NME Top Singles of 1995

[Darkness_Fish]

I seem to remember Jarvis really becoming a noted figure after appearing on Pop Quiz on the telly. He wasn't really a nationally regarded figure, and was on as the token indie or northern bloke, and was basically looked down on from the start. Then it became apparent that despite having a northern accent he was very articulate, witty, and basically he knew an absolute shit load about music to go with it. He basically stole the show after being hired as an amusing pet.

[Penk!]

I seem to remember Jarvis really becoming a noted figure after appearing on Pop Quiz on the telly. He wasn't really a nationally regarded figure, and was on as the token indie or northern bloke, and was basically looked down on from the start. Then it became apparent that despite having a northern accent he was very articulate, witty, and basically he knew an absolute shit load about music to go with it. He basically stole the show after being hired as an amusing pet.

I just looked it up on Youtube. Tarrant starts off treating him like some deadbeat stoner and then by the end the rest of them have just given up as he's buzzing in every answer

[naughty boy]

He was great. And it was no act, no affectation.

[sloopjohnc]

What is this "Britpop" of which you discuss?

[Count Machuki]

What is this "Britpop" of which you discuss?

It's like The Dave Clark Five. Only in the 90s.

[sloopjohnc]

What is this "Britpop" of which you discuss?

It's like The Dave Clark Five. Only in the 90s.

Thanks. That's a good analogy.

[naughty boy]

What is this "Britpop" of which you discuss?

Retro, parochial, and somewhat silly - these days, it seems nobody has a good word to say about Britpop. At the time, however, it felt like a breath of fresh air, as we kicked against the monolithic nature of grunge with the most tuneful music to come off these shores for more than a decade. It had been rumbling for a while, with the Stone Roses, the Las, and Suede all producing high-calibre debut albums from the turn of the decade with a peculiarly British feel, a relatively 'delicate' nature, and an attention to melody.

Britpop's big four - Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Supergrass - all hit big in 1994 and produced albums that both delighted the critics and sold bucketloads. Their music drew largely on '60s pop with dashes of other styles (especially punk and glam - and the influence of the Smiths loomed large) - but I suppose there was a kind of purism there, in that, at least initially, all these bands appeared to reject anything that wasn't pop. The experimentation - if indeed there was any - came later. In some ways, this was liberating and refreshing - for a while at least.

Many bands kicked against the faintly ludicrous 'definitions' of Britpop in order to assert their individuality, but by dint of them being in the right place at the right time, ended up under the same Union Jack umbrella anyway. Most famous of these bands was perhaps Echobelly, who featured a black female guitarist who was often seen wearing a T-shirt with the slogan 'My Country Too', and an Asian female singer.

By 1997 'The Scene That Celebrates Itself' had become 'The Scene That Nobody Wants To Be Part Of', and we were left with grinning-ninny bands like Cast, Kula Shaker, and Space. But it was good while it lasted. Wasn't it?

https://www.bcb-board.co.uk/phpBB2/view ... =1&t=53383

[Darkness_Fish]

At the time, however, it felt like a breath of fresh air, as we kicked against the monolithic nature of grunge with the most tuneful music to come off these shores for more than a decade. 1994 and produced albums that both delighted the critics and sold bucketloads. Their music drew largely on '60s pop with dashes of other styles (especially punk and glam - and the influence of the Smiths loomed large) - but I suppose there was a kind of purism there, in that, at least initially, all these bands appeared to reject anything that wasn't pop.

Yeah, it was depressing from the start, it was if the critics had given up on the idea that music could go anywhere new and they basically wanted to validate their own Smiths and Beatles obsessions. From this point on, the idea that the 60s were the pure form of music took hold, and it was cack.

[Penk!]

I don't know if that's true, though.

Sure, Oasis were pretty rudimentary - and went to total shit once they started getting more ambitious on the third album - and Supergrass were full-on pop-punk, but Blur, from Parklife on at least, had a lot of unusual and creative touches in the arrangements: 'Girls and Boys' is the most obvious example of them departing from the "warmed over British invasion" cliche during this period. Coxon's guitar-playing was always too wilfully wonky and unorthodox, too.

Pulp, meanwhile, didn't have too much to do with '60s pop; they were more the inverse of glam, shabby and tawdry with Cocker playing Bryan Ferry's seedier, less popular cousin. They were far more intellectual than their peers, despite Albarn's desire to be a renaissance lad. And they had, of course, been around for a decade already.

Some bands got lumped in just because they had a rock sound, even though they were trying to do their own thing. Suede were Bowie finding a new inspirational guitarist, Radiohead quickly abandoned the schmindie first record for something more arty, introverted and dark - although they did still have pop hooks. They were Britpop if it was a movement, but not if it was a genre.

Of course, there were an awful lot of bands who jumped the bandwagon and took the dreary guitar-pop template, like Oasis without the brute force or The Smiths without the charisma. Menswear, Sleeper, Gene, Northern Uproar. These are the ones people think of when thinking of Britpop as a dead end. And there is certainly a strong argument that it killed British rock dead.

The whole thing came to an end with Be Here Now, which was a disaster, Blur, which was a good album that saw the band giving up the chase, and OK Computer, which rendered most of the Britpop stuff redundant.

[Darkness_Fish]

I don't know if that's true, though.

Oi, don't piss on my pithy rejoinder. To be fair to Pulp, although Common People is kinda the monolith of Brit pop, and Jarvis is associated with it, I'm not sure the band really fit the mold at all, and seemed unsure what to do with the attention. Having said that "Disco 2000" is as dreary retro bag of toss that fits the bill. I refuse to wear any kind of Blur-tinted spectacles, their lame ELO-soundalikes and infantile nursery-rhyme-pop songs were absolutely wretched, and it's a shame Graham Coxon didn't find a better act to be associated with.

[The Modernist]

Blur were a real blast of fresh air when they came up with "Modern Life.." and then " Parklife". It may just have been a dead end and certainly ended up sounding tawdry and gimmicky with the likes of "Country House". However musically they were never as narrow as your post makes out and there was real wit and pop pizzazz about their best stuff.

[Deebank]

Blur fact...

Their (second) breakthrough single Girls & Boys was a flat out rip off of Pulp's pre His & Hers indie/disco crossover period.

According to Russell Senior in his memoir Freak Out The Squares, Coxon told him to his face that Blur were going to rip them off (This was at a show where Pulp supported Blur in Paris - notable for the infamous incident back at the hotel where a member of Pulp was indiscrete with one of Blur's girlfriends on a balcony while the Blur person witnessed the scene from below) and then Girls & Boys comes out...

Note to Moddie - Country House was on The Great Escape wasn't it?

[The Modernist]

Note to Moddie - Country House was on The Great Escape wasn't it?

Yes - I didn't suggest otherwise?

[The Modernist]

I wouldn't say 'Girls & Boys' sounds particularly like Pulp though..which songs are you thinking of?

[Deebank]

I wouldn't say 'Girls & Boys' sounds particularly like Pulp though..which songs are you thinking of?

To be honest I'm not that au fait with Pulp's pre His and Hers output, Senior although big mates with all of the Blur boys at the time reckons they were derivative and supreme and shameless band waggon jumpers - hence Coxon saying "we're having that" to him after their support slot.

[Deebank]

Note to Moddie - Country House was on The Great Escape wasn't it?

Yes - I didn't suggest otherwise?

I thought you were saying Parklife ended up sounding tawdry with the likes of Country House...

It all souded tawdry to me at the time . They did sound pretty good at Glastonbury in '94 though to be fair.

[Deebank]

Senior's book is worth checking out for anyone interested in the Britpop phenomenon by the way.

[The Modernist]

Yeah but bands are always saying that kind of thing about each other. There's a lot of competition and rivalry, young guys a bit full of themselves etc. I tend to take it with a pinch of salt. And Coxon probably said a lot of things when he was pissed up!
I suppose Albarn will always face that kind of criticism though because of the kind of artist he is. Like Bowie, his radar is always alert for things he can use for a new sound or direction.

[Goat Boy]

The Great Escape was an album too far. There’s an increasing sneer as their observational English pop turns a bit unpleasant and sour. But....some great stuff too like The Universal, Best Days, He Thought of Cars and Yuko and Hiro. The latter (and Universal) especially shows that Albarn could actually be a touching, moving vocalist when he wanted to be (see also To The End).

They’re one of these artists where hatred of the singer really colours people perception of the music but they produced some great pop music, full of colour and hooks for a while that is amongst the best music of that period. Parklife is a British classic, like an MG or Get Carter. Iconic. Zeitgeist on a stick.

[Goat Boy]

Yeah but bands are always saying that kind of thing about each other. There's a lot of competition and rivalry, young guys a bit full of themselves etc. I tend to take it with a pinch of salt. And Coxon probably said a lot of things when he was pissed up.
I suppose Albarn will always face that kind of criticism though because of the kind of artist he is. Like Bowie, his radar is always alert for things he can use for a new sound or direction.

I suspect Coxon can’t remember most of the things he (allegedly) said or did around that time. Bands are full of shit most of the time anyway.

Artists steal, just do summat good with it is all I ask