The Rubinoos' The Rubinoos
A gem of pure pop, suffused with bubblegummy vocals and snarling guitars. Worth the price of admission for their rousing take on "I Think We're Alone Now" and the insanely catchy "I Wanna be Your Boyfriend".

The Raspberries' Fresh
Eric Carmen & Co. delivered in spades with their shimmering Capitol debut. Less overtly rocking than a majority of their likeminded peers, the band's music floats by on clouds of picture-perfect melodies and sucker-punch hooks.

Off Broadway's Quick Turns
Eternally overshadowed by citymates Cheap Trick, Off Broadway reached their creative pinnacle on this, their second effort. Swaggering and tuneful, the band does a wonderful job treading the line between hard rock bluster and classic pop finesse. Album closer "Eddie's Pals" is a sleeper classic.

Sloan's One Chord to Another
A troupe of Canadians enamored with Kiss and the Kinks, this quadruple-threat is as adept with sweet melodies as they are with dirt bike riffs. One Chord to Another is their most consistently thrilling effort, mixing rousing rockers ("G turns to D") with saccharine doo-pop overload ("The Good in Everyone").

Badfinger's Straight Up
The album that may have started the whole power-pop movement. The Beatles sure knew a good thing when they heard it, and as such, Badfinger knew they'd always have a home on their Apple Records imprint. Largely devoid of the power-chord muscle that would come to dominate the scene, the record is a brashly tuneful and masterfully constructed slice of satisfaction.

Big Star's #1 Record
What power-pop list would be complete without this incomparable Memphis trio? Big Star had a knack for penning sickly sweet melodies and then tearing them apart with their amps cranked to 11. The crackling "September Gurls" and "In the Street" are bona fide anthems to lost innocence and precocious youth.

Matthew Sweet's 100% Fun
One of the best power-pop albums of the '90s, Sweet's killer licks and penchant for Hollies-esque harmonies lifted his particular brand of rock head and shoulders above the pack.

Material Issue's Freak City Soundtrack
Assuming the mantle abandoned by Cheap Trick, blistering Chi-town trio Material Issue were a dab hand with a pen and quick with a riff. Though most laud their debut as their shining hour, it wasn't until this, their third album, that everything really fell into place.

The New Pornographers' Mass Romantic
A late addition to the classic power-pop canon, New Porn's shimmering debut is crammed to the gills with three-part harmonies, hooky organ fills and jangle-pop guitars. In a more perfect world, their stunning ode to inebriation, "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism", would have been a worldwide smash.

Pezband's Laughing in the Dark
The most unjustly ignored of all of Chicago's late '70s power-pop groups, Pezband were perhaps the best. Led by the irrepressible Mimi Betinis and guitarist Tommy Gauwenda, the quartet played a hook-tastic brand of pop rock that put most other bands of the era (and zip code) to shame. Their second album is brimming with infectious hooks and glorious guitar-work, courtesy of Gauwenda.