#64

Christ, I had a look at the list (and read some of the words). Terrible.

I like quite a few of the albums though. Radiator is great. Britpop is a riduclous term, and you can see why most of the bands on there would want to be distanced from it.

#65

Lipgloss and Babies are absolute tunes but not britpop imho

#66

itā€™s barely an ankle tbh

#67

Kind of hard to judge what weā€™re talking about here. My recollection is a lot of popular musicians met Tony Blair in his first term as leader, shortly after he got in but I think someone refused. It might well have been Thom Yorke, although I felt like Radiohead werenā€™t as big as Oasis/Blur in most peopleā€™s eyes, even then (not a pop act ever I guess).

Lots of people were dubious of Blair even before he got in power. The Tories werenā€™t wanted but certainly I donā€™t think itā€™s revisionist to assume Thom Yorke wasnā€™t big into him because he was always very political in his outlook and stuff. I mean by the time Kid A came long we had the artwork that clearly attacks Blair (I think thereā€™s line in the cartoon about important decisions you wouldnā€™t understand, or something).

The Bends does have a strong layer of anti-consumerism in its lyrics and ideas, I think.

But, you know, mark alongside Jeremy Corbyn being ā€˜rightā€™ in every vote on war or whatever. I mean we know Blair was a fucking nightmare in the end and his legacy isnā€™t great so it makes this seem more significant than it did at the time.

#68

It is, itā€™s one of the horse names rattled off by Alan Partridge. Anotherā€™s Massive Bereavement, which of course became an Oceansize song.

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#69

Seems like for much of this list they are justifying why they fit into the label of Britpop when they arenā€™t. Should have been top 50 Britpop singles really.

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#70

Tough choices
With difficult decisions
That you really wouldnā€™t understand

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#71

Alright, Wolfie.

#72

As if theres a top 50 britpop albums without The Longpigs included

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#73

I remember the week or a couple of weeks after the landslide the NME did a feature asking several popular bands and artists of the time what they thought of Labourā€™s great election victory. Iā€™m sure they was some cynicism (maybe from the Manics, i canā€™t remember) but the overall tone was how fantastics was. And I may be revising my own history here but even with my political outlook at the time which amounted to little more than Tories are bad, mmmkay thought meights, this isnā€™t going to be some old school Labour government ushering in a golden age of socialism.

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#74

Yeah, I mean I think people who werenā€™t pro-Blair were still of the opinion it was definitely going to be better than life under the Tories. Itā€™s only the hindsight that makes those naysayers seem more prescient maybe? Like you, I think my feeling was more about ā€œditch the Toriesā€ rather than grumble about Blair not being as lefty as Iā€™d like.

#75

Excellent. Massive Bereavement has been my fantasy football team name of choice for years.

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#76

hahaha

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#77

Forget the NME, Pitchforkā€™s more recent demise is the most disappointing thing. It always had an annoyingly reverent fanbase (each readership ā€œbest ofā€ list just mirrored the websiteā€™s own), but the content made up for it (Poptimist, anyone?)

Now itā€™s just pish.

#78

Poptimist? Do you mean the school of thought that insisted that pop music is just as ā€œvalidā€ and ā€œauthenticā€ as other, more traditionally lauded forms?

While I can fully get behind that way of thinking, I found that many who espoused poptimism went too far in the opposite direction. That sort of defeats the point, doesnā€™t it?

Or are you referring to something else entirely?

#79

shouldnā€™t stuff like early Belle and Sebastian and Arab Strap be in this? Or even Primal Scream? idfk

#80

Judging by their loose-as-fuck definition of britpop, Soundgarden should be in there. Cornershop - for the love of god.

Surprised but pleased that there was no Portishead or Massive Attack.

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#81

Misses Marionā€™s This World and Body and Babybirdā€™s Thereā€™s Something Going On. Although you could argue neither were really Britpop. Either way. Poo

#82

Notable Snubs:

-All Change by Cast (better than The Laā€™s album imo)
-Expecting To Fly by The Bluetones (top 15 Britpop album)
-Free Peace Sweet by Dodgy (epitome of that sweet sound from Britpop with a couple hits on it)
-K by Kula Shaker (this one got to #1 on the charts I believe and even had quite a few hits so not sure why they omitted it)

Bands who were snubbed because they had no fame but have 90s albums on my top 50 Britpop:
-Further by Geneva
-Waterpistol by Shack
-Only Forerver by Puressence
-Love and Other Demons by Strangelove
-Pioneering Soundtracks by Jack
-Marionā€™s debut
-The Sun Is Often Out by The Longpigs

Also Supergrassā€™ In It For The Money is a much better album imo than I Should Coco but I Should Coco has ā€˜Alrightā€™ on it and Iā€™m guessing the creators of this list have mostly just listened to the singles rather than the entire albums.

You can mock Britpop all you want and it was sometimes a case of too much imitation but it was far better guitar rock tan whatā€™s come out of the UK since 2010. Occasionally you get a band like The Joy Formidable or Royal Blood or Desperate Journalist now but the majority of them are top 40 crap like Blossoms, The 1975, and Pale Waves.

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#83

I meant the column ā€œPoptimistā€ by Tom Ewing! But some of writing did fit into the school of thought you mention, although he explored it in a more considered way.

I guess actually the problem of going too far in that direction is a problem Pitchfork has these daysā€¦if only he knew what he was starting.