[markl]

Well, the Roses were more part of that baggy/madchester, let's all drop some E and dance all night scene, with Happy Mondays, the Charlatans UK, The Farm on the "rock" side and all those techno bands on the more "dance" side that started to fade just a Brit-Pop started taking off. Really, New Order were the genesis of all that, and the baggy/madchester thing was its tail end with the Roses.

 

[uncle b]

Just picked up a great NME Special Edition magazine on BritPop here at Border's Books and Music in the US. Many great article and review reprints, definitely brought back many memories and sent me scramblin' for some of the tunes!

 

[bong]

i think The La's carries the Britpop tradition a bit more than Stone Roses or Happy Mondays, though i have to agree The Stone Roses is a better album than The La's. however, if we're talking about the official birth of modern Britpop, fingers point to two albums from 1993... one hugely successful and one a commercial flop, but both highly influential to the genre: Suede's self titled debut and Blur's sophomore Modern Life is Rubbish.

in the early 90's, the UK went through a couple of music scenes that didn't really identify with. Madchester was great at the time but then The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays self-disintegrated... Charlatans and James evolved into more Britpop-ish music, and Inspiral Carpets disbanded shortly afterwards. Shoegazing was deemed boring by the press (it wasn't boring but much of the artists weren't entirely interesting with their Public Image), a few Shoegazing bands evolved into Britpop anyway, most noticably The Boo Radleys and Lush; and American Grunge was something to fill the gap.

by the time Suede was named "The Best Band in the UK" when they have not released a single note of music and Blur made a drastic reinvention just after one album, Britpop had arrived. everything just started rolling from there.

as for the top 10 essential Britpop albums, i'll take these (i'm doing this as i go along so i might unintentionally leave out some stuff, LOL)

Suede - Suede
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Blur - Parklife
Elastica - Elastica
Pulp - Different Class
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Radiohead - The Bends
Boo Radleys - Wake Up!
Gene - Olympian
Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go

i've also wrote this in my blog on the anniversary of the "Blur vs. Oasis" rivalry for the top of the UK singles charts, if anyone's interested in reading it.
http://bong801.blogs.friendster.com/...gia_aka_a.html

oh, and that NME special edition is great... i just might have to pick up a copy before they sell out. another great special edition i can't put down was the Synth-pop Special Edition from Mojo earlier this summer.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bong as for the top 10 essential Britpop albums, i'll take these (i'm doing this as i go along so i might unintentionally leave out some stuff, LOL) Suede - Suede Oasis - Definitely Maybe Blur - Parklife Elastica - Elastica Pulp - Different Class Supergrass - I Should Coco Radiohead - The Bends Boo Radleys - Wake Up! Gene - Olympian Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go

OMG.......I have never heard of "Gene" before, better check it out

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bong ...as for the top 10 essential Britpop albums, i'll take these (i'm doing this as i go along so i might unintentionally leave out some stuff, LOL) Suede - Suede Oasis - Definitely Maybe Blur - Parklife Elastica - Elastica Pulp - Different Class Supergrass - I Should Coco Radiohead - The Bends Boo Radleys - Wake Up! Gene - Olympian Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go

Fun list bong, although many of those sound kind of dated to me these days. I'd definitely drop a few (Radiohead is britpop? Hmmmm...) and add the two I mentioned, The La's and Shack's similarly excellent Waterpistol, and I'd also have to add Super Furry Animals Radiator, even though it's a couple years later than most on you list. Got a nice 2-cd reissue this year too, and the new SACD is out now for Love Kraft to keep the light on

 

[bong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davey Fun list bong, although many of those sound kind of dated to me these days. I'd definitely drop a few (Radiohead is britpop? Hmmmm...) and add the two I mentioned, The La's and Shack's similarly excellent Waterpistol, and I'd also have to add Super Furry Animals Radiator, even though it's a couple years later than most on you list. Got a nice 2-cd reissue this year too, and the new SACD is out now for Love Kraft to keep the light on

heh, maybe Radiohead might be a bit of a stretch as Britpop, maybe i'll substitute that with Mansun's Attack of the Grey Lantern. i kinda kept the list between 1993-1997, which is really the main Britpop years... by 1998 the Britpop party had all but died.



Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel OMG.......I have never heard of "Gene" before, better check it out

DA, i think you'll really like Gene. they might sound a LOT like The Smiths upon first listen, but they also have a lot of influences from The Jam, Queen, and old school motown. they had huge momentum when they debuted in 1995, with the their debut Olympian, arguably their best album, singer Martin Rossiter gave hugely smart and witty interviews much like Morrissey (the press even nicknamed him "The Rozzer" after Morrissey's "The Mozzer"), and even had the ex-Smiths singer endorse the band. Gene went on to win "Best New Band" at the BRAT awards, but couldn't keep the momentum with their second album Drawn to the Deep End.

that said, Olympian is a quintessential Britpop album.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bong DA, i think you'll really like Gene. they might sound a LOT like The Smiths upon first listen, but they also have a lot of influences from The Jam, Queen, and old school motown. they had huge momentum when they debuted in 1995, with the their debut Olympian, arguably their best album, singer Martin Rossiter gave hugely smart and witty interviews much like Morrissey (the press even nicknamed him "The Rozzer" after Morrissey's "The Mozzer"), and even had the ex-Smiths singer endorse the band. Gene went on to win "Best New Band" at the BRAT awards, but couldn't keep the momentum with their second album Drawn to the Deep End. that said, Olympian is a quintessential Britpop album.

OK situation has been corrected.......got both Olympian & Deep End for total $6.30 used at Amazon

 

[taylor]

I like this band "Pet Shop Boys", 1986 british pop. I was listening to some weird radio station at like 3AM and they're like "Next is Pet Shop Boys" and they played a song and I'm like "This stuff is pretty cool" so I got this 3 cd collection consisting of 32 tracks. Some are better than others, but overall, I really like it. I need to check out The La's.

 

[zoboomofo]

Hey bong. I was devastated to be flat broke on Thursday when the Kasabian/Jet/Oasis show went on (school fees). I'll have payday between now and some interesting US and Swedish acts though

< www.straight.com concerts >

Current favorite Las track = Looking Glass. It kind of reminds me of some lost 80s tune by Crowded House/The Cult/World Party.

The thing that I found so nice about this album at first was how well it fit in with old stuff like Merseybeat. Upon further listening, I could feel the sense of wonder and swirling guitars. It makes listening to Oasis' Definitely Maybe that much better.

I hope the Las reunion is a fruitful one. Those geezers must have some new tunes for us after so many years.

Maybe I'm the geezer here. I can't seem to get the current crop of music. I need 60s sensibilities, playful melodies, and something I can sing along to. I'll check out these recommendations that DA picked up. I don't know if this helps the thread, but Reni and Mani from The Stone Roses endorse The Coral. I've just been too lazy to try them.

 

[ssportclay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bong i think The La's carries the Britpop tradition a bit more than Stone Roses or Happy Mondays, though i have to agree The Stone Roses is a better album than The La's. however, if we're talking about the official birth of modern Britpop, fingers point to two albums from 1993... one hugely successful and one a commercial flop, but both highly influential to the genre: Suede's self titled debut and Blur's sophomore Modern Life is Rubbish. in the early 90's, the UK went through a couple of music scenes that didn't really identify with. Madchester was great at the time but then The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays self-disintegrated... Charlatans and James evolved into more Britpop-ish music, and Inspiral Carpets disbanded shortly afterwards. Shoegazing was deemed boring by the press (it wasn't boring but much of the artists weren't entirely interesting with their Public Image), a few Shoegazing bands evolved into Britpop anyway, most noticably The Boo Radleys and Lush; and American Grunge was something to fill the gap. by the time Suede was named "The Best Band in the UK" when they have not released a single note of music and Blur made a drastic reinvention just after one album, Britpop had arrived. everything just started rolling from there. as for the top 10 essential Britpop albums, i'll take these (i'm doing this as i go along so i might unintentionally leave out some stuff, LOL) Suede - Suede Oasis - Definitely Maybe Blur - Parklife Elastica - Elastica Pulp - Different Class Supergrass - I Should Coco Radiohead - The Bends Boo Radleys - Wake Up! Gene - Olympian Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go i've also wrote this in my blog on the anniversary of the "Blur vs. Oasis" rivalry for the top of the UK singles charts, if anyone's interested in reading it. http://bong801.blogs.friendster.com/...gia_aka_a.html oh, and that NME special edition is great... i just might have to pick up a copy before they sell out. another great special edition i can't put down was the Synth-pop Special Edition from Mojo earlier this summer.

I am a big fan of britpop but this stuff is nothing new.
Britpop classics from thr 60s:
The Kinks:
Face to Face
Something Else By the Kinks
The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society

 

[ssportclay]

So if the Kinks were the Britpop band of the 60s the next question is
who was the Britpop band of the 70s?The answer is The Jam.Britpop
goes from the Kinks to the Jam to Oasis.

 

[elrod-tom]

Well, this thread needs a well-deserved bump...

I've been digging on the La's all over again since I picked up the Deluxe Edition of the S/T album. I've not had time yet to give a listen to the bonus disc...anyone else??

 

[Stephen_Ri]

While I think "There She Goes" to be one of the best pop songs ever recorded, and "Timeless Melody" to be almost as good, half of the The La's is quite weak. But the other half surely worth the price of the album.

 

[donunus]

Seems like the sound quality difference between the one with bonus tracks is very minimal compared to the original version

 

[Spy_Hill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ssportclay /img/forum/go_quote.gif So if the Kinks were the Britpop band of the 60s the next question is who was the Britpop band of the 70s?The answer is The Jam.Britpop goes from the Kinks to the Jam to Oasis.

Definitely the Jam. Throw Jesus and Mary Chain and/or Echo and the Bunnymen in for the 80s and you've got another decade covered.