Simon Price
Staying at home being a socially responsible virus *eradicator*, I have the urge for Britpop – were you a Blur or Oasis fan? A bit like the Beatles or Rolling Stones, it defined you. Maybe the 90s is a blurry oasis now – I was definitely a Blur person and I think Damon Albarn has showed his talent and range since. But boy oh boy was this a time for music! My formative musical years: CD was on the rise to its 2000 peak, none of the *nonsense* fragmentation of formats nowadays. You either *mainly* bought CDs, or well… you missed the whole Britpop thing. Either way, listen afresh or recount some favourites here. Hit the links to the classic tracks playlist below, or read on;
Not having so many formats meant simplicity but it also meant there was undoubtedly more cash in the music business till. The Internet hadn’t come along and no pikey cheapskate was going to nick a pirate of your favourite artists music…unless that is, you were still taping CDs. Cheeky I know – but we loved it!
But whereas on the other side of the pond was all about grunge – Pearl Jam, Guns N’ Roses and Metallica, we had just come off the back of the Madchester scene of groups like Happy Mondays.
What is Britpop, according to a well known online encyclopedia?… Well it says; “Britpop was a mid-1990s UK-based music and culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the UK’s own shoegazing music scene.” Being reactionary is maybe taking it a bit far ; as I think we all loved each others music on either side of the pond. It certainly was catchy though.
So I’m not going to be responsible for missing any albums or tracks out here! ;). I’m trying to pick the ones I liked at the time. Sorry Ocean Colour Scene, The Lightning Seeds, Stereophonics or Suede doesn’t get a mention. I’m more of a Pulp, Blur, Radiohead, and Portishead type person. Call me commercial but these groups get the songwriting alpha waves flowing.
OK some of these tracks might be pushing it for Britpop – some might not actually be British and others are jaywalking, right out of the era! But I’ve too tried to pick lesser played tracks from the main Britpop albums and less well known tracks like Indian Vibes – a Mathar & Paul Weller collaboration. Also some classics from other genres of the time, plus more recent work by Damon Albarn such as the film score 101 Reykjavik and music from his Everyday Robots Album. The acoustic melody of Dogs Are Everywhere by Pulp is a lesser known track of theirs – I’m not sure what Jarvis Cocker was referring to though?
Check out my playlist on Tidal here and Qobuz here.
Tell me what you think – have I missed any favourite groups of yours?
Saving in your App means you can then play in Roon, if you use this software.
Remember to click on the hashtag below called Music Playlist to find my other playlists.
Some other playlists;
Neoclassical Gems here
Acid Jazz here
Acid House here
Downtempo Electronica 2010-2020 here
