The Ultimate Haven Genre Playlist: #1 - Britpop

[Whitneyfan]

I thought it would be interesting to get together and try and compile an ultimate playlist of, say 60 songs which put together the most important and defining tracks from a particular genre. I've started with Britpop as I know it has a lot of fans on here, but I'm unsure of how to go about it. I thought maybe first we should decide which years should be covered and then everybody just throws their suggestions in until we have what we think is a good list. Then, through discussions, we trim the list down (and maybe add in a few we have forgotten) to make the ultimate 60.

Obviously we need a nice spread of different artists (we don't just want 30 each of Blur and Oasis tracks in the final list), but to start with you can throw in as many as you like.

Any ideas first on what years should be covered? I was thinking maybe 1992-1997, but I'm no expect on this particular genre. Or should we just start throwing in songs and see where we end up? Or do you just think it's a bad idea altogether?

[borneoman]

good idea, it's 93-97 according to wiki but I actually thought it had finished later

[Smurfie]

I did too, but maybe it was just a handful of bands spilled over and kept going, unlike the Seahorses, Supernaturals, and Menswears of that era. Not my strongest subject - but good idea. Happy to chip in.

[TheThorne]

I thought Brit Pop officially started with this cover of Select





the bands that start Brit Pop as of April 1993 according to them were Suede, Auteurs,Pulp, Saint Etienne and Denim

Brit Pop was still very much in full swing in 1998, 1999 was really a transition year before things started to go a bit wrong for indie and alternative music in 2000. Brit Pop ended with Gay Dad imo so 1999.

[raliverpool]

In my view Britpop started by the release of:



which saw a Stuart Maconie single review of said 30 March 1992 released track described as a rejection of US Grunge sound & lyrical nihilism for a modern day throwback to the classic 1960s UK beat groups and nationalistic social commentary which could be described as Brit Pop; quickly followed by the debut Suede single release "The Drowners" .... and ended with the release of the cocaine bloated Oasis "Be Here Now" album (released 21st August 1997) quickly followed a few days later by the national comedown of the Death of Diana Princess of Wales; with The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" which debuted on the chart in the last week of June 1997 being the last true Britpop classic single release; as the corresponding "Urban Hymns" album has been described as the first classic Post Brit Pop album, along with its second single "The Drugs Don't Work" bbeing described as the first classic Post Britpop single as it heralded the oncoming The New Acoustic Movement (Travis; Turin Breaks; Badly Drawn Boy; Coldplay).

Whilst post Britpop bands such as Stereophonics; Embrace; Feeder; Ash; etc represented the newer Lad Culture of the FHM reading; Stella swigging; making the whole thing seem about booze, banter and boorishness.

Hence, If I was doing a playlist I would look to the UK charts, and do it is chronological order between those two dates, ensuring a maximum of 5 tracks by one act (e.g. for Oasis: Live Forever; Some Might Say; Wonderwall; Don't Look Back In Anger; & Champagne Supernova).

[borneoman]

I kinda imagined it started with suede

but when did it finish?

[Earl Purple]

I did a Britpop special when I used to do radio a long time ago. It was something I streamed and would play the songs on winamp.

Due to myself having bought the entire Shine collection plus various other CDs over that era I had a lot of britpop songs to play.

I was surprised how much Shed 7 I had and how aside from two or three they weren't that good. I generally consider Britpop to have been in the years 1994 until the first few months of 1998. So it included Catatonia's two biggest hits.

[TheThorne]

Mar 3, 2018 20:14:14 GMT 1 borneoman said:

I kinda imagined it started with suede

but when did it finish?

I always took it that it officially finished with Gay Dads 2nd single. 'To Earth With Love' was huge, then nothing in 99. That was Brit Pop dead, It was kind of in a coma for most of 98-99 I guess.

I was running an Indie Club night from 1998-2002 and it got tough in 1999. Nobody wanted to hear Brit Pop anymore, expect the really drunk lads, we really had to change the music policy playing much more dance,electronica, more underground indie and hip hop.  Although we did kind of expect that as our club night was called 'Intergalactic'. 

[Smurfie]

I honestly thought the whole Suede arrival kicked it off - but seeing that magazine cover reminded me of how terrible that Denim album was. I’m not sure I would say Saint Etienne were either - but I guess you could argue the same as some of the 4AD roster.

[Smurfie]

Mar 3, 2018 20:14:14 GMT 1 borneoman said:

I kinda imagined it started with suede

but when did it finish?

When they ran out of materials for band names.

[Earl Purple]

Death of Britpop.

Media were too keen to kill it and move on to something new. Radio stations would only play music on major labels and a lot of the bands producing the best music were not. Fierce Panda was a record label that had a lot of the best bands, including Coldplay, but until they moved to a major they got no airplay.

There was some TV exposure through Chris Evans' show TFI Friday but it didn't lead to the bands on it getting hit singles, and a lot of the time it was simply because they were on small labels, low distribution and not enough copies to get into the chart even if they sold out.

Ultrasound appeared to be the new "big thing" - they were quite popular, their single "Stay Young" reached #30 in 1998 but there was too much friction within the band. Their album had its moments but had too much fill and didn't have "I'll Show You Mine" on it, a song they also didn't play when I saw them live which disappointed me. The album entered the chart at #23 but then dropped straight out. They pulled out of Reading/Leeds.

Some of the bands that had already been around at Britpop time had more success in 1999 than before, in particular Travis and Stereophonics, but we didn't see new acts emerging. Astrid should have been big but suffered from being around at the wrong time and not on the right label. And then there was my favourite, the Clint Boon Experience, but by 1998-99, new bands by ex-members of old bands didn't work anymore in the media. Their reputation grew as they played decent sized venues and got a handful of top 75 hits, and were also on TFI Friday but were also on the wrong label.

[Smurfie]

I’m not sure they were keen to cull it - just turned it into something else. Hence, the Spice Girls. They carried on the Brit feel about this era.

Fierce Panda was a back to basics with the likes of Coldplay and Snow Patrol.

[Earl Purple]

I forgot to mention my other favourite new band of that era, Ooberman, whose album The Magic Treehouse was just one of the greatest albums of all time. And fortunately they are now on Spotify That took a while.

They were the first band I introduced to Carol when I met her and took her to see them.

[Smurfie]

Blossoms Falling was a great track!!

[borneoman]

For me st etienne are not brit pop at all
And they pre-date brit pop

[Smurfie]

So do Pulp (but they made the transition over like Lush) they were just lumped into that category for Selects slightly one sided musical opinion of the next big thing, which actually was a big thing just not some of the artists they named. Saint Etienne we’re always Indie Pop, albeit a cooler less money maker of clever pop like PSB.

[TheThorne]

The Auteurs were Brit Pop though just their singer Luke Haines decided that he didn't want to be a star and they went very uncommercial. 'Showgirl' was a underrated masterpiece of the genre

[Razzle Dazzle]

I would say upto 98/99, there were some great Britpop/post Britpop tracks in the late 90's that would be cut off if the date is set at 1997

Shed Seven - She Left Me on Friday
Shed Seven - Disco Down
Kula Shaker - Sound of Drums
Kula Shaker - Mystical Machine Gun
The Bluetones - If
The Bluetones - Autophilia
The Bluetones - Keep The Home Fires Burning
Blur - Tender
Blur - Coffee and TV
Cast - Beat Mama
Manic Street Preachers - You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next
Manic Street Preachers - You Stole the Sun from My Heart
Manic Street Preachers - Tsunami
Oasis - All Around the World
Super Furry Animals - Northern Lites
Super Furry Animals - Fire in My Heart
Space - The Ballad of Tom Jones
Space - Begin Again
Supergrass - Pumping on Your Stereo
Supergrass - Moving
Suede - Electricity
Suede - She's in Fashion
Rialto - Untouchable
Rialto - Summer's Over
Mansun - Six
Mansun - I Can Only Disappoint U
Ocean Colour Scene - Profit in Peace
Ocean Colour Scene - So Low
James - Destiny Calling
James - I Know What I'm Here For
Hurricane #1 - Only the Strongest Will Survive
Embrace - All You Good Good People
Embrace - Come Back to What You Know
Embrace - My Weakness Is None of Your Business
The Charlatans - Forever
Ash - Jesus Says
Ash - Wildsurf

[Smurfie]

Showgirl is fabulous!

I’m still doing my list - but it’s mainly Suede, Sleeper, Ash, Lush, and Rialto.  I could not bear Blur or Oasis.  Unless you are counting the Boys And Girls remixes.

[Shireblogger]

Pulp - Countdown [1991]
Pulp - Do You Remember The First Time [1994]
Pulp - Babies [1994]
Pulp - Common People [1995]
Pulp - Disco 2000 [1995]
Pulp - Sorted For E's & Whizz [1995]
Pulp - Mile End [1996]

Don't really need anything else