Dad always taught me to believe in pop. Real pop. The stuff that gave birth to the prefix “indie-“. Bands that have never made a name outside of the audiophile and/or over 30 crowd. Bands that pay tribute to the verse/chorus upbeat jingle-jangle form that has been made famous by many popular acts like Oasis, Fountains of Wayne, and The La’s in one way or another.
So while I was in the thick of that era when the Shins changed my life, it came as no surprise that my dad began to expose me to bands that would I would later come to hold as standards in my own musical hierarchy. Wilco, Smashing Pumpkins, Deathray (a band featuring members of Cake), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Howl”, and even Reel Big Fish were just some of the bands he showed me or had in his collection for me to scour. But as far as pop goes, there was The New Pornographers. “Mass Romantic” was brought to him via the early days of CD-Rs by a friend from New York. I didn’t listen to it for a few years after he passed it on to me because the name was giggle worthy and I was still into Green Day at the time of its release. But a few years and Sub-Pop albums later I was ready to listen to this supergroup of pop. And man, every time I listen to a New Pornographers album I’m glad I trusted my dad.
