Britpop

[Alt-Rocker77]

I have no problem saying that I thoroughly like Britpop.
Oasis is probably my favorite Britpop group because I feel like they almost channel some of the Beatles' later work( A very good thing)

[theharrisonfords]

I love Britpop- but I don't like Oasis that much. They did channel the Beatles latter work, but I think they did it way too much- It became dull after awhile.

[Byrdsnix]

[quote="theharrisonfords"]I love Britpop- but I don't like Oasis that much. They did channel the Beatles latter work, but I think they did it way too much- It became dull after awhile.[/quote]

Britpop is really a genre that is strongly influenced by the Beatles and the Kinks.

[ZebraRock]

I am American, but for some strange reason grew up listening to British music. Oasis are great, the Stone Roses had some good songs, the Happy Mondays are alright. blur are incredible, I'm only just starting to get into them though. Shame they never really made it in America, 13 is possibly the weirdest album I own.
Funnily enough, I seem to like Post-Britpop (making up my own terms here ) better.
For me, Dig Out Your Soul is better than What's the Story.
13 is better than Parklife.
Second Coming is better than the Stone Roses.
So i guess britpop was okay, but the bands that grew and survived it would later produce better work.
I realize that virtually no one agrees with me, but that's okay.

[Jimmy Dread]

Ahh Britpop... don't get me started...

Being in my late teens around the time Britpop exploded here in the UK, all us students were dragged along with the hype and had piss-poor bands like Cast, The Bluetones, Shed Seven, Echobelly, Sleeper et al shoved down our throats by countless hours of student radio programming and the bloody NME. Anyone else remember Marion?

For me, there were two major events that started Britpop - the death of Kurt Cobain, and the release of Blur's Parklife. Ironically one of the best 'Britpop' albums (in terms of celebrating 'little Englandisms' and the quirky nature of 'cool Britannia') was released before this - Blur's "Modern Life Is Rubbish". Albums like The Stone Roses, Screamadelica, Pills 'n' Thrills et al can't be classed as Britpop in the slightest, nor can early Suede - Britpop was more about stapling your nationality and your influences to your chest than being fey and in touch with your inner feelings (although Pulp would tread a fine line between the two, which is partly why they remain relatively credible).

For me the big crime came when bands like Lush and Ride moved away from shoegazing and released truly terrible LPs to cash in on the movement. Then when Oasis came along (and believe me, I was a MASSIVE Oasis fan for about 2/3 years) bands tried their hardest to capitalise - c.f. the likes of Menswear, Northern Uproar. Just as bad was when the likes of John Squire and Andy Bell formed bands like The Seahorses and Hurricane #1 - awful pale impressions of the former greatness they respectively achieved.

So when did it all end? I would wager in 1997 - the year that Labour got back into government (who else remembers Tony Blair schmoozing with Noel Gallagher at No.10?) as it seemed like the 'people had won', the year Blur reinvented themselves with songs that sounded like Pavement offcuts, but more importantly with the release of OK Computer... when panic, mistrust of the system and alienation once again became the norm for the student ennui. Ironically this was also the year of Oasis' Be Here Now and The Verve's Urban Hymns, Bitter Sweet Symphony being the last great Britpop anthem (nicking a sample from an orchestral version of a Rolling Stones' track - Britpop was always about revisionism, c.f. Damon Albarn/Ray Davies on C4's The White Room, Oasis constantly banging on about The Jam and The Beatles).

In summary - Britpop was both a youth movement AND a genre of music. The music was by and large 3rd rate indie bands trying to be relevant. For a while it seemed like 'buying British' was the only way to go. Then the bubble burst, New Labour got entrenched and didn't present any real alternative, and when people realised pretty much all Oasis songs sounded the same (which they themselves played upon - "D'Yer Know What I Mean" having the same chords as "Wonderwall"), everyone got bored and started going back to their bedrooms.

Key Britpop albums (that are actually still worth listening to - this isn't to say I overly like them, however)

Blur - Parklife
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Pulp - Different Class
Elastica - S/T

[Kiki]

[Kiki]