With the Strokes at one end of the spectrum and Busted at the other, powerpop is gradually replacing dance music as the chief currency in pop. It isn't so much a revolution as a takeover by stealth. Because of the movement's embarrassing early days - thin ties, electric-shock hairdos, songs about motor vehicles - powerpop fans have stayed largely underground.
American ex-college boys OK Go provide further encouragement for them to come out. Enjoying some UK success with their catchy single Get Over It, the band are not definitively powerpop - the Cure are as big an influence as the Beach Boys - but they are close. Frontman Damian Kulash has perfected that Cheap Trick, legs-apart, guitar-thrashing stance, while bassist Tim Nordwind is the irritating nerd-like member. Entirely bald, with Joe 90 glasses and a very high voice, his pantomime-villain persona contrasts with the more serious stance of Kulash, and illuminates songs that put a twist on the usual stuff about cars and girls.
The songs all sound gloriously summery, but 1,000 Miles dissects a cold relationship, and What to Do wittily attacks a girl who has become politically active to appear trendy. However, their art, sumptuous on record, does not entirely survive the transition into a sweaty British club. Hello, My Treacherous Friends, from their eponymous album, is unrecognisable. When Kulash says something about learning the Japanese word for "hairpiece" on tour, Nottingham's fiercest heckler unleashes a weapon of mass destruction: "Play the single and fuck off!"
From this moment, the crowd divide - which suggests that cleverly remodelled powerpop is one thing, but geeky wit and soft rock is quite another. In a defining moment, the band unleash their own bomb, Hold the Line by Toto, one of the few old-school bands that remain determinedly uncool. The front rows dance enthusiastically, but behind them faces are aghast. "We'll see you in the courtyard afterwards," yells Kulash, and while some rush to shake his hand, others turn away. The long struggle for powerpop acceptance has some way to go.
· At King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, tonight. Box office: 0141-566 4999. Then touring.
