Britpop: Difference between revisions

Britpop is a British alternative rock movement from the mid 1990s, characterised by the appearance of bands who borrowed many influences from 1960s and 1970s while creating big, catchy hooks, as well as the glamour of earlier pop stardom and the sense that they were creating the soundtrack to the lives of a new generation of British youth. Although incredibly popular from about 1994–1996, it has since been criticised for its lack of innovation.

The movement developed as a reaction against various musical trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Acid house and the rise of Hip hop had led to an renewed interest in groove- and rhythm-led songs in British pop music—a classic example being the Happy Mondays. In the wake of these revolutions, classic guitar music floundered. The shoegazing movement in the late 1980s responded by producing long, psychedelic, repetitive songs, strongly influenced by bands like My Bloody Valentine. As the name suggests, live performances tended to be exercises in endurance. After this, there was a short but crucial movement termed the "New Wave of New Wave", which produced mainly derivative bands and which was crucial in re-orienting British pop towards "classic" songwriting.

The key "anti-influence" on the Britpop was Grunge. In the wake of the American invasion led by Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, British acts were thrown on the defensive. Americans threw down the gauntlet, and British acts now had to prove they were in the same league musically.

Template:Altrock Britpop groups were primarily influenced by the music of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the two Rock and Roll trends of the British Invasion: the Rocker cornerstones like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and their classic Mod contemporaries like The Who, The Kinks, and The Small Faces were incredibly influential, perhaps playing the biggest role in formation of the Britpop movement. Also quite influential were progressive rock acts like Jethro Tull, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Rush and hard rockers like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath.

Other sources were 1970s and 1980s glam idols such as David Bowie, T. Rex, and Roxy Music, as well as punk and new wave artists The Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, The Clash, The Jam, Public Image Ltd, Madness, XTC, and Elvis Costello.

Often cited as a Second British Invasion the Indie alternative rock, outfits of the 1980s exemplified by U2, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, The Cure and The Jesus and Mary Chain were also very influential. Another short but influential musical movement was the college rock with artists such as R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs, and the Replacements. Perhaps a hidden, subterranean influence were the C86 bands: certainly, bands that were later described as Britpop, such as Primal Scream, originally started off as C86 bands.

Late 1980s and early 1990s acts, like ex-Jam frontman Paul Weller and particularly The Stone Roses' eponymous debut album, were also influential. Frontmen Ian Brown and Paul Weller with their subsequent solo releases, and their referencing of 1970s rock music in the early 1990s, played huge role on the Britpop sound, which in the case of bands like Kula Shaker moved towards psychedelia. Noel Gallagher described The La's self-titled debut album as "the first Britpop album".

Weller in particular is praised as the founder and initiator of the movement. His solo records Paul Weller (1991) and Wild Wood (1993) are considered seminal forces for the movement. His influence over the Britpop, coupled with his love of Mod music, had earned him the nickname "The Modfather". As well as guiding Blur, Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene through his recordings, Weller has also performed with the bands, including playing guitar on Oasis' "Champagne Supernova".

Whereas Weller brought the key ingredient of "Mod" to what would become Britpop, Blur brought several other factors to the table. Without the media attention and chart success that would later follow, Blur's 1993 album Modern Life Is Rubbish slowly shifted the British sound away from shoegazing dance music, to a quirky pop sound. In hindsight, the writing and sound of Modern Life Is Rubbish contained many of the lyrical themes, chord changes, harmonies, and decidedly British singing which would later become iconically recognised as "Britpop".

The term "Britpop" had been used as early as 1987 (in "Sounds" magazine by journalist and TV pundit John Robb referring to bands such as The La's, Stone Roses and the Inspiral Carpets). "Britpop" arose around the same time as the term "Britart" (which referred to the work of British modern artists such as Damien Hirst). But it wouldn't be until 1995 when the term exploded and was used extensively by NME, Melody Maker, Select, and Q Magazine. The word subsequently entered the mainstream media. Its influence was recognised by an article in The Guardian by the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary declaring "Britpop" as the new word which best exemplified 1995. "Britpop" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1997.

Fans of Britpop are divided over which album kick-started the movement. Oasis' breakthrough debut Definitely Maybe (1994), Blur's bombastic third album Parklife (1994) and Suede's self-titled debut Suede (1993) are all contenders. These albums defined the movement and paved the way for many other acts. The Britpop hysteria rapidly gained huge media and fan attention in Britain, Western Europe and some parts of the U.S.

The movement was as much about British pride, media hype and imagery as it was about the particular style of music. Suede (known in America as "London Suede") was the first of the new crop of guitar-oriented bands to be completely embraced by the UK music media as Britain's answer to Seattle's grunge sound. Their self-titled first album was released in March 1993, and became the fastest-selling debut album in the history of the UK. This title was later claimed by Oasis with Definitely Maybe.

In April 1993, Select Magazine helped spark the upswing in British pride by featuring Suede's lead singer Brett Anderson on the cover with a Union Jack in the background and the words 'Yanks go home!' on the cover, accompanied by features on Suede, The Auteurs, Denim, Saint Etienne and Pulp. In 1994 and 1995 other Britpop and similar style acts started to appear - Mansun, Elastica, Radiohead, The Verve, P.J. Harvey, Echobelly, Sleeper, Supergrass, Primal Scream, The Auteurs, The Boo Radleys, Pulp, Cast, The Bluetones, Black Grape, Space and The Divine Comedy. Some of them were new, others already established acts who benefited from association with the movement.

In 1995 the Britpop movement reached its zenith. The famous "Battle Of The Bands" found Blur and Oasis as prime contenders for the title "Kings of Britpop". Spurred on by the media, the "Battle" was headed by two groups - Oasis' brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher representing the North of England, and from Blur, Damon Albarn and Alex James representing the South. This "Battle" was epitomised when, after some back-handed marketing, Oasis' Single "Roll With It" and Blur's "Country House" were released in the same week. The event caught the public's imagination and gained mass media attention - even featuring on the BBC News. While this battle raged on Pulp took the spots with the magnificent single "Common People" and Suede with their "Trash" and "Beautiful Ones".

The battle was also on a "representative" points as Blur praised Mod bands like Small Faces and the Kinks, while Oasis - obvious rocker trends like The Beatles and Rolling Stones. Pulp and Suede were more "David Bowish" and many of the bands featured many influences of the previous acts. The movement was branded "Third British Invasion", because of it massive popularity and because acts represented particular musical influence or movement in their music, which led to more or less media-generated conflicts between the bands, as was the case with previous acts.

In the end, Blur won, selling 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 - the songs charting at number 1 and number 2 respectively. However, in the long-run, Oasis' album (What's the Story) Morning Glory won the popular vote over Blur’s The Great Escape, outselling it by a factor of 4 or more. In the UK, What's the Story spent over three times as long on the charts (a total of three years) and outsold Blur's album over four to one, selling over eighteen million copies. Oasis' second album is widely considered to be the definitive Britpop album capturing the essence of the attitude and the Cool Britannia movement. (In Britain and Ireland it became popular for a time when asked "What's the story?" (lit. "How are you?"), to answer with "Morning glory".)

The Britpop movement was also symbolised in 1994-1995 by the outwardly happy, poppy sing-along summer anthems of such bands as Dodgy's "Staying Out for the Summer", Supergrass' "Alright", Sleeper's "Inbetweener", The Boo Radleys' "Wake Up Boo" and Echobelly's "Great Things". Although the majority of the bands associated with Britpop were English, there were exceptions. Super Furry Animals, Catatonia, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics were Welsh. This even led native media to call the rise of Welsh Bands "Cool Cymru" an answer to "Cool Britannia". Others like The Gyres, Travis and Belle and Sebastian were Scottish. There were also Irish acts such as - the Cranberries and Ash (from Northern Ireland) - and not to mention the infamous Gallagher brothers, who were Irish descendants. Thus the movement and Britpop hysteria engulfed not just one province or city; it encompassed the entire region and established itself as a definitive British movement, both musically and spiritually.

In late 1996, the movement and hysteria started to subside due to high expectations, burnout and drug-fueled lifestyles of the bands. Bands as Blur, Oasis and Suede among the hype and media attention to their music were also publisized with their regular alcohol, cocaine and crack usage. While Suede's poppy 1996 album Coming Up was a needed tonic and other acts such as Pulp, Supergrass and Cornershop made some challenging records, many of the other band's albums would be ultimately disappointing or would be far from the overall spirit and sound of the movement, hinting that it was on the way out. The core initiators and leaders like Oasis and Blur turned their backs on the movement scene. Oasis' third album Be Here Now although selling strongly to a still loyal fanbase, attracted strong criticism from critics and record-buyers for its overproduced and bloated "acid" sound, characterised with endless guitar riffs and lack of originality in making the songs. Blur's self-titled fifth effort was very well received like their previous two, partly because it showcased stylistic evolution for the band, unlike Oasis. The band by Graham Coxon's urgence was moving and developing and marked a considerable departure from the familiar Britpop style of Parklife and The Great Escape. Their music was lurching towards the American style of bands such as Pavement.

It should be considered that there was a natural oversaturating of the market, as the public was buying almost everything that was released. Even though some of the bands, who benefited were considered crap by the critics, their albums were bought by the public. Naturally, the market oversaturated and when their next releases came out and it became clear that they aren't on the same scale as some of the bands' previous releases or are the same crap, the public just refused to buy anymore, resulting in many break-ups and burn-outs. This is when the fans turned their attention on more sophisticated acts like Radiohead and The Verve, who were underlooked by the media attention, centered before on Pulp, Suede, Blur and Oasis. These two bands, showed considerable influences by Pink Floyd and R.E.M., that weren't so much found among the Britpop acts' "textbooks". When the Britpop was on the way out, Radiohead and the Verve released their respective 1997 powerful progressive rock albums OK Computer and Urban Hymns, both of which were widely acclaimed. While these albums were Britpop in the sense of being British and popular, neither wore that Britishness or accessability with that particular pride. However, they granted the movement the chance for rolling for some more time.

Eventually, by the late 1990s, the movement was considered to be a spent force musically. The transitional figure here was ex-Take That, Robbie Williams who had his first number 1 hit in 1998. Williams owed much to Britpop (many of his most famous songs being co-written with Guy Chambers ex of Britpop band "The Lemon Trees"), but he represented a move away from rock and towards pop in the music buying public's taste. By the new millenium, girl and boy bands - Backstreet Boys, Sugababes, All Saints, Hanson, S Club 7 and Westlife, as well as solo pop stars like Britney Spears, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and Justin Timberlake dominated the charts, and thus Britpop was over.

Many acts didn't survive the momentum of the movement and disbanded, some evolved stylistically, moving on to other musical territories. Despite the fall of Britpop those few established acts like Oasis, Radiohead, Blur and Supergrass continued to make music and still are enjoying relative popularity among fans and critics. Blur continued to move away from the movement with their subsequent releases, parting company with longtime producer Stephen Street and guitarist Graham Coxon in the process. Ironically a couple of years after Coxon left, he realigned with Street to record his most successful solo records. Oasis remained popular amongst their loyal fanbase, but later albums failed to achieve the heights previously set, and they also suffered the loss of longterm members Bonehead and Guigs in 1999 and longtime serving sticksman Alan White in 2004. Radiohead, never the most strongly associated band with the movement, radically changed their sound with subsequent records and abandoned all semblance of the Britpop style.

Some of the leaders also didn't outlast the movement or colided from internal strife. Suede soldiered on, releasing a couple of more albums, but none managed to show the brilliance that they displayed during their first three albums. This was mainly due to the departure of main songwriter/guitarist Bernard Butler during the recording of Dog Man Star. Suede eventually called it quits in 2003. But not so long after that in 2004 Butler and Anderson reconvened with a new formation called The Tears with an album following the subsequent year. Pulp began an extended hiatus, and The Verve, after losing key guitarist Nick McCabe, also split, although their frontman Richard Ashcroft subsequently forged a semi-successful solo career.

The movement is regarded as a direct continuation of the British Invasions in the 60s and 80s. Although the critical body of the movement isn't as bright as it was towards the work of earlier acts, it is notable as it is the third rock'n'roll musical phenomena, that reached the same level of interest and momentum in Britain. Naturally as in the 60s the original British Invasion and the in the middle 80s punk movement subsided, in the same way the movement died. However, many contemporary musical artists ackwnoledge many of the the initiators and leaders of the Britpop movement as a big inspiration toward their own musical duties. Not so long after the initial wave died, new groups started to appear in early 2000s and naturally the movement transcended into bands, who were strongly influenced by previous sound and were dominant in charts as most of the British rock acts before them.

Bands like Muse, Travis and Coldplay drew inspiration from the earlier sound. Albums such as Showbiz and Absolution (Muse), Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head (Coldplay), and The Man Who and The Invisible Band (Travis) showed lesser or greater Britpop influences. In 2003 and 2004 bigger influx happened of more new acts. Bands such as Athlete, Doves, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, Kaiser Chiefs, The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Kasabian, and Maximo Park showed Britpop influences in their work. Other acts like Elbow, The Libertines, and Keane have also come to the fore, with music influenced by Oasis and Radiohead.

The movement also has the labeled as "the new Liam Gallagher" ex-Libertine and current Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty, who is scandalizing and somehow amuzing the press with his bad boy persona, erratic behaviour, both out and onstage, including increased heroine and crack abuse, everything coupled with a high-profile romance with cocaine-abusing model Kate Moss.

In a similar style these new acts follow their inspirational bands' attitude of attacking each other on the press, sometimes hitting "old-timers", even resulting in division between old fans and new ones. And while the "new guard" unwillingly acknowledges the Britpop influence, behaviour in the press and relationship between old and new acts is rarely kind. The Britpop legacy have remained in Britain and while new acts are not as innovative or instantly smashing as their predecessors, most of them borrow much of the musical roots and stay on the scene for the long run with on-going fan and media attention. There isn't the same sort of hysteria like before, but rather than a strong and constant interest towards these bands, which are pointing new musical teritories and are influencing the next generations and each other as well.