1990s Britpop - An American Who Doesn't Get The Hype

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Following along with all the hubbub surrounding the Oasis reunion that will probably last about three gigs...l am casting my mind back to the 90s and thinking about the massive attention they and other bands received at the time.
Was there something about it that was inherently great that we couldn't grasp over her in the States? Why is Lee Mavers of The La's revered as some sort of Syd Barrett-like visionary when his band is known for one run of the mill pop song?
Why is Oasis so popular? Granted, l think Live Forever and What's The Story are terrific pop songs, but why the adulation? What is the frenetic appeal of seeing a band live where the singer stands stock-still, with his hands behind his back, the entire show? And the songs themselves more or less sound the same, musically and vocally, and their main appeal seems to be ripping off The Beatles?
I don't mean to be coarse to those overseas but is this a case where US music fans could smell a rat, so to speak, and didn't fall for the hype around these bands, and Blur, Pulp, and so forth? Was the fact that they made so much noise in the press part of their 'appeal', and their barneys didn't mean anything in the US, i.e., their music wasn't good enough to stand on its own?
Conversely I'll mention the greatest Liverpool band to come out of the late 90s, Mansun. They were briefly popular when their first album Attack Of The Grey Lantern came out around 1997, and were forceful about not wanting to be lumped in with "Britpop shite", even after their huge hit Wide Open Space. They followed their debut with "Six", a brilliant album immediately derided for its "prog" cover art, and "songs that go all over the place"...an album Steven Wilson said recently "reinvented the progressive rock wheel".EMI told them to "cut out the prog shit or we'll drop you." Apparently Wilson and l are the only ones who have heard it.
But I digress:
What is it about Oasis, Blur, The La's, etc., that captivate people so completely in the UK, that we don't get over here? Is it purely a cultural thing? Is that why the music, purely on its own merits, didn't or doesn't succeed in other parts of the world? Why on earth is everyone in Britain breathlessly hoping for another utterance of genius from Lee "Syd" Mavers? Because of that mediocre song?
I am not intentionally slagging off these bands but am honestly interested in what the disconnect is.
And of course l will never understand why Mansun's Six, or Paul Draper's Spooky Action have never been mentioned here, but that is a different question...
So, what's the deal?

[SteveSly]

Following along with all the hubbub surrounding the Oasis reunion that will probably last about three gigs...l am casting my mind back to the 90s and thinking about the massive attention they and other bands received at the time.
Was there something about it that was inherently great that we couldn't grasp over her in the States? Why is Lee Mavers of The La's revered as some sort of Syd Barrett-like visionary when his band is known for one run of the mill pop song?
Why is Oasis so popular? Granted, l think Live Forever and What's The Story are terrific pop songs, but why the adulation? What is the frenetic appeal of seeing a band live where the singer stands stock-still, with his hands behind his back, the entire show? And the songs themselves more or less sound the same, musically and vocally, and their main appeal seems to be ripping off The Beatles?
I don't mean to be coarse to those overseas but is this a case where US music fans could smell a rat, so to speak, and didn't fall for the hype around these bands, and Blur, Pulp, and so forth? Was the fact that they made so much noise in the press part of their 'appeal', and their barneys didn't mean anything in the US, i.e., their music wasn't good enough to stand on its own?
Conversely I'll mention the greatest Liverpool band to come out of the late 90s, Mansun. They were briefly popular when their first album Attack Of The Grey Lantern came out around 1997, and were forceful about not wanting to be lumped in with "Britpop shite", even after their huge hit Wide Open Space. They followed their debut with "Six", a brilliant album immediately derided for its "prog" cover art, and "songs that go all over the place"...an album Steven Wilson said recently "reinvented the progressive rock wheel".EMI told them to "cut out the prog shit or we'll drop you." Apparently Wilson and l are the only ones who have heard it.
But I digress:
What is it about Oasis, Blur, The La's, etc., that captivate people so completely in the UK, that we don't get over here? Is it purely a cultural thing? Is that why the music, purely on its own merits, didn't or doesn't succeed in other parts of the world? Why on earth is everyone in Britain breathlessly hoping for another utterance of genius from Lee "Syd" Mavers? Because of that mediocre song?
I am not intentionally slagging off these bands but am honestly interested in what the disconnect is.
And of course l will never understand why Mansun's Six, or Paul Draper's Spooky Action have never been mentioned here, but that is a different question...
So, what's the deal?

I never got it either. With the exception of Oasis “What’s The Story Morning Glory” which I think is a great album, the whole Brit Pop movement never appealed to me at all. I even tried with several other Oasis albums. The first one is good, but everything after “Morning Glory” was pretty dull to my ears. I tried with some of the other bands as well, and nothing ever clicked.

I also agree with you about Draper. “Spooky Action” had to grow on me with repeated listens, but today I think it is a brilliant album. Several songs on that one had potential to be hits IMO.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Steve! My man! That is awesome that you like Spooky Action. I agree that it is brilliant. If you like that you have to give Six a listen. If you do be sure to get the UK version, not the butchered US version with the lousy cover (they had to "unprog" the album for release over here).

Don't know if you got Draper's 2nd, Cult Leader Tactics. It is good, but no Spooky. The best track on it is Omega Man, which is a collaboration with Steven Wilson.
There is a fantastic video for it that Draper filmed at Chernobyl (Wilson sings his parts on a TV screen).

https://youtu.be/MEcYeVEGPVY?si=jL5gPmEoYxN5AKrs

[SteveSly]

Steve! My man! That is awesome that you like Spooky Action. I agree that it is brilliant. If you like that you have to give Six a listen. If you do be sure to get the UK version, not the butchered US version with the lousy cover (they had to "unprog" the album for release over here).

Don't know if you got Draper's 2nd, Cult Leader Tactics. It is good, but no Spooky. The best track on it is Omega Man, which is a collaboration with Steven Wilson.
There is a fantastic video for it that Draper filmed at Chernobyl (Wilson sings his parts on a TV screen).

https://youtu.be/MEcYeVEGPVY?si=jL5gPmEoYxN5AKrs

[Digital_Man]

I don't currently have any Oasis but I like them. I have a couple of cds by Blur and I like them too but other than maybe a few songs here and there that's about all I know.

[thedunno]

Never liked Oasis but I've always liked Blur.

The absolute highlights for me coming from the Uk in the 90ies are Suede-Dog man Star and Radiohead-ok computer. Both are absolutely magnificent.

[Sunlight Caller]

I'm a Brit and I can't really get the appeal of Oasis and the current hype about the reunion is driving me nuts. Back in the day I kind of enjoyed the first two albums and they do have a few classic rock songs, but they burned out quickly for mw.

Blur on the other hand I absolutely adored, have every album and they and their orbit continue to produce interesting music.

I loved Manson, those first two albums were amongst my absolute favourites. I did get Spooky Action but by the time Cult Leader Tactics came out I had become aware via the news of some of the problems that Paul Draper was exhibiting towards others (there were legal issues around his relationship with another prog-adjacent artist, all searchable, nothing secret), and as a Dad to daughters, that sort of behaviour pisses me off so much that it taints the rest of his story, so I never listened to that one.

Brit Pop was just a movement that the press cobbled together, and as with any movement there is good and there is bad. The Blur v Oasis battle was a pure media invention to hype up sales.

[JJ88]

I like the bigger Britpop names to an extent. It was kind of the last gasp of British rock. I never liked all those 2000s bands like The Arctic Monkeys. I have always been baffled by the latter's popularity. At least Oasis once had something for five minutes.

I'm a Brit and I can't really get the appeal of Oasis and the current hype about the reunion is driving me nuts. Back in the day I kind of enjoyed the first two albums and they do have a few classic rock songs, but they burned out quickly for mw.

I found it revealing that it was only the 90s albums that re-charted in all the furore. All the 2000s ones didn't.

I think Definitely Maybe is a strong album. ...Morning Glory, less so- I only like bits of it TBH. Their obnoxiousness was always a turn-off.

I have to also say that I was never knocked out by anything I saw/heard of them playing live, when they were originally around. It will be interesting to hear what they sound like now, whoever is even in the band (they have not said).

Why on earth is everyone in Britain breathlessly hoping for another utterance of genius from Lee "Syd" Mavers? Because of that mediocre song?

The UK music press always lapsed into ludicrous hyperbole where indie bands are concerned. Simple as that.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

The UK music press always lapsed into ludicrous hyperbole where indie bands are concerned. Simple as that.

That would certainly explain it. A 6-page MOJO feature on the La's (long after they disbanded) was a tad excessive.

[clivey]

That would certainly explain it. A 6-page MOJO feature on the La's (long after they disbanded) was a tad excessive.

Yikeees. So it would have taken me longer to read the feature than to listen to the band's complete issue. Ha.

[Sunlight Caller]

The Auteurs were terrific the first two albums are worth an investigation. Luke Haines remains an irascible curmudgeon to this day and we love him for it!

[wilcox660]

I've always been a massive fan of Lush, but they're more on the "Shoegaze" fringe & not truly Britpop.

[dropforge]

I've always been a massive fan of Lush, because Miki Berenyi's a hottay.

Fixed!

[pb2015]

I've always been a massive fan of Lush, but they're more on the "Shoegaze" fringe & not truly Britpop.

I understand they went more Britpop on the last album Lovelife (the only album I didn't buy at the time).

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

I've always been a massive fan of Lush, but they're more on the "Shoegaze" fringe & not truly Britpop.

I don't know much about the so-called Shoegaze thing, except maybe for My Bloody Valentine. I actually bought Loveless back then which is a decent record. Pigeonholes aren't really my thing, but what other bands besides them and Lush were tagged with Shoegaze? Low, perhaps? That "genre" kind of passed over me at the time.
Also Clivey mentioned Stone Roses above as part of the "Madchester" scene...they are a band l forgot about. I did like their radio cuts at the time but not enough to buy. Happy Mondays l had no time for, l think l am allergic to Shaun Ryder.
But, after John Squire left Stone Roses and started Seahorses, l did buy their album after hearing a cut on...99X, put in rotation by Leslie Fram.
Squire is an excellent guitarist...l am mildly curious to hear his album with Liam Gallagher but unfortunately l am allergic to him also. ☺

[clivey]

I really didn't like the " britpop wave" when it arrived. Me, my band and almost all my friends had been pretty caught up in the whole 2nd summer of love/ baggy scene and also the Manchester bands who came along with the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays ie "Madchester" .This was a generational seedchange which coincided with the onset of the rave scene and of course the huge uptake of ecstasy and acid as the intoxicants of choice on your average weekend . Not so much boozy violence on a night out, lots of dancing freaking out drinking H2o.

Britpop was really just a sanitized and detoxed product created by the industry and Not too many folks at the time thought it significant . Oasis in particular were particularly derivative but absolutely huge within the working classes. Plenty good bands such as Radiohead, Pulp,blur , suede, kicking around back then .

[Digital_Man]

I never really thought of Radiohead as brit pop for some reason. Maybe it's because based on my experience they don't seem to be one of the main bands associated with the genre although maybe brit pop is just one of a few labels used for them.

[SteveSly]

I never really thought of Radiohead as brit pop for some reason. Maybe it's because based on my experience they don't seem to be one of the main bands associated with the genre although maybe brit pop is just one of a few labels used for them.

I don't consider them Brit pop either. Ok Computer is pure prog to my ears.

[clivey]

I don't consider them Brit pop either. Ok Computer is pure prog to my ears.

Me neither. Nor the LA's .in fact I clearly remember buying there she goes in 12 " for my brother's birthday present. That would have been in 88 round the time house and acid house took off and well before the Madchester/ Rave era. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madchester

[Gravedigger]

I don't consider them Brit pop either. Ok Computer is pure prog to my ears.

Still kinda hard to believe nowadays that Kid A was a #1 album.

[clivey]

Still kinda hard to believe nowadays that Kid A was a #1 album.

And played on peak time Radio 1 lunchtime radio

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

I never cared for Oasis.

[mozo-pg]

If I heard Oasis on the radio, I couldn't recognize it.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

If I heard Oasis on the radio, I couldn't recognize it.

There are most likely tunes you heard by them back then if you listened to the radio, like Live Forever, Wonderwall, or Champagne Supernova. At least that was the case in the Atlanta area and the station 99X, with the influential radio programmer Leslie Fram. Adds from her used to influence the playlists around the country. That station played WWall and Champagne to fuckin death back then, so maybe l heard Oasis on the radio a lot more than some people. If l recall she was one of the first programmers to put Karma Police in rotation, and incredibly they played Paranoid Android for a little while when OK C was blowing up.

[mozo-pg]

There are most likely tunes you heard by them back then if you listened to the radio, like Live Forever, Wonderwall, or Champagne Supernova. At least that was the case in the Atlanta area and the station 99X, with the influential radio programmer Leslie Fram. Adds from her used to influence the playlists around the country. That station played WWall and Champagne to fuckin death back then, so maybe l heard Oasis on the radio a lot more than some people. If l
recall she was one of the first programmers to put Karma Police in rotation, and incredibly they played Paranoid Android for a little while when OK C was blowing up.

Yes, I guess your right, They were everywhere in the 90s.