Britpop has evolved since the early 90's from its macho guitar-rock origins to what is now most assuredly very wimpy rock, if rock at all. It all began with Blur, who played their guitars boisterously loud, and weren't afraid of a little distortion. Most of you should remember "Song 2" and its visceral, metal-punkish sound, used in at least two separate SUV commercials. Their music wasn't exactly "hardcore" by any stretch, but its sound had an edge to it. The vocals sung by Damon Albarn were sometimes unintelligible, a la British punk influences the Clash. Very soon, in the mid-90's, this new Blur-based Britpop sound phased into the band Oasis. More concerned with trying to attain the mass, worldwide appeal of the Beatles, they wrote unconcealed pop songs played loudly like arena-style hard rock at concerts. There was no hint of punk or metal, just straight, generic, radio-ready alternative pop/rock. The vocals of Noel Gallagher were much whinier than Blur's, but they were good at what they did, and were incredibly popular, more popular than Blur. This was the intermediate stage. And so that brings us to the Britpop of today, exemplified by Coldplay and copy-catted by bands like Keane. This is wuss-rock, or just straight pop, with the high falsetto vocals of Chris Martin, prominent use of piano melodies, and clear, soft, non-buzzing guitar playing. All vestiges of machismo have been removed. Britpop has been homosexualized.
Finally: please understand that I am not condemning this as a bad thing. I am, in fact, a Coldplay fan.
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Hey! Thanks for leaving a comment at my blog. Felt so much better tdy! I'll hear from you soon!~ Oh! By the way, "take a piece of my brain".. that phrase was taken out from School Of Rock, the movie? Am I right? Haha!
Check out the Charlatans UK's self-titled album. Circa 1995. Also the 2nd Stone Roses CD. They were getting back to the meaty stomp-box blues and fuzz bass and fat drums.
And PJ Harvey eats men like air.
Oh honey, BritPop was way gay long before Blur & Oasis. In fact, we can go all the way back to Kajagoogoo and Culture Club and Dead or Alive back in the early 80's and just go from there. However, it's still good and it's still wonderful...even without the eyeliner and the lipstick. ;)
Canada ROCKS!!!!
i do like the hard rock and blues rock as well as the pop/rock, punk rock, indie rock, rock & roll, experimental rock, noise pop, funk, and almost all other forms of the art. plus jazz, vocal pop, classical, and hip-hop, and hardcore/gangsta rap.
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