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Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2025

04 Sunday Jan 2026

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Another year, another slew of great singles made their appearance throughout our 73 posts of music coverage. If you’re an old school melodic rock and roll fan like me, the jangly, hooky, guitar-centric creativity was off the charts. Sadly, such the jangly, hooky, guitar-centric creativity was off the conventional music charts as well. That’s why we don’t rely on trade mags or corporate radio to tell us what’s top of the pops, we make up our own charts. Now, let me be clear, if I wrote about a song this past year I thought it was great, full stop. We’re an ‘all-positive, all-the-time’ kinda shop around here. So what you have in this post is recap of 50 songs that burned just little more deeply into my psyche this past year. Click on the hyperlinks to hear each of the songs and read the original write ups.

Enough stalling, here are Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles from 2025:

1. Keyside “Rock My Love”
2. Strange Neighbors “Beer at the Bar”
3. The What Four “Quarter to Midnight”
4. The Lemon Twigs “I’ve Got a Broken Heart”
5. The Sonny Wilsons “Maybe”
6. Pony “Superglue”
7. The Cords “Just Don’t Know (How to Find You)”
8. HOA “Don’t Be A Loser”
9. Tamar Berk “you ruined this city for me”
10. Banda AL9 “California”
11. Martin Luke Brown “To Be a Man”
12. Eytan Mirsky “Lost You in the Jetstream”
13. Grant Lindberg “In My Own Way”
14. Jaime Orr “Somebody Like You”
15. Force Model “How Can One Girl Be So Sad”
16. Log Flume “December’s Ending”
17. Rich Chance “Azelea Close”
18. The Bret Tobias Set “It Begins With Lean”
19. The Memories “Too Weak to be Strong”
20. Death By Unga Bunga “I’m Really Old”
21. Softjaw “I Need You”
22. The Spindles “Getaway”
23. Brett Newski and the Bad Inventions “Narrow Escapes”
24. Chris Church “She Looks Good in Black”
25. Japanese Breakfast “Magic Circuit”
26. Tristan Armstrong “The Lonely Avenue”
27. The Super True “Right Here”
28. The Needmores “Lookin’”
29. Oehl “I Love You”
30. Sally Spitz “Tag Your Sign”
31. Sorry Monks “I Know What’s On Your Mind”
32. The Mayflies USA “Calling the Bad Ones Home”
33. The Geezers “Modern Days”
34. Lolas “Work is the Blackmail of Survival”
35. Tom Henry “Close Your Eyes”
36. The Jeanines “What’s Done is Done” / “On and On”
37. The Tummies “Send Me A Picture”
38. Movie Movie “After Hours”
39. Tony Marsico and the Ugly Things “Goodbye to Lonely Town”
40. Chris Stamey “Anything is Possible”
41. Jim Trainor “Nothing”
42. Hidden Pictures “Wedding Singer (Going Through a Divorce)”
43. Liquid Mike “Selling Swords”
44. Zombies of the Stratosphere “If You’re Into It”
45. Daisy House “The Seducer”
46. The Invisible Rays “I Don’t Dream of You”
47. Nicky Koro “Dreamin’”
48. Pouts “Stay Awhile”
49. The Mommyheads “It’s Only Life”
50. The Berries “Lie in the Fire Again”

My top five this year were real head-turners. Liverpool’s Keyside show the city has still got the fab vibes. Strange Neighbors turned out killer tunes for the second year in a row. The first I heard of The What Four’s “Quarter to Midnight” I was hooked by its adrenaline-soaked beat. The Lemon Twigs have pretty reliably produced should-be hits over the past few years but there was something about “I’ve Got a Broken Heart” that just hit all poprock marks. And from way back early in 2025 I was struck by The Sonny Wilson’s unique sound. No maybe about it. I could go on about the other 45 songs here but you can get the dirt from the original posts by clicking the hyperlinks.

Next up, Poprock Record’s most inventive covers from 2025:

1. The Half Cubes “Whenever You’re On My Mind”
2. Sofa City Sweetheart “Waltz #2 (XO)”
3. Marshall Crenshaw “Never To Be Forgotten”
4. Mike Browning “Lost In Conversation”
5. Chaparelle “I Want to Dance with Somebody”

The Half Cubes put out another amazing album of covers and really outdid themselves but nowhere more strongly than on their cover of an early Marshall Crenshaw classic. Sofa City Sweetheart teased us this past year with an impressive rendering of Elliott Smith’s “Waltz #2.” Not an easy tune to take up. Marshall Crenshaw pulled together a host of songs for a new album, including a cover of a Bobby Fuller Four gem. And then we have Mike Browning covering an obscure Canadian track and Chaparelle countryfying a song everybody knows.

Well, there you have it, some great songs that deserve another shot across your attention span. Click the links for the original posts and revisit just how good 2025 was to us on the single file.

Photo courtesy Carbon Arc Flikr collection.

Snow drift singles

22 Monday Dec 2025

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We’re deep into December and snow is coming and going in my part of the world. All the more reason to find shovelling inspiration wherever we can. Here’s another 21 songs to put some heft into your snow relocation efforts.

I’m a bit late picking up on this song from Dave Rave and the Governors from their 2023 LP Seven. “Distractions” has got a Blue Oyster Cult classic rock pop feel. Cool, mysterious, with a host of great inventive changes. Yorick van Norden highlights “Better Days” ahead on his recent single, full of sunny sentiment and a quality dose of jangle. Just one of many similar contributions on his new album Do It Now. The ever surprising Kurt Hagardorn goes a bit more Americana than usual on his recent single “Float Away with Me.” Very much sounding like an early 1970s-era Band deep cut. South Korea’s HOA are fab in so many ways. Open your ears to “Don’t Be A Loser” and tell me you don’t hear the Fabs at every melodic turn. It vibes Meet the Beatles with a dash of “Drive My Car.” Back in the early 1990s poprock master Bill Lloyd got the chance to work with rockabilly legend Carl Perkins on a set of session that ultimately never got released … until now. Here’s the title track to the fantastic 10 song album, Some Things Never Change. Perkins sounds like a million dollar player for sure and the song has the elan of timeless classic.

John Sally Ride main man John Dunbar works up a new alias for his most recent project. The Elbow Patches exude a psychadelic pop feeling on “The Day Got Away From Me.” Just one of ten great pop numbers on their full length record Achingly Familiar. Tommy Sistak pushes the Everlys faders up full on the “Long Goodbye.” Really, the Everly tone here is eerie but oh so pleasant. Wow, Log Flume offer up a Joni Mitchell “Clouds” bit of jangle-age on “Get The Picture.” Just great guitar work, period. Egersund, Norway’s I Was A King have a sound that’s warm and just a bit spooky on their new LP Until the End. Title track “Until the End” even has a splash of folkish charm pop up in the instrumental break. Jeff Shelton gets political on the most recent Well Wishers single. “littleorangemagaman” has some rough edges, solids hooks and a point of view, just what we’d expect of him.

On 2022’s Backgammonesque Los Andes gave us a killer South America-flavoured Teenage Fanclub vibe. Their new single “Facil” (or “Easy” in English) is just as delightful, swimming with lush guitars and beautiful vocal harmonies, in both full band and acoustic versions. Doug Hammond’s Daisy House was an early fave on this blog. His recent releases as Vaughn Trapp revive that magic, drawing from his remarkable, 1960s-infused songwriting skills. “What’s On Your Mind” has a particular pop sheen, so classy and smooth in its execution. Remember Sports are a band that sound live and lively. “Across the Line” rolls out with a steady emphasis, alternating between a laconic and deliberate kind of impact. The contrast between the spacey guitar tones and the folk-friendly vocals gives Guppy’s new song “Back to the Thing” a really unique charm. My head just starts doing the Peanuts head-bop dancing thing without much prompting here. Andrea Calvo is Grand Drifter, a sophisticated folkster of Italian persuasion who is long overdue for a new long-player. In the interim we can enjoy is hot-off-the-45-stamper “Any Second Now.” It’s a song about ‘finding traces of love hidden in the small, ordinary moments of everyday life,’ cocooned in a soft, Lennon-as-homemaker style.

Brian Dunne knows how to strum a guitar up into a catchy song. But he’s also got something to say. His most recent LP Clam Casino runneth over with plenty of hooks and homilies, none more so than the should-be hit-single “Fake Version of the Real Thing.” A poppier Bruce Springsteen, for sure. On Mondo Cool Brooklyn’s No Jersey lay it all out, how the system works and for whom, in a winning Americana-tinged pop-punk style. It was a toss-up between “You and Me and the Means of the Production” and “How To Make It In America” but I think the latter just has more hooks. Right next door New Jersey’s the dt’s revive a particularly groovy 1980s popping rock sound on “Sorry Not Sorry.” While crashing a party might be a real dilemma, it’s fodder for a great song here. Secret Postal Society have a new single and its dreamy, strummy good. “Heather” has a lilting soft intensity that builds as it goes on. Great synth runs too! Ricky Rochelle rides the line between punky rock abandon and sweet sweet melodic hooks. His recent long-player Second Layer runs the same play over and over again (and I love it), starting out every song with a starkly plain or rough-edged attack only to seduce us in the melody-drenched chorus. “Highlight Reel” makes this obvious but, frankly, any track from the record could demonstrate this magic.

Original Merseybeater Billy J. Kramer has a new album out and it’s got some killer tracks. Title-track “Are You With Me” works some autobiography into a very hummable effort. “My Sweet Rose” is another notable cut. But the radio ready song here is the early 1960s crooner “Go On Girl.” Sounds so of the era!

Living driving distance from the bottom of the Canadian shield I know a thing or two about snow. And it definitely goes better with music. Here you’ve got 21 snow drift sanctioned songs to get you through it.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2024

04 Saturday Jan 2025

Posted by in Should be a Hit Single

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Time to rev up our annual Poprock Record should-be hit singles list of songs we’ve featured at some point during 2024. Let’s be honest up front, we barely scratched the surface of all that was going on out there music-wise, even within the confines of our own narrowly defined genre (what I’ve been calling poppy rock). As I peek at the lists of other melodic rock taste-makers I see loads of great acts I somehow missed out on. Oh well. There’s only so much needle-dropping your scribe can do. From what we did manage to cover I just want to take this space to remind you of some stand-out tracks. So today we single out 50 should-be hit singles from 2024, songs that deserve another shot at chart glory. Click on the hyperlinks to hear each of the songs and read the original write ups.

Drumroll please, here are Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles from 2024:

1. Wons Phreely “The Faithful Heart”
2. Real Estate “Water Underground”
3. Used “Morning Sun”
4. Lo Fi Ho Hum “Never Been in Love”
5. Tamar Berk “Good Impression”
6. Frank Royster “Someday”
7. Wifey “Mary Ann Leaves the Band”
8. Peter Freebairn “I Got Lucky (I Got You)”
9. Mo Troper “A Piece of You Broken Through My Heart”
10. The Well Wishers “Good Side”
11. Blitzen Trapper “Hello Hallelujah”
12. Chime School “Wandering Song”
13. Strange Neighbors “Tell All Your Friends”
14. Steven Wright-Mark “Summer Sky”
15. Brent Seavers “Till It’s Over”
16. Ducks Ltd. “The Main Thing”
17. HOA “Push Man”
18. Dom Mariani “Jangleland”
19. Randy Klawon “She’s More Than I Want”
20. Kenny Michaels “Must Be This New Love of Mine”
21. Laughing “Bruised”
22. Cal Rifkin “Big Star”
23. Stephen Schijns “Carry On (The Way It Has To Be)”
24. 2nd Grade “Live From Missile Command”
25. Love Burns “What To Do About Us”
26. The Fatal Flaw “Stop Pushing Me Away”
27. Marc Jonson “November Paintbrush”
28. Sunken Planes “There’s a World”
29. Pale Lights “Twisting the Knife”
30. Paul Collins “In Another World”
31. The Rockyts “Without You”
32. Ward White “Our Town”
33. The Cynz “Crow Haired Boys”
34. Sad About Girls “She’s Not Here”
35. David Woodard “The Last of the Full Grown Men”
36. The Reflectors “Supernova”
37. Mark Alan Lofgren “Ne’er Do Wells”
38. The Dreambots “Tightrope”
39. Ethan Beck and the Charlie Browns “Does This Bus Stop at Douglas Street”
40. The Newds “God of Small Things”
41. Motorists “Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind”
42. Neon Bone “Don’t Fall in Love With Her”
43. SidePlay “Hit the Road Mac”
44. Caddy “In a Heartbeat”
45. Glenn Erb “Dashboard Jesus”
46. Brother Dynamite “The Girl’s in Love”
47. Pony “Freezer”
48. Jupiter Motel “Playing with Ghosts”
49. Newski “Banking On Never Breaking Down Again”
50. Teenage Tom Petties “She Kissed Me in Seattle”

Music blogger extraordinaire Eclectic Music Lover put me on to Won Phreely’s captivating single and I was hooked. Both Real Estate and Used struck me as mining that elegant Shins brand of manicured poprock. Lo Fi Ho Hum grabbed my attention with his quirky, amusing video but his melody lingered long after. Tamar Berk just goes from strength to strength in her songwriting and you can hear it here. I could go on. This is a list bursting with jangle and heartbreak – and hooks, of course.

Next up, Poprock Record’s most inventive covers from 2023:

1. The Half-Cubes “Make You Cry”
2. Mattiel & Troy Stains “Somebody’s Knocking”
3. Super Ratones “Troubled Times”

The covers just keep on coming and I’m fine with that. Poprock veterans The Half Cubes gave us a double album of carefully curated pop hits from the past but it was their cover of The Sighs’ signature song that really floored me. Georgia’s Mattiel could sing the phone book and keep most people happy but her cover of Terri Gibbs’ 1981 hit is nothing short of transformative. Then there’s Super Ratones doing Fountains of Wayne. Lovely and timely.

It’s been a tough year. It’s been a year full of great songs. We’ll certainly need more of the latter in the days ahead and Poprock Record with be there to bring you more should-be hits. So click on the links above to remind yourself how good 2024 was and make sure to visit the artists and wave a little cash in their direction.

Photo courtesy of Sunsju Flikr collection.

Babylon Beatles

12 Thursday Dec 2024

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The Beatles influence is like its own musical language, infusing a broad body of genres over the decades. All it takes is a particular guitar part, vocal harmony, or lyrical turn to evoke a distinct period of the band’s musical development. It’s impressive how people take those influences and make them their own in so many ways, despite differences in language and musical style. Today we feature acts with qualities that might be dubbed Beatlesque from around the world.

The most obvious triumph of Beatles influence is how it can transcend language. Beatles songs sung in other languages can retain the magic of the originals. Uruguay’s Los Shakers do a Spanish-language version of “Ticket to Ride” (retitled “Boleto para viajar”) that bristles with pure Merseybeat energy. They were the first among many sixties acts from Latin America covering the Beatles in English, Spanish and Portugese (see Blog de Rock en Mexico for many more). A more recent example is Argentina’s Los Ratones whose 2013 album Beatles En Espanol includes 14 early to mid-career moptop faves including a nicely restrained take on “I Feel Fine.” More recently UK retro power popper Super 8 offered up a version of “I Need You” in a language from the other side of the Pacific – Japanese.

Los Shakers “Boleto para viajar” (“Ticket to Ride”)

There are covers and then there are covers. Erk don’t just cover “It Won’t Be Long” on their LP Erk Plays the Beatles they add a kind of crazed manic energy to it. At other points on the album they change things up completely, for instance, reinventing “Blackbird” as a piano tune. Or for something even more ‘out there’ there’s the laser focus of The Boobles. On their The Pink Album they manage to refocus every Beatles cover on the same particular part of female anatomy, for a good cause. “Milk” is definitely “Help” but with a new lyrical purpose, this time in aid of breast cancer research. Other bands strive to really sound like the Fabs but with their own material. For example A see The Poppermost on their recent Merseylicious “I Don’t Want To Know” single. The Dodos UK go in a very different direction. The band is the creative brainchild of Tolly Gipson who uses AI like some kind of bionic mellotron to craft tunes that are spot-on sixties recreations, all the while producing an amazing parallel universe back-story for his would-be moptops. “Now You Don’t See” alleges to come from the band’s soundtrack to their film Danger! Stylistically it definitely falls into a Help! register, with a touch of The Hollies too.

Another kind of influence is a bit more distant from the originals, simply borrowing the broader musical milieu or sonic palate of the band for creative purposes. Adrian Gerard embodies this approach. His work screams Beatles but his songs are his own. I’m really digging his Sounds Like … Volume 2 album, particularly cuts like “Just Don’t Care” and “For You.” Korean group HOA were working a soft rock seam until they released their I Don’t Know Why EP earlier this year and suddenly were reborn as a full-blown Mersybeat group. The four tracks subtly mine a Beatles ambience here and there but also harken back to Dutch groups like Sunday Sun, particularly on selections like “All My Days” and “Sunday Girl.” More recent singles like “Push Man” step on Fabs pedal a bit harder, conjuring “Taxman” like guitar hooks. Brazilian band Banda AL9 have material that riffs on the mellow side of the Beatles street, vibing numbers like “Do You Want to Know a Secret” and “If I Fell.” But “Eu Quero Navegar” from their 2019 EP Isso É AL9 dials down the Beatle-isms to let their own original pop tune shine on. By contrast, this past year’s stand-alone single “She Calls Me Love” / “Chama de Amor” is pretty earnestly going with the Mersey flow.

Banda AL9 “Eu Quero Navegar”

Great music can break through a host of barriers, be they language or culture or style. No tower of Babel aftermath is going to stop Beatlemaniacs making those links.

Photo courtesy BBDO Düsseldorf, D&AD Awards Winners 2011.