VA - I Wanna Be A Teen Again, American Power Pop 1980-1989 [2025] (3 x CDs)

POWER POP

VA - I Wanna Be A Teen Again, American Power Pop 1980-1989 [2025] (3 x CDs)

If you ever blasted Jessie’s Girl from a cassette deck or fell hard for a three-minute song with chiming guitars and a chorus that stuck for days, this one’s for you. Cherry Red’s I Wanna Be A Teen Again, released July 18, 2025, is a 3CD box set that doesn’t just revisit the golden age of American power pop, it throws you right back into it, heart first.

We’re talking over 75 tracks from the 1980s, packed with hooks, harmonies, and high-energy pop-rock that never got the credit it deserved. Sure, the big names are here, Cheap Trick, The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, The Ramones, Rick Springfield, but the real thrill is in the rarities. The Shivvers’ “Please Stand By” and The Flashcubes’ basement version of “It’s You Tonight” are pure gold for collectors. Tommy Keene’s “Places That Are Gone” appears in a rare Geoff Emerick mix, and The Toms’ title track “(I Wanna Be A) Teen Again” feels like the genre’s unofficial anthem.

Cherry Red went all-in on the packaging too. There’s a 13,000-word sleevenote essay that’s part oral history, part cultural deep-dive. It traces the genre’s explosion after The Knack’s 1979 breakthrough, its retreat into indie obscurity, and the underground heroes who kept the flame alive—even when “power pop” became a dirty word in the industry. Think of it as the pop equivalent of soldiers lost in the jungle, still fighting the good fight. 

Whether you were there the first time or just wish you had been, this set is a love letter to melody, youth, and the kind of songs that make you want to fall in love, break up, and start a band, all before dinner. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Stiv Bators - Not That Way Anymore 2:53

02 Knack - I Want Ya 2:40

03 Gary Valentine & The Know - (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence Dear 3:01

04 Romantics - When I Look in Your Eyes 3:02

05 Nikki & The Corvettes - Just What I Need 2:47

06 Zeros - They Say That (Everything's Alright) 2:16

07 Mn'M's - I'm Tired 1:50

08 Flashcubes - It's You Tonight (Basement Tapes Version) 3:10

09 Radio City - Don't Mistake Love 3:07

10 Screen Test - Nothing Really Matters When You're Young 3:52

11 Moondogs - When Sixteen Wasn't So Sweet 2:29

12 Pranks - What's The Point 1:44

13 NRBQ - You Can't Hide 2:05

14 Utopia - I Just Want to Touch You 2:03

15 Shivvers - Please Stand By 3:04

16 Eric Carmen - It' Hurts Too Much 4:18

17 Hilly Michaels - Calling All Girls 3:45

18 Promise - Back in My Heart 2:35

19 Late Show - Take A Chance 3:11

20 Heats - Remember Me 3:23

21 Off Broadway - Quick Turns 2:52

22 Shoes - She Satisfies 3:00

23 Everythingers - Saccharine 2:25

24 Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl 3:15

25 SVT - Love Blind 2:55

26 Tommy Hoehn - Get Away 2:38

27 Phil Seymour - Precious to Me 2:52

28 David Quinton - Make Up Your Mind 2:21

CD2

01 Flamin' Groovies - So Much in Love 1:44

02 Plimsouls - Now 3:01

03 20 - The Night I Heard A Scream 3:16

04 Great Buildings - Hold on to Something 3:48

05 Go-Go's - How Much More 3:05

06 Wigs - Tell it All 3:08

07 Rubinoos - Let's Make it Tonight 3:38

08 Toms - (I Wanna Be A) Teen Again 4:01

09 Michael Guthrie Band - Sorry About That 3:53

10 Eddy Best - Things I Should've Said 2:41

11 Decoys - Not The Tremblin' Kind 3:18

12 Marshall Crenshaw - Cynical Girl 2:37

13 Bongos - The Bulrushes 2:37

14 Floor Models - You'll Come Around 3:20

15 Paul Collins' Beat - The Kids Are The Same 3:44

16 Dwight Twilley - I'm Back Again 3:43

17 Cheap Trick - If You Want My Love 3:38

18 Bruce Moody - AM Romance 2:54

19 Bangles - Mary Street 2:42

20 Spongetones - Here I Go Again 2:40

21 Fad - Where The Colours Are 3:05

22 Club Wow - What's With You 4:22

23 Jim Basnight & The Moberlys - I Want to Be Yours 2:32

24 Steve Rosenbaum - Girl From Seventeen 3:16

25 Let's Active - Every Word Means No 2:54

CD3

01 Ramones - My My Kind of Girl 3:35

02 Fastbacks - Now is The Time 2:54

03 Game Theory - Too Late for Tears 3:43

04 dB's - Love is for Lovers 3:19

05 Katrina and The Waves - Do You Want Crying 3:36

06 Candy - Whatever Happened to Fun? 3:45

07 Julian Leal - You and I 3:56

08 Riff Doctors - Turn Me On 1:49

09 Beat Rodeo - Just Friends 3:33

10 Gary Herrewig - Hurt You Too 3:05

11 Windbreakers - Can't Go on This Way 4:06

12 Tommy Keene - Places That Are Gone (Geoff Emerick Version) 3:56

13 Smithereens - Strangers When We Meet 3:49

14 Mosquitos - That Was Then, This is Now 4:08

15 Sex Clark Five - I Want You Mine 1:54

16 Patriots - It Don't Show 2:22

17 Flying Color - Dear Friend (Album Version) 3:10

18 Bill Lloyd - Lisa Anne 3:14

19 Long Ryders - I Want You Bad 2:44

20 Chris 'Klondike' Masuak - How Could He Resist? 2:49

21 Infidels - I Can't Make You Mine 3:07

22 Redd Kross - Ballad of A Love Doll 1:56

23 Material Issue - Renee Remains The Same 3:19

24 Pursuit of Happiness - She's So Young 3:37

25 Velvet Crush - Walking Out on Love 1:50

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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