Another meticulously curated set from U.K. reissue specialists Cherry Red is coming this summer. It is devoted to American power pop from the โ80s. I Wanna Be a Teen Again: American Power Pop 1980-1989 arrives July 18, 2025. The 3-CD set, spanning more than 75 tracks from such recording artists as the Bangles, Marshall Crenshaw, Dwight Twilley, and Katrina and the Waves, is available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
Other acts represented in the collection include the Romantics, Eric Carmen, Rick Springfield, the Go-Goโs, the Smithereens, and Cheap Trick, among others.
From the labelโs May announcement: In 1979, The Knack kicked open the doors for a global power pop explosion, and a year or so later, almost as quickly, the doors closed again, but not before a mass of their contemporaries followed them through. Soon, a bunch of others got caught up in the excitement and the record business relearned the power of guitar-driven pop โ the first few years of the โ80s were as exciting for power pop as the last couple of the โ70s had been, and even when it returned to the underground, the music continued to flow throughout the decade.
Packed with classic cuts and long-overlooked rough diamonds, it appears at a time when new outfits like The Lemon Twigs pick through the body of โ80s power pop for material and inspiration and some key artists like Redd Kross and The Bangles are celebrated in books and film, I Wanna Be A Teen Again is a timely examination and celebration of this action-packed era and its thrilling sounds.
