Brightpop

It's become accepted wisdom in recent times to say that the mid-90s phenomenon known as Britpop was a bit shit, really, full of crappy chancer bands nicking from the 60s, attaching gloopy string sections to lame tracks to give them a bit of gravitas, recycling insular white British cliches and that the only worthwhile bands in the whole thing were the central triumvirate of Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Apart from that, it set British music back years.

And, to an extent, I've gone along with that a little more than I should have. I moved on to what I thought were better things. Britpop had a part in how I got into music in a big way, I was affectionate towards it, felt nostalgic when I heard Wake Up Boo or something, but was prepared to accept that it wasn't all that.

But I'll tell you what happened. I happened to listen to a bit of the Charlatans. And I didn't just think "Aah, remember the Charlatans, they were fun", I thought "This is really really good". It's eclectic, informed, powerful, rocking, elegant, it's great rock music - it's not just way better than current British bands, it's way better than a lot of the American bands I've been harping on about for the last few years. Yes, I know, the Charlatans aren't a Britpop bands per se, they pre and post-date it, but that's my point really - there are an awful lot of great British bands from the late 80s to the early 2000s who hit a critical and commercial high point in the Britpop years of 94 to 97, and that really was a golden time for British music.

Britpop nicked from the 60s - that's what people say, but I think that's missing the point, it nicked from everything, there were shades of early rock'n'roll, 60s pop, glam rock, punk and new wave, new romanticism and baggy in all the big Britpop bands, it was the first movement that harnessed everything that had gone before so effectively and since then everyone has become so self-conscious about their stylistic influences that the actual songs they write are inhibited as a result. Or, you could say that British guitar bands that have striven for fame since then have either struggled with the idea of borrowing from what's gone before and floundered as a result or borrowed from Britpop itself, which distilled its own influences so well. So you end up with bands like the Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand (fun initially but then drowning in self-consciousness) or, even worse, Scouting for Girls - horrible.

A lot of the great bands i'm talking about might balk at being labelled Britpop, but I suppose everyone balks at being labelled anything - the point is that that was a true golden age for British guitar music and that an awful lot of it still sounds tremendous now. And it made the charts exciting in a way they almost certainly never will be again - the bands you liked had hits ... pretty much every week - the Bluetones at Number 2, Ash at Number 5, Blur at Number 1, The Furries at Number 12, Northern Uproar at Number ... no, even I have standards.

A "Britpop" playlist could go on forever, I'll keep it to the 90s but not limit it much more than that - one or two for each band, probably. These will be the bands that got into the charts, that were there and there abouts in the mid-90s. What were your favourites?

End of a Century - blur
Something for the Weekend - Super Furry Animals
Slight Return - The Bluetones
On and On - The Longpigs
Karma Police - Radiohead
Yes - McAlmont and Butler
Forever - The Charlatans
Ring the Bells - James
Live Forever - Oasis
The Wild Ones - Suede
Something Changed - Pulp
Wake Up Boo - The Boo Radleys
The State that I Am In - Belle and Sebastian
All you Good Good People - Embrace
A Design for Life - Manic Street Preachers
Blueton-c - The Bluetones
Going Out - Supergrass
Kings of the Kerb - Echobelly
Ladykillers - Lush
What Do I Do Now? - Sleeper
Waking Up - Elastica
There She Goes - The Las
Local Boy in the Photograph - Stereophonics
The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve
I'm so Lonely - Cast
Legacy - Mansun
Sunrise - The Divine Comedy
Wonderwall - Oasis
Beetlebum - Blur
Animal Nitrate - Suede
Northern Lites -Super Furry Animals

I'm sure I've missed loads of little treats - I've done it pretty much off the top of my head.

So, incidentally, I think the first Britpop song is 'There She Goes' and the "death" of Britpop was Oasis releasing Do You Know What I Mean as the a-side to the first single from 'Be Here Now' and Stay Young as the b-side. And now I'm going to listen to some Space ...