Britpop - Music from the 90's

The Britpop scene started with a few bands that primarily played around the Camden Town area of London. They had a vibrant social life and were called 'The scene that celebrates itself.' Britpop has been narrowed down to starting at the time Blur released the single 'Popscene' and Suede (another Britpop band) released 'The Downers' in 1992. Suede were the first band of this type to be embraced by the UK media and also at the time had the fastest selling début album in British history. The icon of the Britpop scene 'The Union Jack' was first used at this time when Suede's lead singer Brett Anderson was photographed with it in the background for 'Select' magazine. The headline on the cover read 'Yanks go home!' It was this emphasis on British culture that made the Britpop scene unable to succeed in the US.

Blurs take on the Britpop scene was largely influenced by their 1992 tour of America. Damon Albarn saw the way American culture was seeping into Britain and he didn't like it. He wanted to see the return of Britishness and this was reflected in their Anglocentric second album called 'Modern Life Is Rubbish.' It was not until Blur released their third album 'Parklife' that they really cemented themselves into popular British culture. This album was released at the same time Kurt Cobain died and together these two events overcame the American 'Grunge' dominance in the UK.

The term Britpop really entered people's conciousness in 1994 around the same time that 'Britart' was becoming popular. Music journalists and radio DJ's were using the term all the time and it sparked off a wave of like minded bands such as Sleeper, Supergrass and Menswear.

It was during 1995 that Brit pop really reached it's peak though when Britain's press was holding it's own battle of the bands. Oasis and Blur who had at first praised each other were now hell bent on antagonising each other. This was of course lapped up by the media who spurred the row on even more. In August 1995 NME even featured a headline calling it the 'British heavyweight championship.' The bands conflict was not only about the music but about British class and the North South divide. Blur was representing the South and Oasis the North. In a week when Saddam Hussein was making nuclear bombs and hundreds of people were being mutilated in Bosnia everyone was taking about Blur and Oasis who were going to be releasing singles on the same day. Britpop truly was at it's peak!

Blur won the 1995 battle of the bands by selling 274,000 copies of their single 'Country House' and oasis only selling 216,000 copies of 'Roll With It.' Ultimately thought Oasis were the more successful band due to their popularity in the States. Oasis' success in the Britpop arena became fully apparent when many other Britpop bands including 'The Boo Radleys' and 'Ocean Colour Scene' said they had been influenced by Oasis' Noel Gallagher. NME dubbed this new wave of bands 'Noelrock.'

Oasis' third album 'Be Here Now' (1997) is said to mark the point at which Britpop ended.

Live Forever

It had been a highly anticipated album and set to be the album for the period but it was a big let down and highly criticized by both the media and the public. Blur had also turned a corner with their music and became more influenced by American bands such as 'Pavement.' Damon Albarn the lead singer of Blur said in an interview with NME that they had 'genuinely started to see the world in a different way.'

As the Britpop era started to decline the manufactured pop group the 'Spice Girls' took up the baton of Britpop culture but it wasn't the same and previously established bands began to break up. The effects of Britpop however still live on as many bands influenced by its such as Coldplay, Stereophonics and Travis went on to be very successful off it's back.

Liam and Noel Gallagher, Rolling Stone Cover No 733 May 2 1996
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During the height of the Britpop era I was about 14 years old, around about the age that music really starts to enter your consciousness. As I said before I was a Blur fan this I must admit was partly due to the fact that they went to my school and I had the same music teacher as Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. I remember once that there was a rumour going round school that Blur were coming to perform in the sports hall. Of course everyone got mega excited but it was just a rumour and they never did come back. However they did perform at a little disused railway station in a village not far from where I lived and just a few months ago they came back there but unfortunately tickets were like hot cakes and I never got to go but the people I did know who got tickets said it was awesome.

I loved Blur but Oasis were also a brilliant band and sang some great songs. I must admit I never did get to see Oasis live but my brother went to see them when they played at Knebworth whilst I watched it at home on the TV and I was very jealous as they must have been an amazing band to see live. Oasis were more of the band I listened to a bit later on with my friends down the pub, many a night we would all sing along (louder than the actual music system) to 'Don't look back in anger.' Later on another Oasis song that will always stick in my mind is "Stop crying your heart out' this was the song they played straight after England got knocked out of the 2002 Football World Cup and was very fitting.

Britpop to me was a a part of my growing up and helped set the standard for my musical tastes in the future. I still have a couple of Blur and Oasis albums on my iPod and their best of albums are amongst my favourites.