Britpop : Time For Reevaluation?

Thing with Britpop is that it is massively over-represented, and it is a conservative, reactionary force when there was much better around. But for better or worse it was my thing at a very impressionable age, and something I'm always going to have an opinion about. If we're going to talk about it then "Britpop was shit" or "there were a couple of good bands and lots of shit" is just not the level of debate I expect around here.

a passing spacecadet - I would LOVE to talk about those bands instead, especially Quickspace, and especially all the Glasgow scene bands round 96, TBH that is of much more interest to me, but I don't see the thread on the page, so here we are. Would people be interested in a Glasgow scene listening thread? I would love to do one of those instead.

i played the shit out of ganger in '97

ha, not sure how many el hombre trajeado fans there are on ilx but i suppose this era is interesting to some people

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-39038595

There's a cracking evening session thread (and a fun kerrang/rock show equivalent)

This is the thread where we reminisce over not particularly good Evening Session bands from the late 90s

How do the various members of Terrorvision spend their time these days?

i saw el hombre trajeado in brighton, they were okay iirc. played at a festival with magoo, hood, kreidler, pram, plone, bis, movietone, blanking on who else. good times!

i think i spent more of '95 listening to the first telstar ponies album than any britpop record

Many xps, but Compulsion were great. 'Mall Monarchy' and 'Rapejacket' especially:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyUD5cyEcZk

I actually have a list of albums I bought in 95 but I doubt anyone would be interested in seeing it.

Leftfield was right at the top of it though along with Aphex/Autechre/Chemical Brothers/Tricky/The Young Gods

xp yeah I loved Compulsion too

oh shit, i just bought the scarfo album from amazon for £1.03, i blame a passing spacecadet

I saw Scarfo supporting The Seahorses at their secret gig at the Garage in Glasgow a couple of days before Love Is The Law came out.

yikes! why did you fail to warn us odysseus, why? ;_;

I dontthink anyone paid attention to the singer to see how bad he was. everyone was there to see Squire (extended version of love is the law which was pretty great. But it was by far the best song they played.

Scarfo were pretty bad

A friend who is in a fairly successful band saw the Seahorses before Love Is The law came out and declared them to be "the future of music"

'Love Is The Law' was originally meant to be a Stone Roses track, wasn't it? There's reports of Squire having it circa the Second Coming sessions...

Saying Britpop is or isn't shit is missing the point. With only a couple of exceptions "Britpop" means bad 90s UK music. It is a judgement similar to the later "landfill" indie - there simply is no good Britpop because if it was good it wouldn't be Britpop. You know Britpop when you hear it because it sounds shit. If something was good and has stood the test of time then it's just not Britpop.

it's no worse than the last Roses single. i guess.

rumours yes but not even a crappy demo has surfaced

"there were a couple of good bands and lots of shit" is just not the level of debate I expect around here.

Okay, if you can make a case for Cast or Kula Shaker, I'm all ears. Particularly the second LP's of both bands.

What were you guys listening to in 95?

My albums list is light on britpop but i did buy LOADS of cd singles and some 7"s by britpop bands for 99p in the indie shop we had in Hamilton at the time.
Probably all still in the loft rotting away.

Saying Britpop is or isn't shit is missing the point. With only a couple of exceptions "Britpop" means bad 90s UK music. It is a judgement similar to the later "landfill" indie - there simply is no good Britpop because if it was good it wouldn't be Britpop. You know Britpop when you hear it because it sounds shit. If something was good and has stood the test of time then it's just not Britpop.

Great, let's all have our own individual definitions of words

is the official death of Britpop? this actual moment i mean. could be. jesus h christ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18w84rpaqlg

Cast I can stick up for live. Irvine Beach supporting Oasis and T In The Park 95 they were a big noisy wall of sound and was like the who meets the La's.
Then the limp overpolished album came out and was crap.
The 2nd one wasnt very good and I never did hear the 3rd one despite having a mate who Cast was his fave band.

No time for Cast after their first couple of singles, never paid attention to Kula Shaker, sorry

Britpop was surely dead by 97 and replaced with dadrock/cool britannia?

The second album of Kula Shaker is so much better than the first. In general, they were really good at seeming cool for fifteen seconds each track (oh, sitar! this one is in 5/4?!?!?) and then running completely out of ideas.

Cast; A Warning From History

http://i.imgur.com/ShCU8Gn.jpg

my one britpop guilty pleasure is gene (do they even count?)

weren't Gene an instalment of the yearly NME "New Smiths"?

If something was good and has stood the test of time then it's just not Britpop.

You'd have a point if the likes of Pulp or Suede weren't still tagged with the word.

Almost all of the better bands saddled with the term released their debuts prior to '95. There's maybe a couple from the second wave, but not a lot.

gene were better once they became the old new smiths that no-one really gave a shit about iirc xp

i could be wrong though, i wasn't really paying that much attention

Oh I loved El Hombre Trajeado, happened to notice the other day that they released a new album recently inc 1 track featuring the rather more ILX-beloved Sue from Life Without Buildings, no idea if it's any good

NickB, I haven't heard it for many years, so I may well owe you £1.03! That Brighton lineup would've made me v jealous at the time...

Britpop was surely dead by 97 and replaced with dadrock/cool britannia?

― Odysseus, Tuesday, February 21, 2017 11:25 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cool Britannia was just another shit useless media concoction like Britpop was. Dadrock was a term used by twats to describe any guitar music with a retro-rock bent.

The bands in this wiki are all worse than most 95 Britpop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Britpop

The cultural and musical scene in Scotland, dubbed "Cool Caledonia" by some elements of the press,[18] produced a number of successful alternative acts, including The Supernaturals from Glasgow, whose re-released single "Smile" (1997) reached number 25 in the UK charts, and whose album It Doesn't Matter Anymore (1997) entered the top ten, but who failed to sustain their success or achieve the anticipated international breakthrough.[19] Travis, also from Glasgow, were one of the first major rock bands to emerge in the post-Britpop era.[3] Utilising the hooks and guitar rock favoured by Oasis in a song-based format, they moved from the personal on Good Feeling (1997), through the general on their breakthrough The Man Who (1999), to the socially conscious and political on 12 Memories (2003)[9] and have been credited with a major role in disseminating a new Britpop.[20][21] From Edinburgh Idlewild, more influenced by post-grunge, just failed to break into the British top 50 with their second album Hope Is Important (1998), but subsequently produced 3 top 20 albums, peaking with The Remote Part (2002), and the single "You Held the World in Your Arms", which both reached number 9 in the respective UK charts. Although garnering some international attention, they did not break through in the US.[22]

The first major band to breakthrough from the post-Britpop Welsh rock scene, dubbed "Cool Cymru",[18] were Catatonia, whose single "Mulder and Scully" (1998) reached the top ten in the UK, and whose album International Velvet (1998) reached number one, but they were unable to make much impact in the US and, after personal problems, broke up at the end of the century.[8][23] Stereophonics, also from Wales, utilised elements of a post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough album Performance and Cocktails (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with Just Enough Education to Perform (2001) and subsequent albums.[24][25] Also from Wales were Feeder, who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single "Buck Rogers" and the album Echo Park (2001).[26] After the death of their drummer Jon Lee, they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on Comfort in Sound (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles.[27]

These acts were followed by a number of bands who shared aspects of their music, including Snow Patrol, from Northern Ireland and Elbow, Embrace, Starsailor, Doves and Keane from England.[3][29] The most commercially successful band in the milieu were Coldplay, whose first two albums Parachutes (2000) and A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) going multi-platinum, establishing them as one of the most popular acts in the world by the time of their third album X&Y (2005).[28][30]

that's the real dregs there

fuck that list is a bit "bring back shed seven, all is forgiven, let's burn the disco down after all"

What were you guys listening to in 95?

The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes
Blonde Redhead - La Mia Vita Violenta
Motorpsycho - Blissard
Helium - The Dirt of Luck
Autechre - Tri Repetae
The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
Yo La Tengo - Electr-O-Pura
Pond - The Practice of Joy Before Death
Smog - Wild Love
Three Mile Pilot - The Chief Assassin to the Sinister
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Thurston Moore - Psychic Hearts
Tindersticks - Tindersticks II
Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do
The Mountain Goats - Sweden

also:
The Velvet Underground - Peel Slowly and See

These are the albums I bought at the time

Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains
Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do ,
Autechre - Tri repetae ,
Black Grape - Its Great When Your Straight... Yeah!
Blonde Redhead - La Mia Vita Violenta,
Don Caballero - Don Caballero 2
Earth - Pentastar.
Elastica - S/t
Faith No More - King For A Day ... Fool For A Lifetime ,
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic,
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters ,
Fugazi - Red Medicine
Goldie - Timeless In the Woods...
Kyuss - ...And the Circus Leaves Town ,
Leftfield - Leftism,
Menswear - Nuisance
Mercury Rev - See You on the Other Side,
Monster Magnet - Dopes To Infinity,
Mouse On Mars - Iahora Tahito
Neil Young - Mirorball
Pavement- Wowee Zowee,
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love,
Pulp - Different Class
Radiohead - The Bends,
Rocket From The Crypt - Hot Charity,
Scott Walker - Tilt,
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Spiritualized - Pure Phase ,
Supergrass - I Should Coco ,
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
The Heads - Relaxing With... ?
The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ,
The Verve - A Northern Soul,
The Wildhearts - P.H.U.Q.
The Young Gods - Only Heaven ,
Tricky - Maxinquaye,
Unsane - Scattered, Smothered and Covered ,
Urge Overkill - Exit the Dragon
Weezer - Weezer

Not bad!

in 95 i was mostly listening to tricky, oval, labradford, tortoise, seefeel, palace music, come, the dead c, autechre, smog, polvo, unwound

And since then I've bought/heard a lot more 95 albums inc oval, labradford, tortoise, seefeel, palace music, come, autechre, smog, polvo, unwound, gbv and yo la tengo.

In hindsight I wish I was paying more attention to liquid swords and black secret technology

similarly, i feel i should have checked out more Thurman and Heavy Stereo

I saw Heavy Stereo supporting Oasis at Irvine Beach. I think I have 'Sleep Freak' as one of the aforementioned 99p singles

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... ;-)