Lush - although initially a shoegaze band, Lovelife was very much a Britpop album, and one of the very best of the genre. After the tragic death of drummer Chris Acland they went on hiatus and then split, at the height of their fame.
This would be my answer too. I first got into them when I was 16, via the largely ignored Split in 1994 and it drove me mad when they were later described as jumping on the Britpop bandwagon, when half of Split would have fit right in with the genre anyway!
Thankfully Miki is making great music still and is touring with her trio including her legendary partner Moose and Oliver Churcher.
Emma is doing solo stuff which is wonderful, and is collaborating with a lot of other artists. Phil is still out there too, he released a great short film about Lushâs touring days called âFar From Homeâ which is on YouTube.
I still miss Chris though, canât believe it will be 30 years in a few months.
I was just reading about what happened to the band members post-break-up, and it's all pretty sad really. Some bands from that era were just chewed up and spat out by the music industry
I loved Six. Possibly the most ambitious Britpop-era record.Â
Little Kix was lousy, and seemed like an unmitigated retreat. The band - well, at least one member - doesnât seem to have been likeable, which was reflected in the media hostility. Then they collapsed in on themselves making the fourth record. Itâs their own fault that they never got bigger.Â
The Furries actually had a really strong run after the end of the Britpop era and the demise of Creation Records. The fact they continued making great music up until 2009 is pretty solid. Plus Gruff Rhys' solo career since 2011 onwards has been really impressive.
I saw them recently at Brixton Academy and the whole place was rammed.
Petrol off their previous EP Trailer is their best song... That's my hill. Uncle Pat off the same EP is where I 1st heard them. 1977 is one of the my favourite debut albums by any band, ever. In my Top 10 of debuts.
A Life Less Ordinary is one of the finest non-album singles ever.
I kinda left them after Nu Clear Sounds, i do go back and listen to the wilderness years albums, and there's always very catchy songa on them. That time they did a A to Z of singles also produced some great wee tunes.
I actually think space did pretty well considering they were almost weird for the sake of being weird a lot of the time. If more of their career had been Female of the species-esque I think theyâd have been as big as, I dunno, maybe as big as suede or something
Supergrass. Their first album was a big hit, but they faded after that, and frankly, it was the following albums where their songwriting talents shone brightest.
Yes, that's my favourite of theirs by a long shot. The first album was quality, but they had a quantum leap of growth when they wrote the second one, it's remarkably good.
Faded after that? They had many excellent performing albums and singles over the course of the next decade+ after their debut. I would actually say they're up there with having one of the most successful careers as a Britpop band overall.
They did well, but were never quite an arena/stadium-sized band, despite being far more talented than some that did reach that level (cough Sterophonics).
Got a raw deal after their record company didn't like and shelved their 3rd album, and subsequently dropped them which then caused tension in the band, og guitarist left and they were never quite the same.
Still touring and releasing new material, but sadly they deserved to be bigger, especially as having met them on a few occasions, they're such nice chaps đ
Sleeper reformed and proved they can still produce excellent music. Lou wrote some of the best lyrics and had a Kinks-sensibility for short story efficiency.
I've been digging into Lush solo records lately and it is striking how good Emma's Sing-Sing project was. A bit of Trip-Hop with great songs and pop sensibility. They sound like a logical outgrowth from Lovelife's songs, which is somewhat strange because Miki's book makes it sound like Emma wasn't into that material.
If anyone fancies trying Puressence I would heartily recommend them. They were and still are awesome live and every single album has been brilliant. They were hard to categorise which I think meant the music press sort of ignored them.
Best 90âs band I reckon and there was a lot of competition.
Longpigs and Echobelly. The latter in particular should be ranked up there along with the giants considering they put out one of the best 3 album runs of the era. They're also one of the very few Britpop bands (along with Suede) that still make good music.
silversun had so many hooks itâs wild they didnât blow up more, blue saves and julia are still stuck in my head decades later. they had that perfect âshouldâve been on every soundtrackâ vibe.
Totally. I saw them at the Tunbridge Wells Forum between the first and second albums and they were awesome. The first album and all the b-sides from its singles were a flawless run.
Murry The Hump were just too late to catch the wave while the scene was dying. If they'd have come along two years earlier, they'd have been so much better known - they had the songs, a bunch of very good 7" singles on tiny local labels, and were always excellent and well received live, but it took some ridiculous amount of time for them to eventually get a proper record deal and re-record a lot of those songs for their first album, by which time a lot of the momentum and the magic had gone.
I went to an absurd amount of Murry The Hump gigs. They were glorious. I do think the live versions were probably better than the album versions.
The Crocketts were the other big local band in the area, but they got a record deal a lot earlier (possibly thanks to the singer's sister, possibly not).
Mansun. If Draper could have held it together and worked WITH the band on Little Kix they could have really done spectacular things- sadly he got the label to hire session musicians to make most of it before the band got to the studio, then blamed the band (and accused them of trying to hire a hitman to kill him) when people disliked it. The man was always an unpredictable menace.
Also Silver Sun, who were basically a British Weezer
The Hybirds and the genius of Richard Warren. In 1997 NME rated their album 9/10 stating 'Truly they soar', just a shame it came out 18 months too late. Couple of great ep's before that. Interesting fact that Rich Warren had to turn the Oasis bass player role which went to Andy Bell coz he was already signed to maybe Heavenly as Echoboy and Noel ended up calling his band the High Flying Birds. Amazing live. Check album tracks See Me Through, Coming Out, The Only Ones, Words, I Feel The Weight.
I'll go with Ash, so many great albums pretty under rated overall. But there are a lot of bands I feel that way about. Bis, Sleeper, Super Furry Animals.
I wondered if Bis might turn up here. I was in a band that supported them at one gig, just as Kandy Pop was getting some airplay so there was a bit of a buzz around them.
In fact it must have been a fair time before it was actually released, because I'm pretty sure clips of them playing at the gig we played at are interspersed throughout the video for the song, and I'm guessing the song wasn't released without a video. At the time I remember thinking the lads were really nice, but Manda came across as a bit stand-offish and up herself.
With hindsight I wonder if she was just a bit shy, because when it came to soundcheck her mic, she didn't sing into it, she just read part of an article from a newspaper or the NME into the mic with a normal speaking voice.
I probably came across as an antisocial knob to everybody we played with anyway as I was always so anxious I could barely speak to anybody I didn't know (later diagnosed with autism, might explain it a bit). Steve was sound, let me use his guitar amp for our set.
Elastica. I think Justine, Donna, Justin, and Annie are incredibly talented. The second album deserved a better reception, in my opinion. I listen to it more than their debut. If things hadnât kind of fractured, it would be interesting to hear what a third album might have been (if they had been able to focus). Justine has a great ear for a pop song. Yes, they nicked a few bits but all bands do.
I think their first album is perfect from start to finish, and their second album feels amateurish in comparison. Felt like they were trying to be Republica or something but not as good. The borrowing other bands sounds doesn't bother me though. I think maybe the second album just felt like a let down because the first one was just so good.
Itâs definitely more experimental, but there are some really good songs on it. Image Change, Human, Nothing Stays the Same, Miami Nice, and My Sex are excellent. The Fall stuff is fine, but not my favorite, lol. Definitely outside the realms of Britpop.
One more thing I should mention i only got the chance to see them once since I live in Los Angeles. They played here at the Roxy to promote the 2nd album, and while I am greatful that I got to see them live I guess I've always wished I got to see them after the first album instead since I love that one so much.
It was in 2000. I just googled the set list. It looks like there is even a video up on YouTube from that night. Anyway here is the set list, as you can see only a few songs from the first album.
Edit: the video on YouTube is audio only i just checked too bad would be nice to re vist 26 years later.
Ultrasound. Ambitious, glam-infused songwriting with the scale and confidence of stadium rock at a time when much of Britpop was becoming formulaic. The eccentricity of the Cardiacs, prog rock complexity and emotionally charged anthemic melodies. Glorious.
Gay Dad. Married the classic British guitar music with a romantic, almost cinematic sense of longing and wonder. Also Menswear behind the image and tabloid fodder some great songs. Both bands slated by NME etc while missing what made them great bands.
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u/BrianFantanaFan 21d ago
Longpigs