K's BRITPOP SPECIAL - VA - Britpop, The Greatest Anthems (Super Deluxe Edition) [2022] (7 x CD's)
My own compilation of what I consider to be the 134 greatest anthems of the 90s Britpop era.
Think about Britpop, that mid-1990's cultural flashpoint and back-to basics rock sound that impacted the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. What comes to mind? Oasis, of course. Blur, 'Song 2.' Suede. The Verve’s 'Bittersweet Symphony.' The Union Jack. Kangol bucket hats, Fred Perry polo shirts, hooded rain jackets and Clarks footwear. Jarvis Cocker. Manchester City football jerseys. Lager, cocaine. General debauchery and hooliganism. And, above all, that attitude.
Britpop was a media-driven focus on bands which emerged from the independent music scene of the early 1990's. Although the term was viewed as a marketing tool, and more of a cultural moment than a musical style or genre, its associated bands typically drew from the British pop music of the 1960's, glam rock and punk rock of the 1970's and indie pop of the 1980's.
The most successful bands linked with Britpop were Oasis, Blur, Suede and Pulp, known as the movement's "big four", although Suede and Pulp distanced themselves from the term. The timespan of Britpop is generally considered to be 1993–1997, and its peak years to be 1994–1995. A chart battle between Blur and Oasis (dubbed "The Battle of Britpop") brought the movement to the forefront of the British press in 1995. While music was the main focus, fashion, art and politics also got involved, with Tony Blair and New Labour aligning themselves with the movement. Some may disagree with my inclusion of classic tracks by Radiohead and the Manic Street Preachers, as both bands have tried to distance themselves from the Britpop name tag. Both 'The Bends' and 'Everything Must Go' are listed as Britpop on Wikipedia: 'The Bends' is the second studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. Most tracks were produced by John Leckie, with extra production by Radiohead, Nigel Godrich and Jim Warren.
Artist: Radiohead; Genre: Alternative rock; Britpop
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bends_(album)
'Everything Must Go' is the fourth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 20 May 1996, through Epic Records, and was the first record released by the band following the disappearance of lyricist and rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards.
Artist: Manic Street Preachers; Genre: Rock; Britpop; hard rock.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Must_Go_(Manic_Street_Preachers_album)
'The Bends' I consider to be a Britpop album (and a brilliant one at that). You will find Radiohead on many Britpop compilations.
Is 'The Bends' Britpop? I know they despise Britpop. But listen to 'High and Dry'. That song is so Britpop. So is 'Fake Plastic Trees'. The opening chords of The Bends? Britpop. Just is a headbanging rocker like they don't write anymore. It's their most accessible and radio-friendly album for a reason. The Bends is totally Britpop, no way around it. These are pop songs played on guitars -- lots of guitars -- and tracks like 'Fake Plastic Trees,' 'High and Dry,' 'Bones' and 'The Bends' became the template for many new Britpop groups in the second half of the '90s. (See: Travis, Stereophonics, Longpigs, Coldplay.) John Leckie's production helps tracks like 'Just' and 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)' achieve liftoff, and The Bends is also notable as the record where they met Nigel Godrich, who engineered the record and would go on to form a beautiful friendship with the band that lasts to this day. Before The Bends, Radiohead were that band who did 'Creep,' but with this it was clear they would never be stuck in the land of One Hit Wonders.
'A Design For Life', an anthemic string-laden dissection of working class life in the UK, raised the Manic Street Preachers up from cult heroes to part of the mainstream Britpop landscape. While supporting Oasis at the era's defining concert at Knebworth in 1996, the Manics closed their set with the track, which appeared alongside five contributions from Edwards on their Brit Award-winning fourth album 'Everything Must Go'. Released at the height of Britpop in the mid-1990's, Everything Must Go' was a commercial and critical success, it reached its peak in the UK on separate occasions, debuting and peaking at number 2 in the UK Albums Chart and earned the band accolades in the 1997 Brit Awards It represented a shift in the group's sound due to Edwards' departure. The album charted in mainland Europe, Asia and Australia, eventually selling over two million copies. 'Everything Must Go' is frequently featured and voted highly in lists for one of the best albums of all time by many music publications such as NME and Q.
https://www.nme.com/photos/50-greatest-britpop-songs-ever-as-voted-by-you-1434108
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-50-best-britpop-songs/
https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10045-the-50-best-britpop-albums/
Compiled as always using the very latest and highest quality digital remasters for superior sound quality and enjoyment.
Check out the artwork folder for all things Britpop and a who's who of who's featured in the cover illustration by Jack Dylan.
Enjoy!
K
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Pt.1 
Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4
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Track lists
CD1
01 Oasis Live Forever 4:36
02 Cast Alright 3:37
03 Supergrass Alright 3:01
04 Suede Animal Nitrate 3:28
05 Manic Street Preachers Australia 4:04
06 Pulp Babies 4:05
07 Suede Beautiful Ones 3:51
08 The Divine Comedy Becoming More Like Alfie 2:58
09 Blur Beetlebum 5:05
10 Menswear Being Brave 4:04
11 Radiohead The Bends 4:05
12 The Verve Bitter Sweet Symphony 5:58
13 Cornershop Brimful of Asha (Norman Cook Radio Edit Remix) 4:00
14 Supergrass Caught by the Fuzz 2:16
15 The Lightning Seeds Change 4:00
16 Paul Weller The Changingman 3:30
17 Blur Charmless Man 3:34
18 Shed Seven Chasing Rainbows 4:23
19 Supergrass Cheapskate 2:43
20 Blur Chemical World (Radio Edit) 3:53
CD2
21 Oasis Cigarettes & Alcohol 4:49
22 Blur Coffee & TV (Single Edit) 5:19
23 Pulp Common People 5:50
24 Elastica Connection 2:18
25 Blur Country House 3:57
26 Echobelly Dark Therapy 4:46
27 Ocean Colour Scene The Day We Caught the Train 3:12
28 Menswear Daydreamer 2:17
29 Manic Street Preachers A Design for Life 4:20
30 Pulp Disco 2000 4:33
31 Pulp Do You Remember the First Time? 4:20
32 Oasis Don't Look Back in Anger 4:49
33 Suede The Drowners 4:10
34 The Verve The Drugs Don't Work 5:04
35 Blur End of a Century 2:45
36 Manic Street Preachers The Everlasting 6:07
37 Manic Street Preachers Everything Must Go 3:41
38 Radiohead Fake Plastic Trees 4:51
CD3
39 Space Female of the Species 3:20
40 The Boo Radleys Find the Answer Within 4:33
41 Embrace Fireworks 3:57
42 Gene For the Dead 3:26
43 Blur For Tomorrow 4:21
44 Shed Seven Getting Better 4:13
45 Ash Girl from Mars 3:29
46 Edwyn Collins A Girl Like You 3:54
47 Blur Girls and Boys 4:51
48 Supergrass Going Out 4:16
49 Dodgy Good Enough 3:57
50 Echobelly Great Things 3:29
51 Kula Shaker Hey Dude 4:09
52 Radiohead High and Dry 4:17
53 Supergrass I'd Like to Know 4:05
54 Super Furry Animals Ice Hockey Hair 6:58
55 Manic Street Preachers If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next 4:51
56 Dodgy If You're Thinking of Me 4:27
57 Sleeper Inbetweener 3:20
CD4
58 Radiohead Just 3:54
59 Black Grape Kelly's Heroes 4:22
60 Echobelly King of the Kerb 3:59
61 Lush Ladykillers 3:13
62 James Laid 2:39
63 Supergrass Late in the Day 4:43
64 The Lightning Seeds The Life of Riley 4:02
65 Elastica Line Up 3:15
66 Supergrass Lose It 2:37
67 The Seahorses Love Is the Law 3:41
68 The Verve Lucky Man 4:53
69 The Lightning Seeds Lucky You 3:53
70 Supergrass Mansize Rooster 2:34
71 Space Me and You Versus the World 3:39
72 Pulp Mis-Shapes 3:46
73 Catatonia Mulder and Scully 4:11
74 Radiohead My Iron Lung 4:36
75 Placebo Nancy Boy (Radio Edit) 3:20
76 The Divine Comedy National Express 5:06
77 The Auteurs New French Girlfriend 4:16
CD5
78 Dubstar Not So Manic Now 4:29
79 Ash Oh Yeah 4:46
80 Gene Olympian (Single Edit) 4:47
81 Longpigs On and On 4:08
82 The Charlatans One to Another 4:27
83 Blur Parklife 3:05
84 Blur Popscene 3:14
85 Kenickie Punka 3:06
86 Pulp Razzmatazz 3:40
87 Supergrass Richard III 3:13
88 Catatonia Road Rage 5:08
89 Oasis Rock 'n' Roll Star 5:23
90 Oasis Roll with It 3:58
91 Sleeper Sale of the Century 4:31
92 Longpigs She Said 4:22
93 James She's a Star 3:41
94 The Auteurs Showgirl 4:08
95 Lush Single Girl 2:35
96 Marion Sleep 3:05
97 The Bluetones Slight Return 3:19
CD6
98 Oasis Some Might Say 5:29
99 Super Furry Animals Something 4 the Weekend 2:53
100 Pulp Something Changed 3:18
101 The Divine Comedy Something for the Weekend 4:19
102 Blur Song 2 2:01
103 The Verve Sonnet 4:21
104 Pulp Sorted for E's & Wizz 3:37
105 Dubstar Stars 4:10
106 The Auteurs Starstruck 3:01
107 Suede Stay Together (Long Version) 7:23
108 Oasis Stay Young 5:06
109 Hurricane #1 Step Into My World 5:00
110 Blur Stereotypes 3:12
111 Radiohead Street Spirit (Fade Out) 4:13
112 Mansun Stripper Vicar (Single Edit) 4:09
113 Elastica Stutter 2:24
114 Supergrass Sun Hits the Sky 4:55
115 Oasis Supersonic 4:43
116 Kula Shaker Tattva 3:47
CD7
117 Pulp This Is Hardcore 6:24
118 Blur To the End 4:04
119 Suede Trash 4:07
120 Pulp Underwear 4:05
121 Blur The Universal 3:58
122 Rialto Untouchable 4:14
123 The Boo Radleys Wake Up Boo! (Single Edit) 3:07
124 Elastica Waking Up 3:12
125 Cast Walkaway 3:50
126 Oasis Whatever 6:22
127 Mansun Wide Open Space 4:32
128 Suede The Wild Ones 4:46
129 Oasis Wonderwall 4:18
130 McAlmont & Butler Yes 4:54
131 Placebo You Don't Care About Us 3:56
132 Babybird You're Gorgeous 3:43
133 Saint Etienne You're in a Bad Way (Alan Tarney 7" Single Version) 3:03
134 Oasis Champagne Supernova 7:30
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In the old times there was a dilemma: Beatles or Stones. During Britpop period, there was similar dilemma: Blur or Oasis. This comp surely reveal the answer to the question...
ReplyDeleteHi Stone Rose, I cant separate the two. Equally good different approaches.
DeleteCheers.
Brilliant resurgence of great British music
ReplyDeleteCheers
Stephen
Cheers Stephen
Enjoy Stehen,
DeleteI really like Suede very much.
Cheers.
I had to chuckle at the Man City shirt observation given the late 1990's saw them twice relegated from the Premier League and then further relegated to division 2 in the same season as their rivals at United completed the ultimate treble (League, FA Cup and Champions league). As for 'Old Demon Eyes' and his 'Fool Britannia' posturing that was soon enough seen through.
ReplyDeleteAnyway its an excellect set but I think its missing a CD. I think Paul Weller and Ocean Colour Scene are greatly underpresented and each should have half a dozen tracks included, both the Lightning Seeds and Charlatans could have more tracks included and the Stereophonics and Stone Roses (if you've got the Charlatans included why not the Roses?) have been overlooked. Blur's 'There's No Other Way' is another standout omission.
Incidentally if I maybe so bold to suggest another source of research
:- https://bestsellingalbums.org/. It gives volumes of album sales platinum, gold and silver discs awarded and such likes, For example in the 1990's in the UK, Paul Weller received 7 Platinum discs, Ocean Colour Scene received 4 as did Pulp, Supergrass received 3 for 3 different albums, The Verve received 11 (all for Urban Hymns), Blur 13, Oasis were given 38 (seriously who needs 38 platinum discs I ask you?) and Suede only received a single Platinum disc. As this is based on real sales it does put a different take on things especially when as in the 1990's albums sales were as important if not more important than singles sales a factor which is demonstrated by the fact that somewhere between 10 and 30 Britpop Albums sold at least a million copies in the UK whereas just two Brit Pop singles (Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger) achieved the same success. Anyway thanks for compiling a fascinating and thought provoking collection. Its great stuff.
Hi Manny Kent,
DeleteThank you for your comments.
K comments as follows:
I’ve always considered the Stone Roses to be more of the Madchester baggy scene, and too early for Britpop, which really didn’t hit until 1993. Again, Blur's 'There's No Other Way' was more baggy and released in 1991. It’s listed as Baggy on Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_No_Other_Way
It wasn’t until 1993 that Blur completely shook off their baggy image and went all Britpop.
Modern Life Is Rubbish is regarded as one of the defining releases of the Britpop scene, and its chart-topping follow-ups - Parklife and The Great Escape - saw Blur emerge as one of Britain's leading pop acts.
The Charlatans, like Blur started out as a baggy band, but evolved into more of a Britpop sound by 1996.
Many Stone Roses, The Charlatans and early Blur tracks can be found on my recent Madchester compilation:
http://butterboycompilations.blogspot.com/2022/07/k-madchester-scene-special-150-greatest.html
Also, I’ve always considered the Stereophonics to be Post-Britpop as they emerged much later and didn’t start having hit records until around 1997 and 1998.
Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but with less overt British concerns
in their lyrics and making more use of American rock and indie influences, as well as experimental music. Bands in the post-Britpop era that gained greater prominence after the decline of Britpop were new acts such as Travis, Keane, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics,
Feeder, Toploader and particularly Coldplay, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Cheers.
Thanks Butterboy, This looks brilliant
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it, Masters 6672.
DeleteCheers.
Thanks for this box set. I downloaded it well over a year now- and finally got round to listening to it and was inspired to follow up a number of bands found here. I had been familiar with a few of these bands before (Blur and Oasis to name the obvious ones but Lush and the Boo Radleys had also been favorites of mine through their shoegaze roots rather than as Britpop bands.) But until this I had never explored the lot of the Britpop sounds and this set caused me to investigate a number of the bands further. I am really glad I did as there was a lot more worthwhile music than just Blur and Oasis in this genre.
ReplyDeleteI see Manny Kent alluded to a few of them in his post and i certainly agree. One of the real finds as far as I was concerned was the Auteurs who seem to be a critic's darling as they never hit the big time. Thanks to this download my music collection has become richer.
I came across this site some time back due to my love of 60s music and psychedelic music in particular. It's a credit to your site that you can enable us to look at a wider range of music so I can sample other things rather than just hanging around in my own bag.
Hi Butterflyrobot.
DeleteThanks for your kind words. I am glad that you have found a venue to explore music that would otherwise be ignored or overlooked. I am amazed that still today I find new music to listen to and I find new artists that surprise me. Have fun visiting and enjoy what you find of interest.
Cheers.
I just downloaded this set... Awesome!
ReplyDeleteI don't see the "artwork folder" though?
Hi Trev,
DeleteI'll look into that.
Also just posted an update of this in today's post.
Cheers.
Ha! Great timing!
Delete