Britpop : Time For Reevaluation?

99p singles translated very cheaply in the US so I was able to order 5-10 at a time from Map Records, Action Records or Siren Disc. Great for try-before-you-buy-more, and I've gotten rid of most of that stuff over the years. Sometimes one good song prompted me to buy multiple singles & albums and, years later, I'd find myself thinking, "Why do I have the complete works of Warm Jets or Lower or The Kynd"?

But the mid-90s were great for me. Based on the artists mentioned here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Britpop_musicians - these have stood the test of time for me:

The first Cast album was exactly what I wanted to hear at the time, all bright and shiny and shallow. I know most will turn their nose up at Cud but, damn, I still find their albums clever and fun. Gene's first two LPs and the singles comp move from the Smiths tribute (and I love the Smiths) to something different by their second album. Lush moved from shoegaze to Britpop and still made memorable albums. Strangelove was this dark, intense, hiding-in-the-shadows band that channelled all my angst and anger. Babybird took lo-fi to a new level with copious earworms and good humor.

At the time I might've said it was the last gasp of 60s look-back bores influencing underground rock, what with all the Beatles, Stones, Who and Kinks vibes writ large. I never cared for the big progenitors of Britpop but I appreciated the bands that took it and added a dash of punk or post-punk to twist their sound.

Most of my music-loving friends dipped in and out of these acts at the time - if you listened to alternative or college radio you couldn't help but get a healthy dose - but they didn't have nearly as big an impact in my circle as local and other US bands at the time.

I was able to order 5-10 at a time from Map Records, Action Records or Siren Disc

Oh yeah, I ordered lots from Action and Siren Disc back then, including that Warm Jets album and a few from Strangelove. Actually forgot about Siren Disc until you mentioned them; nice to see they're still around and still using the same graphics from 20 years ago! I haven't listened to the Warm Jets in many years, but I do still put on Strangelove occasionally, as well as a few other similar records I ordered from those stores around the same time -- Geneva, Puressence, and Marion.

I saw Warm Jets supporting Blur at the SECC on the Great Escape tour. Didn't think much of them.

Let's talk about how awesome 'Stay Together' is, or 'F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.', or 'Trouble In The Message Centre', or 'Acquiesce' ...

A lot of bad Britpop was still fun to dance to (e.g. OCS, Kula Shaker) if you'd drunk enough bad beer.

97 is the point where everything went definitively bad, everything started to sound like Embrace, Teenage Fanclub turned into Del Amitri, the Space/Catatonia thing remains the worst single of my lifetime, and fucking geezers DJing Skint records in every club, greasy spoon and vegetarian cafe in the world.

Wait, but I like Del Amitri... ;-)

It's more like Del Amitri started to sound like TFC rather than the other way round. Some Other Suckers Parade is a response to Grand Prix. These guys go way back anyway. They were sharing the same Glasgow stages in 1986.

...by which I mean neither are Britpop partly because they both predate Britpop by years.

so do pulp tbf

Pulp and Blur are the big brand-leading Britpoppers (along with Oasis) yet they both predate and transcend the genre. They barely have a sound that could be described as being "like Britpop" and they both disavow their involvement. Really, "Britpop" is just an term that is not useful to anyone.

I'm sticking to my own definition of "if it's shit, it's Britpop". So Blur, Pulp, St Etienne, TFC, Stereolab, Cud, and a few Dodgy songs are not Britpop.

Amy Winehouse / Sugababes / Girls Aloud is the best Britpop era

'Star Shaped' by Blur. Fucking choon.

tygers of pan tang / girlschool / dumpy's rusty nuts is the best britpop era

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/17157525_1767136930271029_2212947832222901740_o.jpg?oh=e442f5bda03c3a5b6fef7a9d0afda66c&oe=596AA641

https://www.facebook.com/beanoonthesea/

Oh too bad I don't still live in smack mansions or I'd get to hear that for free. Last year we got Dizzee Rascal/KRS-One and the Levellers on that weekend.

those pesky women have been ejected for this one eh

i presume the supernaturals will just perform tv advertising staple 'smile' eight times in a row and then leave the stage

Kinda harsh. They had a handful of other semi-hits: Lazy Lover, The Day Before Yesterday's Man, Love Has Passed Away, Sheffield Song, I Wasn't Built To Get Up - the latter of which is the most obviously begging 'please play us on the breakfast show' single of all time

I wonder who the other big names will be

i'd like to formally apologise to the supernaturals for not offering the recognition they deserve for their string of scraping-the-top-40 singles in 1996

also they've been back together since 2012 according to wikipedia wtf

Sheffield Song is a CHOON

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqlS-uaPK7A

(admittedly that choon is Curly by The Move but a CHOON nonetheless)

cashing in on being on a banking advert since 2012

what a bunch of bankers etc

The only promotion I remember seeing for 'I Wasn't Built To Get Up' was on some TV breakfast show, so I guess it worked if that's what they were aiming for.

If there was a unifying factor in Britpop, it was that you could get away with just singing 'la la la' or 'na na na' instead of words during the chorus and/or coda

Kevin Shields: 'Britpop was pushed by the government'.

Has this terrific opinion been discussed?

if you had an orchestra

"Someday it would be interesting to read all the MI5 files on Britpop. The wool was pulled right over everyone's eyes there."

Nothing worse than old hippies talking ridiculous truther type nonsense imo. But I agree with the latter alright!

Some great music was made, some good music was made, some average music was made and some shit music was made. Britpop didn't exist. The end.

Holo-Cast denier

https://i.imgur.com/d7ftuyx.jpg

jfc

do not want

Alongside bands, the festival will also see the debut of ‘Britpop Classical’ – using a full orchestra along with a band and special guest vocalists for orchestral renditions of Britpop anthems. Vocalists announced so far include The Farm’s Peter Hooton, Republica’s Saffron and Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory.

they should just let Glenn Gregory do the whole thing imo

imagining some Third Policemanesque version of Hell where the protagonist has to spend eternity at this gig

I read "The Farm’s Peter Hooton" too fast and thought Hooton 3 Car were involved

I can't remember what Hooton 3 Car sounded like but this festival would be improved if every band on the lineup were replaced by Hooton 3 Car

(even the dance tent is a bit too Rubbish 90s MOS Compilation though I'd go and see the Terrys. No, not Terris)

wtf has Jazzie B done since the boring track on the '89 Soul II Soul album that everyone used to skip past? Omg he's an OBE these days, truly dred-ful.

it is nearly an insoluble urban cookie collective xxp

& MORE ACTS STILL TO BE ANNOUNCED

What a depressing list...

there are always more acts still to be announced in the endless circles of Hell

Man, this is a researchers dream. You couldn't get a demographic this distinct all together in one place if you tried. If ever you wanted to conduct a nuclear test, or see how the plague's been hanging about for centuries, this is the time and place.

I can't remember what Hooton 3 Car sounded like

Kinda like a poppier Leatherface iirc.

I'd also go and watch the Terrys. Brandon Block made me lol, while I was at university some guy in my hall of residence had booked him to DJ somewhere and he didn't turn up, so the guy who booked him started a rumour he'd died and there was some minor controversy around it.

The amount of drugs he used to take, I'm amazed he's made it to 2018 tbh

there's a thought

In 1996 his lifestyle began to catch up with him and he was diagnosed with tuberculosis after visiting India the year before. He was also addicted to cocaine and was forced to withdraw from DJing for six months. There were even rumours of his death after hoax postings on the Internet.

That'll be it

didn't he go to ibiza one year as a fat man and finish the summer as a very thin man, having basically eaten nothing but drugs for months?

you have to take your hat off to the greats

Thank god he didn't go there a thin man