History Main / Britpop

There was admittedly somewhat of a problem. The fact that Britpop was very hard to define led several sources around that time to not really understand what it was and so lumped various British Alternative Rock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/TheDivineComedy, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/{{Stereolab}}, Music/TheBeautifulSouth, [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]], Music/PrimalScream, '''Music/PJHarvey''', and even '''''Music/{{Garbage}}''''' (who weren't even British apart from Scottish frontwoman Shirley Manson). One of the biggest offenders in this case was Denim, fronted by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}. Though they influenced many bands in the scene, particularly the glammy ones like Slade and The Auteurs, their music was perhaps even less Britpop than Radiohead, going for an unusual sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the bubblegum pop of the early seventies. Arguably the BlackSheep of the whole scene were Music/{{Space}}, a band from Liverpool shared the Super Furries' irreverent humor and eclecticism, but received none of the critical adulation and were largely accepted in indie circles as a mere novelty act, despite the massive commercial success of both their first two albums.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (formed by Shaun Ryder following the first breakup of Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, Music/{{Space}}[[note]]Arguably the BlackSheep of the whole scene, this group from Liverpool shared the Super Furries' irreverent humor and eclecticism, but received none of the critical adulation and were largely accepted in indie circles as a mere novelty act, despite the massive commercial success of both their first two albums.[[/note]], 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over. The scene was vast enough that even artists not usually associated with the scene gave their hands a try at it, with alternative dancers Music/SaintEtienne diving into the genre with their 1993 track "You're in a Bad Way".

There was admittedly somewhat of a problem. The fact that Britpop was very hard to define led several sources around that time to not really understand what it was and so lumped various British Alternative Rock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/TheDivineComedy, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/{{Stereolab}}, Music/TheBeautifulSouth, [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]], Music/PrimalScream, '''Music/PJHarvey''', and even '''''Music/{{Garbage}}''''' (who weren't even British apart from Scottish frontwoman Shirley Manson). One of the biggest offenders in this case was Denim, fronted by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}. Though they influenced many bands in the scene, particularly the glammy ones like Slade and The Auteurs, their music was perhaps even less Britpop than Radiohead, going for an unusual sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the bubblegum pop of the early seventies.

One of the two bands credited as truly starting the boom was Music/{{Blur}}, a band already with minor commercial success that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, delivered the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]", which along with the ensuing albums (such as ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and ''Music/{{Parklife}}'') helped make them one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/{{XTC}}". Suede were the other band that were starting the boom, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even released their debut single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]”, which along with their debut album was ''definitely'' worth the hype. Meanwhile, Denim, fronted by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}, went for a sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the bubblegum pop of the early seventies, and whilst they did not achieve commercial success like the other bands, are considered an important influence on the Britpop aesthetic.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (formed by Shaun Ryder following the first breakup of Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over.

They weren't all bands, either. Several solo artists emerged from the scene and played the style as well. Ian Brown and Bernard Butler, formerly of The Stone Roses and Suede respectively, would go on to have their own respected solo careers that they continue to this very day. Meanwhile Boo Radleys vocalist Sice would have his own solo project under the name "Eggman". The Britpop solo artist that's most well-known, however, would be Music/RobbieWilliams. Formerly of the boy band [[Music/TakeThatBand Take That]] (they kicked him out in 1995 … and broke up a few months later), he reinvented himself with the genre and became one of the main superstars not just of Britpop, but for late-90s/early-2000s British music, after delivering 1997's ''Life Thru a Lens''. This is still considered one of the last defining albums of the genre and made iconic hits such as "Let Me Entertain You", "Old Before I Die", and his signature song "Angels" (Mark Owen [[FollowTheLeader attempted to do the same as Robbie]], to much less memorable results).

There were even a few instances of bands and musicians that weren't usually associated with the scene that, at times, decided to try their hands out at the genre. Alternative dancers Music/SaintEtienne, for example, were not considered part of the scene, but did dive into the genre with their 1993 track "You're in a Bad Way". Meanwhile, musicians of yesteryear, such as Music/JohnnyMarr and Nick Heyward, decided to give the genre a try around the same time.

There was admittedly somewhat of a problem. The fact that Britpop was very hard to define led several sources around that time to not really understand what it was and so lumped various British Alternative Rock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/TheDivineComedy, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/{{Stereolab}}, Music/TheBeautifulSouth, [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]], Music/PrimalScream, '''Music/PJHarvey''', and even '''''Music/{{Garbage}}''''' (who weren't even British apart from Scottish frontwoman Shirley Manson). Arguably the BlackSheep of the whole scene were Music/{{Space}}, a group from Liverpool who shared the Super Furries' irreverent humor and eclecticism, but received none of the critical adulation and were largely accepted in indie circles as a mere novelty act, despite the massive commercial success of both their first two albums.

They weren't all bands, either. Several solo artists emerged from the scene and played the style as well. Ian Brown and Bernard Butler, formerly of The Stone Roses and Suede respectively, would go on to have their own respected solo careers that they continue to this very day. Meanwhile Boo Radleys vocalist Sice would have his own solo project under the name "Eggman". The Britpop solo artist that's most well-known, however, would be Music/RobbieWilliams. Formerly of the boy band [[Music/TakeThatBand Take That]] (they kicked him out in 1995 … and broke up a few months later), he reinvented himself with the genre and became one of the main superstars not just of Britpop, but for late-90s/early-2000s British music, after delivering 1997's ''Life Thru a Lens''. This is still considered one of the last defining albums of the genre and made iconic hits such as "Let Me Entertain You", "Old Before I Die", and his signature song "Angels".

'''Britpop''' was a somewhat ill-defined scene in British AlternativeRock that first had its origins within [[TheEighties the late-1980s]], and generally flourished in [[TheNineties the mid-1990s]].

There are a lot of eager tagging of bands, but what exactly Britpop ''was'' is difficult to define. One thing that does tend to be agreed is that the genre was kickstarted by the Manchester band Music/TheStoneRoses, with their debut album released in 1989. This album included much of what would categorise Britpop – influences from UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion, GlamRock and PunkRock, local identity and regional British accents (the Roses themselves were associated with "Madchester", a cultural scene with roots in The Haçienda night club and [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll involved with indie music, house, psychedelia … and lots of ecstasy]]), and catchy hooks and lyrics relevant to Britain's generation of young people. There was also Liverpool band, Music/TheLas, who were either twenty years ahead of their time or twenty behind. They too released an album with very much the same influences, albeit a lot less psychedelia, and managed a single hit with "There She Goes". These two bands were viewed as the ones who were slowly setting the scene in stone.

But it was TheNineties where it started to really explode. When in 1991 Music/{{Nirvana}} released "Smells Like Teen Spirit", {{Grunge}} quickly took over the British music consciousness: [[GenrePopularizer suddenly everyone had long hair and scrappy clothes again]]. A loose rabble of musicians in Britain took exception to this and turned to picking up where The Stone Roses and The La's had left off – to produce music that was somehow 'British' rather than the American stuff.

One of the two bands credited as truly starting the boom was Music/{{Blur}}, a band already with minor commercial success that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, delivered the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]", which along with the ensuing albums (such as ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and ''Music/{{Parklife}}'') helped make them one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/{{XTC}}". Suede were the other band that were starting the boom, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even released their debut single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]”, which along with their debut album was ''definitely'' worth the hype. Meanwhile, Denim, fronted by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}, went for a sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the bubblegum pop of the early seventies, and whilst they did not achieve commercial success like the other bands, are considered an important influence on the Britpop aesthetic.

Various other bands that had been around for more than five years, such as Music/{{Pulp}} (a former post-punk band formed by a few teenage friends in [[OlderThanTheyThink 1978]] and personal favourites of radio legend Creator/JohnPeel), Music/TheBooRadleys (who were initially more part of the {{Shoegazing}} and DreamPop scenes) and The Charlatans (who, like The Stone Roses, were part of the Madchester scene and delivered the hit album ''Some Friendly'' a few years beforehand), began to embrace Britpop and gain commercial success as a result, with Pulp's ''Different Class'' and The Charlatans' ''Tellin' Stories'' cited as two of the genres' most important albums. One of the first bands to form out of this new boom was Supergrass, a band of teenagers formed out of the ashes of their earlier band The Jennifers. They played a significantly pop punky brand of Britpop and would deliver one of the genre's most iconic songs, "Alright".

Music/{{Radiohead}} is … a mixed bag. Whether or not they count as Britpop is still highly debated to this day. Though they were British and were experiencing their height of popularity in the 90s, their music is agreed to not be intentionally evoking the "Britishness" as the others and were generally more introspective and experimental; in fact their debut single "Creep" was much more in line with Grunge. They didn't even really get to their peak until Britpop ended (explained below later). But they're still cited as influential by Britpop's successors, and ''Music/TheBends'' was poppy, so who's to say no?

But the band that most likely comes to your mind when you hear the phrase "Britpop" would be Music/{{Oasis}}. Emerging in 1994, they were big Mancunian fans of The Beatles and simple, big, stadium-filling rock 'n' roll. One of the "Big Four" (alongside Blur, Pulp and Suede), they were by far the most successful act to come out of the Britpop years, and the only ones who really made any impact in America.

* Elastica, a mostly-female group led by [[Music/{{Blur}} Damon Albarn's]] (and before that [[Music/{{Suede}} Brett Anderson's]]) then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann, who drew their sound from punk acts like Music/{{Wire}} or Music/TheStranglers (basically, a British Music/TheBreeders).

* Music/{{Lush}}, which much like The Boo Radleys pulled an abrupt GenreShift from Shoegazing to Britpop, albeit much later in 1996.

Several of the bands in this scene were occasionally grouped into nice sub-scenes within Britpop as well. For example, Kerrang! magazine coined a term known as "Britrock", categorised as Britpop that kept the British spin but were also distinctly influenced also by hard rock and American alternative rock. Oasis and the Manics were often grouped here, as well as non-Britpop British bands such as Music/{{Bush}}, Music/{{Feeder}}, Music/SkunkAnansie, Terrorvision, Therapy?, and Music/TheWildhearts. The bands that came from Wales, such as the Manics, Super Furries, and Gorky's, were also grouped into their mini subculture nicknamed Cool Cymru, as their music would often specifically aim at the Welsh culture of young people instead of the UK as a whole (and, in the case of Gorky's, occasionally even have songs written entirely in the Welsh language). There was also the punkier side of Britpop, nicknamed New Wave of New Wave, which was used to describe bands like Elastica, as well as other non-Britpop bands such as bis (the band that would go on to do the ending theme of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998''), and is now considered to be a precursor to the 2000s post-punk revival scene.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (formed by Shaun Ryder following the first breakup of Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over.

There was admittedly somewhat of a problem. The fact that Britpop was very hard to define led several sources around that time to not really understand what it was and so lumped various British Alternative Rock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/TheDivineComedy, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/{{Stereolab}}, Music/TheBeautifulSouth, [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]], Music/PrimalScream, '''Music/PJHarvey''', and even '''''Music/{{Garbage}}'''''. Arguably the BlackSheep of the whole scene were Music/{{Space}}, a group from Liverpool who shared the Super Furries' irreverent humor and eclecticism, but received none of the critical adulation and were largely accepted in indie circles as a mere novelty act, despite the massive commercial success of both their first two albums.

It was after this that everything for the genre slowly started to fall apart. As mentioned above, many of the smaller names were following on from the coattails of the bigger names, but after the Battle of Britpop, the music industry failed to recognise how traditional rock-influenced bands like Oasis and The Charlatans had come up organically due to authenticity and unique sounds, and so from then on almost all new Britpop bands were interchangeable and inauthentic Oasis-a-likes thrown together either by alternative rockers of yesteryear now past their prime, such as The Seahorses (led by [[Music/TheStoneRoses John Squire]]) and Hurricane #1 (led by [[Music/{{Ride}} Andy Bell]]), or by inexperienced musicians that were generally mediocre in musical talent, such as Northern Uproar, The Diggers, Reef, 18 Wheeler, Heavy Stereo, 3 Colours Red, Shed Seven, Music/KulaShaker, Superstar, Embrace, Dodgy, Music/TheBluetones, and Gomez. Though some bands here, like Embrace and Gomez, would reinvent themselves and become popular, the rest didn't, and slowly, the Britpop scene became shunned and reviled.

First, one of the scene's leaders, Blur, had become increasingly disillusioned with the genre by the time the Battle of Britpop ended, and so for their next album, the Main/SelfTitledAlbum ''Blur'', they threw the genre completely out of the window and reinvented themselves to be much more sophisticated, now a British equivalent to America's underground indie rock bands like Music/{{Pavement}} and Music/SonicYouth. This would help officially break the group into America and set the stages for both the indie rock boom of the 2000s and [[Music/{{Gorillaz}} what Damon Albarn was about to do next]]. Fellow leaders Pulp too broke from the genre the next year with ''This Is Hardcore'', which revisited their old post-punk roots to become much more of an art rock band.

Finally, Music/TheVerve (whom had existed for several years, but were originally recognised simply as "that Shoegazing act") seemed to be picking up the Britpop crown with their album ''Urban Hymns'' which included the worldwide hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony". Alongside ''Life Thru a Lens'', it at first seemed to keep the Britpop scene alive, and the fact that "Bitter Sweet" wound up becoming the second ever non-Oasis Britpop single to crack the Billboard Top 40 in America (the first of which was, of all songs, Spacehog's "In the Meantime") suggested that the genre was finally about to break through into America as a whole. However, these chances were shot down in an instant when "Bitter Sweet" became the subject of a lawsuit from ABKCO and its manager, Allen Klein, due to it using a sample from an orchestral version of Music/TheRollingStones "The Last Time" (it's better to watch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_s90-Hi2ZY this video]] to get the full details). The lawsuit was so heavy that, alongside the band's internal bickering, it was enough to cause the band's career to stop dead.

After this, Britpop was officially dead, with the rise of the Music/SpiceGirls, who were never Britpop but just plain pop, happening at around the same time to stick the boot in an officially give the genre its gravestone. A discourtesy detail was the fact a major political party, in an attempt to [[AgingWouldBeHipster Get Down With The Kids]], belatedly latched onto Britpop as a soundtrack for its ascent to power in 1997, calling the resultant minor embarrassment ''Cool Britannia''.[[note]]UsefulNotes/TonyBlair's New Labour Party seemed blissfully unaware this name, far from being cutting-edge trendy in 1997, was three decades old and had begun as a parody song by Music/TheBonzoDogBand, of a previous attempt by a ruling political party to look trendy.[[/note]]

Oasis chugged along, releasing well selling albums that got alright reviews until the band ended in 2009 – it had been very well known amongst the public that leaders/brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had a [[SiblingRivalry very contentious relationship]], so it was fitting that the band's end was the result of one altercation too far between the brothers. Blur, unlike Oasis, quit while they were ahead and still at the top of their game in 2003 (albeit two years after guitarist Graham Coxon departed), which freed Damon Albarn to focus full-time on Music/{{Gorillaz}}. Pulp continued to release critically adored albums for a few years before completely disappearing. However, both Blur and Pulp have since made comebacks (in 2015 and 2013, respectively). Suede, the last of the four leading Britpop acts, fizzled out in 2003 following a couple of mediocre releases, but came back rejuvenated in 2011 and have been going ever since. Ash, the Manics, the Super Furries, Supergrass, and Travis all somehow managed to outlive most of their Britpop competition, becoming a major player in the British alternative scene, though Supergrass would split in April 2010 and reform (as a live act only) in late 2019. Meanwhile, several of the smaller bands would also reform during this period, though mostly catering towards the nostalgia/90s revival circuit.

By 1998, the term post-Britpop was occasionally traded about, though this was an even less well-defined category that continued to focus on guitar music but leaned more towards alt rock and the melancholic sound laid out by Radiohead. Bands that were often grouped into this term included Music/{{Coldplay}}, Music/{{Elbow}}, Music/{{Keane}}, Starsailor and Doves. This term was never taken seriously, however, and many of those bands personally wouldn't identify as Britpop at all. These bands' popularity with journalists started to phase out by 2003, who began focusing on the emerging post-punk revival,[[note]]Although, a few journalists that didn't phase it out applied this term to bands that were categorised in said post-punk revival at the time, such as the Music/ArcticMonkeys.[[/note]] which too eventually faded out— and alongside a myriad of other factors (including the decline of Main/PostGrunge) took mainstream rock with it.

One of the two bands credited as truly starting the boom was Music/{{Blur}}, a band already with minor commercial success that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, delivered the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]", which along with the ensuing albums (such as ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and ''Music/{{Parklife}}'') helped make them one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/{{XTC}}". Suede were the other band that were starting the boom, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even released their debut single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]”, which along with their debut album was ''definitely'' worth the hype. Meanwhile, Denim, fronted by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}, went for a sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the bubblegum pop of the early seventies, and whilst they did not achieve commercial success as the other bands, are considered important influence on the Britpop aesthetic.

After this, Britpop was officially dead, with the rise of the Music/SpiceGirls, who were never Britpop but just plain pop, happening at around the same time to stick the boot in an officially give the genre its gravestone. A discourtesy detail was the fact a major political party, in an attempt to Get Down With The Kids, belatedly latched onto Britpop as a soundtrack for its ascent to power in 1997, calling the resultant minor embarrassment ''Cool Britannia''.[[note]]UsefulNotes/TonyBlair's New Labour Party seemed blissfully unaware this name, far from being cutting-edge trendy in 1997, was three decades old and had begun as a parody by Music/TheBonzoDogBand, of a previous attempt by a ruling political party to look trendy.[[/note]]

After this, Britpop was officially dead, with the rise of the Music/SpiceGirls, who were never Britpop but just plain pop, happening at around the same time to stick the boot in an officially give the genre its gravestone.

By 1998, the term post-Britpop was occasionally traded about, though this was an even less well-defined category that continued to focus on guitar music but leaned more towards alt rock and the melancholic sound laid out by Radiohead. Bands that were often grouped into this term included Music/{{Coldplay}}, Music/{{Elbow}}, Music/{{Keane}}, Starsailor and Doves. This term was never taken seriously, however, and many of those bands personally wouldn't identify as Britpop at all. These bands' popularity with journalists started to phase out by 2003, who began focusing on the emerging post-punk revival, which too eventually faded out— and alongside a myriad of other factors (including the decline of Main/PostGrunge) took mainstream rock with it.

But it was TheNineties where it started to really explode. When in 1991 Music/{{Nirvana}} released "Smells Like Teen Spirit", {{Grunge}} quickly took over the British music consciousness: [[GenrePopularizer suddenly everyone had long hair and scrappy clothes again]]. A loose rabble of musicians in Britain took exception to this and turned to picking up where The Stone Roses and The La's had left off – to produce music that was somehow 'British' rather than the American stuff. One of the two bands credited as truly starting the boom was Music/{{Blur}}, a band already with minor commercial success that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, delivered the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]", which along with the ensuing albums (such as ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and ''Music/{{Parklife}}'') helped make them one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/{{XTC}}". Suede were the other band that were starting the boom, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even released their debut single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]”, which along with their debut album was ''definitely'' worth the hype. Meanwhile, Denim, fronted by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}, went for a sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the bubblegum pop of the early seventies, and whilst not as commercially successful as the other bands are considered important influence on the Britpop aesthetic.

But it was TheNineties where it started to really explode. When in 1991 Music/{{Nirvana}} released "Smells Like Teen Spirit", {{Grunge}} quickly took over the British music consciousness: [[GenrePopularizer suddenly everyone had long hair and scrappy clothes again]]. A loose rabble of musicians in Britain took exception to this and turned to picking up where The Stone Roses and The La's had left off – to produce music that was somehow 'British' rather than the American stuff. One of the two bands credited as truly starting the boom was Music/{{Blur}}, a band already with minor commercial success that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, delivered the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]", which along with the ensuing albums (such as ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and ''Music/{{Parklife}}'') helped make them one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/{{XTC}}". Suede were the other band that were starting the boom, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even released their debut single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]”, which along with their debut album was ''definitely'' worth the hype.

Various other bands that had been around for more than five years, such as Music/{{Pulp}} (a former post-punk band formed by a few teenage friends in [[OlderThanTheyThink 1978]] and personal favourites of radio legend Creator/JohnPeel), Music/TheBooRadleys (who were initially more part of the {{Shoegazing}} and DreamPop scenes) and The Charlatans (who, like The Stone Roses, were part of the Madchester scene and delivered the hit album ''Some Friendly'' a few years beforehand), began to embrace Britpop and gain commercial success as a result, with Pulp's ''Different Class'' and The Charlatans' ''Tellin' Stories'' cited as two of the genres' most important albums. Meanwhile, Denim, formed by Lawrence of pioneering indie band Music/{{Felt}}, went for a sound described as a half earnest/half tongue-in-cheek homage to the glam rock and bubblegum of the early seventies, and whilst not as commercially successful as the other bands are considered important to the Britpop aesthetic. One of the first bands to form out of this new boom was Supergrass, a band of teenagers formed out of the ashes of their earlier band The Jennifers. They played a significantly pop punky brand of Britpop and would deliver one of the genre's most iconic songs, "Alright".

Various other bands that had been around for more than five years, such as Music/{{Pulp}} (a former post-punk band formed by a few teenage friends in [[OlderThanTheyThink 1978]] and personal favourites of radio legend Creator/JohnPeel), Music/TheBooRadleys (who were initially more part of the {{Shoegazing}} and DreamPop scenes) and The Charlatans (who, like The Stone Roses, were part of the Madchester scene and delivered the hit album ''Some Friendly'' a few years beforehand), began to embrace Britpop and gain commercial success as a result, with Pulp's ''Different Class'' and The Charlatans' ''Tellin' Stories'' cited as two of the genres' most important albums. One of the first bands to form out of this new boom was Supergrass, a band of teenagers formed out of the ashes of their earlier band The Jennifers. They played a significantly pop punky brand of Britpop and would deliver one of the genre's most iconic songs, "Alright".

Music/{{Radiohead}} is … a mixed bag. Whether or not they count as Britpop is still highly debated to this day. Though they were British and were experiencing their height of popularity in the 90s, their music is agreed to not be intentionally evoking the "Britishness" as the others and were generally more experimental, and in fact their debut single "Creep" was much more in line with Grunge. They didn't even really get to their peak until Britpop ended (explained below later). But they're still cited as influential by Britpop's successors, and ''Music/TheBends'' was poppy, so who's to say no?

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over. Arguably the BlackSheep of the whole scene were Music/{{Space}}, a group from Liverpool who shared the Furries' irreverent humor and eclecticism, but received none of the critical adulation and were largely accepted as a mere novelty act.

There was admittedly somewhat of a problem. The fact that Britpop was very hard to define led several sources around that time to not really understand what it was and so lumped various British Alternative Rock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/TheDivineComedy, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/{{Stereolab}}, Music/TheBeautifulSouth, [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]], Music/PrimalScream, '''Music/PJHarvey''', Music/{{Space}}, and even '''''Music/{{Garbage}}'''''.

Next, Radiohead, who as mentioned above were never really part of the scene, released ''Music/OKComputer''. Not only was the album a critical and commercial success worldwide, but many Britpop fans who had ridiculed Radiohead in the past for generally defying the scene were now bowing down to the band and hopping onto their bandwagon. Alongside ''Blur'' and ''Hardcore'', ''OK Computer'' was enough to completely reinvent Britain's entire alternative rock scene, and the next generation were now more influenced by them than Britpop (much to Radiohead's dismay, who would pursue a much more experimental rock sound with their next albums ''Music/KidA'' and ''Music/{{Amnesiac}}'').

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over. Arguably the BlackSheep of the whole scene were Music/{{Space}}, a group from Liverpool who shared the Furries' irreverency and eclecticism, but received none of the critical adulation and were largely accepted as a mere novelty act.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/{{Space}}, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a GenreShift to no-nonsense alternative rock. For example, Placebo appeared towards the end of the scene's run as part of the Neo-Glam Britpop scene (i.e. The Auteurs, Suede, Menswear), but pulled a genre shift to a unique glammy brand of PopPunk once Britpop was over.

There was admittedly somewhat of a problem. The fact that Britpop was very hard to define led several sources around that time to not really understand what it was and so lumped various British Alternative Rock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/TheDivineComedy, Music/TeenageFanclub, Music/{{Stereolab}}, Music/TheBeautifulSouth, [[Music/TheJam Paul Weller]], Music/PrimalScream, '''Music/PJHarvey''', and even '''''Music/{{Garbage}}'''''.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/{{Space}}, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them, most notably Placebo, turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a genre shift to no-nonsense alternative rock.

There are a lot of eager tagging of bands, but what exactly Britpop ''was'' is difficult to define. One thing that does tend to be agreed is that the genre was kickstarted by the Manchester band Music/TheStoneRoses, with their debut album released in 1989. This album included much of what would categorise Britpop – influences from UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion, GlamRock and PunkRock, local identity and regional British accents (the Roses themselves were associated with "Madchester", a cultural scene with roots in The Haçienda night club and [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll involved with indie music, house, psychedelia … and lots of ecstasy]]), and catchy hooks and lyrics relevant to Britain's generation of young people. There was also another Manchester band, Music/TheLas, who were either twenty years ahead of their time or twenty behind. They too released an album with very much the same influences, albeit a lot less psychedelia, and managed a single hit with "There She Goes". These two bands were viewed as the ones who were slowly setting the scene in stone.

+ AlternativeRock, UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion, {{Madchester}}, {{Baggy}}, GlamRock, ModRevival, PunkRock

* Menswear, an indie pop band with many similarities to Suede, being from Camden Town and being very Glam Rock influenced, yet only lasted for four years.

* The Auteurs, again in the same glam scene as Suede and Menswear and whose debut ''New Wave'' is considered a landmark for the genre.
* Music/TheVerve, formerly a Dream Pop/Shoegazing/Space Rock band formed in 1990 that started embracing Britpop with 1995's ''A Northern Soul'', though would become more infamous at the end of the scene's run (mentioned later this page).

Several of the bands in this scene were occasionally grouped into nice sub-scenes within Britpop as well. For example, Kerrang! magazine coined a term known as "Britrock", categorised as Britpop that kept the British spin but were also distinctly influenced also by hard rock and American alternative rock. Oasis and the Manics were often grouped here, as well as non-Britpop British bands such as Music/{{Bush}}, Music/{{Feeder}}, Music/SkunkAnansie, Terrorvision, Therapy?, and Music/TheWildhearts. The bands that came from Wales, such as the Manics, Super Furries, and Gorky's, were also grouped into a mini subculture nicknamed Cool Cymru. There was also the punkier side of Britpop, nicknamed New Wave of New Wave, which was used to describe bands like Elastica, as well as other non-Britpop bands such as bis (the band that would go on to do the ending theme of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998''), and is now considered to be a precursor to the 2000s post-punk revival scene.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/{{Mansun}}, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/{{Space}}, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Eggman, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and
[[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the bigger names, and most of the bands here never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day, especially as several of them, most notably Placebo, turned up towards the end of the scene and thus stayed popular after the scene ended, usually with a genre shift to no-nonsense alternative rock.

They weren't all bands, either. Several solo artists emerged from the scene and played the style as well. Ian Brown and Bernard Butler, formerly of The Stone Roses and Suede respectively, would go on to have their own respected solo careers that they continue to this very day. The Britpop solo artist that's most well-known, however, would be Music/RobbieWilliams. Formerly of the boy band [[Music/TakeThatBand Take That]] (they kicked him out in 1995 … and broke up a few months later), he reinvented himself with the genre and became one of the main superstars not just of Britpop, but for late-90s/early-2000s British music, after delivering 1997's ''Life Thru a Lens''. This is still considered one of the last defining albums of the genre and made iconic hits such as "Let Me Entertain You", "Old Before I Die", and his signature song "Angels".

It was after this that everything for the genre slowly started to fall apart. As mentioned above, many of the smaller names were following on from the coattails of the bigger names, but after the Battle of Britpop, the music industry failed to recognise how traditional rock-influenced bands like Oasis and The Charlatans had come up organically due to authenticity and unique sounds, and so from then on almost all new Britpop bands were interchangeable and inauthentic Oasis-a-likes thrown together by inexperienced musicians that were generally mediocre in musical talent, such as Northern Uproar, The Diggers, Reef, 18 Wheeler, Heavy Stereo, 3 Colours Red, The Seahorses (led by [[Music/TheStoneRoses John Squire]]), Shed Seven, Music/KulaShaker, Superstar, Embrace, Dodgy, Music/TheBluetones, Hurricane #1 (led by [[Music/{{Ride}} Andy Bell]]), and Gomez. Though some bands here, like Embrace and Gomez, would reinvent themselves and become popular, the rest didn't, and slowly, the Britpop scene became shunned and reviled.

** The Boo Radleys with "Wake Up, Boo!", a cheerful ([[LyricalDissonance instrumentally]]) pop rock tune and one of the genres most well-known tunes … that not only was their only Top 40 hit but sounds ''nothing'' like their other work.

But it was TheNineties where it started to really explode. When in 1991 Music/{{Nirvana}} released "Smells Like Teen Spirit", {{Grunge}} quickly took over the British music consciousness: [[GenrePopularizer suddenly everyone had long hair and scrappy clothes again]]. A loose rabble of musicians in Britain took exception to this and turned to picking up where The Stone Roses and The La's had left off – to produce music that was somehow 'British' rather than the American stuff. One of the two bands credited as truly starting the boom was Music/{{Blur}}, a band already with minor commercial success that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, delivered the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]", which along with the ensuing albums (such as ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' and ''Music/{{Parklife}}'') helped make them one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/XTC". Suede were the other band that were starting the boom, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even released their debut single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]”, which along with their debut album was ''definitely'' worth the hype.

** Cerys Matthews, after Catatonia broke up, would go on to become a successful television and BBC Radio presenter, at one point a reporter for ''The One Show''.

* Music/SuperFurryAnimals, ''the'' cult classic band of the genre. A GenreBusting act using rock, psychedelia and electronic influences, lyrics ranging from goofy and surreal to deep and philosophical, and more iconic for their bizarre publicity stunts.

Music/{{Radiohead}} is … a mixed bag. Whether or not they count as Britpop is still highly debated to this day. Though they were British and were experiencing their height of popularity in the 90s, their music is agreed to not be intentionally evoking the 'Britishness' as the others and were generally more experimental, and in fact their debut single "Creep" was much more in line with Grunge. They didn't even really get to their peak until Britpop ended (explained below later). But they're still cited as influential by Britpop's successors, and ''Music/TheBends'' was poppy, so who's to say no?

But the band that most likely comes to your mind when you hear the phrase "Britpop" would be Oasis. Emerging in 1994, they were big Mancunian fans of The Beatles and simple, big, stadium-filling rock 'n' roll. One of the "Big Four" (alongside Blur, Pulp and Suede), they were by far the most successful act to come out of the Britpop years, and the only ones who really made any impact in America.

There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them were Spacehog, Music/TheLightningSeeds, Music/Mansun, Adorable, Sleeper, Music/{{Space}}, Music/MyLifeStory, Black Grape (a side project of the Music/HappyMondays), Rialto, Shampoo, These Animal Men, Longpigs (featuring future solo star Richard Hawley), Music/{{Placebo}}, 60 Ft. Dolls, Catatonia, Marion, Geneva, Eggman, Music/{{Kenickie}}, S*M*A*S*H, Echobelly, and

They weren't all bands, either. Several solo artists emerged from the scene and played the style as well. Ian Brown and Bernard Butler, formerly of The Stone Roses and Suede respectively, would go on to have their own respected solo careers that they continue to this very day. The Britpop solo artist that's most well-known, however, would be Music/RobbieWilliams. Formerly of the boy band Music/TakeThat (they kicked him out in 1995 … and broke up a few months later), he reinvented himself with the genre and became one of the main superstars not just of Britpop, but for late-90s/early-2000s British music, after delivering 1997's ''Life Thru a Lens''. This is still considered one of the last defining albums of the genre and made iconic hits such as "Let Me Entertain You", "Old Before I Die", and his signature song "Angels".

* Shack, formed from the ashes of eighties PostPunk band The Pale Fountains, who were noticed by practically ''nobody'' until after Britpop ended, when their album ''Waterpistol'' was discovered and became viewed as an overlooked Britpop masterpiece.
* Music/SuperFurryAnimals, the cult classic band of the genre. A GenreBusting act using rock, psychedelia and electronic influences, lyrics ranging from goofy and surreal to deep and philosophical, and more iconic for their bizarre publicity stunts.

'''Britpop''' was a somewhat ill-defined scene in British AlternativeRock in [[TheNineties the mid-1990s]]. When in 1991 Music/{{Nirvana}} released "Smells Like Teen Spirit", {{Grunge}} quickly took over the British music consciousness: [[GenrePopularizer suddenly everyone had long hair and scrappy clothes again]]. A loose rabble of musicians in Britain took exception to this, and in 1992 Britpop was born - music that was somehow 'British' rather than the American stuff. Music/{{Blur}}'s "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV8CxSO5imQ Popscene]]" is often cited as the first Britpop song, with Suede's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nWJQStqrfw The Drowners]]" following shortly.

Despite the eager tagging of bands, what exactly Britpop ''was'' is difficult to define. Among the earliest adapters were Music/TheStoneRoses in 1989 (who themselves were part of "Madchester", a sort of halfway point between HouseMusic and Britpop), but they never lived up to the promise of their first album. Then there were Music/TheLas, who were either twenty years ahead of their time or twenty behind. The Music/ManicStreetPreachers, a Welsh group that was influenced equally by GlamRock, PunkRock and American hard rock, were another early innovator of the Britpop sound (and actually wound up lasting longer than most of the bands that were directly influenced by them).

Indie pop groups who had been around for more than five years, such as The Wedding Present (a band from the north of England whose cult following started to become big enough to actually get their singles into the Top 40), The Lightning Seeds (fronted by Ian Broudie, a founding member of pioneering PostPunk group Big in Japan) and Denim (a GlamRock/bubblegum revival band, formed out of the ashes of revered indie outsiders Music/{{Felt}}), also began to find attention around this time.

The groups that followed these bands' lead and, in turn, became the leading Britpop bands include:

* Music/{{Blur}}, a former {{shoegazing}}[=/=]Madchester act that, after touring America in 1992 and finding the experience dreadful, became one of Britpop's leading lights, with a sound best summed up as "Music/TheBeatles and Music/TheKinks meet Music/{{XTC}}".
* Music/{{Suede}}, glam rockers taking cues from Music/DavidBowie who camped it up around Camden Town and got their picture on the cover of Melody Maker before they even had a record out.
* Music/{{Pulp}}, a band that was formed by a few teenage friends in [[OlderThanTheyThink 1978]] which had finally found commercial success with their 1994 album ''His n' Hers''.
* Elastica, a mostly-female group led by [[Music/{{Blur}} Damon Albarn's]] (and before that Brett Anderson's) then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann, who drew their sound from punk acts like Wire or The Stranglers, often considered to have helped pioneer Post-Punk Revival. Basically a British Music/TheBreeders.
* Supergrass, formed by teenagers in the early 1990s whom played a significantly {{pop punk}}y brand of Britpop, best known for their single "Alright".
* Music/TheBooRadleys, a former {{Shoegazing}} band, famous for their wildly popular single "Wake Up Boo!".
* Ocean Colour Scene, one of the bands alongside Pulp that predated Britpop but found their greatest commercial success in the era.
* Music/{{Ash}}, a Northern Irish band influenced by punk and grunge music.
* Music/{{Lush}}, which pulled an abrupt GenreShift from {{Shoegazing}} to Britpop in 1996
* Black Grape, a dance-rock band formed by members of Madchester band Music/HappyMondays.
* Music/{{KulaShaker}}, a band influenced not only by early 90's rock, but also by late 60's psychedelia and Indian music. Notable for being led by Crispian Mills, son of Creator/HayleyMills.
* Sleeper, a band fronted by Louise Wener. Famous for coining the term "[[ThoseTwoGuys Sleeperblokes]]".
* Echobelly, a band similar to Sleeper in that the lead singer was female in a predominantly male band.
* Music/{{Kenickie}}, another girl-fronted band who, like Supergrass and Ash, played a significantly {{pop punk}}y brand of Britpop.
* Music/TheBluetones, a band that found early success when ''Expecting to Fly'' knocked ''Music/WhatsTheStoryMorningGlory'' off the number one spot in the charts for a week.
* Music/TheDivineComedy, a chamber pop [[IAmTheBand band]] from Northern Ireland, known for performing the theme tunes to ''Series/FatherTed'' and ''Series/TheITCrowd''.
* And last, but certainly not least, there was Music/{{Oasis}}, big Mancunian fans of Music/TheBeatles and simple, big, stadium-filling rock 'n' roll. One of the "Big Four" (alongside Blur, Pulp and Suede), they were by far the most successful act to come out of the Britpop years, and the only ones who really made any impact in America.

Additionally, several established British bands, most notably The Charlatans, the aformentioned Lightning Seeds, and Saint Etienne, began to embrace Britpop and gain commercial success as a result (the former helped [[Series/FantasyFootballLeague Baddiel and Skinner]] with their big Euro 96 hit "Three Lions"). There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them are Babybird, Cast (fronted by Music/TheLas' John Power), Dodgy, Gene, Geneva, Heavy Stereo (featuring future Oasis member Gem Archer), Longpigs, Music/{{Mansun}}, Marion, Menswe@r, My Life Story, Northern Uproar, Powder, Rialto, Salad, The Seahorses (fronted by [[Music/TheStoneRoses John Squire]]), Shampoo, Shed Seven, and These Animal Men. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the big names, and many never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day.

Around this time, there was also a mini-subculture closely linked with Britpop dubbed Cool Cymru, that focused specifically on artists from Wales and spearheaded by acts such as the Manics, Music/SuperFurryAnimals, Catatonia, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Music/{{Stereophonics}} and 60ft Dolls. There was also the harder Britrock scene, championed by ''Kerrang!'' magazine and sharing more in common with American alternative rock but with a distinctly British spin. The Manics and Ash also fell into this scene, as did Music/{{Feeder}}, Therapy?, Terrorvision and Music/SkunkAnansie.

Britpop came to a head in the summer of '95. That year, Blur and Oasis fought the Battle of Britpop; they released the songs "Country House" and "Roll With It" on the same day, and since no other noteworthy songs were there on that date, it was clear that one of the two would get to #1. Blur won that battle, but Oasis ultimately was the victor by the end of the 90's.

In the end, heaving under the weight of drugs, [[CreatorBacklash artist disillusionment]], and the continued failure by any band not named Oasis to break America, it collapsed, thanks to four problems. First, the fact that Britpop was very hard to define led many to question whether certain acts, such as The Divine Comedy, truly were "Britpop". Second of all, much like America's RiotGrrrl scene, several sources around that time also didn't really understand what it was and so lumped various British AlternativeRock bands and artists with the movement no matter how tenuous the similarities were, such as Music/PrimalScream, Music/RobbieWilliams, the aformentioned Manics and Stone Roses, GenreBusting bands such as the Super Furries, Music/{{Space}}, Music/{{Stereolab}}, and even '''''Music/{{Radiohead}}'''''. The sheer lack of care or research became excessive.

Then, Oasis's long awaited third album ''Music/BeHereNow'' was released. It was (and still is) the fastest selling album in British history, but it was equally quickly sold on to charity shops by disheartened fans and went down in history as an overhyped, dismal flop. Finally, a band called Music/TheVerve (whom had existed for several years, but were originally recognised simply as "that {{Shoegazing}} act") seemed to be picking up the Britpop crown with their album ''Music/UrbanHymns'' which included the worldwide hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which seemed to keep the scene alive ... until it became the subject of a lawsuit from ABKCO due to it using a sample from an orchestral version of Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} "The Last Time" (it's better to watch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_s90-Hi2ZY this video]] to get the full details), stopping the band's career dead and officially killing Britpop. Music/{{Radiohead}}, formerly "the ones who did 'Creep'", promptly released ''Music/OKComputer'', a successful album that moved the British AlternativeRock scene away from Britpop and into a more atmospheric and melancholic direction. The rise of the Music/SpiceGirls, who were never Britpop but just plain pop, had perfect timing to capitalize on the near-simultaneous collapse of both Britpop and the dying days of grunge/alt-rock.

Oasis chugged along, releasing well selling albums that got alright reviews until the band ended in an yet another squabble between the Gallagher brothers in 2009. Music/{{Blur}} had already turned away from the Britpop sound with their [[SelfTitled self-titled]] fifth album, which paved the way for much of the IndieRock scene of the 2000s, and unlike Oasis quit while they were ahead and still at the top of their game in 2003 (albeit two years after guitarist Graham Coxon departed). Pulp continued to release critically adored albums for a few years before completely disappearing. However, both Blur and Pulp have since made comebacks (in 2015 and 2013, respectively). Suede, the last of the four leading Britpop acts, fizzled out in 2003 following a couple of mediocre releases, but came back rejuvenated in 2011 and have been going ever since. Ash and Supergrass, two of the scene's youngest bands, somehow managed to outlive most of their Britpop competition, both becoming major players in the British alternative scene, though the latter split in April 2010 and reformed (as a live act only) in late 2019. Meanwhile, several of the aformentioned smaller bands would also reform during this period, though mostly catering towards the nostalgia/90s revival circuit.

By 1998, the genre had evolved in the form of Post-Britpop, an even ''less'' well-defined category that continued to focus on guitar music, but leaned more towards alt rock and the melancholic sound laid out by Radiohead (who in response radically changed their style with the experimental ''Music/KidA''). This scene was occupied by bands like Music/{{Travis}}, Gomez, Music/{{Placebo}}, Music/{{Coldplay}}, Stereophonics, Music/{{Elbow}}, Music/{{Keane}}, Music/{{Feeder}}, Music/SnowPatrol, Starsailor, Embrace, Doves, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Gay Dad]]. This scene's popularity with journalists started to to phase out by 2003, who began focusing on the emerging PostPunk revival, which too eventually faded out-- and alongside a myriad of other factors (including the decline of PostGrunge) took mainstream rock with it.

** While Music/{{Suede}} were one of the most famous names in Britpop, this was only after they went through several managers. One of these managers was a young Creator/RickyGervais -- yes, ''the'' Ricky Gervais.
** Music/SophieEllisBextor was the lead singer for the generally obscure Britpop also-rans Theaudience before she became a superstar when she went solo in the early 2000's.

** Even some of the big names were decried as copycats of Suede and Music/ManicStreetPreachers before Britpop truly exploded.

* OneHitWonder: There were a lot (Babybird with "You're Gorgeous" springs to mind), both because there were a lot of bands with not much talent and because bands didn't tend to last very long. A few of the bigger names managed to become One Hit Wonders in the United States, either on the pop charts (The Verve, with "Bittersweet Symphony") or more commonly on the usually Alternative-friendly Modern Rock Charts (Supergrass, [[ChartDisplacement who had a minor alternative radio hit with "Cheapskate" -- but the average American does seem to be aware of "Alright"]]).

* QuietlyPerformingSisterShow: Post-Punk Revival started out as this to Britpop, though back then it was under the name "New Wave of New Wave". Elastica scored a big success with their self-titled debut; Echobelly broke out of that particular ghetto to be accepted as a mainstream Britpop band; Music/TheWildhearts did pretty well; other bands like These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H (remember them?) never quite made the leap.

Despite the eager tagging of bands, what exactly Britpop ''was'' is difficult to define. Among the earliest adapters were Music/TheStoneRoses in 1989 (who themselves were part of "Madchester", a sort of halfway point between HouseMusic and Britpop), but they never lived up to the promise of their first album. Then there were Music/TheLas, who were either twenty years ahead of their time or twenty behind. Music/ManicStreetPreachers, a Welsh group that was influenced equally by GlamRock, PunkRock and American hard rock, were another early innovator of the Britpop sound (and actually wound up lasting longer than most of the bands that were directly influenced by them).

Additionally, several established British bands, most notably The Charlatans, the aformentioned Lightning Seeds, and Saint Etienne, began to embrace Britpop and gain commercial success as a result. There were also several, smaller groups of varying popularity (and quality) that rode the Britpop wave to a handful of chart singles. Among them are Babybird, Cast (fronted by Music/TheLas' John Power), Dodgy, Gene, Geneva, Heavy Stereo (featuring future Oasis member Gem Archer), Longpigs, Music/{{Mansun}}, Marion, Menswe@r, My Life Story, Northern Uproar, Powder, Rialto, Salad, The Seahorses (fronted by [[Music/TheStoneRoses John Squire]]), Shampoo, Shed Seven, and These Animal Men. Many of these groups were considered to be FollowTheLeader acts to the big names, and many never even managed a blip on the radar outside of the UK, but they all have their own devoted followings to this day.