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The rise and fall of Britpop during the 90s

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, 2014
Contents
Introducton
.......................................
........ 2
What s Brtpop
.......................................
..... 3
Stye, roots and nuences
....................................... 4
Orgns and rst years
.......................................
... 5
The rse of Brtpop
.......................................
..... 6
Oass and other most notabe Brtpop bands...
........................... 7
Fashon durng the Brtpop era
.................................... 9
The fa of Brtpop
.......................................
..... 10
1
Post-Brtpop
.......................................
........ 11
Concuson
.......................................
......... 12
References
.......................................
......... 13
2
Introduction
I partcuary chose to wrte about the Brtpop era because ts one of my
favourte genres. Oasss Cast No Shadow was the song that had caught my
ear at the rst stenng. Ever snce then, I had become nterested to expore
the bands from the Brtpop era. My payst has conssted of songs from
bands such as Oass, Bur, Pup, Manc Street Preachers, and from other
bands that were dened as Brtpop, athough I must admt I woud ater be
much more nterested n stenng to post-Brtpop musc by bands that were
heavy nuenced by the Brtpop acts.
I thnk ts mportant for me to tak about the Brtpop and ts rse and fa
because wthout t we woudnt be abe to en|oy some of the nest songs
such as Wonderwall by Oass, Country House by Bur, Common People by
Pup and other, cassc Brtsh anthems. Aso the Brtpop musc heped n
shapng up the next musc era n the UK. Many acts have been nuenced by
Brtpop artsts who w then be an nuence to other muscans, and that s
how the Brtpop musc w never fade despte ts endng n 1997 wth the
reease of Oasss abum Be Here Now.
Here, I w be takng about Brtpop and ts creaton, the musc that was
created whch conssted of yrcs that were meant to be reevant to Brtsh
young peope at that tme. W w menton the orgns of the Brtpop, the
bands that nuenced ths subgenre, as we as the bands that created
hstory, makng ths subgenre so popuar that made papers, both tabods
and broadsheets, wrte about a batte between two very famous Brtsh
bands n a week where there woud be much more mportant thngs
happenng, ke Saddam Hussen preparng nucear weapons for exampe.
To sum everythng up, the era of the Brtpop was the tme durng whch
many peope had en|oyed some of ther best years n ther fe and that had
become a sort of festye for many of those peope who were vng n the UK.
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Most mportanty, ths was the tme when the UK produced some of the nest
musc ever. As a genre Brtpop woud nspre many bands who woud not |ust
become popuar n the Unted States, but n most countres n the word.
What is Britpop?
Brtpop was the name used to descrbe aternatve rock bands n the 90s
n the UK. In other words t was a subgenre of aternatve rock that orgnated
n the Unted Kngdom. It was charactersed by bands nuenced by Brtsh
gutar pop musc of the 1960s and 1970s. When the decade began, Amercan
grunge (Nrvana, Soundgarden and Pear |am) rued the UK charts. Brtpop
as a movement deveoped as a reacton aganst varous musca and cutura
trends, partcuary the grunge phenomenon from the Unted States. In the
wake of the musca nvason nto the Unted Kngdom of Amercan grunge
bands, new Brtsh groups such as Suede and Bur aunched the movement
by postonng themseves as opposng musca forces by wrtng about
unquey Brtsh topcs and concerns. These bands were soon |oned by
others ncudng Oass, Pup, Supergrass, Eastca and many others.
Suede s argey credted wth kckng oh Brtpop n the sprng of 1992
wth the snge "The Drowners. Brtpop reay started to take oh n 1993.
Suedes ead snger famousy graced the cover of Select magazne wth the
headne "Yanks Go Home!" In the documentary Live orever! |ournast |on
Savage cams that Brtpop happened as a reacton to the domnaton of
Amercan pop cuture n the UK. Burs Damon Abarn once sad that f punk
was about gettng rd of hppes, he was about gettng rd of grunge.
If a band was from the UK, they automatcay got assocated wth
Brtpop. Regardess of ther musca stye, those bands were part of the
Brtpop scene whether they wanted to be or not. Mansun
were a prme exampe of that.
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Damon Abarn was probaby the bggest Brtpop con that woud make
yrca dgs at Amercan musc and cuture. He, aong wth the other Bur
members wrote a song caed "Son" # whch was meant to make fun of the
ack of meanng n the ma|orty of popuar Amercan musc. It was more sort
of a parody song, but qute ronc, that song went on to top the charts n the
UK and become Burs most recognzed song n the USA and wordwde.
Damon Albarn
t!le" roots and in#uences
Brtpop bands were nuenced by Brtsh gutar musc of the past,
partcuary movements and genres such as the Brtsh nvason, gam and
punk rock. Bur credted The Knks wth some of ther nspraton whst Oass
were sad to be |ust a Beate rp-oh or smpy "The Words Greatest Beates
Cover Band." The nuence of The Smths was common to the ma|orty of
Brtpop artsts. The Madchester scene, fronted by bands such as The Stone
Roses, Happy Mondays and Inspra Carpets was the mmedate root of
Brtpop. Addtonay, the nuence of the post-punk groups coud be heard n
many of the Brtpop groups.
$ The Beatles $ The %in&s
Brtpop groups were dened by beng focused on bands rather than soo
artsts; havng drums/bass/gutar/vocas (and sometmes keyboards) ne-ups;
wrtng orgna matera and payng nstruments themseves; sngng n
regona Brtsh accents. They reed on catchy hooks and wrote yrcs that
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were meant to be reevant to Brtsh young peope of ther own generaton.
Accordng to them, grunge had smpy nothng to say about ther ves.
The magery assocated wth Brtpop was equay Brtsh and
workng cass. A rse n unabashed maeness woud be a bg
part of the Brtpop era. The Unon |ack aso became a bg
symbo of the movement and ts use as a symbo of prde
and natonasm contrasted deepy wth the controversy that
erupted |ust a few years before when Smths
snger Morrssey performed draped n t. The emphass on
Brtsh reference ponts made t dmcut for the genre to acheve success n
the USA. 'orrisse! on stage
(rigins and )rst !ears
The orgns of Brtpop e prmary n the nde scene of the eary 1990s,
and n partcuar around a group of bands nvoved n a vbrant soca scene
focused n the Camden Town area of London. Some members of those bands
woud go on to pay a eadng part n Brtpop. |ournast |ohn Harrs has
suggested that Brtpop began when Bur's snge "Popscene" and Suede's
"The Drowners" were reeased around the same tme n the sprng of 1992.
Suede were the rst of the new crop of gutar-orentated bands to be
embraced by the UK musc meda as Brtan's answer to the grunge nvason
from the Unted States that ed the vod eft n the nde scene by The Stone
Roses nactvty. Ther debut abum Suede became the fastest-seng debut
abum n the hstory of the UK.
Bur went tourng n the USA that nspred Damon
Abarn to tak about ther cutures nuence to Brtsh
peope. He thought that
they were too nterested
n Amercan musc so he
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fet ke hs band had to do somethng about t and to return back the
Brtshness. They dd wth ther abums $odern Li%e &s 'u((ish *1993) and
Par)li%e (1994) but t was Oass who wth the reease of ther De*nitely
$ay(e abum broke Suedes record for fastest-seng debut abum.
Instant success - Definitely Maybe
The movement was soon dubbed Brtpop. The term "Brtpop" had been
used n the ate 1980s referrng to bands such as The La's, The Stone Roses,
Inspra Carpets and The Brdewe Taxs). "Brtpop" arose around the same
tme as the term "Brtart" (whch referred to the work of Brtsh modern
artsts). However, t woud not be unt 1994 when the term entered the
popuar conscousness, beng wdey used by the musc press and rado D|s.
Many new bands emerged at that tme ncudng Seeper, Supergrass,
Menswear, Eastca and many others.
The rise of Britpop
Brtpop had aready been qute popuar among Brtsh peope when a
chart batte between Bur and Oass caed "The Batte of Brtpop" brought
Brtpop to the forefront of the Brtsh press n 1995. The bands had ntay
prased each other but over the course of the year antagonsms between the
two ncreased. The groups became engaged n what the NME dubbed on the
cover of ts 12 August ssue the "Brtsh Heavyweght Champonshp" wth
the pendng reease of Oass snge "'oll With &t! and Burs "Country
House" on the same day. Oass were taken as representng the North of
Engand, whe Bur represented the South. The event caught the pubc's
magnaton and ganed mass meda attenton n natona newspapers,
tabods, and even the BBC News+ The NME wrote about the phenomenon,
"Yes, n a week where news eaked that Saddam Hussen was preparng
nucear weapons, everyday foks were st gettng saughtered n Bosna and
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Mke Tyson was makng hs comeback, tabods and broadsheets ake went
Brtpop crazy."
Bur won the batte of the bands,
seng 274,000 copes to Oass' 216,000 -
the songs chartng at number one and
number two respectvey. However, n the
ong run Oass became more
commercay successfu than Bur. Unke
Bur, Oass were abe to acheve sustaned
saes n the Unted States thanks to the
snges "Wonderwall" and "Champa"ne
Supernova".
It s mportant to menton that Noe
Gaagher - Oass and Damon Abarn
Bur, omcay put ther Brt Pop rvary to
bed and made hstory as they performed
together on stage ast year at the
Teenage Cancer Trust Gg.
Blur ma! ha,e -on the battle" but the! ha,ent -on the -ar
(asis and other notable Britpop bands
$ (asis
Oass reeased ther second abum caed What+s The Story $ornin"
,lory n 1995 that eventuay sod over four mon copes n the UK,
becomng the thrd best-seng abum n
Brtsh hstory. Ther abum contaned
many ht snges ncudng -Champa"ne
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Supernova that peaked at number one on the modern US rock chart.
(asis performing at %ne-borth
By the summer of 1996 Oass's promnence was such that N$. termed a
number of Brtpop bands (ncudng Ocean Coour Scene and Cast) as
"Noerock", ctng Gaagher's nuence on ther success. As ther career
reached ts zenth, Oass performed back-to-back concerts at Knebworth on
10 and 11 August. The band sod out both shows wthn mnutes. The
audence of 250,000 peope over two nghts (2.5 mon peope apped for
tckets, and 375,000 were actuay sod,) was at the tme a record-breakng
number for an outdoor concert hed n the UK, and to ths day the argest
demand for a show n Brtsh hstory.
$ (ther most notable Britpop bands
Some of the other famous bands from the Brtpop era are Ash, Eastca, Pup,
Suede, Supergrass etc.

.lastica /ulp uede
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uede
Suede kck started the Brt-pop revouton of the '90s, brngng Engsh
nde pop/rock musc away from the swrng ayers of shoegazng and dance-
pop fusons of Madchester. Before the band had even reeased a snge, the
U.K. weeky musc press was procamng them as the "Best New Band n
Brtan," but Suede managed to survve ther heavy hype due to the
songwrtng team of vocast Brett Anderson and gutarst Bernard Buter.
Suedes 1993 debut abum became the fastest-seng rst abum n U.K.
hstory. Though they had rocketed to the top n the U.K., Suede were unabe
to get themseves heard n Amerca.
/ulp
Most bands ht the bg tme mmedatey and fade
away, or they bud a dedcated foowng and sowy
cmb ther way to the top. Pup ddnt foow ether
route. For the rst 12 years of ther exstence,
Pup have reeased a handfu of abums and snges n
the '80s to barey any attenton. At the turn of the
decade, the group began to gan an audence and
became one of the most popuar Brtsh groups of the
'90s
0ar,is Coc&er gracing 1'.s front page
.lastica
Eastca were a band formed n October, 1992
|ustne Frschmann formed the band shorty
after eavng Suede. Eastcas sef-tted rst
abum became the fastest-seng debut n the
U.K., beatng the record set by Oasss
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De*nitely $ay(e al(um ony seven months earer. Eastcas ony ht snge
n the USA was "Connection. J.
Frischmann had a brief relationship with Damon Albarn
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2ashion during the Britpop era
Brtpop was qute popuar among peope n the UK. Especay because
sngng about suburban Engand, osng money on frut machnes and greasy
spoon cafeteras was somethng most Brtsh peope coud reate to. It
remnded peope both of ther own ves and aso of the musc that had
soundtracked those ves 10 years before. The bands seemed to start takng
about peopes ves n the country as they were ved and thngs that peope
were famar wth. Peope were thrsty for the catchy songs and yrcs that
coud be easy remembered.
Band members as we as fans had a casua and smart dress code wth both
boys and grs favourng Fred Perry poo shrts and Doc
Marten boots.
To keep themseves warm, apart from Fred Perry poo
shrts, Brtpop stars woud usuay wear a parka or nvest
n a Harrngton |acket. Brtpop ads usuay wore trousers
or |eans but Brtpop grs seemed to favor sknny |eans
and eggngs. In fact, t was more mportant what knd of
shoes you wore. If Brtpop had a footwear sponsor t
woud most certany be Doc Martens. Noe Gaagher seemed to prefer
Addas Samba soccer shoes and Rchard Ashcroft from The Verve famousy
wore a par of dessert boots.
3iam 4allagher in a par&a
The Brtpop grs, same as the ads, took stye
cues from the 60s. They wore A-ne mn dresses or
skrts. In terms of harstyes, there werent any
specc harcuts apart from the shaggy nspred by
Pau Weer whe he was wth The |am. For the grs t
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was everythng - from short cuts to ong and brghty cooured har. Some
woud be remembered for wearng some questonabe outts (|arvs Cocker
sprngs to mnd).

/aul Wellers shagg! hairst!le
The fall of Britpop
Weve taked about Brtpops orgns, true meanng, ts gory years and
notabe artsts but theres one queston thats been eft unanswered who
was to bame for the end of such a great era? The nger of bame s most
often ponted at Oass 1997 reease Be Here Now. Be Here Now s a strange
case though whst prevous record (What+s The Story?) $ornin" ,lory was
met wth a mxed recepton when t was rst reeased, but s now regarded
as perhaps Oass nest moment, Be Here Now went
competey the opposte way.
Everyone expected the abum to be Oasss bg,
trumpha record but t hadnt turned out that way.
Its ths expectaton that, ookng at t now, crpped
Brtpop. Oass beat Bur n the great Batte of Brtpop
but when the pressure was on ther shouders, they
faed to dever, mosty because of ther addcton wth drugs. Even Noe
Gaagher hmsef sad that the abum sounded ke a bunch of guys on coke
n the studo.
Be Here Now 1ot the fans fa,ourite+
Yes, Be Here Now was expected to be hghy successfu and nsprng
other bands but had other bands remaned strong, the scene coud have
survved. Unfortunatey, Oass werent the ony "bunch of guys on coke". Pup
front-man |arvs Cocker succumbed to the trappngs of fame foowng the
enormous, unseen success of Dherent Cass, and eventuay competey
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avodng the ceebrty festye whch, of course, ed to one of ther best
reeases, This &s Hardcore. But that wasnt unt March, 1998, and by that
pont, Brtpop had been amost dead. Bur coud have pcked up the crown
and ran wth t but much ke |arvs Cocker, they had aso gven n to the
muttude of peasures that present themseves to men n ther poston.
Damon Abarn had a bref rtaton wth heron and a of the other members
apart from ther drummer had probems n ther prvate fe. As the
movement began to sow down, many acts began to fater and broke up.
So, Be Here Now coud argey be credted wth draggng the whoe scene
down.
At the same tme, Damon Abarn sought to dstance Bur from Brtpop
wth the band's fth abum, Blur. On the abum, Bur moved away from
ther Par)li%e -era sound, and ther musc began to assmate Amercan o-
nuences. Abarn expaned to the N$. n |anuary 1997 that "We created a
movement: as far as the neage of Brtsh bands goes, there' aways be a
pace for us", but added, "We genuney started to see that word n a sghty
dherent way."
The Gaagher brothers eft the pubc hangng and
that's how they had opened the door for more
chaengng and exctng musc. The pubc wanted t,
and they got t, from Radohead and from The Verve
who had prevousy been overooked by the meda. By
the tme Oass had got t together and reeased ther
next good abum, Standin" on the Shoulders o% ,iants, n 2000, the tde had
turned. They st had ther fan base, but the wdespread pubc accam
wasnt there.

3iam 4allagher $ (asis
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The pubc had moved on, theyd had enough of egotstc rock stars who
were messng around nstead of gvng them the musc they wanted. The
rock stars ked Brtpop.
/ost$Britpop
Post-Brtpop s a sub-genre of Brtsh aternatve rock, made up of bands
that emerged n the aftermath of Brtpop,
nuenced by acts ke Pup, Oass and Bur,
but wth ess overty Brtsh concerns n
ther yrcs and makng more use of nde
nuences. Post-Brtpop bands ke that had
been estabshed acts, but ganed greater
promnence after the decne of Brtpop,
such as Radohead and The Verve.
tereophonics are one of Waless )nest roc& bands+
There aso were new acts ke Travs, Keane, Feeder and partcuary Codpay.
They acheved much wder nternatona success than most of the Brtpop
group that had preceded them.
Conclusion
They say that Brtpop never reay ded and that bands such as Kaser
Chefs, Razorght, The Lbertnes and many others that were formed n the
2000s were actuay a second wave of Brtpop. In fact, some of the Brtpop
bands have reunted recenty. Bur reunted for some ggs at Londons Hyde
Park and t was a great success. In my persona opnon I thnk that s a great
dea as ong as bands re-form to create somethng new and not |ust for the
sake of t so they can earn some money by reyng on ther od gory.
15
Blur performing at the (l!mpics closing ceremon! till going strong 5
uede -or&ing on a ne- album
The new waves of Brtsh groups from Vva Brother to wunderknd |ake
Bugg are heavy nuenced by the Brtpop sound and stye. Every muscan
ooks on the Brtpop era wth dherent eyes. Some oved t and some thought
they had taken t too serousy. However, ts a non-arguabe fact that the
musc produced durng that era sounded great. It may not have been that
successfu wordwde but t st rocked.
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.sang Lam Gaagher famousy, but t aso appes to Brtpop. Great musc
never des!
6eferences
Wkpeda
1. http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Brtpop
2. http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Post-Brtpop
3. http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Oass
Brtpopnews
1. http://brtpopnews.com/what-s-brtpop/
2. http://brtpopnews.com/what-s-brtpop-fashon/
Mddemusc
1. http://mddemusc.net/wp/?p=2164
The Guardan
1. http://www.theguardan.com/musc/2005/aug/12/pup.p
opandrock

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