power pop

Although he hailed from Baltimore, singer/songwriter Greg Kihn found his way to San Francisco in the mid-70s, becoming a part of that city's rich pop music history. Strongly influenced by '60s guitar pop, Kihn became a successful local act during the late '70s with his band, embraced by fans for his straight-forward style of power pop.

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Growing up in Texas, Tommy Heath was influenced by the sounds of The Beatles and Buddy Holly. By the late '70s, Heath had moved to California and, with guitarist Jim Keller, formed the band Tommy Tutone in San Francisco. Despite the musical trends of the time that saw punk and New Wave as the burgeoning musical styles, Heath and Keller drew on the classic sound of power pop for Tommy Tutone.

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In the late '70s, the Los Angeles quartet The Knack found themselves in the midst of a bidding war by record labels to sign the power-pop band. With the music world in a tug of war between the disco that had been dominating radio and punk garnering the attention of critics, The Knack's sound, drawing on predecessors like The Kinks and The Beatles, was embraced by fans.

The band's 1979 debut, Get The Knack, was a genuine phenomenon, selling millions of copies on the strength of its monster lead single "My Sharona" which topped the singles charts for six weeks. They also notched a second Top 20 hit with the bouyant "Good Girls Don't." So there was considerable anticipation as well as expectations for their follow-up.

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