I think they should have called it " BritRock" instead of Britpop. Cuz for the most part it didn't have nearly enough good hooks and good Tunes to be great pop. The best thing about it was obviously the guitars, which had nothing to do with pop. The rock part was the best part of it, and the Pop parts were the weakest part.
Hmm. Interesting point. Probably true in a lot of cases. I guess the 'pop' part comes a bit from the commercial intentions of the bands- they were really trying to make commercial chart-friendly music. Even if they had quite rock influences they tended to keep it light. I think of Britpop as being more like Glam Rock than any other sub-genre as it is rock guitars but tuneful and light songs. At least I think they were trying to be tuneful! (I think the Lightning Seeds properly hit the mark as far as proper pop hooks are concerned though)
Might be fun to listen to some Big Beat at some point for a change of pace. Glad you mentioned this. I'm trying to recall a track by Bentley Rhythm Ace I was really into at the time...
I don't think these bands really got called britpop-but there was a big overlap in the audience. Around '97 there was a change and Big Beat became really popular in the UK. There were definitely major points of crossover, like Noel Gallagher singer on Setting Sun by the Chemical brothers. I think the Big beat bands had similar cheeky attitudes to the britpop bands and a think it felt like a natural continuation for some people but it wasn't called britpop that I remember.
Like Jimmy Dread mentioned, the dance music and bands did become sort of part of the same culture though with something like 'Born Slippy' becoming one of the key anthems of the era, alongside the britpop bands.
Yeah, the two songs Noel Gallagher did with The Chemical Brothers are so much more exciting than anything Oasis ever did, and he is so much better a singer than his brother that I don't understand why he wasn't the lead singer.
Chemical Brothers did this a lot with alternative rock bands, collaborations with Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, the Charlatans, Mercury Rev, Mazzy Star, Flaming Lips all turned out to be really great records.
I don't think these bands really got called britpop-but there was a big overlap in the audience. Around '97 there was a change and Big Beat became really popular in the UK. There were definitely major points of crossover, like Noel Gallagher singer on Setting Sun by the Chemical brothers. I think the Big beat bands had similar cheeky attitudes to the britpop bands and a think it felt like a natural continuation for some people but it wasn't called britpop that I remember.
Like Jimmy Dread mentioned, the dance music and bands did become sort of part of the same culture though with something like 'Born Slippy' becoming one of the key anthems of the era, alongside the britpop bands.
Yeah, the two songs Noel Gallagher did with The Chemical Brothers are so much more exciting than anything Oasis ever did, and he is so much better a singer than his brother that I don't understand why he wasn't the lead singer.
Chemical Brothers did this a lot with alternative rock bands, collaborations with Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, the Charlatans, Mercury Rev, Mazzy Star, Flaming Lips all turned out to be really great records.
I never really got into big beat though I did have chemical brothers comp a little later on that I thought was good. After Britpop, I was kind of sick of the 'lad culture' in British music and I moved away from the louder guitar bands and didn't really go for Big Beat, which I saw as a bit connected to this. I was probably wrong though I had friends at Uni who were into the Chemical brothers and they were really cool.
With this second album, Shed seven were part of the often maligned second wave of britpop bands who were ubiquitous in '96. Often Shed Seven have been the whipping boys of britpop, taken to represent everything that was bad about britpop: a stodgy, meat and potatoes take on indie rock.
However, I think that would be an unfair assessment of this second album. They progressed a lot from their debut and came up with a strong and consistent set of tunes. They mix Oasis styled singalong choruses with jangly Smiths/ Stone Roses guitars and a Stonesy sort of swagger. When it's good, it results in genuinely impressive stadium ready anthems. There are probably a couple of duds on this album and the lyrics are regularly a bit suspect, but overall it still an album that I really enjoy.
Edit: forgot to mention:surprisingly crisp and engaging guitar playing as well-another bonus!
Last edited by theblueboy on 01/22/2018 21:25; edited 1 time in total
Another from the class of '96. I'm actually struggling a bit with this one. A lot of people see this album as representing a higher standard of musicianship and craft than your average britpop band. Well ok, I can hear a lot of guitar noodling and it sounds fine. But I find it all a bit samey and it veers towards being a little dull for me. A couple of tunes stand out, including the sprightly single 'Slight Return'- a staple on any good britpop compilation.
Also the singer's voice is very thin and doesn't do anything for me. I've only heard this album twice all the way through so maybe its a grower-though I am not sure if I will return to it yet.
Feeling like doing a ranking of the albums so far- to take stock of the situation. Just a tentative order and much more to add of course:
The La's- The La's
Pulp-A different class Elastica-Elastica
Catatonia- International Velvet
Gomez- Bring it on
Cornershop- When I was born for the Seventh Time
Various- Trainspotting Soundtrack
The lightning Seeds- Jollification Shed Seven- A maximum High Sleeper- The it girl Gene- Drawn to the deep end The Bluetones- Expecting to fly
Hmmm might have missed one. The one's in bold are britpop the others are more 'britpop related'.
See those shed 7 and bluetones albums are typical of the 2nd tier bands. Unable to make strong albums but definately able to make strong singles. The bluetones ones are cracking and that shed 7 had some good ones, especially On Standby.
I'll give a post when my britpop chart is done but need to listen to a few more. I'll put gene on the list to check I think, never heard an album by them.
Trainspotting by Primal Scream is what got me into them after having it on the Trainspotting soundtrack. But ironically, the Progressive House track by John Digweed & Bedrock is the track that made me start listening to more electronic music and less Rock. It was a good time to make the switch though. And I still like Trainspotting soundtrack. Though a couple tracks were already a little over- familiar even then.
I saw that you mentioned this band when you were listing Neo-Glam bands, so I wanted to see what it was like because I never heard them before even though I recognize the name. It was cool. I didn't expect synthesizers and stuff. Some of it sounds like late 70s New Wave and some of it sounds like that era that had bands like Slade and The Sweet and Gary Glitter and shit like that. Which I kind of like. And I had no idea this guy was in the 80s band Felt, which I also like.
It's becoming more and more confusing for me to figure out exactly what is britpop and what is just alternative and what is just British rock.
It's all so vague.
Here's two albums that I really like because this band had a really high number of memorable catchy melodic and driving songs and a unique sounding style of rock.
Is this Britpop or is it something else???
I wouldnt call neds britpop. They were Grebo I think? Them, wonderstuff....PWEI? Carter USM maybe, not too sure. Mega city four? I was in a band that got to support neds at the height of their fame. They wanted local acts for each gig and bands had to send in demo tapes to NME and they would pick the best for each town.
I've never heard demin, theres another to check.
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