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-   -   It's Britpop Week! (https://www.musicbanter.com/indie-alternative/56293-its-britpop-week.html)

dankrsta 05-09-2011 04:56 PM

It's Britpop Week!
 
As you all know, britpop is a name associated with the British alternative scene of the 90s. It emerged somewhere in the late 80s, early 90s, only then it was more of a phenomenon than a genre, an influx of fresh sounding British bands and a kind of reaction to grunge in US. It's usually said that britpop was heavily influenced by 60s British pop, but influences from glam, punk and 80s guitar pop music were just as prominent. In the early 90s the scene was more varied than later when it became a mainstream genre.

Here's what allmusic says:
Quote:

Originally Posted by allmusic
The Beatles established a long-running British tradition of tuneful, guitar-driven pop bands, a tradition that was refreshed and updated every so often by new musical movements. Britpop, however, refers to the legion of '90s bands who drew more consciously from that tradition than ever before. Although the movement originated in the U.K. indie scene, Britpop was unabashedly commercial - its bands prized big, shiny, catchy hooks, as well as the glamour of mainstream pop stardom and the sense that they were creating the soundtrack to the lives of a new generation of British youth. And it was very definitely British youth they were aiming at; Britpop celebrated and commented on their lives, their culture, and their musical heritage, with little regard for whether that specificity would make them less accessible to American audiences. Britpop's youthful exuberance and desire for recognition were reactions not only against the shy, anti-star personas of the early-'90s shoegazer bands, but also the dourness of American grunge and the faceless producers behind the growing electronic-dance underground. Musically, Britpop drew from the Beatles, of course, but also from the pastoral sound of late-'60s Kinks, the mod movement (the Who, the Small Faces), '70s glam (David Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music), punk and new wave (the Jam, the Buzz****s, Wire, Madness, XTC, Squeeze, Elvis Costello), and the alternative guitar-pop of the Smiths. All those artists were quintessentially British -- they crafted their images, lyrics, and sounds from a distinctly British frame of reference, which was why few of them became anything more than cult artists in the U.S. (and why Britpop functioned much the same way). Apart from those influences, Britpop had its most immediate roots in the Madchester scene, whose emphasis on good times and catchy tunes pointed the way around the shoegazer aesthetic. The Stone Roses' effortless pop hooks and rock-star attitude were the most important part of the foundation, but the true founding fathers of Britpop were Suede. Released in 1993, their self-titled debut became an unexpected smash with its fusion of glam-rock majesty and Smiths introspection. Suede opened the doors for even bigger breakthroughs in 1994 by Blur (Parklife) and Oasis (Definitely Maybe), who quickly became Britpop's two most popular superstars. With their success came a giddy explosion of similarly inspired bands; Elastica, Pulp, Supergrass, and the Boo Radleys were among the biggest. In 1996, Oasis became the only Britpop band to become genuine mainstream stars in the U.S. 1997 brought the first signals that the Britpop boom was beginning to run out of steam, namely Oasis' poorly reviewed third album and Blur's move toward American indie rock, along with the rise of $Radiohead in the wake of their third album, OK Computer. Soon, newer bands merged the moodiness of Radiohead with the workingman stance of Oasis -- a combination heard in everything from Coldplay to Kasabian -- and that became the British Alternative sound of the new millennium."

Explore: Britpop | AllMusic

Britpop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


As for me personally, I never fully, deeply explored britpop, mainly because in the 90s, along with grunge, I was sick of it. But I did and do like some stuff, and maybe even a lot of it, if I go beyond the generic genre. And so, I'll post some of it:

The Stone Roses - 'I Wanna Be Adored' (S/T, 1989) This is simply an amazing song from a great album. If I would to make a list of my all time favorite pop songs, this one would be pretty high


The Boo Radleys - 'Barney (...and Me)' (Giant Steps, 1993) Not sure if this is considered britpop. But why not? It's from the 90s, it's British and it's guitar pop. They were initially a shoegaze, dream pop, psychedelic band, but this album has some great, catchy pop songs


Teenage Fanclub - 'December' (Bandwagonesque, 1991)
I still remember how hard for me was to get into this album initially, and then it just clicked. Listening to it now is like a time trip


Suede - 'So Young' (S/T, 1993) I was never really a Suede fan, but I like their first album

Urban Hat€monger ? 05-09-2011 05:13 PM



This band should have been huge :(

TockTockTock 05-09-2011 05:18 PM

Any album recommendations for britpop? I've never been a huge fan of the genre, but I should at least give it a chance.

Urban Hat€monger ? 05-09-2011 05:25 PM

The Auteurs & Delicatessen are 2 bands who were great but never get the credit they deserve.

So get New Wave & After Murder Park by The Auteurs
& Hustle Into Bed by Delicatessen.

Dotoar 05-10-2011 08:38 AM

Here's a lost gem, as is their self-titled album:


Badlittlekitten 05-10-2011 10:58 AM



The song that pretty much started it all. Modern Life Is Rubbish is my favourite Brit album of the 90s.

Paedantic Basterd 05-10-2011 11:01 AM

No britpop thread is complete without...


Dotoar 05-10-2011 01:16 PM

Belle & Sebastian were never as good as when they made britpop.






Paedantic Basterd 05-10-2011 01:19 PM

Ahhh, The Life Pursuit. Been listening to that a lot lately.

As well as a shameless bit of Britpop revival.


Urban Hat€monger ? 05-10-2011 02:32 PM

Few more underated bands....










James 05-10-2011 03:28 PM


So underrated.

jackhammer 05-10-2011 04:26 PM

A couple of bands in here I haven't heard before. Good call.

A couple from myself:

A little too abrasive to be classed as Britpop but a class band not talked about a huge amount.

Love 'em or hate 'em, they are always entertaining. Great live too.

Badlittlekitten 05-11-2011 04:13 AM



Shamefully Nuisance was the first c.d I ever bought. It's still a guilty pleasure.

Screen13 05-11-2011 05:36 AM



Love this!



From the great Dog Man Star. The first two albums are good, but I was never really into the Post-Butler Suede.



The UK version of this video. Oasis' first album still has a cool for me after all these years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Badlittlekitten (Post 1051819)

Shamefully Nuisance was the first c.d I ever bought. It's still a guilty pleasure.

I own up...I kind of liked this one as well. Slightly better than most of what came in the "Dad Rock" of '96-'97 at least (Northern Uproar, anyone?).



A little late for the party, but still sounding good to me. Their first album still gets played every once in a while (Sadly, I have to go to You Tube to hear the other, but at least it's there).

djchameleon 05-11-2011 07:14 AM

Well you know me I'm going to mention more mainstream type bands but I really like these two.





I really love Bloc Party. I have all of their albums but I really want to go purchase their physical CDs


Arctic Monkeys

Scarlett O'Hara 05-11-2011 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dankrsta (Post 1051122)
As you all know, britpop is a name associated with

The Stone Roses - 'I Wanna Be Adored' (S/T, 1989) This is simply an amazing song from a great album. If I would to make a list of my all time favorite pop songs, this one would be pretty high

I absolutely love this song! Brit pop is pretty sexy.


Screen13 05-11-2011 07:51 AM



Possibly their finest single. I think Elvis Costello liked this if memory serves right. That nagging Casio Synth brings me back to The Early 80's.

Here's something from Britpop's baby brother, The New Wave of the New Wave (NWFTNW, or something like that...).





...and something form a very overlooked album from '97. I was surprised when I heard Accident and Emergency, but it still gets plays in my player every now and then.



A taste of Creation before Oasis crashed the party. Adorable may not have been top level, but they had some good moments. a bit before the scene's height, but some of the best moments were there.



One of the leading lights of Pre-Oasis Creation (along with The Primals and TFC)...RIDE! The full live version of the epic classic.



The single version.

Paedantic Basterd 05-11-2011 08:36 AM

THE best Oasis song.


Screen13 05-11-2011 10:03 AM

^ Very good call!

The Inspirals with Mark E. Smith on this one...


Flume 05-11-2011 10:11 AM

YouTube - Suede - The Beautiful Ones

More Suede for the people.

Screen13 05-11-2011 10:18 AM



A classic from Pulp. Many have left, the bar was shut, but still there was one final great album to be made. If "Common People" was an apex of Britpop, "This Is Hardcore" soundtracked the closing of it just as great.

Screen13 05-11-2011 10:41 AM



This may not be the video to it, but I have to mention Gene's standout moment in my opinion.

Urban Hat€monger ? 05-11-2011 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Screen13 (Post 1051876)

Here's something from Britpop's baby brother, The New Wave of the New Wave (NWFTNW, or something like that...).

You missed out the best song from that entire movement..



And seeing as we're going back further

Screen13 05-11-2011 01:09 PM

Damn, I still have Birdland's album, which was something I traveled with for a while. I always like going back to the early days of the whole thing...and while I'm on that chapter, here's 5:30.

I think their first breakthrough...



Their "funky Fools Gold wanna-be" happening, with I think a bit of attitude that makes it stand out.



...and possibly my favorite song from Bed.



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