Second Coming (90's)

The best thing about the previous decades is that over time, the dust has settled and a select few are crowned as the best. Now either this is yet to happen for the 90s or the talent was a lot more spread, because looking at my list of must-include bands, I’m gonna need at least 4 episodes. This also isn’t helped by need to categorize my episodes, thus including bands that may not be must-includes yet fit perfectly into a category, such as in this week. It is a celebration of Britpop – where a new brand of music (really just a rehash of 60’s pop) took the world by storm. Battling for top spot were Oasis and Blur yet all of these featured bands played equally important roles. Not only are these bands all from the UK they are all exclusively from Britain. I could probably do another whole episode of Britpop bands not quite British and another still of British bands not quite Britpop but we’ll see. For now, just sit back and enjoy

1) Animal Nitrate - Suede
Probably the first big Britpop song was ‘there she goes’ by ‘the la’s’ (you know the song, perhaps not by name) which sadly had to be cut. However the first big Britpop band was Suede (known as London Suede to the Americans). They are less known than many of the other Britpop bands as while they made hit records throughout the 90’s, their heyday was arguably before Britpop’s peak (1995). Regardless of this, my reliable sources tell me they were pretty huge. To be honest I’ve never listened to them until now however I only had to download two songs to find a worthy one. So for all I know they could have way better, I shall definitely be investigating.

2) Acquiesce – Oasis
As I mentioned before, 1995 was the big year for Britpop. It saw the release of big albums for Blur, Pulp, Supergrass and many more, however nothing compared to Oasis’ ‘[What’s the story] Morning Glory?’ (what a funny title). This is what shot the Gallagher brothers (and the others….) to the super-stardom they still enjoy today. Isn’t it strange then that I didn’t pick a song off it, nor their (arguably) equally good debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’? Well this song was actually the B-side of ‘Some Might Say’ their first #1 single and has become quite a fan favourite. It’s one of only two of their songs to feature both brothers as lead singers and is rumoured to be about brotherly love – awww. Anyway it’s a great song that any Oasis fan should know. On that note you should also know their aforementioned first two albums – but then that’s assumed. Unfortunately their song-writing talent kind of dwindled after these albums and they never became the ‘next Beatles’ so many hoped they would.

3) Common People – Pulp
Pulp was another of the great Britpop bands. While in Britain they were just as big Blur and Oasis, they failed to gain the needed international recognition. For this reason they never really received the lasting fame of the other bands. However this didn’t stop them from making great music, with their 1995 album ‘Different Class’, cutting it with the best. This song off it is a rather epic tune and probably their most well known

4) Alright – Supergrass
The energy with which this song comes on is just amazing. As they state, these guys we’re young, and it was this youth that made them so exciting. They gave Britpop a boost of happiness. This is one of those songs where it takes a lot of self-control not to jump around like idiot. You should also check out the video for this song as it perfectly captures the mood of this song – complete silliness

5) Coffee & TV – Blur
While Oasis may have had the biggest moment, they were unable to maintain their success. This is where Blur excelled. They managed to produce great songs before, during and after Oasis’ reign. It is this that probably makes them the most successful Britpop band. This makes them perfectly suited (unlike Oasis) for a best-of album which I recommend to anyone who doesn’t know them. They had a variety of styles however they are probably most famous for their slower, harmonious songs, such as this. So many good songs to choose from, however this won out in the end.

This was written January 11, 2005. What? Why?