So, what do we think of "Britpop" now?

Backslapping time. Well done us. We are fantastic.

Britpop...was

One of the most vibrant times in British music
5
7%
Responsible for some of the 90s best stuff
14
20%
Mostly a media-beat up, but a few great groups arose out of it
21
30%
A shamelessly derivative cover-up, in which only a couple of acts justified even half their hype
18
26%
A joke, just terrible mostly
7
10%
What's Britpop?
5
7%
 
Total votes: 70

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River Man
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Postby River Man » 28 Nov 2003, 11:34

After the long 80s synth and poodle rock period I really appreciated a return to guitar bands of Baggy, shoegazers and Brit Pop. Was it good? Well not all of it, but I think it was needed, we'd had synth overdose for years. I loved it at the time.
BCB fop

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Postby goldstoned » 28 Nov 2003, 11:36

wheras britpop was never a movement and the bands certainly didn't feel related to each other it got the industry to sign loads of bands and gave the audience a lot of guitar driven pop - compared to today's plastic-crap: give me the charts-music of that period anytime!

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Postby Brother Spoon » 28 Nov 2003, 11:36

mozman wrote:Erm, yeah. Personally I find that (What's The Story) Moring Glory? has dated more than Definitely Maybe, which I believe is one of, if not the, best albums of the 1990's. Maybe I've grown apathetic to (WTS)MG? because of how 'Wonderwall', 'Champagne Supernova', 'Don't Look Back In Anger', etc. have all been hyped to a ridiculous extent in the last 8-or-so years by the moronic masses, whereas you can hardly say the same for 'Supersonic'. And 'Cigarettes And Alcohol' is the best single of the last 10 years - so there! :lol:

With regards to Britpop itself, I didn't really become aware of the 'movement' until the summer of '96 and, with Euro '96, I thought that summer was the best thing ever (bear in mind I was an easily pleased 12 year old at the time) - even Dodgy seemed quite good back then. Looking back on it now, it has had no effect on society because the charts, like they were in '92/'93, are clogged up with shit again, but then I suppose if this is true, then punk didn't really change anything either (I'm confused :? Best shut up for the timebeing)


Is it a wind-up or is it for real? I have a hard time believing this, especially the part about the charts.

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Postby Mozz » 28 Nov 2003, 11:37

Monkey Boy wrote:
No, it's because they are and always have been fucking rubbish songs.


This coming from the person that said this:

Suede for me are one of the few Britpop bands who can hold their heads high along with Supergrass, SFA and The Boo Radleys (if they count as Britpop).


You're having a laugh with the Boo Radleys surely: one half decent song and then they disappeared off the radar (or did they change their name to Radiohead in 1996? - I can't remember).

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Postby KeithPratt » 28 Nov 2003, 11:43

The thing about Britpop was that it, like grunge, did not advance musical experimentism in any way whatsoever. The Manchester scene did at least, embrace, albeit briefly, the electronic explosion. And it did feel genuine, whereas the slimy embrace of the media was all too apparent with Britpop.

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Postby the hanging monkey » 28 Nov 2003, 11:43

mozman wrote:
Monkey Boy wrote:
No, it's because they are and always have been fucking rubbish songs.


This coming from the person that said this:

Suede for me are one of the few Britpop bands who can hold their heads high along with Supergrass, SFA and The Boo Radleys (if they count as Britpop).


You're having a laugh with the Boo Radleys surely: one half decent song and then they disappeared off the radar (or did they change their name to Radiohead in 1996? - I can't remember).


The Boo Radleys have made four excellent (and different) albums - the fact that no fucker bought them (apart from Wake Up) is a fucking tragedy and a damning indictment of the record buying public. Great band - grow some ears and realise that Gallagher and co are and always were (decent but highly derivative debut aside) a bunch of chancers that got lucky.

The Boo Radleys also pre-dated Britpop (They were shoegazers originally) so probably don't count anyway.

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Postby Roygbiv » 28 Nov 2003, 11:48

Monkey Boy wrote:
The Boo Radleys have made four excellent (and different) albums - the fact that no fucker bought them (apart from Wake Up) is a fucking tragedy and a damning indictment of the record buying public. Great band - grow some ears and realise that Gallagher and co are and always were (decent but highly derivative debut aside) a bunch of chancers that got lucky.

The Boo Radleys also pre-dated Britpop (They were shoegazers originally) so probably don't count anyway.


absolutely. everyone just thinks of the Wake Up single. although its a pop gem it got overplayed. However their two follow up albums, C'mon Kids and Kingsize show exactly what an ambitious band can do within the confines of 'pop' music.

In answer to Bleep's criticism of the Britpop genre, I would recommend a listen to those albums. Moving forward doesn't necessarily mean embracing electronic sounds. The Boo Radleys showed in 1995/6/7 that something more could be created with 'guitar' music.

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Postby the hanging monkey » 28 Nov 2003, 11:51

Roygbiv wrote:
Monkey Boy wrote:
The Boo Radleys have made four excellent (and different) albums - the fact that no fucker bought them (apart from Wake Up) is a fucking tragedy and a damning indictment of the record buying public. Great band - grow some ears and realise that Gallagher and co are and always were (decent but highly derivative debut aside) a bunch of chancers that got lucky.

The Boo Radleys also pre-dated Britpop (They were shoegazers originally) so probably don't count anyway.


absolutely. everyone just thinks of the Wake Up single. although its a pop gem it got overplayed. However their two follow up albums, C'mon Kids and Kingsize show exactly what an ambitious band can do within the confines of 'pop' music.

In answer to Bleep's criticism of the Britpop genre, I would recommend a listen to those albums. Moving forward doesn't necessarily mean embracing electronic sounds. The Boo Radleys showed in 1995/6/7 that something more could be created with 'guitar' music.


Well said, Kingsize is my favourite Boo Radleys album - a true lost gem. A really ambitious, melodic, noisy and intelligent record.

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Postby KeithPratt » 28 Nov 2003, 11:53

I don't mind the Boo Radleys LP before they went "big" - Is that "Kingsize"? - That was after "Everything's Alright Forever". They were OK.

I know going forward doesn't necessarily involve electronics, but most bands weren't going in at the deep end were they? They were harking back to an era that was long gone.

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Postby KeithPratt » 28 Nov 2003, 11:54

And for fuck's sake, Britpop was responsible for the cultural bastard that was Kula Shaker.

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Postby Mozz » 28 Nov 2003, 11:58

Bleep43 wrote:And for fuck's sake, Britpop was responsible for the cultural bastard that was Kula Shaker.


They're another one of them 'bands-you-thought-were-the best-thing-ever-at-the-time-but-turned-out-to-be-a-flash-in-the-pan'. I found this with Ocean Colour Scene too.

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Postby Insouciant Western People » 28 Nov 2003, 11:58

goldstoned wrote:wheras britpop was never a movement and the bands certainly didn't feel related to each other it got the industry to sign loads of bands and gave the audience a lot of guitar driven pop - compared to today's plastic-crap: give me the charts-music of that period anytime!


I disagree - what we had in those days was a stranglehold on the scene by a lot of dull and derivative guitar bands made up of tossers who hung around in Camden and took too much coke. These days the alternative to the mainstream is far more interesting and innovative.

Why do you care what's in the charts anyway ? They've always been 99% shite.
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Postby the hanging monkey » 28 Nov 2003, 12:00

Bleep43 wrote:I don't mind the Boo Radleys LP before they went "big" - Is that "Kingsize"? - That was after "Everything's Alright Forever". They were OK.

I know going forward doesn't necessarily involve electronics, but most bands weren't going in at the deep end were they? They were harking back to an era that was long gone.


The Albums are

Everything's Alright Forever - Ok Shoegazer album
Giant Steps - Fantastic acid dub pop (or something)
Wake Up - Excellent left of center guitar pop
C'mon Kids - Noisy bastard but a real grower - also excellent
Kingsize - The pick of the bunch I reckon

This defence of the wonderful Boo Radleys in no way constitutes an excuse for Britpop chancers such as K**a S****r

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Postby the hanging monkey » 28 Nov 2003, 12:03

mozman the red-nosed manc wrote:
Bleep43 wrote:And for fuck's sake, Britpop was responsible for the cultural bastard that was Kula Shaker.


They're another one of them 'bands-you-thought-were-the best-thing-ever-at-the-time-but-turned-out-to-be-a-flash-in-the-pan'. I found this with Ocean Colour Scene too.


No. I always thought they were absolute shit. Same with OCS.

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Postby chrischrischris » 28 Nov 2003, 12:13

Boo Radleys' Giant Steps was - and remains - a fantastic album.

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Postby KeithPratt » 28 Nov 2003, 12:13

Don't even mention OCS, or Reef, or any other bollox like that. Gah!

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Postby KeithPratt » 28 Nov 2003, 12:15

ah, Giant Steps. That's a great LP. I might dig that out over the weekend and have another listen.

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Postby the masked man » 28 Nov 2003, 12:41

Dasher wrote:The Bluetones are touring toilets as we speak. Right back to where they started from.


This is true - they're about to play the Met Lounge, Peterborough's tiny indie club for the third time this year!

Surely this is a sign that the band should just give up!

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Postby Owen » 28 Nov 2003, 13:38

Docteur Qui wrote:Yeah they can all piss off. There was an electronic revolution going on across Europe and the US and this lot of of wankers went back to their guitars. Funny that the only band that were around (and not even part of the scene) and now making headway were Radiohead.


I think thats close to it, the years before britpop saw the british chart dominated by dance acts who released singles on independent labels and who owed their sales to a completely different network of outlets and promotional places.

Britpop was the big labels getting scared and wanting things to be album and radio orientated guitar music that their A&R and promotions men understood. They threw huge ammounts of money at it as a kind of last chance saloon.

A few decent existing bands benefited and an even smaller number of new good ones did ok but basically it was the majors responding to being out of their depth in dance music by throwing money at anything that had a riff they recognised.

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Postby Cédric » 28 Nov 2003, 14:04

The Boo Radleys did, at least, two great albums : "Giant Steps" and "Kingsize" (which was the peak of their "easy-pop" days).

Ocean Colour Scene released one good single "Hundred Mile High City" or something like that. The rest is pretty poor...

The shite bands from the britpop days are well known : Kula Shaker, Shed Seven, Menswear, Mansun... and some others whose names fortunately escape me...

Oasis meant something for 18 months. And Supergrass was the only great band to come out of that (very short) era. All the other "good" ones (Pulp, Boo Radleys...) existed before britpop.

And, like Blur, Suede has always been awfully overrated. Even Blur was better...


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