Elvis Ate Dynamite

Unless you came of age in the Chicago area in the late 1970s or early 1980s, you probably can’t appreciate this, but it’s true. Chicago once was the center of the power pop universe. Or so it seemed.

Material Issue. Shoes. Off Broadway. The Slugs. Pezband. And, of course, honorary Chicagoans-by-way-of-Rockford, Cheap Trick. Power pop ruled the local music scene for a good decade or more.

Yes, of course, power pop circled the globe. Nick Lowe. Dave Edmunds. The Records. The Babys. Bram Tchaikovski. The Hoodoo Gurus. And US cities outside Chicago produced their own power pop legends, like the Producers from Atlanta, Micheal Penn from New York, and Matthew Sweet from Lincoln, Nebraska. 

But I’m not sure any city’s local music scene was so heavily invested in power pop as Chicago’s in the ’70s and ’80s. It was everywhere. 

It was both a reaction against dense, overly produced prog-rock and an extension of the American Midwest’s love affair with the Beatles — by which I mean, the early, pre-Revolver, pre-Sgt. Pepper Beatles. The “She Loves You”/“Hard Day’s Night” Beatles, the Beatles who channeled Buddy Holly and put out skiffle-influenced covers of Chuck Berry, the Isley Brothers, and the Marvelettes. 

Power pop looked forward but was steeped in nostalgia. It blew a hole in the radio when it hadn’t sounded good all week, to quote Joe Strummer. But it couldn’t last forever. It got absorbed into punk and new wave, and maybe that’s how it should have been.

So, power pop is no more, right?

Enter Anthony Calderisi and the Band Calderisi. 

I came across Calderisi’s music a few weeks ago by accident. I posted something on Threads that implied, if not outright said, that power pop was just a fine memory today, and someone responded: “May I present the Band Calderisi.” So, I took their advice and downloaded the band’s 2018 album, Songs for the Years Gone By, and … good God, it’s the real deal. Great melodies, sharp lyrics, crisp guitar tracks. 

This is what I’ve been looking for for ages. They’ve reinvigorated my love of music that represents a particular time and place, and I’m so glad a random commenter on Al Gore’s internet brought them to my attention.

Nostalgia is a goddamned liar. Times never were that good or that bad. But between the lies and the half-truths, between the material misrepresentations and omissions, there are little gems of truth. And if there’s any point to remembering, it’s to find them. 

Anyway, I can’t recommend the Band Calderisi enough. Check out their website, buy their music, and if you have a chance, see them live.