Cool Britania

Until Another must-have for any Top Ten of Brit Pop Songs, Suede, who widely credited influences such as The Velvet Underground and David Bowie, came to the attention of the Music press, the term was unknown. ‘Blur’ was struggling for attention, having released their debut and follow-up Modern Life Is Rubbish. Pulp was still only known to the few after releasing albums for more than ten years; the mighty Oasis had just signed to Creation and had not yet released Supersonic. The Britpop era was in its infancy, but that wouldn’t last long. Like many new cultural movements, “Cool Britania’ seemed to arrive suddenly, and Britpop was brought to Global attention.

Getting rid of Hippies

An essential ingredient was the Britishness of the bands, which meant different things to different groups and their fans. For some, it was their regional accents. For others, it was fashion and local designers. They all appeared to have things in common that could be said to be critical. Lyrics about everyday issues and dislike for the current trend in music -grunge.

Damon Albarn of Blur said in a 1993 interview, “If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I’m getting rid of grunge!”. Britpop represented a rebellion against the United States – the home of grunge and music norms of the time – or so it seemed. The reality was that they were both a working-class response to what was happening in the world at the time. In retrospect, the two had far more in common than was apparent, but there was no question that Britpop was the livelier and more fun-focused of the two. Grunge appeared to focus on what was wrong in the world and how everything seemed to be angry, self-pity staring at the death of everything. Britpop was far more lively and seemingly enthusiastic. Noel Galagher summed it up well when he said of Oasis’s smash hit ‘Live Forever’ was a reaction to the self-pitying depressive nature of some (mainly US grunge) music of the same era, “dying? fuck that I’m gonna live forever.”

A sense of something new

The Brits brought a sense of something new, accents and a new vocabulary. Added to this was a new fashion and sense of ‘laddish’ rebellion, summed up in an attitude that everyone can get rich and famous  – so let’s do it.

It cannot be understated how different it was for British bands not to hide their regional accents or dress styles when eyeing the US market. Until then, British groups who made it in America didn’t write lyrics expressing what was happening in their lives in the UK and would make an effort to soften their accent(s). To make it easier to appeal to the massive US market, they went for commonality in their approach to lyrics and style and didn’t bring their version of British Culture to the fore. Brit Pop changed that. It was fantastic to be British, and it was OK not to hide how you pronounced different words. The bands revelled in it.

This is not to say it was all “British culture or nothing else.” It was much more, although their look and feel were unmistakenly from the UK, and their experience of living life and growing up in Britain.

Having fun and making music

The music was up-tempo and guitar-led, with the formula of one /two guitars, bass, and drums. Recognising that the classic band structure was a big part of the movement is essential. These were bands -mates who got together and wrote songs – this was never just about the lead singer and their ‘musical support’ in the background. This was about groups of people having fun and making music.

Although arguably the most successful bands were Oasis, Blur, Suede and Pulp, and they appear in virtually any Top Ten Britpop, there were others. The Charlatan’s – The Only One I Know, The Stone Roses – Love Spreads, Garbage’s – I Think I’m Paranoid, and Republica’s – Drop Dead Gorgeous, to name but a few, and they helped fuel the idea that Britania was well and truly COOL. Even, arguably still one of the most famous Girl Groups, The Spice Girls though they can’t be said to be under the genre of Brit Pop, in the strictest sense – were the most recognisable face of cool Britania. The photograph went everywhere when Spice Girl Geri Halliwell wore that Union Jack dress at the Brit Awards in 1997. Suddenly, the Brit Awards seemed to have finally arrived rather than appearing to be a poor relation to the much bigger American award shows. And with it came the mighty combined marketing power of the record labels,  willingly supported by the media.