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Skinny Tie

Let's try to define it. It could cover a wide range of styles, but in this case, our focus is guitar-driven power pop from 1975 through 1982 or so.

It was, primarily, an American (or North American, as there are some Canadians represented) form. In England, it seemed to bleed over into other genres: bubblegum and glam, punk, pub rock, and new wave.

As a sub-genre, it seemed to consist primarily of acts who were, at best, bubbling under. Why? Who knows. There was certainly less deserving music taking up space on the airwaves: coprolites, opera men, yacht rock, down south jukers....

This stuff is made for summer and the road. I road tested these songs on a cross country trek earlier this week. My ears are still ringing...couldn't keep the volume down.
While some of these bands were national acts - in part due to early MTV exposure - most seem to have been local or regional.  While I tried to make the list comprehensive, it is biased towards some of those local and regional acts with which I had more familiarity. Recommendations are welcome.

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  1. GlamSlamMay 30, 2020 at 11:01 AM

    The timeframe given here necessarily excludes the Raspberries (and they never wore skinny ties anyway), but no conversation about American skinny tie power pop should exclude them—if only as an influence. And yeah, Dwight Twilley was the shiz—but in terms of executing pristine, near perfect skinny tie pop, Twilley was eclipsed by Phil Seymour’s solo work. “Precious to Me” defines the genre. Full stop.

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    1. DadMay 31, 2020 at 12:09 AM

      GlamSlam's words are as true today as they were yesterday when he wrote them. They didn't wear skinny ties, but they did wear matching suits. Their (his) "I Wanna Be With You" points the way to Skinny Tie power pop more than any other song I can think of. We've remedied the omission of Phil Seymour's "Precious to Me" but we stand by our contention that his finest work was his portrayal of Lester Bangs in Almost Famous.

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