Britpop

Blur







Oasis





Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. 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. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grunge phenomenon from the United States. In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede and Blur launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass and Elastica.

Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.

Britpop bands were influenced by British guitar music of the past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, punk rock and post-punk. Along with The Beatles, the likes of The Kinks, David Bowie, The Who, The Jam, The Small Faces, and countless other "classic" rockers and later bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, XTC, The Psychedelic Furs, and The Smiths, laid the foundation for what would blossom in the late '80s and early '90s as the key popular musical movement of the day. However, influences varied: Blur and Oasis drew from The Kinks and The Beatles, respectively, while Elastica had a fondness for arty punk rock. Regardless, all Britpop artists projected a sense of reverence for the sounds of the past.

Alternative rock acts from the 1980s and early 1990s indie scene were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of The Smiths was common to the majority of Britpop artists.The Madchester scene, fronted by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Inspiral Carpets (for whom Oasis' Noel Gallagher had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was the immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to shoegazing.

Stylistically, Britpop bands relied on catchy hooks and wrote lyrics that were meant to be relevant to British young people of their own generation.Britpop bands conversely denounced shoegazing and grunge as irrelevant and having nothing to say about their lives. Damon Albarn of Blur summed up the attitude in 1993 when after being asked if Blur was an "anti-grunge band" he said, "Well, that's good. If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I'm getting rid of grunge."In spite of the professed disdain for the genres, some elements of both crept into the more enduring facets of Britpop. Noel Gallagher has since championed Ride, and Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys has pointed out Dinosaur Jr's influence on their work. Noel Gallagher stated in a 1996 interview that Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written "Wonderwall".

The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. Music critic Jon Savage asserted that Britpop was "an outer-suburban, middle-class fantasy of central London streetlife, with exclusively metropolitan models."A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by Loaded magazine and lad culture in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The Union Flag also became a prominent symbol of the movement, and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few short years before when former Smiths singer Morrissey performed draped in it.The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.

Oasis' third album Be Here Now (1997) was highly anticipated. Despite initially attracting positive reviews and selling strongly, the record was soon subjected to strong criticism from music critics, record-buyers and even Noel Gallagher himself for its overproduced and bloated sound. Music critic Jon Savage pinpointed Be Here Now as the moment where Britpop ended; Savage said that while the album "isn't the great disaster that everybody says," he noted that "it was supposed to be the big, big triumphal record" of the period.At the same time, Damon Albarn sought to distance Blur from Britpop with the band's fifth album, Blur (1997).[28] On the album, Blur moved away from their Parklife-era sound, and their music began to assimilate American lo-fi influences, particularly that of Pavement. Albarn explained to the NME in January 1997 that "We created a movement: as far as the lineage of British bands goes, there'll always be a place for us", but added, "We genuinely started to see that world in a slightly different way."



As the movement began to slow down in the 1990's, many acts began to falter and broke up.[30] While established acts struggled, attention began to turn to the likes of Radiohead and The Verve, who had been previously overlooked by the British media. These two bands—in particular Radiohead—showed considerably more esoteric influences from the 1960s and 1970s, influences that were uncommon among earlier Britpop acts. In 1997, Radiohead and The Verve released their respective efforts OK Computer and Urban Hymns, both of which were widely acclaimed. However, as Radiohead showed more indie rock influence and prowess, The Verve were seen as more as the last hurrah of Britpop. One of The Verve's most popular songs, Bittersweet Symphony is widely considered a great late Britpop anthem.