Worst Of These Mid-Late 90s UK Bands?

I think it has to be Ocean Colour Scene

Seahorses.

But to be honest any band here whose name isn't a shorthand for 'irrepressible hilarity' is doing pretty well.

Stereophonics

I had to leave Gay Dad off to stop them running away with it.

I have to vote for/against Nazi Kula Shaker.

HOWEVER - no 18 Wheeler, no cred.

SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE

Cast, the Swinging Blue Jeans, The, of Britpop, would come a close second though by virtue of being so bloody BORING.

None of these bands have anything defensible. No redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Dodgy probably should win because of Good Enough which is probably the worst song of the Britpop Years.

i could vote for all of these c*nts except maybe dodgy who i had a small soft spot for.

I still own a single or 2 by:

Dodgy
Sleeper
Gene
Bluetones
Shed 7
Longpigs

Every other band I hated even back in those dark days.

Actually I lied about the Bluetones, I sold Are You Blue Or Are You Blind on Ebay a few years ago.

for 10p?

Nah about £7 I think. It's the only one that's worth anything apart from the gig-only Slight Return 7"

bear gait.

Although yes the reason I still own Dodgy and Longpigs singles is that they won't even fetch 10p.

Haven't Dodgy already been co-opted by the Guilty Pleasures mob hyuk hyuk?

"The Riverboat Song" has a decent riff
Dodgy have enough inoffensive shit to give them a pass
"Slight Return" is a banger
Shed 7 are funny to pretend to like because they cause a lot of indie butthurtedness
Other than that, stfu, gas face.

Dodgy were sort of not-completely-shit pre-Free Peace Sweet. Also they're from Worcestershire.

Phil Collins thought Dodgy were the best Britpop band.

They were fucking shit live though.

This lot all had at least a few good songs, often more:
Dodgy
Shed 7
Travis
Longpigs
Bluetones
Gomez
Meanswe@r

These three I either had a vague soft spot for despite myself, or else don't know enough to comment:
Reef
3 Colours Red
Gene

These are all fucking shit:
Catatonia
Ocean Colour Scene
Stereophonics
Cast
Sleeper
Kula Shaker
Seahorses
Space
Supernaturals

Where's Embrace?

Phil Collins thought Dodgy were the best Britpop band.

-- Herman G. Neuname, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 16:13 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

None of these bands ever did a song a tenth as good as "Jesus He Knows Me"

Mod req question but is there any chance that LouJag will return before this poll ends?

LJ will be too busy dissecting Amy Winehouse lyrics for his degree

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7422730.stm

lol @ just having noticed "CHRIS EVANS" at the bottom of that cover

xpost just read that and that did briefly cross my mind!

Fucking Cantab Cool Police.

"The Riverboat Song" is worse than 9/11.

LOL never saw chris evans on it. I actually did watch TFI Friday everyweek.
x-post

Pretty sure Ljag's return is within the next five days.

Stereophonics. I thought you said this was going to be a difficult choice? Are you just baiting Geir here?

Bad, but too mediocre to be memorable in any way other than vague memory of some signature "quirk":

Catatonia
Cast
Reef
Seahorses
3 Colours Red
Shed 7
Space

One or two half-decent tunes in their repertoire (not that I'd choose to listen to them, I'd probably not turn them off id they came on the radio though):

Dodgy
Sleeper
Bluetones
Menswear
Kula Shaker
Space

Horrible:

Ocean Colour Scene
Stereophonics
Gene
Reef

No memory of whatsoever beyond vague recollection of seeing name in Melody Maker:

Gomez
Travis
Longpigs
Supernaturals

None of these bands ever did a song a tenth as good as "Jesus He Knows Me"

On the money. The tune for JHKM is at least memorable. For all it was supposedly a genre based on alleged "classic" "songwriting" "beatles" "are kid" it's very hard to actually call up any of these band's tunes beyond a couple of lines from the odd chorus. EG I cannot remember a single one of Cast's songs. Not one. And they were on the radio all the time. Also, you forgot the lightning seeds.

"The Riverboat Song" is worse than 9/11.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 16:19 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

AFTER ALL THE THINGS YOU'VE SEEN
TELL ME WHY DOES YOUR RIVER RUN GREEN

Where is Silver Sun useless straight-to-MVE band?

I never got why Bluetones were so hated. Was it because they were seen as bandwagon hoppers?

I once watched Stereophonics at Glastonbury, in one of the rainy years and around the 11am slot, and pretended not to hate them to curry favour with the girl I was with. While watching them she dismissed my very tentative advances. Thinking about it this may well be a definitive low point in my life

I didn't know whether to put Embrace on it or not. All these bands were probably worse. I nearly put Placebo & Ash on.

Ocean Colour Scene. Special award to Sleeper's Louise Wener for being fucking irritating.

BLUE TONES - early warning of latent Thatcherism in belly of New Labour!

Also "Slight Return" was basically tonight Matthew we're going to be Aztec Camera.

Bands who I like to some extent:
Catatonia
Gene
Travis
Longpigs

Bands who are just there:
Cast
Dodgy
Sleeper
Menswear
Gomez
Kula Shaker
3 Colours Red
Space
Supernaturals

Bands who actively suck:

Ocean Colour Scene
Stereophonics (though Dakota was agreat single)
Cast
Reef
Seahorses
Shed 7

Reef are the worst of that last bunch, they don't even have decent haircuts.

I never got why Bluetones were so hated. Was it because they were seen as bandwagon hoppers?

3 Colours Red should really be in a different 'Britrock' poll, which I'm considering doing but for the fact that the bands that would feature don't get enough recognition on ILM

"You don't have to have the solution You've just got to understand the problem"

Fit this lyric in a song. No, that does not fit.

It's not fit either.

Octopus and Heavy Stereo fan will be disappointed with this list.

http://www.absoluteagogo.com/ultrapromo.jpg

3 Colours Red should really be in a different 'Britrock' poll, which I'm considering doing but for the fact that the bands that would feature don't get enough recognition on ILM

Do it!

Perfume, anyone? And how could we forget Northern Uproar? Or Hurricane #1?

lol Hurricane #1 were a particular hate of mine cos I was a big Ride fan pre-Britpop.

I've listened to The Bluetones several times over the last year, having not listened to them for about 8-10 years prior, and they're actually alright. Good guitarist, good drummer, by the second album actually doing some quite interesting not-Britpop-at-all-really things.

Gomez's first album was alright; again, not really Britpop. More Beck goes proper blues. I guess they were seen as "inauthentic student scum" though. One of their later albums, forget the title, is really good, very eclectic, great production, electronics and brass and pop hooks.

Embrace and Ash I guess both survived way beyond Britpop and kept knocking out charting singles for years afterwards.

Travis' first album was actually pretty good, when they still rocked a bit.

Longpigs had about three great singles on the first album. A mate swears blind the second album is a lost classic.

Shed 7 at least had some decent singles, Dolphin and a handful off the second record.

Homegrown by Dodgy is, I'd say, a pretty classic Britpop record; embodies a lot of the spirit of that without the nastiness, sounds very of its time rather than being totally retro, still hasn't dated that badly, great production, some awesome arrangements. Shame Free Peace Sweet is FUCKING HORRIFIC.

Kula Shaker amusingly goofy until nazi breakout.

Space are the most obnoxiously scouse act in history. And obnoxious scouse <<<<<<<<< obnoxious any other region.

Space were fucking horrific. OCS fucking horrific and sneeringly unpleasant and snobbish too. Catatonia uergh uergh uergh.

3 Colours Red should really be in a different 'Britrock' poll, which I'm considering doing but for the fact that the bands that would feature don't get enough recognition on ILM

Do it!

-- Herman G. Neuname, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 15:28 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Would vote in this poll too, FWIW.

Why do the Britishes hate Sleeper so much? Granted, their presence in the US was small, but everyone who knew who they were kind of liked them.

Louise Wener's horrific media persona, at a guess.

"Where is Silver Sun useless straight-to-MVE band?"

Everything else they ever did is pretty useless but Lava is better than anything by anyone on this list.

(but don't listen to me, I still have way too many AC Acoustics records)

Where is awful Feeder band, or is that one for the 3CR Britrock poll?

I think you had to have read interviews with the singer in MM, NME etc to feel the tr00 hate. She was pretty obnoxious to say the least.

I still like Gene. No guilt.

I liked Sleeper when I first heard Delicious at the indie disco, I still have that one. But yeah subsequently became annoying extremely quickly.

Her voice sounds like her challops too, which doesn't help.

That "Alice" 7" is still one of my favorite singles ever.

This is quite hard, but the Sterophonics trump it for still turning up to bother me on occasion.

Bands who have something, however tiny, that makes me not utterly despise them: Dodgy, Gene, Longpigs, Travis, Seahorses at a long stretch.

Scum de la scum: 3-way tie between Kula Kubes, Ocean Colour Scone and Space. I'm legally obliged not to vote for Space so I think I'm gonna vote OCS for not only being shit above and beyond but for simultaneously invoking the smug twattery of Paul Weller and Chris Evans.

Ocean Duller Scene

lol Hurricane #1 were a particular hate of mine cos I was a big Ride fan pre-Britpop.

I fell asleep standing up at a Hurricane #1 gig. according to my mates I was actually snoring!

Her voice sounds like her challops too, which doesn't help.

Very true. I'm shuddering thinking of her.

http://vu.morrissey-solo.com/sleeper/2000/news/040527.jpg

One of the big problems with Sleeper was that this was the kind of malnourished, chicken-in-a-basket breast & thighs, 14-year-old boy with a vagina aesthetic that passed for sexy in the Britpop years.

Urgh, please mark thread NSFW

Top three acts my sister and I loved to hate come their appearance on The Chart Show: OCS, Weller, Northern Uproar

A lot of these bands came around as I was at an entry-level point in listening to music, and did most of that via Radio 1 in the evening, so the only bands on here I can honestly say I NEVER enjoyed AT ALL, not even one song aged 14, are OCS, Stereophonics, Gomez, Kula Shaker, Travis and Supernaturals. I'm lowering the bar here to, let's say "lol blind cobbler's thumbs"

The Stereophonics?

Save for their "Dakota" which I still like, and "The bartender" for that crash crash intro and sounding like (it should have been recorded and sung much better by) the Sex Pistols...

... yeah.

Now I'm thinking maybe I should've voted for Travis.

Why does everyone talk about the mid nineties all the time?

I give Travis a bye cause they dissed Oasis in Writing to Reach You.

I think I still sort of love "Local Boy in the Photograph" but luckily "Mr Writer" was bad enough to render them permanent war criminals.

I hated Sleeper when I had to see them in the music press every week, but I probably wouldn't be too bothered either way by the first few singles now, I thought a couple of them were a'right before I'd read anything about the band. At the time Space and Gomez made me most angry but I think now it's got to be Reef or the Stereophonics. Helps that I don't remember anything Gomez recorded.

There is no Echobelly or Tiny Monroe, for I suppose fairly obvious similar reasons.

(Though NV's post reminds me that maybe OCS deserve it for being the first band to be quite so blatant about removing any hints, however slight they were already, of FUN or LOUD or pretending to sound slightly NEW in favour of total Weller-worshipping drear, thus paving the way for Travis or the Stereophonics to ditch their dirgier rockier beginnings for utter ear-sandpapering ubiquity, or... something)

Why does everyone talk about the mid nineties all the time?

-- Free Peace Sweet!, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 16:52 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

We miss Enrique.

http://www.mojoko.com/tutorial/candle/candle.jpg

Someone please do a US equivalent poll.

Enrique is really into Photek. He's made 1998 last 10 years. This year being the last month of 1998 he's a little concerned about what '99 will bring.

I hated Sleeper when I had to see them in the music press every week, but I probably wouldn't be too bothered either way by the first few singles now, I thought a couple of them were a'right before I'd read anything about the band. At the time Space and Gomez made me most angry but I think now it's got to be Reef or the Stereophonics. Helps that I don't remember anything Gomez recorded.

I suppose that a lot of the hate on my part just comes from them and the other bands above being "NME music" and it was the media ubiquity rather than the music itself that was the problem. Now that I don't work in a record store or listen to the radio I never have to hear these bands again, and if I did accidentally hear them it probably wouldn't bother me that much

But at the time they were pure audio evil

Her voice sounds like her challops too, which doesn't help.

what does this mean?

US equiv is, what, Everclear and bands like that?

Pavement

ok everyone probably thinks of this as old news and I'm not the Anglophile I used to be, so could someone please explain/point me towards the Nazi outburst from KulaShaker because this is the first time I've heard of it and it explains so much about why ppl loathe them

Yeah and Sublime and a host of other bands that never made it over here
xxpost

Crispian: (in reference to his vegetarian beliefs that killing animals is just as bad as killing humans) The principle is we've got a violent society, we always go on about the virtues of peace but we aren't living a peaceful lifestyle

New Musical Express: It's an obvious comparison, but Hitler was a vegetarian who had no qualms about murdering humans, babies included, by the thousands.

Crispian: Right, but Hitler knew a lot more than he made out. Hitler and his whole gang weren't just a bunch of f___ing psychos, they were also into magic and all that. I mean, talking about ruffling feathers with statements in magazines, I love the swastika. It's a brilliant image, it symbolises peace and the sun and illumination - it's everywhere in India. I'd love to have great big flaming swastikas onstage just for the f__k of it. It's like, that was Hitler, don't let him steal something like that from you. I mean the Nazis studied the Vedas, the Scriptures, the Holy Grail, but they were just using it as a power trip.

New Musical Express: You have a sneaking admiration for Hitler don't you?

Crispian: No...but it's a shame the baddies always get the good uniforms. Ha ha! [3].

Truly he was a Bryan Ferry for the 90s.

thing about OCS that everyone forgets: they completely changed their sound! They weren't always this plodding, retro band with no feeling to their music. Their first album was quite different and the song "Sway", a single from it, was pretty good! But it didn't sell and so they went and did something a bit more obvious, which worked for them, but was hell for us (or me, at least).

Wener as a personality was awful but I like some Sleeper singles. V much a singles band tho. Could never maintain consistency across an album.

Reef don't belong here. They prolly belong less than 3 Colours Red to be honest. Sure they may be contemporary with these other bands but they have no real connectivity with them otherwise. I think they had no illusions that they were doing anything at all original, they even called themselves Reef coz it was an anagram of their fave band, Free.

As I remember, the "nazi thing" was that a/crispy had been in a band with some dude who was in a far right org and b/some swastika-redeemer type comments from crispy in an ill-advised NME interview + ooh the nazis, they were into their dark okkult/magick blablabla. Also c/lol, the britishes and their funny class system.

oops x-x-x-post

* 9 Lazy 9
* Airborn Audio
* Ammoncontact
* Amon Tobin
* Animals On Wheels
* Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra
* Blockhead
* Bonobo
* Chris Bowden
* Cabbageboy
* Chocolate Weasel
* The Cinematic Orchestra
* Clifford Gilberto
* Coldcut
* Daedelus
* DJ Food
* DJ Toolz
* DJ Kentaro
* DJ Vadim
* DK
* The Dragons
* Dwight Trible
* Dynamic Syncopation
* Fink
* Flanger
* Fog
* Funki Porcini
* Ghislain Poirier
* The Herbaliser
* Hex
* Hexstatic
* Hint
* Homelife
* The Irresistible Force
* Jaga Jazzist
* Kid Koala
* Loka
* London Funk Allstars
* Max & Harvey
* Mr. Scruff
* Neotropic
* One Self
* Pest
* The Qemists
* Rainstick Orchestra
* Roots Manuva
* Sixtoo
* Skalpel
* Spank Rock
* Super Numeri
* The Poets of Rhythm
* Treva Whateva
* Up, Bustle and Out
* Wagon Christ
* Yppah
* Zero db

xpost

Supernaturals deserve a vote just for that Smile song always being used in a bank advert.

What about "At the Link it is easy" by Shed Seven?

HAhahahahahahahaa that was hilarious!

Ultimate sub-Britpop sellouts: Hurricane #1 for allowing a song to be used in an advert for The Sun.

Although, to be fair, most of the members of these bands would be swiftly back to their day jobs, so you can't really blame them for cashing in.

OCS FTW FFS

there are some OK bands on this list.

i wonder if every band will get 10 votes each or if stereophonics will be runaway winners?

space

that fella's voice over their horrible keyboard-preset music, yikes!

gomez sucked too, tho.

didn't they do a tune about how much they hated contemporary r'nb?

I thought other bands would be hated more than Space.

Space combined being a shite Britpop band with being a shite Novelty band with having a singer dude with a hugely annoying face tho.

The one Stereophincs song I heard was indescribably bad.

none of these groups are any good, imo. but space take the biscuit. although i was probably listening to happy hardcore at the time, so i can't really talk.

Space combined being a shite Britpop band with being a shite Novelty band with having a singer dude with a hugely annoying face tho.

Nice to see the Zutons keeping this torch aloft.

Elvis Costello used to love Sleeper, so...

I like Space more than most of the eejits in that list.

Space.
i really hated them - even at the time.
some of the other bands were actually ok for a few weeks.

I don't know that anyone in the US had any conception of Space as a band that would generate this much ill will!

Most of these bands at least had the decency to bugger off after a couple of singles (Bluetones, Reef, Longpigs). I liked Space - most of the others blow. Voted for Stereophonics, because they managed to reach semi-Oasis levels of twatishness and unjustified arrogance in relation to their actual ability. But Menswear (Menswe@r?) come in a close second as a really crap boy band version of Suede.

also, "the glory years of Cool Britannia 1990-98" is stretching a bit far - six months in 1997 is more like it.

i think of britpop as 94-95

at a push maybe 93 for nwonw/auteurs/suede as precursors, and 96 for its fag-end lad rock era.

Space were at least quite funny,in a point and laugh kind of a way. And I like that one with the xylophone in it, cos xylophones are generally good.

if i had to pick one word to describe pop culture in this era in the uk it would be "cosy".

i am vaguely related via marriage to an ex-supernatural. they have at least one good song, and a couple of passable ones. Cast, Reef and the Seahorses are all unremittingly dreadful.

(none of these passable songs were singles, btw)

Reef, because they tried to "rock" and couldn`t. Space, though awful, at least had some kind of musical personality. All those BluetonesGeneCastLongpigs types just blurred into one for me.

The New Smiths™

Can't wait for the equivalent mid-late 00s poll in ten years time. Seems to me the current glut of same-sounding guitar bands is even more widespread than it was back then.

so mant awful music but i really hate kula shaker.

Can't wait for the equivalent mid-late 00s poll in ten years time. Seems to me the current glut of same-sounding guitar bands is even more widespread than it was back then.

Which era has the worst bands?

british indie rock is bad,generaly speaking, since 1990 at least.

if i had to pick one word to describe pop culture in this era in the uk it would be "cosy".

It looked as though something was happening, but actually nothing was happening.

Cast make me so very very angry with their incomparable shite-ness, so no contest for me.

Make sure every band gets one vote minimum!!

Which era has the worst bands?

This was touched on briefly a while ago here - no idea which thread - and I said that the current bands seem even more cynical. I don't think most of the bands in this here poll formed with as self-evident a scene or scenes to assimilate themselves into, and some (Stereophonics, probably Reef) probably spent a lot of time being completely baffled by their success. None of which means the music is actually any better, of course

Bluetones were alright for awhile, but in general yes, these bands were as dull as ditchwater.

if i had to pick one word to describe pop culture in this era in the uk it would be "cosy".

It looked as though something was happening, but actually nothing was happening.

-- snoball, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 8:57 PM

after the left/right antagonisms of the 80s had faded into memory, people just got used to high unemployment, low social mobility, etc... the economy recovered to a degree but yeah, nothing fundamental changed.

Seriously, nothing any of these bands did quite comes close to the sheer awfulness of the 'rum old slapper' bit in Love Is The Law by the Seahorses. Except maybe the 'kick-ass angels' bit in Avenging Angels by Space.

If anyone has a vote unswayed, here is the Seahorses doing Love Is The Law at Glastonbury, containing one of the most hilariously bad vocal performances I have ever seen.

This isn't that bad oh shit I just got to the chorus hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

OKAY WHY HASN'T THIS STOPPED YET

Who the fuck does Chris Helme think he is?!

Good grief, I'd managed to blank out all memories of that song. I didn't think I could remember anything by the Seahorses but they might have just won for me.

Always thought it was "romo slapper" and I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

Thing is, every note of that bit is composed to fuck. It's not jammed or improvised. That's EXACTLY the same as the album version. Squire never made up a note onstage in his life.

This is like the first time I heard "EMU".

We lived in a dogfish eggcase
you could barely call it home
Sorry little lot no roof on top
But the fish left us at home
Try a little more said the girl next
door it's time to roam

Mad Lizzy Crumbs blind cobblers
thumbs were a sight to behold
She was a rum old slapper and we always
tried toget her pants off when she phoned
Left her cap by the sink it's not what you think
Oh take me home

Now we know where we are going baby
We can lay back and enjoy the ride
Take in the sights and drown in our senses
Love is the law so take me deep inside

Strap on Sally chased us down the alley
We feared for our behinds
Oasis was a shop with shoes so hot
They were sure to blow your minds
Running so fast I can take the past
Oh take home

These waters run deep it's clear my little one
Blue velvet star sky not a sound
The light in your eyes the smile on your ruby lips
Tells me my lost soul is found

o_O

There's a poll there Dan, ya gotta go for it.

Strap on Sally chased us down the alley
We feared for our behinds <--- this would win, though

There definitely weren't enough songs about huge nipples in the Britpop canon. Just this and '3 in Across Her Beautiful Tit Flesh' by Northern Uproar as far as I know

Voted Space.

Have met the drummer from Cast a bunch of times and he's a nice guy. Fuck knows how they ever had a hit tho'.

One of Shed Seven applied for my old job in York and didn't get it, so I win against them.

A girl once posted a cassette copy of Delicious through my letter box to show she fancied me so I'll always have a soft spot for Sleeper for that.

I have had bad sex whilst a Gomez cassette played. They are pretty off-putting when that guy comes in with his 'blues' voice.

Always thought it was "romo slapper" and I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. Me too.

Cast had that fucking awful song about flying, didn't they? And that one about walking away? A mate of mine swears Beetroot is a lost classic.

Foe some reason I get that song walk away stuck in my head sometimes. just the one line, but I think the real song may just consist of one line endlessly repeated anyway.

I saw Cast support Oasis at Irvine Beach and they were really loud. Saw them again at ti in the park in the nme tent and they were loud again. Album came out and i hated it.

I too was all set to click on Northern Uproar. But can't.

Or are they counted as part of "oasis and co"?

More like I forgot they even existed.

louise wener: actually a really sweet and lovely person (she wrote a piece about poker for a mag i was working on), although her britpop persona was appalling.

really: all these bands were just fucking vile. looking back, i'm not fucking surprised i didn't pursue my nascent career in music journalism circa 1996.

for some reason, i feel drawn to voting for reef: i can't remember a thing about them, but i'm sure i hated them with a spectacular passion. and if i didn't: fuck 'em, i don't give a shit. and enough other people will vote for kula shaker (i shudder to even think about those cunts) and FUCKING CAST.

one of the most appalling nights of my life: driving from edinburgh to livingston (yes! this was livingston's attempt to use marco's leisuredome, or whatever it was called, to reinvent itself as INDIE HUB OF THE CENTRAL BELT) with my ex-girlfriend's flatmate (the only person i knew at the time with a car; or, at least, the only one with a car and no taste whatsoever in music) to see cast for the scotsman (look, i really, really needed the money, and the bylines), and NOT GETTING IN because they'd fucked up the guest-list and someone else's name was down. the ignominy! the torture of the drive back, with ex-gf's flatmate constantly whining: "i really wanted to see them!"

that said: i can't help feeling it'd have been a worse night if i had seen them, so hey.

Northern Uproar rule for this:

http://www.n-uproar.u-net.com/

(xpost) sorry to remind you, but Reef had only one hit, the chorus of which went something like "PUT YOUR HANDS ON PUT YOUR HANDS ON!!! ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! PUT YOUR HANDS ON!!! AARRRGGGHHHH!!!" with the singer sounding like he was straining on the toilet.

OH CHRIST, YES, HOW DID I FORGET? damn, i voted well.

that northern uproar website is fucking awesome. frames! comic sans! a story about some cock breaking his ankle! it genuinely hasn't been looked at in 10 years, has it?

Northern Uproar rule for this:

http://www.n-uproar.u-net.com/

-- Raw Patrick, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:26 PM

"Chris and Leon went for a hike up Ygairne near Tryffyn in Wales, the wind was blowing at 80 mph and they had to crawl and slither to keep from being blown away.
When they got back down to the bottom, Leon slipped and hurt his ankle, but instead of going to the hospital like any mere mortals would do... they went to the pub for some liquid anaesthetic.
Not 'til the next day did Leon find out that he had actually broken his ankle!"

At the t in the park i mentioned (1995) you should have scene the queues for Kula Shaker in the king tuts tent. There was 10 xs as many people outside listening as there was inside. Tattva or whatever it was called had been a huge hit.
Admittedly I was no great fan of Britpop bar Oasis/Blur/Pulp/Supergrass but Of all the britpop bands I saw T In The Park 95 & 96 then Powder have to be by far THE WORST. AWFUL!!
Supergrass and Super Furry Animals were great in 95 though.

Best britpop band was Black Grape. And they're not really britpop I suppose. That 1st album is a terrific album. Lots of great music came out alongside Britpop and I hope that's whats remembered and not the shite in this poll.

(xxpost) I remember some Chris Evans TV show on which Reef were guests, and when they got to the bit where Evans read out some letters, the band had to introduce it by singing "IT'S YOUR LETTERS IT'S YOUR LETTERS!!! AAAARRRGGHHH!!!"

I only remember Reef now because of that joke TFI Friday thing. I know i saw them at T In The Park but it must've been forgettable.

btw Grimly, T In The Park in 95 and 96 line ups must've been your worst nightmare :)
I spent most of my time in the dance tent i think.

xx-post
Aye that thing.

I didn't even see Pulp the year they headlined as I was too busy jumping about to The Afghan Whigs.
Best band I ever saw at T In The Park was LEFTFIELD. One of the greatest nights of my life that was (no I wasnt on anything)

I'm so glad T In The Park moved as those line ups in the dadrock years were soul destroying.

Dig a bit deeper into Northern Uproar's site and you discover they had a spot supporting on Mark Owen's tour. Ha!

That seahorses thing, youtube is giving me a 500 server error. I am saved.

It was a shit track, I can vaguely remember it. There was a long guitar solo at the end, I think?

I should have put The Levellers in. They were dreadful (the singer from the seahorses is the worst singer ever, he sounds like the levellers guy)

As someone all-but-untouched by the shaky finger of Britpop, I have to confess that a lot of the vitriolic comments above REALLY make me want to hear a POO compilation of all those groups. Would it out-rock Buzz Cuts?

They were called 'Dodgy' for a reason...

Well, exactly. Now that records like that have attained artifact status, shouldn't they have leeched a bit of charm with the passage of time? Too soon?

Never

Stereophonics. Other than Cast, the rest are all fantastic. Most of the best 90s bands are in this list.

Absolutely fantastic, better than Oasis and Blur, and among the best bands ever to have existed:
Ocean Colour Scene
Dodgy
Travis
Supernaturals
Kula Shaker

Excellent but not better than Blur/Oasis:
Catatonia
Gene
Bluetones

Rather good, at least occasionally:
Sleeper
Menswear
Gomez
Seahorses
Shed 7
Longpigs
Space

Decent, but not much more
Stereophonics
Cast
Reef
3 Colours Red

Absolutely fantastic, better than Oasis and Blur, and among the best bands ever to have existed:
Ocean Colour Scene
Dodgy
Travis
Supernaturals
Kula Shaker

rofl

Yes, they are, it's just you who are missing what good pop music is about.

(Although I must have put Kula Shaker in the wrong category, they would belong in one of the two middle ones)

I knew Geir wouldn't let us down. Aren't Ocean Colour Scene a little bit too bluesy for you though?

Are there any britpop bands you hated?
xpost

Close run thing between Catatonia and Space

Re: The JPEG - I really don't like Liam's face sticking out at me like that.

i haven't heard half of these bands, so I'm voting for The Longpigs on principle. Who fucking names their band The Longpigs?

lengthy rant removed

dude

Yeah, that's just not Britpop.

You're offending Geir here, cover his eyes

ANYWAY. I don't recognize most of these bands. I *kinda* like the very very little I've heard of the Longpigs though that's probably just the Richard Hawley bias. Are any of these worth attention?

not really

not really

-- Herman G. Neuname, Thursday, May 29, 2008 4:55 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Figured.

The brave new dawn of rigorously monitored Nu-ILx.

seagal.jpg

This is just like the scne in Blazing Sadlles when the fighting cowboys crash into the 30's dance number set.

^ lOlTM

I've had a look at the mod board comments and it all seems a bit of an unholy mess so best to keep out of it.

I always thought the end part of Blazing Saddles would have been a brilliant ending to The Prisoner.

Anyone going to say Britpop was an unholy mess?

I always thought the end part of Blazing Saddles would have been a brilliant ending to The Prisoner

They're quite similar really, the endings I mean

but britpop never ended :(

Stereophonics.

Dermot O'Leary manfully tries to prove that Britpop has never ended week after week on his scintillating Radio 2 show with torchbearers the Zutons and um Sharleen "nee Senga McGillicuddy" Spiteri.

Yes, they are, it's just you who are missing what good pop music is about.

-- Geir Hongro, Thursday, 29 May 2008 09:06 (1 hour ago) Link

Yes, Herman and every other single poster on this thread, and indeed on ILM.

"every single other" above!

Catatonia had one good song called Lost Cat, which was on C96 (bet a lot of you didn't know there was a C96, did you?)

Then they started to coin it by writing songs about issue X which was popular at time Y and lost me totally. Mulder and Scully and Road Rage indeed!

"mulder and scully" and "road rage" were truly vile.

"Millder and Skilly" and "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrroad Rrrrrrrrrrrage" you mean

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!

I remember Lost Cat, it was a nice song. Cerys had a good voice before she went for sounding like Shirley Bassey on steroids.

She did not have a good voice

Jaw like a boxer.

True!

I thought she sounded good on that single I mentioned, that's all. Not defending later horrors!

"every single other" above!

-- Neil S, Thursday, 29 May 2008 10:29 (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Pretty sure you were right first time there

'Bleed' by Catatonia is kind of a tune

Catatonia makes my ears bleed.

I saw Catatonia at Phoenix festival in '96 around the time of their 1st album, they were bloody awful and we left after a couple of songs. I think it was "You've got a lot to answer for" that drove us out.

I like a lot : Seahorses

I like some songs of : Cast (the La's songs on the 1st album), Gene, OCS, 3 Colours Red

I like their big hit : Sleeper

I can just about stand : Menswear

I fucking loath : Catatonia, Gomez, Reef, Shed 7,

Should be cudgelled to death with a very big cudgel : Reef, Dodgy, Kula Shaker, Longpigs, Supernaturals, Travis

Worst Band Ever : Stereophonics

Even Worse Band Ever : Space

They did that horrible song with Space too.
x-post

How can you like The Seahorses a lot and hate Dodgy, who, until 1995, were basically the same band but not shit?

An I just want to say Ocean Colour Scene have the worst fans. Fucking hate them. Loads of them where I live and they were inescapable. And every single one of the people i knew who loved them had the same defence "but cradock is an awesome guitarist".
In saying that i did like the intro to one of their songs (100 mile city or something)

If you were gonna rob any of these bands' houses OCS would probably have the best record collection

re Dodgy.
How can a band write something so great as "Staying Out For The Summer" then write something so inexplicably awful as "Good Enough"?

The drop off from Homegrown to FPS is absolutely astonishing. I think there were about two good tunes on FPS, compared to at least half-a-dozen crackers on Homegrown.

I knew a few people who loved Homegrown and just couldn't bear them anymore due to FPS. Boo Radleys fans like myself felt their pain(tho that album wasn't bad just the big single wake up boo was horrid)

Aren't Ocean Colour Scene a little bit too bluesy for you though?

"Riverboat Song" is. "They Day We Caught The Train" is fantastic though.

And "Free Peace Sweet" was the best out of the genius Dodgy albums. "Good Enough" was not the reason though.

Bet you guys cant wait for the britpop reunion package tours that will come.
There's a big retrofestival at Strathclyde Park this summer for 80s bands (Contracts say only the big hits are to be played). In 10 years this will be Britpop bands.

Yes, Herman and every other single poster on this thread, and indeed on ILM.

But that is true anyway. Most ILM'ers tend to think that pop music is about groove and rhythm and "soul", which is completely misguided. Good pop music is about really great choruses that you can sing along to, and a classic Beatlesque build-up to that chorus before it. And classic arrangements with lots of backup harmonies and stereo effects and flawless perfect playing. That is, not R&B but POP!

Geir & Nick agreeing didn't last long.

Actually I don't think there will be much of a market for Britpop retro, as Britpop was retro and that was the main reason for its existance. Britpop was all about the huge 90s need for new bands writing new songs in the old styles. Now the Britpop bands aren't new anymore, so for nostalgia we can go straight to the old sources (Beatles, Bowie, Who, Kinks, even Duran Duran) instead. Instead, Coldplay, Travis, Keane, The Feeling, Kooks and Kaiser Chiefs are among those bands who fill the need for new material by new bands in the old style.

all this thread and no mention of Marion.
Does that mean they were a good'un, or just forgotten ?

None of these bands would last two seconds on Britain's Got Talent.

1st album was good. Never heard the 2nd that was Japan only. I'd like to hear it.
x-post

Most ILM'ers tend to think that pop music is about groove and rhythm and "soul"

Even by Geir's woeful standards, this is shite

But that is true anyway. Most ILM'ers tend to think that pop music is about groove and rhythm and "soul", which is completely misguided. Good pop music is about really great choruses that you can sing along to, and a classic Beatlesque build-up to that chorus before it. And classic arrangements with lots of backup harmonies and stereo effects and flawless perfect playing. That is, not R&B but POP!

that is ONE KIND of pop. there are others. many others.

Actually I don't think there will be much of a market for Britpop retro, as Britpop was retro and that was the main reason for its existance. Britpop was all about the huge 90s need for new bands writing new songs in the old styles. Now the Britpop bands aren't new anymore, so for nostalgia we can go straight to the old sources (Beatles, Bowie, Who, Kinks, even Duran Duran) instead. Instead, Coldplay, Travis, Keane, The Feeling, Kooks and Kaiser Chiefs are among those bands who fill the need for new material by new bands in the old style.

the fact that shaking stevens is playing glstonbury is proof enough that retro-retro has an audience. people want to remember their youth, not periods in history that predate their existence.

http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6648

^^^I have to type up listings for shit like this all the time - pretty excited to think which 90s bands will be in their place when I'm doing this same fucking job in 30 years

Most ILM'ers tend to think that pop music is about groove and rhythm and "soul", which is completely misguided. Good pop music is about really great choruses that you can sing along to, and a classic Beatlesque build-up to that chorus before it.

R&B had hooks. And choruses. That you could sing along to. Dude.

Oh well, Geir's idea that there's roughly one or two acceptable types of pop music isn't exactly new I suppose...

The Sensational 60s Show - Fri 30th May (7.30pm)
Hosted by Steve Walls

Totally read this as Steven Wells.

How can you like The Seahorses a lot and hate Dodgy, who, until 1995, were basically the same band but not shit?

I just really like listening to and playing along with Squire's guitar on that album - he does some pretty standard classic rock moves really, really well and the tunes are good. The lyrics are dire, but I don't much care.

All I've heard of Dodgy has been wretched in a drippy, beany-hatted ordinary guys rockin out in the sunshine kinda way - I haven't paid any attention to whether it was pre or post 1995. Sorry I can't be more specific :)

Me too (xp).

Is there any palpable point to a Dreamers without Freddie?

R&B had hooks

Using past tense is correct here. 60s Motown certainly did.

Dodgy had one good song - In a Room.

what album was that off?

seahorses, didn't need to even think twice

what album was that off?

Free Peace Sweet

Where's the hate for the poor mans indie version of the wildhearts, 3 Colours Red? ILM raise your game!

Who the feck are they?

http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=3+colours+red&search_type=&aq=f

Alan McGee thought they were better than the sex pistols or something

alan mcgee thinks his bowel movements are the second coming of george gershwin

Dislike of 3CR's "This Is My Hollywood" tempered by mild enjoyment of "Copper Girl" (NB probably not heard since Lamacq left R1, certainly not going to bother watching the youtubes), lost in wondering if China Drum should've been on britrock poll, whether I'd still like Stony Sleep, and alarm at suddenly remembering My Vitriol.

ugh my vitriol. They were terrible.

A bit later on though, weren't they, around the time of JJ72, another stinker of a band. Early 00s: worse than mid 90s?

Christ on a bucket, JJ72 - did the world really need the Cranberries at 78 rpm?

They were really big for a short while weren't they. Looked they might do a Coldplay and conquer the world.

I remember reading somewhere about how JJ72 became bitter and twisted by the cynical music industry when their label wouldn't issue their second (or was it third?) album - so they split up in protest!

RESULT!

Steve Lamacq never recovered from the trauma.

How dare that label not have recognised their unimpeachable genius!

Although my love for them is large and enduring, I'm surprised not to see My Life Story on this poll.

Also, Rialto.

Rialto formed out of Kinky Machine, right? We should do a Worst Of These Early 90s UK Bands poll for them.

London ilxors please help - who were the shitty early 90's band that constantly plastered the tube network with their crappy stickers? Not Underneath What, the other one. I'm racking my brains here.

They'd have to be on that poll anyway, is what I'm saying.

25th of May?

No, it was The (something)s.

The Nubiles?

The Nubiles' 'Layabout' was Justine Frischman's single of 1994, FACT! (and possibly also mine)

Most sparsely attended gig I've ever been to = the Nubiles at Reading After Dark c1995. I (and seemingly everyone else) went to see the support band (some local dudes) and then promptly left after they finished.

I'm not sure they ever actually released anything. I keep thinking it was The Lollies, but...no. Anyway, carry on with excoriating 3CR, don't mind me.

The Divine Comedy should have been on this poll.

Not a UK band

Isn't he from Norn Iron?

Yes

So he is, from Derry. I always assumed he was from Eire.

Posh boy, not much of an accent

Also I imagine it'd be more accurate to say he's from Londonderry, if you know what I mean

Fuck a 3 Colours Red. That's like one color dude. I know I know, that's so three hours ago, but I had to post this:

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the first time i heard this was during their gig at leeds where they announced their first split ! ending the gig on this song was what made me wanna be a writer ! its epic

Isn't he from Norn Iron?

Yes, and the son of a Protestant vicar to answer Tom D's insinuation, but I always think of him as Éireann too, maybe for the Father Ted thing or maybe just because the press always called him "Irish". Meanwhile, didn't even blink at fellow NIers Therapy? and Ash on the Britrock poll.

Knowing bookish singer-songwriter: try to assemble Joycean lineage; noisy rock dudes: front cover of Kerrang! says WHOA NEW BRITROCKKKKK REVOLUTION (some participants may be not British)?

Dig a bit deeper into Northern Uproar's site and you discover they had a spot supporting on Mark Owen's tour. Ha!

I was on the guest list for the Glasgow show on that tour! Then I went to the pub with Northern Uproar. They were really annoying so I left and went home. The end.

SEAHORSES!

It was obvious then, and even more obvious now, that Squire had intentionally surrounded himself with a bunch of absolute no-hopers who would never, ever outshine him musically. NME were unusually spot-on when they said the only reason Squirehorses existed was so he could be Special Guest Guitarist in his own band, forever.

Dodgy had one good song - In a Room.

Great song, but their best single moment was "Staying Out For The Summer". Those fantastic backing vocals in the chorus: Classic all the way!

Reef were great. They get my vote. Place Your Hands on a pair of sharp scissors you floppy haired wankers. Almost as good as Toploader.

All of that list is cunt, bar 3 colours Red - for 'Copper Girl' only.

No wonder I was a Yankophile

I forgot about Toploader. They would've ran away with the poll though so maybe it's best I didn't remember them.

My girlfriend still reps for My Life Story, Rialto, The Divine Comedy and the like. It's the type of stuff she has on pre-recorded cassette.

mls were worse than the divine comedy IIRC

GENE are the worst. Really.

My guess it's between Stereophonics and Space for the win atm. Not enough people voting OCS yet.

OCS=genius

Stereophonics=not quite shit, but not the usual top Britpop quality either.

Space had 'The Female Of The Species' though, which was/is a great pop song. Stereophonics, begrudgingly, have 'Dakota' (although not in the mid-late '90s they didn't). Ocean Colour Scene had NOTHING.

my vitriol really weren't that bad - their first three singles are still great, before their own self-regard got out of control

OCS=genius

very liberal use of the word genius there. dictionaries the world over are angered.

Stereophonics.

Gomez are a band I don't have great feelings for but c'mon they're on a different planet to most of these piss-artists

Also, OCS, Kula Shaker and Space, aside from being infinitely preferable to the likes of The View or The Pigeon Detectives or Scouting For Girls, each have ONE song I really like. Get Away, Hollow Man (yeah I know Pt. 2 is a Dear Prudence rip-off, so what) and Piggies respectively. Don't ask how or why. Actually I haven't heard Piggies for four years, maybe I'd hate it now.

Ocean Colour Scene had NOTHING.

"The Day We Caught The Train" is a fantastic pop song. Easily in my Top 10 singles of the entire 90s.

OCS had 'sway' which is a tremendous single

Actually, Space are possibly not preferable to those aforementioned bands. I am well disposed to them because they let their keyboardist write one track and it was by far the best thing they ever did. I regard that as some kind of victory for the little man. I know there are a few Octopus' Contrarians out there but realistically I think it's the only example of a novelty one-off actually had more musical value than the regular shit. This probably says more about Space than their keyboardist.

Louis' back!!!!!

In addition to "...Caught The Train", "You've Got It Bad" was also a great single. OCS have always been great as long as they've kept some distance to the blues and written more Beatles-influenced stuff.

Ah there's no way Divine Comedy belong in this list; even just in terms of longevity they're way above anything else. My Life Story were, in retrospect, execrable.

Ugh, that horrible straining howl of the OCS guy. Sounded like he was about to bust a blood vessel.

Anyway, Jack.

Jack were the beatles compared to OCS and the like.

... that last sentence is crying out to be said out loud in a heavy East Lancashire accent

My Life Story, as I recall, weren't too bad either. Not essential, but completely OK and better than 99 per cent of American rock, R&B and hip-hop from the same period.

lol rubbish

Hmm, didn't see you weigh in on the '12 Reasons Why' poll that NRQ did a while back

xpost to Hongroe

I really wish someone would make an american equivalent of this poll.

Shed 7 own this thread.

where did their name come from? was it some kind of Blake's Seven tribute?

It's a shed you can see pulling into York railway station. I saw an interview where singer embarrassedly said "I should say it's coz I lost my virginity behind a shed when I was seven".

It's unfortunate that Catatonia bear the stigma of writing popular issues songs, though they did bring it upon themselves. There was only those two as I recall. Good band. First album is ace.

Some of these bands I don't know but I've always hated Stereophonics ("Dakota" aside), Cast, Ocean Colour Scene and Reef. Who wants my vote?

Vote OCS

Done.

The worst thing about Stereophonics is that they're still fucking going. At least all the others had the good sense to call it a day.

OCS are still going. Still very popular in Scotland too. They were at one point far bigger than Blur.

A MUST BUY FOR ALL INDIE/MOD/ROCK FANS !!!

By call it a day I take it you mean "couldn't score a record deal anywhere in the world even if they offered to play for free".

They were at one point far bigger than Blur

So was fucking Runrig lol amirite?

20 years ago maybe

Vote OCS
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TR18QMi6L._SS500_.jpg

You know what's ironic? Mods in the 60s liked really cool, modern music.

Then Weller came along.

And Ironically Weller on his new album is supposedly taking more chances than these wankers ever will.

Louis what are your thoughts on dadrock? Worse than britpop?

I don't like either term. The good bands like Blur and Pulp fucking transcended any narrow genre expectations. Nowadays the pub-rock Britpoppers are only too happy with their limited commodifications. Cunts. Fuckers.

Mansun haven't influenced any of the new bands have they?

Look, can we not sully these bands (and I am just as guilty as you) by including them in this thread?

Would you say the same about Placebo?

I'm past caring tbh.

I dont believe you.

Bizarrely, DJ Erol Alkan is a MASSIVE Ocean Colour Scene fan, and may even be releasing some stuff on their label (Mosely Shoals?).

You know what's ironic? Mods in the 60s liked really cool, modern music.

You know what's ironic? The music that Mods in the 60s liked sounded roughly the same as the music mod-revivalists in the 90s liked. Strange, huh?

The good bands like Blur and Pulp fucking transcended any narrow genre expectations.

When Blur were good, they didn't. It wasn't until 1997 that they did, and by then they were rapidly becoming less and less good.

I'll leave that to Louis

Even an album like The Great Escape is deceptively complex. Far more going on than many would have you believe.

Bizarrely, DJ Erol Alkan is a MASSIVE Ocean Colour Scene fan, and may even be releasing some stuff on their label (Mosely Shoals?).

-- Raw Patrick, Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:27 AM

as a sidenote, erol alkan's big musical epiphany was nwonw bands like smash and these animal men. he described early trash nights as "new wave of new grave", playing out tunes by the likes of marion and the longpigs.

It could've been worse. It might have been the wonderstuff or kingmaker.

Kingmaker!!!
A total dud embarrassment from my home town- I swear there is no jealousy here! How they ever 'made' it was beyond me. Does anybody ever still play their records?

I hope not.
Colonel Poo are you still doing the early 90s equivalent poll?

Perhaps we can help him by nominating early 90s bands.
Kingmaker
The Wonderstuff
Carter USM
Neds Atomic Dustbin

Sultans Of Ping F.C.

Cork is an anagram of rock.

Corkists?

Fuck Rieg for reals.

Where's Me Melody?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWsHXX_HLKs never forget

Forgot the charity shop coat and not much else look. Ugh.

Still, know the feeling which is why I bought a £15 H&M denim jacket which it doesn't matter if I lose.

"Paranoid pop has a new face" said the NME singles review.

how did dance music sweep the nation with competition like this?

xpost

Did you used to some other login?

(Not asking sarkily).

ogwhiaqi

Welcome back!

I am well disposed to them because they let their keyboardist write one track and it was by far the best thing they ever did. I regard that as some kind of victory for the little man

we've done this before somewhere, but trust me: i think shagging my flatmate is probably the greatest victory the keyboard from space (and indeed his "little man") ever enjoyed.

er, keyboardist. you knew what i meant.

unless i really did misunderstand what i was told o_O

grimly you just made me spit ice lolly over the monitor

hahaha

I wonder if that keyboard likes cars.

I never quite understood the appeal of Catatonia.

i was thinking about the sexual proclivities of the keyboardist from space just then when i was in the shower -- no, not like that -- and i feel i should correct the record: it wasn't actually my flatmate he shagged. it was her mate (who, incidentally, went on to play in a variety of underachieving indie combos, one of which was staggeringly awesome and eclipses everything on this list several times over).

my flatmate shagged the backline tech.

xpost

I think Catatonia were one of those "you had to be there" bands, where your enjoyment of them was proportional to the enjoyment you got by reading in the gossip pages of the weeklies about how they got blindingly drunk at some party or other. That, together with some fun singles and the "we're Welsh and we're proud" stance that was popular among a bunch of bands at the time, all added up to something more than the sum of its parts.

I got sick of Wu Tang pulling that "we're Welsh and we're proud" shit.

And Kingmaker?

Convenient Welsh figures of fun for those of us struggling along in Welsh bands in Hull, Wales at the time.

The singer dude was from one of the posh villages that seceded from Hull when we became a unitary authority. His mam and dad lived in a castle. The bass player dude was the one you used to see in the pub all the time. I know the drummer dude's brothers, nice guys.

God I can't stand that pic of big-nosed Liam up at the top there.

http://static.nme.com/images/64_britpop_originals.jpg http://i28.tinypic.com/14l1qbo.jpg

hah i just noticed Spice Girls are on that cover too.

hahahaha oh fuck look whats just come out

http://www3.hmv.co.uk/hmv/Large_Images/HMV/FCCD110.JPG
Release date: 26-5-2008

Wonder if it will do as well as the John Power and John Squire albums did haha

i was shocked and dismayed to discover that mrs fiendish went to see reef, many years ago. apparently they were "a bit shit" and she only went "because my mate had a ticket". still, though. brrr. reef. boak.

herman: yes, those mid-to-late-nineties TitP lineups you mention are one of the reasons i've never been to the thing -- i associate it with irredeemable shiteness.

I saw Noel Gallagher at Euston station at 9:30am this morning. He was leaning by the Cornish Pasty Company stall on his mobile. Someone shouted "Oi dickhead" at him.

"Someone" i.e. you?

I don't think Dom's the type for the hasty expletive, more the thought-out devastating character assassination, followed by the insouciant "Jokes, bruv"

Grimly> I wasnt at the 1st TTP, but the 2nd and 3rd were awesome, you just had to avoid the shite britpop acts. The dance tent was awesome and the main stage wasn't too bad apart from when The Beautiful South and M People headlined. All their fans waited out in the car park til they were due on. I saw Reef at one of them though and they were dreadful. I remember loads laughing at them as they had been proclaimed as the future of british rock.

Wasn't the first T In The Park technically the Stone Roses on Glasgow Green?

no

Are you sure? There was definitely at least one year it was on Glasgow Green before it moved out to Strathclyde Country Park, Radiohead played it. 99?

Wait a minute, that's obviously bollocks, the radiohead thing. It definitely started on the Green though.

Radiohead and Primal Scream did gigs on the green in late 90s. Then there was the gig on the green festival that bands playing reading would play. That's probably what you are thinking of.

No, I'm definitely thinking of 4-5 band bills under the Tennents banner before it moved to the country park. If the Stone Roses thing wasn't the first, then whatever happened the year after it was.

1st TITP was 1994 in Strathclyde Park,Hamilton. Possibly there was a gig in Strathy in the year or 2 before that led to it?

There may well have been, but the whole thing definitely started in Glasgow Green, I'm positive. It wasn't a festival as such, since it was only 4-5 bands and all on the one afternoon, but went under the T in the Park banner.

Nothing mentioned on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_in_the_park

I checked there. I've discussed this before with people irl, so if I'm imagining it then I'm not the only one.

You are probably right about it coming from some gig Tennants sponsored, I just would be surprised if it was the stone roses one.

The guys from Shed Seven very kindly donated loads of Shed Seven 2007 Reunion glowsticks to my son's junior school disco the other day so they don't get my vote.

Who do?

a tiny pub round the corner from me has started putting on gigs, mainly local bands - the place can't hold more than 50 people. walking past yesterday i noticed the "coming soon" poster had .... Dodgy! and later in the month ... Miles Hunt!

Well, if it's good enough....

is the singer back in Dodgy?

Oxymoron, surely?

the poxy moron was the drummer

Maybe they'll relaunch with a double drum line-up, him and Shovel out of M People, to the delight of cheapo quiz show producers everywhere.

All those are horrible, can't possibly pick a least-worst.

You can do it

aldo, Tennent's used to put on gigs under the Tennent's Live banner for years before they came up with the idea of a whole festival (T in the Park), not sure if they were involved with the Stone Roses gig though.

Reef have the worst single song of any band here but I had to go with Stereophonics just for being consistently shit (yet daytime-radio-level popular) for a period of at least, what, four years.

Bands on this list I genuinely enjoyed one or more song(s) by at the time:
Dodgy
Gene
Menswe@r
Reef
3 Colours Red
Shed Seven
Space

Would run a mile from the lot now, mind.

also, are you thinking maybe of the Glasgow Fleadh in 1992? That was a Mean Fiddler thing, but Mean Fiddler were involved in the first T in the Park, I think, and put on other "In the Park" events?

actually, scrub that, I'm getting myself confused here. T in the Park was always DF/CPL (which I should know since I used to do some work for them at the time), but I'm sure there was some connection between the Fleadh and T in the Park.

Maybe there was an early partner in t in the park who quit?

Re: The JPEG - I really don't like Liam's face sticking out at me like that.

i haven't heard half of these bands, so I'm voting for The Longpigs on principle. Who fucking names their band The Longpigs?

-- Pillbox, Thursday, 29 May 2008 09:23 (4 days ago) Link

lengthy rant removed

-- chaki, Thursday, 29 May 2008 09:40 (4 days ago) Link

dude

-- RabiesAngentleman, Thursday, 29 May 2008 09:43 (4 days ago) Link

Yeah, that's just not Britpop.

-- Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 29 May 2008 09:51 (4 days ago) Link

You're offending Geir here, cover his eyes

-- Tom D., Thursday, 29 May 2008 09:52 (4 days ago) Link

Er.. Is there some wellspring of Longpigs affection around here? I am relatively new to ILX and don't post as frequently as some, so if there is an understood hands-off policy on dissing the Longpigs, it is news to me. Admittedly, my original (drunk) post wasn't the most informed proclamation, but off-the-cuff derision of random bands is di rigeur for this place. Maybe this seems paranoid, but really I'm a bit curious about the reaction to what I'd thought was a relatively benign chunk of slander. Sorry to piss in your punch, Longpigs fans.

Anyway, my real (sober) answer to the matter at hand is The Seahorses, slightly edging out the conspicuously absent Hurricane #1 in the "key member of a beloved former band debuts mind-bogglingly horrible second act" stakes. Whoever claimed upthread that Squire purposefully surrounded himself with hacks to ensure his star status is OTFM.

lol no, it was something Chaki wrote that has nothing to do with this thread,britpop or the longpigs.

OK, now I really do feel paranoid

or you

I think I have heard roughly 4 songs by Longpigs, 2 of which were great while the other two were OK. There are better bands in this list, but they weren't all that bad, really. The bad Brit indie bands of this era are mostly mentioned in the Brit Rock thread. Other than Ash (who knew how to coin a great melodic and catchy pop chorus), most of the bands in that list were rubbish.

you dont like the wildhearts, geir?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

there were free fests in leeds too i think called umm something in the park in 94 and i think 93 too. britpoppy things.

And Kingmaker?

Really more early-90's than Mid-Late, don'tcha think?

Dodgy Dodgy Dodgy. Good Enough gets stuck in my head whenever I'm reminded of it, and it drives me mad. I used to go to a Britpop-type dance party (sad) and they played that damned song every single week. Then, recently, like within the past year or so, this girl I can't stand who was trying to impress some guy or something by liking Britpop told me she was "really getting into Dodgy." Seriously.

But that is true anyway. Most ILM'ers tend to think that pop music is about groove and rhythm and "soul", which is completely misguided. Good pop music is about really great choruses that you can sing along to, and a classic Beatlesque build-up to that chorus before it. And classic arrangements with lots of backup harmonies and stereo effects and flawless perfect playing. That is, not R&B but POP!

what's amazing about this geir post is, that it could've been written 10 years ago -- or it could be written 1,000,000 years in the future -- and geir will not change his sentiments AT ALL.

geir, your opinions about music need to be preserved in amber ... or something.

Most ILM'ers tend to think that pop music is about groove and rhythm and "soul"

I fucking don't.

Good Enough gets stuck in my head whenever I'm reminded of it

I see this as a positive thing rather than a negative one. A good tune is supposed to get stuck in your head. That's what good pop tunes are about.

"Good Enough" is not my fave by them in any way though.

Geir, have you ever thought about writing a book - "Geir Hongro's Manifesto of Pop" or something similar? Your opinions are so strongly held that I honestly think it'd be a fun read. I'm sure Nick would be agree to be ghostwriter.

LOL

hahaha but he's busy with the UK entry for Eurovision 2009 just now.

Is a wistful yearning for times long ago, innocence and summer days and the girl by the riverside on long hot summer days.

it's called "Melody"

Something like that would probably work out as most Eurovision voters are in their 40s or 50s. It would have to be sung in Serbo-Croatian though.

(And contain flutes, bagpipes and a 13/8 pulse)

This is how early nineties Balkans based ethnic cleansing started.

And an organist! And a techno breakdown! And a giant bank of glockenspiels!

XP Probably not, as all participants in the Balkan war loved flutes, bagpipes and 13/8 pulses, plus they all probably understood Serbo-Croatian as well.

govori to ti je kao govoriti na računalu

(according to google translator anyway)

And a Stylophonist! And a keytar! And Steve Hackett!

Steve Hackett is always a good idea, but not sure if he is the right man to collect votes. He is heavily into 13/8 though, so never say never ;)

get your votes in!

Who is going to be ILM's most hated?

this has to be one of the most anticipated polls ever on ILM ?
personally i'll be glad when the results are in and thread finally dies.
being reminded of these shitty bands every time i refresh ILM is becoming a little too much to bear.

My prediction :

1. OCS
2. Reef
3. Space
4. Stereophonics
5. Dodgy

Although Shed Seven and Kula Shaker could be sleepers.

Based off of that link Matt DC provided, Seahorses might come from out of nowhere.

Seahorses might come from out of nowhere...

.. and then hopefully head straight back.

saw a flyer not so long ago advertising a john power gig at a pub in leytonstone

voted reef

My predictions:
Stereophonics
Ocean Colour Scene
Catatonia
Cast
Space
Kula Shaker
Sleeper
Seahorses
Travis
Dodgy

No Love for Adorable?
Freedom? There ain't no fucking Freedom .
Riot!!!

Disgusted of Disgusting

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

number three with a bullet

Stereophonics get the lurker vote due to still being around and popular unlike the rest of these bands.

Bluetones now officially ILM's fave britpop band lol

No Love for Adorable?

Adorable were great!

zero votes for bluetones is a disgrace

Disgrace to the corpse of Sid.

I'm sure everyone thought someone else would vote Bluetones.

And Dodgy on got 3 votes. They deserved more.

Bluetones first album Expecting to Fly is brilliant, they kinda lost it after that.

Adorable were great!

OT(fucking)M

nothing like a little hate to get ILM going, i think this is this boards biggest poll.

i refused to vote, though there are some bad bands on here, because i happen to like and even flat out love one of these bands.

i happened to like the fact that the Bluetones didn't get any votes. as i happen to like the first and third album, i could also add a few songs from the second and throw in some b-sides. their last two albums including last years self titled left a lot to be desired however.

Four people need their heads checked. Probably Yanks who think they're being culturally thefted.

Or maybe some growly walruses who think they're being parodied.

Louis, you just cant defend Gomez!

I can and I will.

It's impossible!

do it Louis!

and I'm disappointed Ocean Colour Scene didn't get about 200 votes.

Gomez are actually waaaaaaay more popular in 'Merica than they are here.

Gomez's first album is fucking brilliant.

The first record is actually quite good (xpost, yeah, "fucking brilliant"! YEAH!). For a brief period later on when they released the Machismo EP and In Our Gun they were really good. I'll possibly need Nick and Dimension 5ive to back me up on this. I can't really offer much more than subjective opinion as yet, but they meld electronica with American rock in a surprisingly subtle, engaged manner. They don't overstate things and thus lose the chemistry.

And yeah, they have a massive double-disc live album from an American tour, which I don't have.

Plus, they don't really sound like anyone else, they have a great ear for musical progression, and a way with a tune. What's not to love?

The vocals?

The band and all of their music?

You've heard and don't like Cardiacs, you don't count.

i'm shocked. that's not nearly enough loathing for reef.

This is how Nazi Germany started (xp)

Gomez remind me of Canned heat.

A bit.

Steady on there! That's fightin' talk!

Fight!

I've just found the Gomez interview I conducted a few years ago. It is BAD so I'm not going to link to it. But t'was a friendly chat all the same.

Who in this bitch has a problem with Sleeper? Demz great.

yeah, shed seven are 9 times better than the stereophonics. way to be reasonable people.

Any nominations for a worst britpop song poll?
1 song per band

Dodgy - Good Enough is my pick.
So come on and name the worst songs and i'll poll them.

Must you?

Oh yes..
Reef - Place Your Hands? or did they do worse songs than that?

Stereophonics - Have a Nice Day.

alt: Reef: It's your letters.

Stereophx Mr Writer, surely?

MR WRITER.

I don't really think of Stereophonics as Britpop.But it's the worst song EVER.

ARGH XPOST

yeah mr writer

Which Oasis song? Cuz I gotta put Blur - Country House in.

actually Roll With it

I really really hate Don't Look Back in Anger.

Roll With It was still the worst crime by oasis

Reef - Yer Old

Which Suggs song? Come on Marcello!

His cover of I'm Only Sleeping.

what was that Hurricane #1 song that wasnt on an album that was a huge hit. Think the sun used it in an advert

Step Into My World?

wasn't it 'Only The Strongest Will Survive'?

Aye, it was Only The Strongest Will Survive.

ok i need nominations for worst space single.
Not the one with Catatonia (i may put that up also if enough people say they hate it too)

MR WRITER is my fave Stereophonics track. So far as fave goes.

Space - Neigbourhood

but its WORST songs

I just wanted everyone to know what my fave Stereophonics song was. :(

Step on My Old Size Nines is by far the worst Stereophonics song.

I think Avenging Angels is worse than Neighbourhood, but not by much.

Pick A Part That's New might have been the first time that I wanted to brutally murder a member of the Stereophonics. Although there was arguably worse stuff later, I was able to kind of ignore that.

I don't mind Space at all. They were kind of charmingly silly.

Nope

Ok so far i have:

Dodgy - Good Enough
Ocean Colour Scene - Day We caught The Train
Reef - Place Your Hands
Stereophonics - Mr Writer
Blur - Country House
Cast - Alright
Gene - For The Dead
Oasis - Roll With It
Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo
Menswear - Daydreamer
Lush - Lady Killers
The verve - Drugs Dont Work
Pulp - Sorted for E's & Wizz
Travis - Driftwood
Gomez - Bring It On
Bluetones - Slight Return
Paul Weller - The Changingman
Kula Shaker - Tattva
Space - Avenging Angels
Embrace - All You Good Good People
Seahorses - Love Me And leave Me
Catatonia - Mulder And Scully
Suggs - I'm Only Sleeping.
Hurricane #1 - Only The Strongest Will Survive
Shed Seven - Going For Gold
Sleeper - What Do i Do Now
Supernaturals - Smile
Longpigs - She Said
Northern Uproar - From A Window
Echobelly - Great Things
Dubstar - Anywhere
Lightning Seeds - Lucky You
Heavy Stereo - Chinese Burn
18 Wheeler - Stay
Eleastica - Connection
Divine Comedy -
My Life Story - 12 Reasons I Love Her
Babybird - You're Gorgeous
Bis - Kandy Pop
Geneva - No One Speaks
Space With cerys Matthews (Catatonia) - The Ballad Of Tom Jones
Republica - Drop Dead Gorgeous
Levellers - What A Beautiful Day
Feeder - High
3 Colours Red - Sixty Mile Smile
James - Shes A Star
Silver Sun - Julia
Warm Jets - Hurricane
Monaco - Sweet Lips
Manic Street Preachers - The Everlasting

Which Mansun ?
Charlatans?

What else have I missed? Anything from 1994-1999. Doesn't have to be Britpop,just british. So if anyone wants to nominate big hits Prodigy,Spice Girls, Sneaker pimps,Moloko or anything go ahead.

Fat Les - Vindaloo

good call

Nominations end at 2pm.
So get them in.

I'm swapping the Suggs song to Cecilia

King Of The Kerb is a worse Echobelly song, no?

ok i'll change it. I just listed all the songs I could think of.Dont necessarily hate them (ie i like the verve song) but I want it to be all inlclusive..
I picked that Manics song (despite being a manics fan) as its the worst thing they ever did IMO

I dunno whether to include Terrorvision - Tequila (it did have a crappy remix that got to no1 bought by the britpop loving masses)

Any nominations for
Sneaker Pimps
Moloko
Divine Comedy
Mansun
Ash
Perfume
60ft Dolls
Prodigy
Fatboy Slim
Spice Girls
Belle & Sebastian?
Charlatans
Auteurs
Anything else 1994-99?

Divine Comedy

National fucking Express