{"id":759255,"date":"2026-07-12T22:18:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/759255\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T22:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T22:18:06","slug":"4-songs-that-proved-power-pop-was-alive-and-well-in-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/759255\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Songs That Proved Power Pop Was Alive and Well in 1983"},"content":{"rendered":"

The early 80s were a time of massive transformation in the world of music. But the old-school values that drove power pop, such as smart lyrics, melodic richness, and instrumental economy, didn\u2019t exactly go out of style.<\/p>\n

We found several songs from that calendar year wearing their power pop values on their sleeves. They weren\u2019t all gigantic hits (although a couple were.) But they all certainly deserved to be.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cBack On The Chain Gang\u201d by Pretenders<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

The Pretenders could have effortlessly folded up their tents, considering the turmoil and tragedy that enveloped them in the early 80s. Following two potent albums to start their career, the band was rocked by the overdose death of guitarist James Honeyman-Scott in the summer of 1982. Bandleader Chrissie Hynde also dismissed bassist Pete Farndon due to his drug problems around that same time. (Farndon died in 1983). Still reeling, Hynde put her emotions about the loss of Honeyman-Scott into the lyrics of \u201cBack On The Chain Gang\u201d. She also assembled a new version of The Pretenders for the recording. Released in September 1982, the song lingered on the pop charts in \u201983, peaking at No. 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverkill\u201d by Men At Work<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Men At Work\u2019s first album, Business As Usual, ruled pop radio in 1982 with a pair of hits (\u201cWho Can It Be Now\u201d and \u201cDown Under\u201d) that sounded somewhat lighthearted. They weren\u2019t really, at least when you dug into the lyrics. With \u201cOverkill\u201d, the first single from their 1983 sophomore effort, Cargo, there was no doubting the inner darkness. The forward momentum of the music, all taut lines and smoky atmosphere, keeps this firmly in the power pop lane even still. Colin Hay talks about a creeping inner malaise in the lyrics, takes a strutting guitar solo in the middle section, and then launches into his upper register in the final verse to give \u201cOverkill\u201d a stunning climax.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Can\u2019t Take It\u201d by Cheap Trick<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Nobody wore the power pop banner with as much pride as Cheap Trick<\/a>. The band famously went from critical darlings to commercial juggernauts when their live At Budokan album made an unlikely breakthrough at the end of the 70s. The early 80s found them struggling to get back to the pop charts, even as their work remained strong. They decided to team with producer Todd Rundgren, a guy who knew a thing or two about power pop, on the album Next Position Please in 1983. Robin Zander, lead singer of the band, took charge as songwriter on \u201cI Can\u2019t Take It\u201d, lead single from the album. It\u2019s hard to believe, upon listening to this no-flab gem, that it didn\u2019t do anything on the charts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Still Standing\u201d by Elton John<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

This might raise some eyebrows, in that we don\u2019t usually think of Elton John being in the power pop camp. But we\u2019d urge you to disregard the artist and just listen to the song. When John made his 1983 album Too Low For Zero, he wrote many of the songs on the synthesizer because it forced him to keep things simpler and more rocking. \u201cI\u2019m Still Standing\u201d emerged from that process. Many people hear the lyrics and think that they were meant to convey John\u2019s statement of purpose about returning from the pop wilderness. They were actually about one of Bernie Taupin\u2019s exes. Nonetheless, the song served its purpose and did indeed restore John\u2019s place in the pop elite.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Chris Walter\/WireImage)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The early 80s were a time of massive transformation in the world of music. But the old-school values…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,88,216,17172,233625],"class_list":["post-759255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1980s","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-power-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}