idk if it's for everybody but I love hefner and the fidelity wars especially. definitely a different tone to his solo stuff though.
― devvvine, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 13:49 (seven years ago) link
Catatonia frontwoman Cerys Matthews made headlines for boasting that International Velvet’s lead single, “Mulder and Scully,” was better than Oasis’ single “All Around the World.”
kind of lol but mostly sad
― soref, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:03 (seven years ago) link
Over the past few years, there have been a handful of albums similar to Crow, or at least with a similarly autobiographical premise: Sun Kil Moon’s Benji, Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell, Nick Cave’s Skeleton Tree, stark, diaristic albums haunted by literal death, grief on record. Indie culture tends to prize this kind of undecorated directness as a stand-in for truth, as though nobody has ever spoken clearly and lied.
I know it feels good to have 3 examples of your proposed trend, but Skeleton Tree is a different beast than these other albums
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:14 (seven years ago) link
I'm just amused by the fact that Shampoo is #17.
― MarkoP, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:31 (seven years ago) link
And disappointed in the lack of Menswe@r.
― MarkoP, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 14:40 (seven years ago) link
They almost made the Space album sound good. And I've heard the Space album.
No Dodgy :(
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 17:09 (seven years ago) link
I'm amused I wasn't asked to join in this one!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 17:28 (seven years ago) link
Ian Cohen writing about Placebo is a hate crime
"Britpop's rigid heteronormativity" effectively erases Brett and Jarvis' gender/sexual fluidity, which was prob much more subversive than Molko, but w/e, pretty sure a dead battery could write circles around that guy
― fgti, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 22:14 (seven years ago) link
I realize my opinions on britpop are Wrong and I am a terrible person for them but I really like catatonia
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 22:51 (seven years ago) link
Urban Hymns has sooooo much filler on it. A Northern Soul is way better. Dull list, and Everything Must Go at 32!!!
Went on a big Britpop binge last Oct/Nov and I couldn't help but noticing how lame the drumming is on so much of it.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:02 (seven years ago) link
Also if they are including things that "aren't Britpop" or by acts who "aren't a Britpop band" (but are by '90s UK guitar-rock acts) the omission of The Holy Bible is a head-scratcher.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:09 (seven years ago) link
Catatonia might be tolerable with a different singer
― afriendlypioneer, Wednesday, 29 March 2017 23:14 (seven years ago) link
catatonia are good! they had a really great run of singles.
i kept thinking of this comp when i was browsing this list. i bought it at virgin megastore and found out about a lot of bands (sfa and my life story were my faves) as a result
https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-BestAlbum-In-The-WorldEver/release/6664793
― maura, Thursday, 30 March 2017 00:50 (seven years ago) link
'Mulder and Scully' was a better single than 'All Around The World' ... and even though I listen to A Storm In Heaven the most out of all of Verve's records, I think Urban Hymns has some incredible stuff on it and think the production on it's great.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Thursday, 30 March 2017 00:58 (seven years ago) link
Catatonia hit a bit of a sweet spot thanks to a lot of attention to any number of Welsh acts at the time while also serving up perfectly fine pop-rock of the time and place (yards better than the fucking Stereophonics, for instance). And it seems Matthews keeps on in a Lauren Laverne way via broadcasting, writing, etc, so why not?
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 30 March 2017 00:59 (seven years ago) link
Hmm. When it comes to Catatonia, I'd say their two most successful albums (International Velvet and Equally Cursed & Blessed) are riddled with filler, but you could probably make up a decent 45 minute playlist of the highlights - stuff like 'Game On', 'Bulimic Beats' etc. Their final album, Paper Scissors Stone is fucking excrement from front-to-back. However - their debut, Way Beyond Blue, is as good as it gets... Cerys' vocal mannerisms are relatively dialled in on that record, the production is mostly OTM, and I'd say it had the strongest material the band ever had - 'Sweet Catatonia', 'You've Got a Lot to Answer For' etc. The drummer from Super Furry Animals plays on a few tracks on the LP, too.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Thursday, 30 March 2017 01:05 (seven years ago) link
No Moloko, no credibility
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Thursday, 30 March 2017 02:37 (seven years ago) link
'Mulder and Scully' was a better single than 'All Around The World'
tru
lol at talking about The Sound Of McAlmont & Butler as a thematically intended, wilfully conceived album, when it is literally a singles compilation consisting of: their two singles
a piss-take at the idea that taking lots of drugs could be fun in the first place.
sure, let's pretend this is a sentence in English
the band channel their youthful vim to spend the last five minutes of the album (“Sick Party”) violently throwing up
a hidden joke CD bonus track is not "the last five minutes of the album"
anyway this list is p boring, Shampoo is the only effort at canonbusting, Kenickie should have been top ten etc etc
― (±\ PLO;;;;;;; Style (sic), Thursday, 30 March 2017 06:10 (seven years ago) link
http://gph.is/YZ8x34
― Django Chutney (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 March 2017 06:23 (seven years ago) link
https://media.giphy.com/media/11gC4odpiRKuha/giphy.gif
― Django Chutney (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 30 March 2017 06:24 (seven years ago) link
Fun fact about 1977 CD, if you scrubbed backwards from the start of "Lost In You" by holding down the << button on a CD player so that the time goes negative on track 1 you can hear the demo version (or different mix, not sure) of "Jack Names The Planets". My scratched CD used to randomly skip back to it. (Also the first CD I ever bought.)
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Thursday, 30 March 2017 08:28 (seven years ago) link
Ash's album cover are fucking grotesque also.
*covers
This list is fucking stupid. No offence to anyone who contributed.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 30 March 2017 08:54 (seven years ago) link
Apart from I@n C0hen.
I genuinely don't know how you can have a discussion about Britpop and not include Prodigy, Bjork, PJ Harvey, etc etc etc... It wasn't just white guys with greasy fringes and guitars at the time.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 30 March 2017 08:55 (seven years ago) link
"Blur or Oasis? PULP" is a flourish straight outta 2002
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Thursday, 30 March 2017 09:05 (seven years ago) link
Also Nick otm
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Thursday, 30 March 2017 09:07 (seven years ago) link
p.s. different class is more overrated than any other britpop album
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Wednesday, 29 March 2017 13:02 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I quite like it but would still agree with this.
― Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 30 March 2017 09:10 (seven years ago) link
like, it's the worst of their last four records
― an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality (imago), Thursday, 30 March 2017 09:13 (seven years ago) link
I genuinely don't know how you can have a discussion about Britpop and not include Prodigy, Bjork, PJ Harvey, etc etc etc
if they'd done that the responses to it would've been half "this def'n is so all-encompassing as to be pointless" and half "don't insult [x] by lumping them in with this shit"
probably both with some justification
― Vlogs from other credible bands such as Shed Seven (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 30 March 2017 10:21 (seven years ago) link
I don't get Hefner being on this list but am always glad to see them mentioned. The Fidelity Wars and Boxing Hefner are brilliant. Interesting that Pitchfork make a Violent Femmes comparison -- I can kinda hear it. They always reminded me of a cross between Pulp and The Buzzcocks. Great shit.
― Blood On The Knobs, Thursday, 30 March 2017 15:41 (seven years ago) link
Well, "Britpop" didn't exist, so...
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Thursday, 30 March 2017 15:45 (seven years ago) link
Different Class is neither overrated nor the worst of Pulp's last four albums. Load of bollocks.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Thursday, 30 March 2017 15:49 (seven years ago) link
fair dinkum
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 30 March 2017 16:19 (seven years ago) link
re Ash 1977 CD hidden track 0, it's this iirc:
https://www.discogs.com/Ash-Jack-Names-The-Planets/release/1201332
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 30 March 2017 16:45 (seven years ago) link
I can only assume there was some arbitrary cutoff point? If not, the omission of the Libertines is inexcusable
― Wimmels, Friday, 31 March 2017 00:03 (seven years ago) link
It's always good to see New Wave get a shout on a list like this. As the years go by, it grows nearer to my heart...
― afriendlypioneer, Friday, 31 March 2017 00:06 (seven years ago) link
The Libertines released their first album in the '00s, so I'd imagine it would be exempt from a list that focuses on UK guitar music from the '90s. I see that whole wave of UK guitar music: The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, The Futureheads, Maximo Park etc. to be a different thing entirely, myself. Of course, that particular wave of UK guitar music suffered exactly the same fate as the '90s wave, with record companies so desperate to find the next Arctic Monkeys (in the '90s it was Oasis) that loads of really shit bands ended up getting signed and the phenomenon known as "landfill indie" happened.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 00:14 (seven years ago) link
Oh yeah, and Bloc Party.
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 00:15 (seven years ago) link
by the time those dudes rolled around, you guys already went through POST BRITPOP (travis, feeder, embrace, coldplay...)
― a but (brimstead), Friday, 31 March 2017 00:37 (seven years ago) link
I thought Britpop had a pretty clear cutoff date.https://juantadeo.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/august-21-bhn-oasis.png
― MarkoP, Friday, 31 March 2017 00:43 (seven years ago) link
by the time those dudes rolled around, you guys already went through POST BRITPOP (travis, feeder, embrace, coldplay...)― a but (brimstead), Friday, March 31, 2017 12:37 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― a but (brimstead), Friday, March 31, 2017 12:37 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Meh. I see Travis, Feeder and Embrace as being at the tail end of '90s UK guitar music rather than as a completely separate thing. Feeder were more of an American-influenced alternative rock band when they first appeared and Travis' first LP was very much an electric guitar retro-rock fest - of course, after Radiohead and The Verve's Urban Hymns took off and became incredibly successful both of 'em ended up going down the "sensitive guys with acoustic guitars" route, Travis even going as far as getting in Nigel Godrich to produce for The Man Who. Embrace appeared after Travis and Feeder, and were pretty much part of the barrel scrapings of that particular era. I recall watching MTV with a friend circa '97 or '98 and the VJ started introducing the video to 'All You Good Good People' by talking up how Embrace were going to be the next big thing and their album was going to be the next Urban Hymns or The Bends, and then the song came on, which was basically this stodgy, stock chord progression with a singer foghorning tunelessly over the top and we were like "nah, fuck off, no way."
I don't see Coldplay, Muse and Doves as "'90s bands", really, I definitely see them as being "'00s bands" ...
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 01:07 (seven years ago) link
am i the only person who still listens to the doves? i guess i never thought of them as britpop. they were cooler than that. i kinda feel that way about suede. i still love suede's two years of greatness and have never stopped playing the first two records and i would never think of blur or oasis when i think of them. though i realize they were lumped in there with all those other people.
― scott seward, Friday, 31 March 2017 01:16 (seven years ago) link
although suede were definitely poster boys. doves never were. i don't even know what the doves look like. they were always more vague and gauzy.
― scott seward, Friday, 31 March 2017 01:18 (seven years ago) link
okay, i just looked at pictures. doves do look kinda brit-poppy in old pics.
― scott seward, Friday, 31 March 2017 01:19 (seven years ago) link
i didn't know about that black rivers album...do i need it though? probably not.
― scott seward, Friday, 31 March 2017 01:24 (seven years ago) link
i love that embrace song! it builds in a pretty great way.
― maura, Friday, 31 March 2017 01:27 (seven years ago) link
the brothers from the doves - before sub sub - were making 80's britpop. you ever hear that EP?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJVHohbWxSw
― scott seward, Friday, 31 March 2017 01:31 (seven years ago) link
am i the only person who still listens to the doves? ― scott seward, Friday, March 31, 2017 1:16 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― scott seward, Friday, March 31, 2017 1:16 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I rate both Lost Souls and The Last Broadcast highly, particularly tracks like 'Break Me Gently', 'Sea Song' and 'Pounding' ...
― The Roger Waters Experience (Turrican), Friday, 31 March 2017 01:42 (seven years ago) link