Friday Poll Special – The Great Britpop Sorting Hat!

We are now firmly into the BRITPOP YEARS on Popular, oh yes, so it’s time to consider its musical legacy in the only language we truly understand, viz. a ticky-box poll.

We have selected 32 bands who someone, somewhere, might possibly have once described as Britpop. Tick all the ones you like and by science we will be able to finally, once and for all, define terms like “Britpop D-List” and “second divison Britpop”. Isn’t that a noble endeavour? I thought so.

Which of these Britpop bands were Any Good At All?

Pulp 8%
Blur 7%
Kenickie 6%
Suede 6%
Supergrass 5%
Elastica 5%
Super Furry Animals 5%
Ash 5%
The Divine Comedy 4%
Oasis 4%
Boo Radleys 3%
Lush 3%
Bluetones 3%
Catatonia 3%
Mansun 3%
Sleeper 3%
Black Grape 3%
Lightning Seeds 2%
Gene 2%
Longpigs 2%
Echobelly 2%
Shed Seven 2%
Space 2%
Ocean Colour Scene 2%
WELLER 2%
Kula Shaker 1%
Cast 1%
Menswear 1%
My Life Story 1%
Marion 1%
Seahorses 1%
Northern Uproar 0%

Total Voters: 1,496

Poll closes: No Expiry

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MichaelH

28 Jun 2013 17:29

I prefer Pulp. I find them more likeable. I think of them more fondly. But when I sit and look at their catalogues, I think Blur’s is more varied, more consistent, and has a lot more great songs.

Tom

28 Jun 2013 17:31

They’re jacks of all trades, not sure how many they mastered. But I dare say there’ll be an opportunity to talk more about Blur before too long.

Dark Chanting Goshawk

28 Jun 2013 17:32

#31 – On every single documentary/retrospective/clip show on Britpop/the 90s, Pearl from Powder appears as a talking head, yet, despite my university years coinciding almost exactly with the height of Britpop, I don’t remember hearing anything by them either at the time or since.

speedwell54

28 Jun 2013 17:34

Tom -are you on holiday?; so much stuff to read! Great to see FT so full of comments recently.

Enjoyed thinking about the Brit Pop poll. Always fascinating to see how far one has veered from the general consensus. Not too bad as it happens; didn’t go for Elastica because of all the plagiarism stuff and the brevity; though they were massive. Don’t really know Lush. Sleeper were one of my favourites at the time, and though obviously I would never be influenced by this sort of stuff, Louise was stunning. She’s a proper author now.

On Wiki there is a list of Brit Pop Artists which is pretty close to this, but also includes Take That – bizarre! I saw Saint Etienne came up on the “related to Brit Pop” list. So if there is another list, there’s one for you.

Tom

28 Jun 2013 17:34

Kenickie inching nearer the front of the peloton here.

admin

28 Jun 2013 17:36

It’s as if interested parties are RTing this *innocent face*

28 Jun 2013 17:39

Manics too overtly Americanophile in their influences to be Britpop. No Britpopper whether Camden-eyeliner or dadrock would claim GnR or Hannoi Rocks as influences!

Blur have a more varied back catalogue, but Pulp released better albums during their heyday. Even Parklife has some toss tracks on it.

Tom

28 Jun 2013 17:40

#64 not on holiday, just tried a different working method, seems to be doing OK so far. :)

fivelongdays

28 Jun 2013 17:43

Tom is right not to include the Manics (glam metal), Radiohead (postgrung altrock) or The Verve (shit). But Ash? Sorry, influenced by Ramones and Undertones, opening track on 1977 rips off/pays homage to fellow Ulstermen (and acknowledged inspiration/influence) Therapy, open about liking grunge in an era when to do so caused death-by-uncool for British bands – not-Britpop. Prob. best seen as UK veraion of a young Green Day. Fuck all to do with Waterloo Sunset at any rate

fivelongdays

28 Jun 2013 17:47

Oh and Placebo were way too rocky to be classed as Britpop – and don’t knock Terrirvision (they were ace)

Dark Chanting Goshawk

28 Jun 2013 17:59

#69 – there were other Britpop bands influenced by the poppier end of punk – Supergrass for a start, and Blur always had one punk thrash on every album.

Placebo were clearly Bowie/glam-influenced, like Suede, Pulp, Oasis…

MissPurple

28 Jun 2013 18:05

As a Manics fan, I wouldn’t class them as Britpop either. I mean the two albums they released during the Britpop era (I’m talking 94-97 here): “The Holy Bible” was about as anti-Britpop as you could get, and while “Everything Must Go” is occasionally put in the Britpop category, I’m pretty sure their influences for that album had nothing in common with the Britpop movement IIRC

Another Pete

28 Jun 2013 19:26

I’d like to nominate ‘Another night in’ by Strangelove for the Britpop Nugget category. Though said track doesn’t save Strangelove from joining the Conference of Britpop along side 60ft Dolls, BIS, David Devant and his Spirit Wife and Smaller

flahr

28 Jun 2013 19:46

haha I voted for all but 8 of these and 7 of those I’ve never heard anything by (SORRY OCEAN COLOUR SCENE)

I just really adore the Britpop sound, and, since naturally I came to it late (I was not really following pop at the age of two) I don’t feel jaded about it and I’ve not really had the chance to experience death by crap. In brief:

– Early Lush is obvs better but Lovelife is RAD for “Ciao!” (FEAT. JARVIS!) and “Ladykillers” alone
– Bluetones indeed better in greatest hits format but the debut still stands up and I think Science & Nature might be even better
– Attack of the Grey Lantern is TOTES AMAZE and its 3CD expanded reissue was 110% JUSTIFIED
– Sleeper’s second album was better than their first
– Kula Shaker have about three good songs but at least that’s better than Cast’s one (“Finetime” still means they count as any good at all though) (and what’s with so many Cast singles making it onto Now! albums? what hold did they have?)
– she left me on FRY-DAY! and ruined my WEEK-END! = proof of hiphop’s secret influence on Britpop
– the Menswe@r (CALL THEM BY THEIR REAL NAME) album is hilarious and “Being Brave” is great AND AND AND they covered Public Image for a B-side = CREDIBLE
– dismissing Elastica as dull plagarists is just RONG since “Stutter” = SINGLE OF THE 90s*

*well, actually, no, since the greatest single and indeed song of all time was also the greatest single and indeed song of the 90s, but we will come to that in time

right I will shush now

Lazarus

28 Jun 2013 19:52

Travis – too late maybe? Some of their early singles were on the ‘Shine’ comps, and I think of ‘The Man Who’ as the last Britpop album …

# 32 Stuart Maconie has claimed to come up with the term hasn’t he, supposedly while writing for one of the weeklies. Has that ever been confirmed?

Lowest I voted for was Seahorses, if only for the gorgeous ‘Love Me and Leave Me’. They were the band the Roses could have been!

Whole thread has made me want to dig out the Shines tbh.

flahr

28 Jun 2013 19:57

#75 Travis are surely post-Britpop – “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” and all that later-to-develop-into-Coldplay sensitive moping.

Iain Mew

28 Jun 2013 21:18

Travis’ not very successful first album was low on sensitive moping and quite Britpop! (first two tracks: “All I Want to Do is Rock”, “U16 Girls”). It was released in 1997 so a bit too late, though. It’s a similar story for Embrace whose first album mostly fits but was released in 1998. They also later became bracketed with Coldplay et al.

healingandy

28 Jun 2013 22:14

Kenickie third, now. Are fanbases being mobilised?

23 Daves

28 Jun 2013 22:15

No mentions of Theaudience yet…. They’re at the forefront of my mind at the moment since I found a dirt cheap copy of their album the other day. Very much latecomers to the whole party, and in fact I’m struggling to think of a Britpop (or Britpop styled) major signing who came after them. They really seemed to be the last act the majors waved their cheque books around for.

They’re not really deserving of a major reassessment, but they certainly have a lot of very strong tracks in their favour, and (while she got a lot of criticism at the time) Bextor’s sweet and sour voice did add a lot to their style. Even back then I thought that if they’d been around a couple of years earlier they would probably have had more success, but I’m sure that idea doesn’t trouble her much.

healingandy

28 Jun 2013 22:40

#79 I Got The Wherewithal is a deeply odd record to have been given a major label counterbox push. There are a few bands in that bracket from this period: dismissed due to the failings of others. Salad are forgotten now, but put out some very good, and odd, records. Drugstore too.

Nanaya

28 Jun 2013 22:44

Shocked at the absence of These Animal Men! Surely they fulfil the requisite nindie novelty slot? Concur that the absence of the (really rather good but I’m biased) Strangelove is odd, since they actually collaborated with some of Suede on their 2nd (weakest) album. I still think the 1st album is pretty amazing

23 Daves

28 Jun 2013 22:56

#80 I completely agree with you on Salad and Drugstore, although only with the disclaimer (as with Theaudience) that I don’t think any of these bands deserved to be huge as such, just much bigger than they were – at least grabbing the odd silver disc now and then with the likes of Gene. Though to make a horrible and slightly lazy comparison, I don’t think Theaudience are anything like as good as Rose Elinor Dougall, though I do see them both as occupying very similar territory indeed.

I also got the impression with Theaudience that the label were playing a peculiar game with their singles releases, making each one slightly more commercial than the last. What that was supposed to achieve or prove I’m not quite sure – perhaps the worry was that if they just dropped “A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed” or “I Know Enough” first the fanbase wouldn’t have been developed enough to create a sizeable hit, which might make sense for a band who had barely been around for five minutes before they were signed.

admin

28 Jun 2013 22:58

A NWONW poll next Friday – if we’re desperate

healingandy

28 Jun 2013 23:11

#82 I guess it’s only in this era that expectations might have been so high for bands like these. I’m very happy to have been there for that sort of thing, and love the chance to discuss even the chance of it happening.

That’s why I will continue to defend Britpop – given what came after I’m prepared to overlook the weaker moments given the sheer volume of good stuff.

28 Jun 2013 23:27

What about Dodgy?

Mark G

28 Jun 2013 23:43

#83 you surely can’t ask “Which of these bands were any good” for that one?

MBI

29 Jun 2013 00:08

Oasis’s 30% showing is just you poncy music nerds in abject denial.

mintness

29 Jun 2013 00:10

re “Scottish Britpop” acts – do the Supernaturals count?

healingandy

29 Jun 2013 00:12

Scotpop: Teenage Fanclub, Supernaturals, Superstar, High Fidelity, er, er, can we rope in Belle & Sebastian at this point?

healingandy

29 Jun 2013 00:14

#87 Or maybe a comment that Oasis, for all their manifold faults, weren’t Britpop?

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Friday Poll Special – The Great Britpop Sorting Hat!

what you see is what you !!THUMP!!

I was a teenage dark elf priestess

Latest comments on FT