The 8 Songs To Blame For Britpop

For the briefest moment in the 1990s, Britpop ruled the airwaves. Suede sighed out a romantically ambiguous soundtrack for elegant wastrels. Blur and Oasis were vying for number one. And everybody wanted to live like Common People. It was music that delighted in Britain’s pop history, taking the best bits of The Kinks, Jam and Smiths and reshaping them into anthems, the country’s most important guitar-based movement since punk.

But at the same time many of those who weren’t lifted by the rising tide of retroism found it tiresome, unoriginal and encroaching on jingoism. But how did Britpop happen? What were their influences, the vital steps along the way? And how did we get to the point where indie became pop? These are the 8 Songs to Blame For Britpop.

#oasis #britpop #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:51 The Kinks
06:07 Mott The Hoople
11:35 The Jam
17:16 XTC
23:38 The Smiths
28:22 The La’s
33:08 Suede
36:29 Blur
40:37 Conclusion


Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (  / luarbeats  )
Luar - Anchor (  / luarbeats  )

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In Search For The La’s - A Secret Liverpool by MW Macefield, 2003, Helter Skelter Publishing
The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock by John Harris, 2004, Harper Perennial
Mozipedia: The Encyclopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths by Simon Goddard, 2010, Ebury Press
Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs by Miranda Sawyer, 2024, John Murray Press
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