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Britpop Music
Much as grunge music fueled an alternative movement in the United States, so, too did Britpop in the British alternative rock scene. Reacting to the musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, new British groups such as Suede and Blur launched the Britpop movement as an opposing musical force, referencing British guitar music of the past as well as writing songs and music that would appeal directly to the British youth. They were soon joined by other major British acts including Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass and Elastica.
In a response to being asked if Blur was indeed an ‘anti-grunge band,’ Damon Albarn of Blur stated: “Well, that’s good. If punk was about getting rid of the hippies, then I’m getting rid of grunge.” But, more than just making a musical statement to the youth of Britain and being ‘anti-grunge,’ Britpop was more about bringing back the British guitar genres of the past, Blur and Oasis drew their influences from the Kinks and the Beatles and Elastica was more punk oriented. Regardless of their specific musical influence, all Britpop artists tried to emulate the sounds of the past, relying heavily on catchy guitar hooks and lyrical content that was relevant to the British youth and working class.
The direct ancestors of the Britpop movement were the seminal band the Smiths, the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets- all part of the Madchester scene. Journalist John Harris has commented that Britpop began when Blur’s single “Popscene” and Suede’s “The Drowners” were released about the same time in the spring of 1992. In fact, Suede was one of the first crop of new guitar-oriented bands to be embraced by the UK music media as Britain’s answer to Seattle’s grunge sound. Furthermore, Suede’s debut album became the fastest-selling debut LP in the history of the UK; the British youth wanted their own sound to relate to. The Union Flag became symbolic of this rapidly rising genre and in April of 1993, Select Magazine actually featured Suede’s lead singer Brett Anderson on the cover with a Union Flag in the background and the headline, “Yanks Go Home!”
Blur’s second album “Modern Life Is Rubbish”(1993) was inspired by their tour of the US in the spring of 1992 and during the tour frontman Damon Albarn began to resent the American culture and found the need to comment on that culture’s influence that was quickly seeping in Britain. In fact, his girlfriend, Justine Frischmann (formally of Suede and the leader of Elastica) commented: “Damon and I felt like we were in the thick of it at that point, it occurred to us that Nirvana were out there, and people were very interested in American music, and there should be some sort of manifesto for the return of Britishness.”
But it was the death of grunge giant Kurt Cobain and Blur’s third album “Parklife” that was released in 1994 that showed that the British youth had fully ostracized and turned their collective backs on the grunge movement. That same year, Oasis released their debut album “Definitely Maybe,” an LP that actually broke Suede’s record for the fastest-selling debut album and Britpop had arrived. A rash of new bands like The Las, Stone Roses, and The Bridewell Taxis, among many others, soon followed.
A battle of the bands was conceived by the British press, a musical battle between Oasis and Blur, officially dubbed “The Battle of Britpop” which brought Britpop to the forefront in 1995. Actually, the bands had praised each other but spurned on by the press, they became engaged in what the NME termed as he “British Heavyweight Championship” with the pending release of the Oasis single “Roll With It” and Blur’s “Country House” on the same day. But it was much more a battle of music releases, with the conflict as much about British class and regional divisions, with Oasis representing the North of England and Blur the South. This was a mass media event and captured the public imagination and in the end, Blur was declared the winner selling more than 274,000 copies and Oasis coming in at about 216,00 units and the songs were at number one and two, respectively. However, Oasis kind of got the last laugh, so to speak, as they were able to achieve more commercial success in the US on the strength of their single “Wonderwall!” and their second album “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” went on to sell over four million copies in the UK alone and went on to become the third best-selling album in British music history.
Oasis’ third album, “Be Here Now,” (1997) was highly anticipated and despite garnering positive reviews and selling strongly, the music was soon subjected to strong criticism for its overproduced sound; even Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher criticized the LP. In fact, music critic Jon Savage pinpointed this release as the moment where Britpop ended, saying that although the album wasn’t “the great disaster that everybody says it was, it was supposed to the big, big triumphal record’ of the time.” And at the same time, Blur wanted to distance themselves from the Britpop movement by moving away from their Parklife-era sound and their music began to assimilate American lo-fi influences.
As the Britpop movement wound down, many of the popular acts began to falter and disband and while the ones that did carry on struggled; the attention began to turn to bands like Radiohead and The Verve, who had been previously overlooked by the British media. Additionally, the popularity of pop groups like the Spice Girls sucked the spirit from those who were responsible for the Britpop movement. The music needs of the British were evolving and the music just could not keep up.
Britpop Records and Britpop CDs
Find all kinds of rare, hard to find and out-of-print Britpop records and Britpop CDs on MusicStack.
Ash
Black Grape
The Bluetones
Blur
Boo Radleys
Cast
The Divine Comedy
Dodgy
Echobelly
Elastica
Gene
Heavy Stereo
Marion
Menswear
Northern Uproar
Oasis
Ocean Colour Scene
Powder
Pulp
The Real People
Salad
Shed Seven
Sleeper
Suede
Supergrass
These Animal Men
Thurman
The Auteurs
Bernard Butler
The Charlatans
Gorillaz
Headswim
Heavy Stereo
James
Jesus Jones
Kenickie
The Longpigs
The La's
Lightning Seeds
Lush
Manic Street Preachers
The Montrose Avenue
Muse
Paul Weller
Pullover
Ride
Saint Etienne
Shack
The Smiths
Stereophonics
The Stone Roses
The Tears
The Verve
Babybird
Catatonia
Dubstar
Embrace
Gay Dad
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
The Gyres
Kula Shaker
Mansun
My Life Story
Nilon Bombers
Puressence
Seahorses
Space
Super Furry Animals
The Supernaturals
Travis
Britpop Websites
Britpop Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s.
Britpop Britpop refers to the legion of '90s bands who drew more consciously from that tradition than ever before.
List of Britpop musicians Notable British bands and artists with an identifiably
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