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John M. Borack is a music journalist and musician from Southern California.
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John M. Borack is a music journalist and musician from Southern California.
Borack's music reviews, columns and feature articles have appeared in periodicals such as Goldmine , Amplifier, [1] Trouser Press , [2] The Garden Grove Journal, Audities and Popsided.[ citation needed ] He first began contributing to Goldmine in 1985 [3] and as of 2010 continued to write the "Rave On" column for the magazine. [1] He currently writes the "Power Pop Plus" column for Goldmine. [4]
Borack is the author of the 2007 book Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide. [2] [3] He credits the Beatles with helping to shape his appreciation for music and in 2010 published the book John Lennon: Life Is What Happens. [3]
In his biography for AllMusic, he describes himself as a "power-pop maniac". [5] Among his contributions as a CD liner-note writer, he supplied the liner notes for the 1997 Rhino Records compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of the '80's. [5]
In late 2021, his latest compilation project, titled We All Shine On: A Tribute to the Music of 1970 was released through SpyderPop Records. [6]
Power pop is a subgenre of rock music and a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and cheerful sounding music underpinned by a sense of yearning, longing, despair, or self-empowerment. The sound is primarily rooted in pop and rock traditions of the early to mid-1960s, although some artists have occasionally drawn from later styles such as punk, new wave, glam rock, pub rock, college rock, and neo-psychedelia.
"Paperback Writer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership, the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single in May 1966. It topped singles charts in the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, West Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. On the US Billboard Hot 100, the song was at number one for two non-consecutive weeks, being interrupted by Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night".
"Instant Karma!" is a song by English rock musician John Lennon, released as a single on Apple Records in February 1970. The lyrics focus on a concept in which the consequences of one's actions are immediate rather than borne out over a lifetime. The single was credited to "Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band", apart from in the US, where the credit was "John Ono Lennon". The song reached the top five in the British and American charts, competing with the Beatles' "Let It Be" in the US, where it became the first solo single by a member of the band to sell a million copies.
"I Want You to Want Me" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick. It is originally from their second album In Color, released in September 1977. It was the first single released from that album, but it did not chart in the United States in its original studio version, which was influenced by music hall styles.
"Eat at Home" is a 1971 single by Paul and Linda McCartney that also appeared on their album Ram from the same year. The song, a standard rock number, features McCartney on lead vocals, electric guitar and bass, and Linda McCartney performing backing vocals.
Seth A. Swirsky is an American pop music songwriter, an author, a recording artist, a filmmaker, a political writer and a noted baseball memorabilia collector.
The Rubinoos are an American power pop band that formed in 1970 in Berkeley, California. They are perhaps best known for their singles "I Think We're Alone Now", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (1979), and for the theme song to the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds. Although "I Think We're Alone Now" has been their only charting hit, reaching No. 45 in 1977, the group has a significant enduring cult following among fans of the power pop genre.
The Spongetones, formed in 1979, are an American power pop band from Charlotte, North Carolina. They formed from a desire to play Beatles and other 1960s music they grew up with.
"Go All the Way" is a single by American rock group Raspberries, released in July 1972 and written by frontman Eric Carmen. The song reached the Top 5 on three principal US charts: number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 4 on Cashbox and number 3 on Record World. The single sold more than 1.3 million copies, earning the band their only certified Gold Record. It was their second single release, their all-time biggest US hit, and appeared on their debut LP, Raspberries.
Fun? is the second album from the British rock band the Candyskins. It contains their hit single "Wembley". It is the band's last release on a major label, being dropped by Geffen Records following two years of inactivity after its release. After the band had minor success with later singles, Geffen reissued Fun? in 1996. Nick and Mark Cope, the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist, were arrested for spray painting 'No Fun' on the wall of the Geffen offices in London after learning about this.
"Out the Blue" is a song written by John Lennon and originally released on his 1973 album Mind Games. The song is included on the 1990 boxset Lennon, the 2005 two-disc compilation Working Class Hero: The Definitive Lennon, the 2010 album Gimme Some Truth and the 2020 compilation album Gimme Some Truth. The Ultimate Mixes.
Greg Adams is an American writer, who ran the independent reissue record label Beehive Rebellion Records, before writing for the AllMusic, penning liner notes for numerous reissue record labels and compiling greatest hits anthologies as an A&R coordinator. Beehive Rebellion issued two releases in the 1990s: a reissue of the New Zealand band Electric Blood's previously cassette-only album Electric Easter and a reissue of Sex Clark Five's Strum & Drum! that contained the band's complete self-released Records to Russia recordings. The latter was ranked by Goldmine magazine as one of the 50 best U.S. power pop albums of all time. An intended third release, a reissue of the Electric Blood cassettes Acoustic Splendour and Actual Stuff, to be titled The Man Who Tasted Shapes, never materialized. The label was reactivated in 2013 to release the album An Instructive Amusement by his band Cozy Catastrophes, which currently records for Jigsaw Records.
"Tonight It's You" is a song by American rock band Cheap Trick, which was released in 1985 as the lead single from their eighth studio album Standing on the Edge. It was written by Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Jon Brant and Mark Radice, and produced by Jack Douglas. "Tonight It's You" reached No. 44 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks Chart.
"I Can't Take It" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick, which was released in 1983 as the second single from their seventh studio album Next Position Please. The song was written by Robin Zander and produced by Todd Rundgren.
"Southern Girls" is a song written by Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson that was first released by Cheap Trick on their 1977 album In Color, produced by Tom Werman. It was also released as a single. It has been covered by a number of artists, including Bangs, Everclear and Gilby Clarke.
"I Wanna Be with You" is a hit single by Raspberries, released in November 1972. It was written by band leader Eric Carmen, who also provided the lead vocals. It was their first single release from their second LP, Fresh. It became their second greatest US hit.
The New Trocaderos is an independent American rock 'n' roll/power pop/indie rock/garage rock band formed in November 2013 by New England natives Brad Marino and Geoff Palmer of The Connection, and Kurt Baker of the Kurt Baker Band. The group has released several EPs including The New Trocaderos and Frenzy in the Hips, with John Borack of Goldmine Magazine calling the band "sort of a mini-supergroup" and describing its sound as "a louder version of mid-'70s Dave Edmunds all hopped up on stimulants." Their first full-length album, Thrills & Chills, was released on August 20, 2015, and a vinyl release and sold out tour of Spain took place in October. Pop that Goes Crunch described the band's music as "timeless rock ‘n’ roll for the modern world."
Yankee Rose was a Los Angeles-based rock band in the 1970s and '80s, whose notable members were guitarist Donny Simmons of another popular band Stormer, drummer Abe Perez who recorded with popular blues guitarist Jay Gordon, singer Michael Adams who currently performs as 'Mick Adams' for the Rolling Stones Tribute Band 'Mick Adams and the Stones'.
Robert Crenshaw is an American drummer, recording artist, author, and robotics instructor/trainer. He is known primarily for his solo recordings and his years in his brother Marshall Crenshaw's band.
Big White Lies is the second album by the American musician Chris Von Sneidern, released in 1994.