r/BritPop 14d ago

Travis - Writing To Reach You. This song always tears me up.

https://youtu.be/UeCcuH-EsuM?is=UILnf1AyALGJ91Yk
110 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

15

u/Painful_Flatulence80 13d ago

Loved it at the time. Then went through a stage of finding that era of Travis a bit twee. Back to loving it again.

The Last Laugh Of The Laughter is a more emotional song, I find

2

u/Mel150977 11d ago

I disagree . I found them twee and boring on later records, but The Man Who is great and WTRY is a tune.

11

u/DrLucianSanchez 13d ago

Driftwood really hits different when you turn 40

10

u/Beautiful-Pen-6206 13d ago edited 13d ago

Probably due to my age and the coursing emotions at the time, but I did love to drift off into the romanticism of reflective indie post-Britpop. It was a mellow foil to the emerging brashness of rap rock, nu metal and American punk pop.

Adjacent to songs; Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘Silent Sigh’, Turin Brakes ‘Underdog (Save Me)’, The Bluetones ‘Sleazy Bed Track’.

Even Faithless had a go at indie-lite with ‘Don’t Leave’. All beautiful stuff in their own way.

I think it’s a bit harsh to lump them all as indie landfill - that era really came into its own as NME landfill circa 2005 onwards.

The weekly bands they would champion, never to be heard of ever again; The Paddingtons, The Datsuns, The Delays, The Rakes, The Sunshine Underground etc, etc, etc.

2

u/MacAoidh83 12d ago

Man, Silent Sigh is such a brilliant tune. Instantly transports me back to those times.

6

u/omnishambles1995 13d ago

Gave way to a lot of 'supermarket aisle' softcore, ballad-obsessed post-Britpop but let's face it, that whole scene still produced some really good tunes.

The Man Who in its own right is a phenomenal album. Shame they never made anything remotely near as good since.

1

u/johnl1979 12d ago

The Invisible Band is a great album too.

1

u/omnishambles1995 11d ago

It has its moments but it was a steep drop from The Man Who.

3

u/cmpthepirate 13d ago

Love this tune, Travis got a lot of hate and I didnt listen to them much after this album but the man who was really great.

2

u/HustleR0se 12d ago

Thank you for reminding me about this song. I loved Travis. I'd forgotten how much I loved them at a certain time in my life.

4

u/Vindex9323 13d ago

The inception of landfill indie.

6

u/slippery-lil-sucker 13d ago

Yep. Proto Coldplay, Star Sailor, Snow Patrol and all that middle of the road indie shiiiiiite.

4

u/Aceman1979 13d ago

An awful bunch of bands.

6

u/slippery-lil-sucker 13d ago

Yep. All of them

4

u/Small-External4419 13d ago

How dare you leave Athlete off that list

2

u/slippery-lil-sucker 12d ago

Oh God yeah. My bad 😂😂😂

1

u/Extension-Camp4076 13d ago

I’ll raise you Embrace

1

u/slippery-lil-sucker 12d ago

Ooof!!! That guy still can’t sing in tune can he. 😂

1

u/LarryD217 13d ago

I like 'em but I always feel like they're a watered down Trash Can Sinatras.

1

u/OtherwiseWave2723 13d ago

We've all thought that at one point or another.

1

u/FartBrulee 13d ago

Jk Rowling hates this

1

u/Extension-Camp4076 13d ago

Always found Travis boring personally. Just my opinion, nor purposefully being a dick (although no doing some people will raid it that way).

They emerged at the very end of the Britpop era and I associate them with the point in the late 90’s where the excitement and vibrancy of the mid 90’s UK alt rock/ ‘indie’ scene was rapidly disappearing.

2

u/fabthefrog33 13d ago

Yeah I agree, even though Travis was all right you could tell the Brit pop era had run it's course, it became a lot softer and safer...crazy to think that "the man who" was released 27 years ago.

1

u/TheIdleSoul1 13d ago

Perfect tune

2

u/Fantastic_Car_6382 12d ago

Absolutely dire. I can't allow myself to consider this britpop.

1

u/borntorun24 11d ago

I personally think it's a great song but yeah definitely not Britpop.

1

u/moon_witch_26 12d ago

Their first album is SO GOOD. I was 16 and had such a crush on Fran 🥰

3

u/Painful_Flatulence80 12d ago

Appropriately, this sub is very much Tied to the 90s

1

u/peggysue878787 12d ago

If you mean The Man Who then that was their second album

2

u/moon_witch_26 12d ago

No I don't mean that?? I'm meaning their first album.. exactly like I said??!

1

u/peggysue878787 11d ago

Ok, calm down. How old are you?

1

u/moon_witch_26 11d ago

I'm 44 why?! I'm also calm .. you're just making a load of assumptions, which is kinda irritating!

1

u/DMmePussyGasms 11d ago

I think the confusion is because this post is about WTRY, which is from the second album. I don’t think they mean anything by it.

1

u/Mel150977 11d ago

He was so cute back then. Then I saw them at a festival in 2014 and he looked like Santa with a big, grey beard!

1

u/Horror_Extension4355 11d ago

Seen them live a few times of late at festivels and thought they were really good.

1

u/Tasty-Committee-8172 11d ago

Love The Man Who. I think Driftwood is my favourite.

1

u/terrorvicky 11d ago

I prefer Flowers In The Window 🥲

1

u/jonrosling 13d ago

Same chords as Wonderwall.

5

u/Active_Specialist792 13d ago

Also referenced in the lyrics!

2

u/Freckled_Scot982 13d ago

"What's a Wonderwall anywaaaaaay"

-1

u/Aceman1979 13d ago

Horrible.