OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

XXXP: Taylor writes his own headlines. It was a fair assumption as most don't but wrong in this case.

that taylor parkes article is briliant and doesnt belong here

I love Taylor Parkes and agree that his article does not belong here, but at the same time his prose style remains so redolent of Melody Maker circa 1995 that it produces a weird sense of discombobulation. Every sentence makes me more nostalgic for Britpop (maybe even the experience of hating Britpop at the time) than most of the other shit I've read about it in these terrible weeks.

is there another thread where we're discussing this article? there's lots there to unpack (and i really like it). his fixation with the obnoxiousness of blur is really useful. did make me want to listen to lots of pulp and bbr and the other also-rans that don't fit in his (or britpop's) narrative.

(of course there's an impt sense in which pulp are hardly an 'also ran' so forgive me) (and then how does this then pivot into B&S idk)

why are there so many articles about Britpop lately?

100-year WWI anniversary. It's all linked

trench warfare = Melody Maker magazine

lord kitchener = jo whiley

the somme = ok computer

Somme less wasteful

Sterling the discussions over on the britpop thread. Cant link from here tho, sorry

Crut its 20 years since parklife came out

20 years since 1st Korn album tlater this year. Just wait til those thinkpieces hit!

had to google Parklife tbh

blur were shit

weren't they

^thinkpiece

mogwai thought so

they knew about middle class private school educated rockers pretending to be working class..

I remember seeing Blur in those days (I think it was in 1992 in Palo Alto, according to Songkick), and damn that was a lame show. They were crazy drunk and spent most of the show trying to push over the PA speakers...

The Taylor Parkes piece is too muddled even though I agree that Britpop's aesthetic complacency was related to a larger political complacency that was rampant during the Blair/Clinton years. Don't really understand British class politics so I can't speak to that aspect of Blur's legacy. They sound stressful.

From my own experiences political complacency in the UK was at it's peak in the period that lay between Blair's election and the war in Iraq. That's my own outlook as I was a student during that time and I was horrified at how few students were interested in current affairs. The number of people attending student fee protests on my campus were negligible, and this is Essex Uni we're talking about, a hotspot for lefty sit-ins during the seventies. Ibiza Trance and UKG were by far the most popular styles of music for students at that time.

I put it here bc I honestly regretted reading it, and it left feeling quite favourable towards Britpop, so

Of course a period of prosperity between the Cold War and 9/11 was going to be more apolitical but if you're going to blame Britpop for epitomising vacuous optimism and complacency then you should also blame dance music and nobody seems to be doing that.

That's what I'm saying. I'm not blaming dance music for being apolitical (although I remember being dismayed at the time at how dance music had lost its anti-authoritarian stance and was now being used to tout 2for1 WKDs on a Friday). But why is it suddenly Britpop that's being held to account for eliding politics? What were the Smiths, MBV, Ride, the Stone Roses and umpteen other popular pre-Britpop UK indie bands saying that the likes of Pulp and Blur weren't?

it's sort of depressing how uk ilm is basically 100% britpop this week, above almost every current thing happening in music, even though half of you profess to hate it. get. over. it. as much time as i have for kicking it, obsessing about it to this degree either way is an admission of defeat

hoist by thine own petard, lex.

although really we should keep discussion to the Britpop thread here, really: Britpop : Time For Reevaluation?

the only dog I have in this horse is I downloaded a bunch of sleeper b-sides the other day and they are kind of great and now I am doubting everything (caveat: american)

(the piece doesn't belong in Worst Music Writing Evar at all, it is quite well-written, I just think I disagree)

the only dog I have in this RACE. SORRY I just got off a red-eye I wasn't even expecting to be allowed on and am tired etc

I didn't know this thread ws specifically for music pieces that're technically poor, soz

given the amount of bad music writing that exists pretty sure that's a prereq for "worst evar"

Yeah, fair enough

the ILM worst britpop ever spotify playlist

The Parkes-life article does fall foul of an over reliance on italics that the old UK music press loved so much.

lol, britpop. i think we avoided most of the fallout here. people liked oasis for a minute in the u.s. and then they liked...gorillaz? and that was about it.

and that verve song. we loved that verve song. and we embraced one blur song for are jock jam comps. thank you, blur.

Yeah, in the US Britpop is pretty much Oasis = "remember that 'Wonderwall' song? No?" and Blur = that "woo hoo!" song played at baseball games.

does republica count?

Republica is one of the best terrible bands

still think 'heads will roll' is the best republica song

Baby I'm Ready to Go came instantly to mind, hook/singer and all so yeah kinda good at least given I haven't heard it in like 20 years

on the rooftops sha-de-da. that one?

It's "shout it out" I think, bt yeah

hm. don't like that as much.

Lyrical quibbles aside I think the singer ws Brazilian, or something, also they were too housey to be Britpop

god yes the relentless rave beats

saw Republica play first support for Ned's Atomic Dustbin in Leeds last year. before Cud.

republica was a weird band, like roxette crossed with kmfdm and echobelly.

Lyrical quibbles aside I think the singer ws Brazilian, or something

Wikipedia has Republica singer as of "Portuguese, Chinese and British descent", born in Nigeria.

still, ethnic quibbles aside