[Music] The Rise and Fall of Britpop on BBC Sounds

[Sid and the Sharknados]

I appreciate that because I will still go.

They were indeed crap, and there's absolutely no need for you to trouble yourself about the prospect of them touring Oz.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Skiffle
Merseybeat
Mod
Rock
Prog Rock
Punk
Post punk

I'm not sure post punk was an identifiable thing, given its diversity. More a lazy trope.
The Sound
Joy Division
Comsat Angels
The Cure
Cocteau Twins....hmmmm..........

After that it has been lots of different music and music types. Grunge was OK, sad melancholic updated 70s guitar rock, though. Euphoric trance was the next thing that caught my attention....
Then so many fragmented genres, too many to bother with lables
I'd never heard of shoegaze till 20 years after I first started listening to it. American term if I'm right?
And so on....

Also we had terms that didn't really mean much outside of popular radio and the emerging expanding festival phenomenon that began when Glasto and V took hold. Terminology that appeared to be invented by journos never had much traction with me..

Also some of the 'genres' sounded to me like revivalism. A lot of the stuff my son was listening to in the 90s sounded like 70s rock music. Pulp were the Kinks. Oasis were the Beatles. In themselves, alright but to my ears, not original. I quite liked Oasis like I liked a lot of mainstream pop.

However there was much more going on in the 90s than 'britpop' as I found when I reacquainted myself with Peel. For example....

Frontline Assembly
Kool Keith
Killing Joke
And Also The Trees
70 Gwen Party
DJ Shadow....

and so on.

Britpop as a thing is to me like, er, cool Britannia. More lazy trope than something meaningful. If Gallagher says Oasis were not Britpop, then there we have it.

Shoegaze is a British term. It came about as a negative thing about bands who stood still on stage staring at their effects pedals or, in some cases, reading their lyrics that had been taped to the floor, instead of jumping about like loons.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Shoegaze is a British term. It came about as a negative thing about bands who stood still on stage staring at their effects pedals or, in some cases, reading their lyrics that had been taped to the floor, instead of jumping about like loons.

Thanks. Yes, I see. My Bloody Valentine. A group that passed me by in the late 80s and which does very little for me now.

To be fair, there was an awful lot of actual shoegazing at gigs by the likes of Section 25 in the early 80s. I recall someone putting the Swell Maps album on at a party in around 81, and several minutes of 'Gunboats over the estuary' certainly had a few of us gazing at our shoes - and thinking about putting them back on and going home I'd never heard the term used (because I was out of music for several years with a young family) till later, in reference to the wonderful Daysleepers.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Everything got lumped into it though. Liam Gallagher eloquently tweeted the other day the oasis and Verve weren't Britpop.

As you hint here to me Britpop were those Camden bands, sleeper, menswear etc. All a bit samey but a few decent songs.

Britpop is a strange beast. I don't think I've ever seen a band say that they were britpop. They all claim to have not been part of it.

It seems to be a retrospective label. I don't remember anyone at the time talking about britpop. We all (or the people i knew at least) just said we liked indie and that was enough to cover Oasis, Blur, pulp, suede, the verve, the manics, radiohead, supergrass, ocean colour scene, the stone roses, primal scream, p.j harvey, spirtualized, the super furries etc etc along with massive attack, portishead, the chemical brothers, the prodigy, leftfield etc.

Still, britpop or indie, it was a great time to be a teen.

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Some good music came out of Britpop.

But most of the good stuff was attached to the scene from outside. the Charlatans, Verve, Pulp, Radiohead.

I will give this a listen but you can shove your Menswear and Marion where the sun don't shine.

I'll take shoegaze any day of the week

Four of my favourite bands. The Charlatans never get the credit they deserve, numerous albums over more than 30 years each and every one top drawer. Tim Burgess’ solo albums have been equally as good.

 

[BadFish]

Four of my favourite bands. The Charlatans never get the credit they deserve, numerous albums over more than 30 years each and every one top drawer. Tim Burgess’ solo albums have been equally as good.

I haven't got into Tim's solo stuff but the Charlatans get plenty of credit in my house. They come to Australia often too and play brilliant smaller venues, which is a big bonus. Verve haven't been over and Radiohead play massive (expensive) gigs when they come.

 

[BadFish]

Britpop is a strange beast. I don't think I've ever seen a band say that they were britpop. They all claim to have not been part of it.

It seems to be a retrospective label. I don't remember anyone at the time talking about britpop. We all (or the people i knew at least) just said we liked indie and that was enough to cover Oasis, Blur, pulp, suede, the verve, the manics, radiohead, supergrass, ocean colour scene, the stone roses, primal scream, p.j harvey, spirtualized, the super furries etc etc along with massive attack, portishead, the chemical brothers, the prodigy, leftfield etc.

Still, britpop or indie, it was a great time to be a teen.

Yeah I agree, Oasis were incredibly exciting when they came out.

As Britpop hit it's really heights the music really suffered IMHO. Definately Maybe is far better than Morning Glory, A Stomr I Heaven (Shoegaze classic) and especially A Northern Soul were better than Urban Hymns. Everything Must go was good but not up to the standard of Generation Terrorists and The Holy Bible (a hard going dark master piece).

Something around Britpop (I am sure I remember this label at the time but who the f*** knows) seemed to package athemic indie for the masses. I was in my 20s by then and possibly somewhat jaded and cynical about music. My head was also turned by Big Beat around that time too.

 

[BadFish]

Thanks. Yes, I see. My Bloody Valentine. A group that passed me by in the late 80s and which does very little for me now.

Always been a big fan of shoegaze. mBV weren't huge favourites of mine but Loveless has made a big impact on me over the last few years since it's re release.

My 18 year old drum and bass head also loves it.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Yeah I agree, Oasis were incredibly exciting when they came out.

As Britpop hit it's really heights the music really suffered IMHO. Definately Maybe is far better than Morning Glory, A Stomr I Heaven (Shoegaze classic) and especially A Northern Soul were better than Urban Hymns. Everything Must go was good but not up to the standard of Generation Terrorists and The Holy Bible (a hard going dark master piece).

Something around Britpop (I am sure I remember this label at the time but who the f*** knows) seemed to package athemic indie for the masses. I was in my 20s by then and possibly somewhat jaded and cynical about music. My head was also turned by Big Beat around that time too.

I was 14 when Definitely maybe was released so the perfect age to be taken away and awed by it and subsequently all the other bands of the same era.

Whilst agreeing with you, it's a bit harsh on everything must go, nothing was going to match the holy bible, it's one of the great british rock/indie/alternative/whatever albums of the 90s. I loved it so much I even bought the book(The Torture Garden by Octave Mirbeau) that is quoted on the back cover of the album.

 

[Si Gull]

Shoegaze is a British term. It came about as a negative thing about bands who stood still on stage staring at their effects pedals or, in some cases, reading their lyrics that had been taped to the floor, instead of jumping about like loons.

Although it may have started out as an endearing term (not sure it ever was) it ended up being a label used to bash any non-britpop bands despite the fact they were quite a disparate bunch sound wise - Slowdive, Lush, Ride, MBV, JAMC, Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Telescopes......etc.

The British music press at the time liked nothing more than building bands up only to treat them like sh*t as soon as they spotted a shinier toy. The treatment of Slowdive, in particular, was pretty shameful; they were only kids at the time ffs. I'm enjoying the fact that they've had a renaissance and are getting the recognition they deserved from a wider audience.

 

[Jackthelad]

Some of the Brit Pop has aged really badly. Kula Shaker being one, I liked them at the time, but I suspect they were an industry band, well-connected and uber posh.
Quite a few bands that had like two good songs like Bluetones and the rest of their stuff was so mediocre. A lot of the female indie bands were terrible as well.
Super Furry Animals also sound really dated now. Even Ash, but that's was probably because their music was so aimed at teens and I was a teen at the time.
A lot of the bands that were slightly before Brit Pop that went under the radar like Spiral Carpets were underrated.
The Charlatans didn't get the credit they deserved.
And then there was awful rubbish like Menswear and Mansun, there was a Scottish or American indie band with a girl singer who was fat and had a bad haircut it was so bad. I can't remember their name, I think they had one popular song that was Cancer to the ears.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Always been a big fan of shoegaze. mBV weren't huge favourites of mine but Loveless has made a big impact on me over the last few years since it's re release.

My 18 year old drum and bass head also loves it.

I purchased Noel Gallaghers latest album, Council Skies the other day, quite good.

On a side note, Bauhaus is a band worth listening to.

 

[zefarelly]

Britpop is an entirely fabricated press/industry scene. As has been said, everything needs to be pigeioholed and labelled so it can be categorised and sold or dismissed.

lots of way below average bands hopped on, or were fabricated by labels/execs and many half decent bands were dismissed for refusing to conform. Most have been mentioned already

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

My recollection of the time was that there were two parallel (main)streams of glorious music around to be enjoyed in the mid-90's. There was Britpop, and there was also a BURGEONING Electronic Dance Music scene. All those wondrous albums like Dubnobasswithmyheadman (Underworld), Leftism (Leftfield), The Fat Of The Land (The Prodigy) and Exit Planet Dust (The Chemical Brothers). What a time to be alive!

And such a shame that the Essential Musjc Festival(s) at Stanmer Park got zapped by Foot And Mouth Disease restrictions. Had some fantastic daze out there

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

there was a Scottish or American indie band with a girl singer who was fat and had a bad haircut it was so bad. I can't remember their name, I think they had one popular song that was Cancer to the ears.

Gossip fits the description but they were a 00s band.

 

[Live by the sea]

You just can’t beat a little bit of Duran Duran as I keep telling you guys …Still going strong 4 decades later , proven , trusted , pushing new boundaries.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Gossip fits the description but they were a 00s band.

I’ve been having a game of guess the band

 

[BadFish]

You just can’t beat a little bit of Duran Duran as I keep telling you guys …Still going strong 4 decades later , proven , trusted , pushing new boundaries.

I've heard that it's possible to like Duran Duran and other music as well.

John Taylor is a brilliant bass player.

I read that DD played a punk gig and opened with Planet Earth (I think) it started totally dark and then they launched in. The punks had no idea what was happening.

My answer to the time machine gig hypothetical question.

 

[Peteinblack]

I'm hoping Pulp come over to Australia, I have heard they have been brilliant on this tour.

Great band.

Saw them in Cardiff on Thursday night - absolutely brilliant. They played with great energy and enthusiasm, and were clearly enjoying every minute.

Oh, and the violinist/guitarist was staying at our hotel - after we'd checked-in, she got in the lift with us, and we saw her Pulp lanyard. When we referred to it, she smiled and said: "Yes, actually, I'm playing with the band tonight."

 

[BadFish]

Saw them in Cardiff on Thursday night - absolutely brilliant. They played with great energy and enthusiasm, and were clearly enjoying every minute.

Oh, and the violinist/guitarist was staying at our hotel - after we'd checked-in, she got in the lift with us, and we saw her Pulp lanyard. When we referred to it, she smiled and said: "Yes, actually, I'm playing with the band tonight."

@Peteinblack did you not get the memo??!!

If they are brilliant, I'll tell you they were crap so you won't be too disappointed if they don't make it to Australia.