Why I miss the early 90s, part 349

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!