The Spongetones

from Wikipedia:

The Spongetones, formed in 1979, are a power pop band from Charlotte, North Carolina. They formed from a desire to play Beatles and other 60's music they grew up with.

Very much influenced by the British Invasion, the Spongetones carried on the musical genre through acclaimed original songwriting, jangle pop riffs, and lilting vocals of Beatlesque quality. In his 2007 book, Shake Some Action, John M. Borack rated the Beat and Torn album at number 25 of his Top 200 Power Pop Albums of all time, comparing the album to early Beatles and Searchers, calling the album "simply wonderful." Rolling Stone gave Beat and Torn a 3-1/2 star review.

Influences

The band cites the following influences: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark 5, The Animals, The Zombies, The Hollies, Manfred Mann, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Yardbirds, The Byrds, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who, and Spirit.

Reviews

"The Spongetones are aglow with a forward-thrusting musical abandon that recalls the glory days of many of the most familiar British Invasion front-liners, including the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, the Zombies and the Who....But the SpongeTones' music has little of the rote, dogmatic obeisance of mere revivalism; instead, it sounds like the soundtrack to a party so good it could never happen in real life." - Rolling Stone, September 15, 1983Chris Woodstra (Allmusic) called the Spongetones' albums "effortlessly catchy." Woodstra wrote that 1995's Textural Drone Thing was more subtle than the Spongetones' other albums.[1]"The SpongeTones are without a doubt the finest example of pure, unadulterated Beatlesque joy to emanate from the indie pop underground." - Goldmine Magazine, November 2006.[2][3]

Footnotes