Britpop.... seriously how?

Amazotheamazing

How did the masses ever believe that bands like Menswear, Gene, Gaydad and Shed 7 were the future of rock? What the hell are the guys from these bands doing now, are they all walking around wondering why no-one recognises them, or do they stand in record stores asking loudly "has anyone heard the (insert band name here) album from 1995, it's a lost classic". Do they rush out and buy the music magazines hoping for a revival in the Britpop scene, or do they see bands like the Killers and think "Man in 10 yrs that Flowers guy will be as unfamous as me and will be selling winter coats on the Portobello road (thanks Mike Scott)".

Did Britpop produce many classic albums? Will we rediscover them in 2025 and claim to our kids, "Yeah I was there when Gene were changing rock as we knew it", while watching a multi-million dollar biopic on Elastica directed by Quentin Tarentino and comparing Sleeper to the Doors. Will Dodgy be headlining Live18, a reunion of the classic Dodgy line-up for the first time since their split, before Cast wow 5 continents (and 2 moonbases) by getting 150,000 people to sing Walkaway as a closing song?

Where are those poor bastards now, living in Monte Carlo or behind Marks and Spencers?

AARRRGH

LOL, they're on unemployment benefit me thinks. I don't think their egos would allow them to get a normal job.

There were some good bands though: Suede, Pulp, Blur, Oasis, etc etc.

I vaguely remember Menswear got a big record contract just because they "looked the part". The record companies hadn't even heard a song by them (...and just as well, because they hadn't written any yet.)

micromegas

Did Britpop produce many classic albums?

Oasis - Definately Maybe
Suede - Suede
Blur - Parklife
Elastica - Elastica
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Pulp - Different Class
The Boo Radleys - Wake Up!
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Lush - Split
Manic Street Preachers - Holy Bible
Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey's Dead
Ride - Nowhere
Catherine Wheel - Chrome
Ash - 1977
Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly
Ocean Colour Scene - Moseley Shoals
Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements
The La's - The La's
Inspiral Carpets - Revenge of the Goldfish
Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory
James - Laid
The Verve - A Northern Soul
Morrissey - Your Aresnal

And the list goes on.....

honru

There are still a good few Britpop bands that are still successful today, so it's hardly like the scene was tarnished from the beginning.

I think when people recall '90s Britpop, they're going to remember the likes of Supergrass, Blur, Oasis, etc.

dalk

93ish... Suede release their debut.

The British music press go ga-ga, invent a new 'scene' (Britpop) to help sell their mags. Hunt around for some good bands that they can lump in together (Blur, Oasis, Supergrass, Elastica, Pulp, Boo Radleys etc). Hype it as a new 'renaissance' in British pop (a la the Beatles and the Stones). Then there was the predictable rush by the Record labels to milk the new hype. Then the usual run of mediocre bands pushed out to try and jump the bandwagon (like the list Amazotheamazing mentions). Then the press move onto the next big thing. And all the crap bands go back into obscurity...

The results: a lot of crap albums, a few great albums (that were good despite or in-spite of the hype and the new 'scene') and some bands who were around before Britpop get tarnished by association. So for the music industry it was business as usual, with the usual high crap to goodness ratio...

I would disagree with a lot of your album being labeled Britpop, Micromegas. A lot of those albums may have inspired the Britpop scene, but they predate the actual press feeding frenzy... at least as i remember it. I feel dirty thinking of bands like Ride, Jesus and Mary Chain, Catherine Wheel, Teenage Fanclub and especially Stereolab as being 'Britpop'...;)

Doctor J

Free Peace Sweet by Dodgy is a fantastic album, I shall not hear of its reputation being besmirched. A Maximum High by Shed Seven is also pretty damn good too. Six by Mansun would probably get lumped in too and it is a staggeringly good piece of work. None of those bands ever claimed to be the greatest band in the world as I recall, they just put of albums and toured like every other band. It's very sad that you appear to take so much delight in the dwindling careers of some musicians.

The problem is you're taking what the NME is says too seriously. They usually roll out the old "...future of rock and roll..." nugget for a different band every six months or so. IMO actually reading a copy of the NME is taking it too seriously. Ignore they hype, the bull**** and whatever else and just listen to the music. They're not going to change your life, make you rich, make your dick bigger, they're just some good tunes, nothing more, just a moment in time captured on tape. Enjoy it for what it is, not what the media made it out to be.

Deadwing

dalk wrote:

I feel dirty thinking of bands like Ride, Jesus and Mary Chain, Catherine Wheel, Teenage Fanclub and especially Stereolab as being 'Britpop'...;)

Not to mention stone roses classic debut...released a helluva long time before the term 'britpop' was coined. Far superior band to any of that tosh imo

dead air

Six by Mansun is an incredible piece of work and Mosely Shoals by OCS still remains one of my favourite albums to this day. A lot of good came out of that britpop period, unfortunetely so did a lot of crap and people sometimes only remember the bad stuff.

Amazotheamazing

To be fair I've never read or bought NME (I'm not bragging, just saying so). I would disagree with a lot of the bands being included on the earlier list, and of the ones I agree should be on the list, I disagree that their music is any good, in the sense that it changed things or made rock move in any direction.

I've nothing against good tunes performed by dodge bands, as long as it's enjoyable I don't care who it's by. I'm just curious to know what happened these guys. This isn't supposed to be a very serious topic, btw.

Nimrod's Son

I'm surprised there's been no mention of Kula Shaker. I remember when they were touted as being the next big thing and that their album was the best ever. I'm glad they faded into obscurity tbh, I never liked their material.

Amazotheamazing

Kula Shaker, are you a wizard in a blizzard of mystical machine guns? One of the greatest lines ever written about meteorites and eclipses.

Deadwing

Amazotheamazing wrote:

To be fair I've never read or bought NME (I'm not bragging, just saying so). I would disagree with a lot of the bands being included on the earlier list, and of the ones I agree should be on the list, I disagree that their music is any good, in the sense that it changed things or made rock move in any direction.

I've nothing against good tunes performed by dodge bands, as long as it's enjoyable I don't care who it's by. I'm just curious to know what happened these guys. This isn't supposed to be a very serious topic, btw.

I had the unforunate displeasure of reading NME every week when i worked ine asons (back in 99/2000). My god they spout some bollocks. Every single english band are the 'new savious of rock n roll', oasis can do no wrong, anything american is usually laughed at, metal is barely anywhere to be seen, youd swear there was no such genre...a pompous, self righteous pile of spurious bile is all that magazine is.

noby

Amazo, every new musical "genre" gets hyped up by the press, and gets a hat load of bandwagon jumpers trying to cash in.

But back to your point, Menswear were a true nme "creation" and never made it on to my radar, and never will.
I got the first Gene album, and liked it. But then they got compared to Morrissey. And, as everybody knows, being compared to, or liked by, Morrissey is akin to Don Corleone kissing you on the cheek.

Around that time there was also the new-wave-of-new-wave movement, which also came to nowt.

Doctor J

noby wrote:

Around that time there was also the new-wave-of-new-wave movement, which also came to nowt.

Mainly because it never actually existed

HarryHoudini

eh....

micromegas wrote:

Did Britpop produce many classic albums?

Oasis - Definately Maybe
Suede - Suede
Blur - Parklife
Elastica - Elastica
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Pulp - Different Class
The Boo Radleys - Wake Up!
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Lush - Split
Manic Street Preachers - Holy Bible (Not part of that scene)
Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey's Dead (Not part of that scene)
Ride - Nowhere
Catherine Wheel - Chrome
Ash - 1977
Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque (Not part of that scene)
The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly
Ocean Colour Scene - Moseley Shoals
Stereolab - Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements (Not part of that scene)
The La's - The La's
Inspiral Carpets - Revenge of the Goldfish (Not part of that scene)
Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory
James - Laid
The Verve - A Northern Soul (Not part of that scene)
Morrissey - Your Aresnal

And the list goes on.....

Ruskie4Rent

NME is a bit on the annoying side. Actually I hate it like the plague. Many a stupid comment, i have read, has sent a shiver down my spine.
eg. making pete doherty "the coolest man alive" during all the attention he was getting due to his drug addictions.
SAPS!