). Maybe The Redwalls are more Indie and The Kings more Rock. Idk.

Power pop masters, Human Radio from Memphis, TN. HR Released a self titled debut in 1989 on Columbia Records.

Hoodoo Gurus 🎉

Idk if it counts since he’s just a singular artist, but ADAM SCHMITT was a total pop genius!!

When they make these videos about power pop bands,why is Badfinger never mentioned? They are practically the definition of power pop.

Saw the producers warm up for the !inks around 82

Hoodoo Gurus, from Oz!

Power pop band? What's next, light rock heavy metal, please!

THX

Look up Young Modern. Aussie band from late 70's with one album. It might take a bit of online studying.

Gotta have Paul Collins' Beat in the next video.

I would like to suggest The Laughing Dogs for a future video

The Smithereens had some decent success in the late 80s-early 90s but should have been much bigger. Also Goober & the Peas from Detroit. Jack White was briefly a member.

The Optic Nerve, The Wind or any band featuring Lane Steinberg. Then there’s any band featuring Dom Mariani.

You should chronicle Fools Face out of Springfield Missouri.

There was a great band in L.A. in the late 70's called "The Cats."Saw them live in summer/fall 1978 at The Troubador...Excellent live show.They had a sax player in the band and some quirky songs " I'm a Cat", "T.V.Guide". I remember the guitarist/singer named Fred Moore? Freddie Moore? Not sure if they ever released anything on a major label.

How about giving Artful Dodger from Springfield, VA some love. Saw them many times in the day in the DC area.

code blue would blow any of these bands away. great rockin powerpop from the 80s. check out “whisper touch” or “hurt” by them

Staten Island's own Dirty Looks!

The Nazz were power pop before power pop

Do THE ATLANTICS!!!

The Quick!

What about spirit?

"She Sheila" by the Producers, kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nNGCgcaov73Sp4k.html, is among the best power pop songs for any ear.

Irish band... the adventures... try send my heart ..or even better... your greatest shade of blue

The Shoes!

Del Fuegos great garage band from Boston

Montgomery Cliffs.

The Rubinoos? Translator? The Elvis Brothers?

Know 🚫 1! 😂

Can't forget them if you never heard of them. C'mon these bands are hella obscure. 😂