Power Pop Roots: Beatles Songs with Handclaps (a Greg Shaw Tribute)
Power chords to 11? Metal. Martins and longing lament? Folk. Bass, bumps'n'Bee Gees? Disco. Each genre has its linchpins. Ask power pop, but throw in some harmonies and hand claps with your question!
Many times on these pages, I’ve quoted the late, great music writer, label mogul, and fanzine/magazine publisher, Greg Shaw (pictured above), and his defense of power pop, which also, perhaps unwittingly, came to serve as an apt description, if not the calling card for rock’s sub-genre whose roots are planted firmly in Beatlemania:
“A few la-la’s and hand claps won’t kill you!”
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Greg was a personal good friend, and although we never met, I visited his BOMP! record store on Laurel Canyon when I moved from Houston to L.A. in 1980. I did meet his wife, Suzy, but Greg and I corresponded a few times back in the pre-internet years when he was busily holding down a full-fledged monthly magazine, an indie-label, and a retail shop.
In the mid- (when I was in radio) and late-’70s (when I moved into the retail records lane myself), I’d regularly send him local Houston and regional Texas indie singles I thought he might like, either to feature in his fanzine/magazine, or possibly sign to his label.
Sadly, he died at 55 of kidney failure in 2004.
There was no bigger fan or entrepreneur of power pop than Greg. And, to the ‘70s and ‘80s teen’n’twenty-something purveyors of the growing genre, Greg was their Clive Davis…the knowing and understanding pop mogul who “got” their talent…and loved their music.
Unlike Clive, though, Greg was just like them, and certainly understood the gaping chasm between the talent and the money men. And, he was one of the few who knew how to construct the bridge between them. In sports terms, he was a player’s coach.
With his moptop bowl and SoCal surfer dood/16 Mag-cover good looks, the San Francisco native looked like he was separated at birth from a sibling trio of Brian Jones, John Petersen, and Keith Relf:
All of this to preface something I ran across recently on the Darby Gray blogspot, “Beatles Songs with Handclaps”! There wasn’t an attendant article, and inasmuch as it also didn’t feature an accompanying Playlist, I thought I’d step in. They’re in no particular order of which I’m aware, but as this is the order they had them in, I didn’t want to mess around, although reconfiguring it chronologically might’ve been cool:
If it has handclaps, is it power pop? Maybe. Soaring harmonies and a tight, catchy-as-COVID melody? Probably. Both elements together? Like mid-century “smutty” magazines, you may not be able to define what “dirty” is, but you’d know it if you saw it.
And, as in 21st-century TV singing shows (American Idol, The Voice, et al), if you were unable to describe or define what “talent” was, you’d certainly know it (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood) if you heard it (or didn’t…looking at you, William Hung and Sanjaya Malakar)!
Wrestle with what power pop may or may not be all you want. You’ll know it when you hear it…especially now!
More power pop on Substack? Try Remember the Lightning,S.W. Lauden’s excellent newsletter:
And, enjoy Lauden’s recent trip to Tune Tag land:
Nice ode to an important power pop icon.
Great article! I liked reading about Greg and the way you described his influence. I've yet to check the playlist, but you had me at soaring harmonies and catchy melodies! Is finger snapping allowed? Asking for a friend who always wants to bring soul and R&B to parties :)