I'll display my unashamedly nostalgic side now. I was caught up in the Britpop craze, having started to buy music while at university from 93-96. Some of those bands were rubbish (Powder, anyone?) and some great (Elastica, Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish distils an era, though it heralded Britpop rather than fully partook in it).
But. Britpop killed off the jungle of non-corporate music - such as shoegaze - or at least drove it to the margins, where it became fragmented and overly precious. Chasing hit singles, appearing in style mags and being spotted at celeb events became signs of success, rather than producing great work or remaining artistically honest. It was also a deeply laddish culture - females (Lush, Pale Saints, Juliana Hatfield, Liz Phair, Riot Grrl) were marginalised, however good their music, with odd exceptions such as the wonderful P J Harvey.
So today I've been listening to Belly, fronted by Tanya Donelly, formerly of the even more wonderful Breeders and Throwing Muses (I'll come to them in due course). Belly melded jangly guitars, an ethereal voice and a muscular rock rhythm section to produce something captivating. Indie night classics!
6 comments:
I've got to say, I quite liked Powder. I once saw Pearl and Danny watching Super Furry Animals at a festival and I was far more starstruck by her than him. I reckon Afrodiziac has aged far better than a lot of other singles from that era.
Oh and come on! Shoegaze was always at the margins, and fragmented, and overly precious. Wasn't that why we, as marginalised, fragmented and overly precious teenagers, loved it so much?
OK, Afrodiziak had its moments, but there were hundreds of extremely ordinary bands. As you know, I have all their records…
Shoegaze was a bit bigger than that: Ride really were on the verge of being very big. Baggy had its moment too, but grunge and Britpop put paid to them.
Ooo. Looking forward to your opinion of the Breeders Vole. I saw them in Brum a few years ago in the cosy Academy 2. Sehr gut.
Shoegaze was tiny. Really. I was there. I remember. I bought Whirlpool in 1991. No one else did. It charted at No. 23 in the album charts. Then disappeared.
As for Ride...
Ride: Going Blank Again, 9 March 1992, Chart Peak No. 5
Blur: Parklife, 25 April 1994
Ride: Carnival of Light, 20 June 1994, Chart Peak No. 5
Britpop did what now?
To my mind Tarantula (ride's last album) made whilst the group was breaking up is a lost classic. I still listen to it all the time. Just as Ringo wasn't the best drummer in The Beatles, The best guitarist in Oasis plays bass.
I like Tarantula too - perhaps the tension helped to produce it. Black Night Crash is a corker.
Joining Oasis must have felt like a lucrative demotion.
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