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Hey there, Hit Parade listeners. What

1:54

you're about to hear is Part 1

1:56

of this episode. Part 2 will arrive

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at the end of the month. Would you like

2:02

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2:04

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now, please enjoy part one of

2:39

this Hit Parade episode.

2:51

Welcome to Hit Parade, a

2:54

podcast of Pop Chart history

2:56

from Slate Magazine about the

2:58

hits from coast to coast. I'm

3:01

Chris Malamfy, chart analyst, pop

3:03

critic, and writer of Slate's Why

3:05

Is This Song Number One series.

3:07

On today's show, 28 years

3:09

ago, in May of 1995,

3:13

this single, Connection,

3:16

by the band Elastica, rose

3:19

to number two on Billboard's Modern

3:21

Rock Tracks chart. The song

3:24

was ubiquitous on U.S. alternative

3:26

radio at the time, and even

3:29

crossing over to certain Top 40

3:31

pop stations. It had a danceable

3:34

beat and a bit of punk

3:37

attitude.

3:46

To American listeners,

3:48

Elastica were just the latest

3:51

new band to offer catchy,

3:53

punk-adjacent rock at the peak

3:56

of alternative nation. The band

3:58

would even join the...

3:59

Lala Palooza festival

4:02

that summer. But a few

4:04

things about this band and

4:06

this song sailed over the

4:09

heads of my fellow Yanks. For

4:11

one thing, connection was a cheeky

4:14

homage to previous waves

4:17

of British art punk.

4:20

For another thing,

4:27

Elastika's

4:29

front woman was at that time

4:32

the object of fascination

4:35

in the British tabloids for her

4:37

musical power couple relationship

4:40

with the lead singer of another

4:42

leading UK band, Blur.

4:51

And finally, as only the most anglophilic

4:54

Americans were

4:56

aware in 1995, bands like

5:05

Elastika

5:07

and Blur, as well as Blur's

5:10

Rivals, a band called Oasis,

5:13

were spawning a total craze

5:16

on the charts in their homeland, a

5:18

mania that was defiantly

5:20

English. They

5:22

called this madness Britpop.

5:35

Just last month on Hit Parade,

5:38

we talked about two previous

5:40

waves of British rock that took

5:43

over our charts in America, the

5:45

British invasion of the 1960s.

5:59

and the second British invasion

6:02

of the 1980s.

6:05

["A House in the Middle

6:07

of our Street"]

6:10

In the 90s, Britpop

6:13

took elements from both of these

6:15

prior waves of British pop

6:18

and gave them, if this is possible,

6:21

an even more British spin.

6:23

["I

6:23

put my trash on, have a cup of tea,

6:26

and I think about leaving the

6:28

house." ["I'm like

6:30

a..."] The bands of Britpop

6:33

actually saw their mission as

6:35

returning UK music to

6:38

the center of rock after

6:40

years of dominance by American

6:43

grunge.

6:44

["I got a little

6:46

pain, forever,

6:48

yeah, to your price."

6:52

And in America,

6:55

we were still consuming plenty

6:57

of British rock in the 90s, but

7:00

we were following our own trends.

7:04

["Trust You Once My Way"] And

7:14

not all of the Britpop bands

7:17

flopped here. For an instant,

7:19

Oasis were the biggest rock band

7:22

on the American charts. ["And

7:24

all the roads we have to walk

7:27

are winding, and

7:30

all the lights that lead us there

7:32

are blinding."

7:34

But the hubris of Oasis

7:37

ultimately did them in, on

7:40

both sides of the Atlantic.

7:43

["All my people right

7:47

here, right now, they

7:49

know what I mean, yeah, yeah."

7:52

And while Britpop produced several

7:55

songs now considered classics,

7:58

["Stop it, oh yeah." He'll

8:00

never live like common people,

8:03

he'll never do whatever common people

8:06

do. He'll never fail like common people. Even

8:09

in Britain, Britpop was

8:11

a remarkably short-lived

8:14

phenomenon. Today

8:24

on Hit Parade, we will cross

8:26

the pond one more time, looking

8:29

at both the US and UK

8:32

charts to analyze the control

8:34

group

8:35

in our Transatlantic Lab

8:37

study, the British invasion

8:39

that didn't invade. Why

8:42

didn't these 90s bands do

8:44

better in America? In

8:46

England, there was certainly no

8:49

lack of chart excitement.

8:51

Most especially the week when,

8:53

it seemed, the entire

8:55

United Kingdom was fixated

8:58

on two singles that were vying

9:01

for their number one spot.

9:14

And

9:14

that's where your Hit Parade marches

9:17

today, the week of August 26,

9:19

1995, on the UK's official Charts

9:24

Company chart when we learn

9:26

the outcome of the most

9:28

epic British chart battle

9:30

since Beatles versus Stones or

9:32

Slade versus Wizard. A

9:35

head-to-head singles war between

9:37

this song, Country House

9:40

by Blur, and this

9:42

song.

9:52

Roll With It by

9:55

Oasis. The two rival

9:57

bands had ginned up a media

10:00

frenzy, by deliberately

10:02

playing chicken with their songs,

10:05

and only one hit could

10:07

wind up atop the heap. One

10:09

band won the battle. The

10:12

other, you might say, won

10:14

the war, both at home

10:16

and in the States. But

10:19

it all might have been a Pyrrhic

10:22

victory, buried in tabloid

10:24

headlines

10:24

and cocaine. Three

10:27

decades later, we can finally

10:29

try to answer the question,

10:32

what the hell was Brit Pop?

10:35

Do you know what I mean?

10:47

This podcast is brought to you by Slate Studios

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and Macy's. Hey

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y'all, what's up? It's your girl,

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LaNaveynee. I'm a writer,

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13:27

In last month's Hit Parade

13:29

episode, our deep dive on

13:31

the two British invasions, we

13:34

talked about a slew of 80s

13:36

hitmakers that made the second

13:39

British invasion a watershed

13:41

on the US charts. The Human

13:43

League, Duran Duran, Eurythmics,

13:46

Culture Club, Wham!, Tears

13:49

for Fears, all scored

13:51

big hits on the Hot 100. But I didn't

13:53

even mention

13:56

this band,

13:57

which emerged at the

13:59

same time.

14:00

time. The

14:09

Smiths, a Manchester foursome

14:12

led by singer Morrissey and

14:14

guitarist Johnny Marr, launched

14:17

their recording

14:17

career in 1983 and began scoring UK hits

14:20

in 1984 like This Charming Man. I

14:24

didn't

14:28

mention the Smiths in our British

14:30

Invasion episode because

14:32

they scored no American hits.

14:35

Zero.

14:36

Not one of their songs ever

14:38

cracked our Hot 100.

14:49

We're playing the Smiths now, not

14:52

only because they provided the

14:54

seeds for Britpop, scores

14:57

of 90s UK bands cited

14:59

them as an influence. They

15:01

also give us our first clue

15:04

for why Britpop never

15:06

really took off in America.

15:09

The Smiths recorded for the

15:11

independent Rough Trade label

15:14

and scored their biggest hits on

15:16

the UK Independent Singles

15:18

or UK Indie chart.

15:21

Even in the UK, while

15:23

the Smiths did hit the main pop

15:26

chart with some very catchy songs,

15:37

they never hit the top five

15:40

in their homeland and only

15:42

rarely hit the top ten. For

15:45

the duration of their all too brief

15:48

five-year recording career, the

15:50

Smiths were primarily known for being

15:52

at the vanguard of UK indie

15:55

music. In essence, this

15:57

was what Britpop descended

15:59

from, it was a more commercial

16:02

version of UK indie.

16:14

And 80s UK indie was not

16:16

all Britpop borrowed from. It

16:19

took musical inspiration from

16:21

both British invasions, as

16:24

well as the glam rock and punk

16:27

that came in between. Frankly,

16:29

even defining Britpop remains

16:32

rather challenging. Britpop

16:35

was less a genre than

16:37

a movement,

16:38

a sensibility.

16:50

Quote, Britpop's bands

16:52

gave the sense that they were

16:54

creating the soundtrack to the

16:56

lives of a new generation of

16:59

British youth, according to

17:01

all music's definition of the movement.

17:05

And it was very definitely British

17:07

youth they were aiming at. Britpop

17:10

celebrated and commented on their

17:13

lives, their culture, and their

17:15

musical heritage, with little

17:17

regard for whether that specificity

17:20

would make them less accessible

17:23

to American

17:23

audiences.

17:26

But it's not worth it

17:29

if we don't blow

17:32

up that's our land. Indeed,

17:35

a genealogical family

17:38

tree of Britpop would have

17:40

a thick trunk and many

17:43

branches. You have to go

17:45

back decades to prior

17:47

generations

17:47

of British pop, not

17:50

just the obvious influence of

17:52

the Beatles and the Rolling Stones,

17:55

but also the much more self-consciously

17:58

British work of the Kinks.

18:00

As long as I can, I want to

18:02

lose some say I am

18:05

in paradise.

18:09

And the who.

18:12

I won't get to get what I'm after

18:15

till the day I die. Britpop

18:22

obviously took inspiration from David

18:24

Bowie, especially his glam

18:27

period. Jim Jeanette lives on his back to Jim Jeanette

18:29

loves Jim Jeanette loves Jim

18:32

Jeanette.

18:34

As well as even more glammy

18:37

glam icons like T-Rex's

18:40

Mark Boland.

18:41

Ow! Ow!

18:47

Oh!

18:50

From the punk movement, Britpop

18:52

took cues from the short, sharp pop

18:55

of the Buzzcocks.

19:06

And the mod rock

19:09

of the jam.

19:19

And from Turn of 80's

19:21

New Wave, Britpop owed a

19:23

debt to the power pop of Squeeze.

19:34

And the angular guitar

19:37

pop of XTC.

19:48

What do all of these songs I

19:51

just played have in common? All

19:53

were hits in the UK and

19:56

non-hits in the US. So,

19:58

yes. Britpop, at

20:01

its root, was inextricably

20:03

British. But as we discussed

20:06

last month, both British invasions

20:09

in the States did generate

20:11

many big US hits that

20:13

sounded resolutely English,

20:16

both in the 60s. And in

20:18

the 80s.

20:39

So what gives? Why

20:41

did Britpop dominate charts at home,

20:44

but fail to fully connect in

20:46

the States? Before we walk

20:49

through Britpop history, I'm

20:51

going to offer three main theories

20:53

for this US shortfall, which

20:56

we'll come back to throughout the show.

20:59

Some reasons why we Yanks

21:01

blew Britpop off.

21:04

Britpop blow-off theory number

21:06

one.

21:07

In America, British music of

21:09

the 90s did not mean

21:12

Britpop.

21:22

Britpop blow-off theory two.

21:25

America didn't need Britpop

21:28

to carry us out of the grunge

21:30

years.

21:32

And finally, Britpop blow-off theory three.

21:34

Even

21:37

when Americans liked the music,

21:40

Britpop

21:49

didn't feel to us like a

21:52

movement.

22:01

That movement took a while

22:04

to coalesce, even in

22:06

Old Blighty. Let's take it

22:08

back to the start. Besides

22:11

all of the 60s, 70s, and

22:14

80s acts I name-checked above, from

22:16

the Kinks to T-Rex to the

22:18

Smiths, some specific scenes

22:21

that immediately preceded Britpop

22:23

till the soil whence it flowered.

22:27

Indeed, you might say a newer

22:29

breed of Flower Power

22:32

gave Britpop its early

22:34

juice.

22:44

Let's talk for a bit about

22:46

Manchester, or more

22:48

to the point, Madchester,

22:51

the blend of psychedelic rock

22:53

and acid house dance beats that

22:56

inspired many a drug-fueled rave

22:59

in England's northern provinces and

23:02

lit up UK pop at the

23:04

turn of the 80s into the 90s. The

23:07

Stone Roses, a four-piece

23:10

combo led by vocalist Ian

23:12

Brown and guitarist John

23:14

Squire, galvanized the

23:16

Madchester scene with their 1989

23:19

self-titled debut. The

23:22

Stone Roses album showed

23:24

off their versatility. On several

23:27

tracks, they were more or less

23:29

a traditional British rock combo, with

23:32

a knack for writing indelible pop

23:34

songs, like Elephant Stone

23:37

or She Bangs the Drums.

23:50

But when they turned up the psychedelic

23:53

funk and leaned on drummer

23:55

Gary Moundfield, aka

23:58

Mani, as on their hit

23:59

Fool's Gold, the stone

24:02

roses sounded like they belonged

24:04

in a nightclub.

24:16

The fact that this scene was flowering

24:19

in Manchester, not London,

24:22

was significant. The epicenter

24:24

of the Manchester scene was

24:27

the club The Hacienda, co-founded

24:30

by factory records owner Tony

24:32

Wilson and Manchester band

24:35

New Order, who were themselves

24:37

leaning harder into club beats

24:40

by the end of the 1980s.

24:53

Wilson's major discovery

24:56

at the peak of Manchester

24:59

was the shambling combo Happy

25:01

Mondays, fronted by drug-fueled

25:03

vocalist Sean Ryder.

25:06

Happy Mondays performances were

25:08

more party than rock show. One

25:11

member, a maraca player called

25:13

Bez, danced more than

25:15

he played. And their hits,

25:18

like 1990s Step

25:20

On, were groovy,

25:21

trippy, and defined the so-called

25:25

baggy sound.

25:38

Notably, these Manchester

25:41

bands charted decently in

25:43

America, not on the Hot 100, where

25:46

they never came close

25:48

to the pop top 40, but

25:51

on Billboard's Modern Rock chart,

25:54

which had launched in 1988.

25:56

This is a theme I will come

25:58

back to repeatedly. immediately in this

26:01

story. Even when this wave

26:03

of British bands didn't score American

26:06

pop hits, they took refuge

26:08

on US alternative rock

26:11

radio, at a time when alternative

26:14

was, for many audiences, becoming

26:17

the new pop. Anyway, the

26:20

Stone Roses scored top 10

26:22

hits on the modern rock chart with

26:24

She Bangs the Drums and Fool's

26:26

Gold,

26:27

and Happy Mondays went

26:29

top 10 modern rock with Step

26:31

On, and even hit number one

26:33

on that chart in late 1990 with

26:36

the trippy Kinky Afro.

26:39

By 1990 and 91, both the

26:43

UK pop charts and the US modern

26:47

rock chart were awash in baggy,

26:49

funky,

27:00

and ravey British rock bands,

27:02

including Norwich Quintet

27:05

The charlatans, known as The

27:07

charlatans UK in the states

27:10

due to a band name dispute.

27:12

Who took the only one I

27:15

know to number nine UK

27:17

and number five US modern

27:20

rock?

27:29

Or Scottish foursome The Soup

27:31

Dragons, whose funky cover

27:33

of the Rolling Stones I'm Free

27:36

hit number five UK, number

27:39

two US modern rock? I

27:42

sing Love Me, Love Me, Love

27:45

Me, Love Me

27:50

And Liverpool sextet

27:53

The Farm, who took Groovy

27:55

Train.

27:56

That song title alone really

27:58

says it all about the magic.

27:59

movement. To number 6

28:03

UK and number 15 US

28:05

modern rock. Groovy

28:07

Train even almost made

28:09

the US Top 40 on the pop

28:11

side, peaking on the Hot 100 at

28:13

number 41.

28:25

Running parallel with the Madchester

28:28

sound was a subset of UK

28:31

indie rock known as shoegaze,

28:34

a rumbling form of rock that

28:36

buried pop hooks under layers of

28:39

guitar. Early pioneers

28:41

of the sound in the late 80s included

28:44

Scottish noise rockers The Jesus

28:46

and Mary Chain.

28:57

And by the early 90s the

28:59

shoegaze aesthetic had been perfected

29:02

by the Dublin based My Bloody

29:04

Valentine, whose leader Kevin

29:07

Shields sculpted abstract

29:09

melodies through a wall of aggressive

29:12

feedback. MBV's 1991

29:15

album Loveless, led by

29:17

the minor modern rock hit Only

29:20

Shallow, would go on

29:21

to influence generations

29:24

of UK and US

29:26

bands.

29:38

Meanwhile the original leading

29:40

lights of 80s UK indie,

29:43

The Smiths, had disbanded,

29:46

leaving lead singer Morrissey to

29:48

a productive solo career. As

29:51

I noted in our Lost and Lonely

29:53

edition of Hit Parade, solo

29:56

Morrissey scored far

29:57

more US hits than his band.

30:00

ever had, a string of top

30:02

tens on the modern rock chart.

30:06

Between

30:08

Morrissey

30:11

and

30:13

goth-slash-post-punk

30:16

pioneers The Cure, who were

30:18

still scoring modern rock hits into

30:21

the early 90s, a generation

30:24

of Americans came up believing

30:26

the sound of alternative rock was

30:29

a moody, doomy singer with a

30:31

British accent.

30:43

And the janglier

30:44

side of the Smiths was

30:47

also well represented at the turn

30:49

of the 90s on hits like

30:51

There She Goes by Liverpool

30:54

indie pop band The Laws. Some

30:57

have argued that this beatle-esque gem,

30:59

The Laws' only major hit, number 13

31:02

in the UK and number 2

31:05

on the US modern rock chart in 1991,

31:09

was the unofficial preamble

31:11

to Britpop.

31:14

Of all these sounds

31:18

and scenes, it appeared that Madchester

31:21

and its trippy

31:30

offshoots would emerge as

31:32

the predominant sound of British

31:34

rock in the 1990s. The

31:36

most acclaimed act of the early

31:39

decade was Scotland's primal

31:41

scream, led by former Jesus

31:44

and Mary-chain drummer Bobby Gillespie.

31:47

Their album Scream Adelica

31:49

fused acid house and rave

31:52

to progressive

31:53

rock and soul.

32:03

As late as the summer of 1991, the

32:07

UK Pop and US Modern

32:09

Rock Charts were awash in

32:11

British guitar combos with dance

32:14

beats, like say, in Spiral

32:16

Carpets, who, footnote,

32:19

were touring with a drum tech named

32:22

Noel Gallagher, who'd yet

32:24

to form his own band. We'll

32:26

hear from Noel a bit later.

32:38

In the middle of this rave-rock

32:40

wave came a new London

32:42

quartet, who scored their

32:45

first major hit, number 8 UK,

32:48

number 5 US Modern Rock, in

32:50

mid-1991.

32:52

It's tempting to call this

32:54

song Britpop's first hit,

32:57

but that would be incorrect,

32:59

since this is not exactly

33:02

how Blur wound

33:04

up sounding.

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34:39

Formed in 1989, Blur, vocalist

34:42

Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham

34:44

Coxen, bassist Alex

34:47

James, and

34:58

drummer Dave Roundtree didn't

35:00

seem like world conquerors

35:03

when they issued their debut album,

35:05

Leisure, in 1991. The

35:08

CD received respectable

35:10

reviews in the rock

35:12

press, including England's

35:14

hyperactive music magazines like

35:16

Q, New Musical Express,

35:19

and Smash Hits. But no

35:21

one would have distinguished Blur

35:24

from the likes of the charlatans or

35:26

in spiral carpets at the time.

35:29

Even Blur's band name sounded

35:31

druggy and rave adjacent.

35:34

Still, Blur's single, There's

35:37

No Other Way, did well on

35:39

both sides of the Atlantic.

35:51

But

35:51

when the follow-up single,

35:54

the polyrhythmic Bang, stalled

35:56

at number 24 in the UK and went

35:59

nowhere in the states, it

36:02

looked like Blur might be a flash

36:04

in the pan.

36:17

By late 91, the Madchester

36:20

sound had been fully mainstreamed.

36:23

No less than U2, the 80s

36:26

anthemic rock icons, picked

36:28

up on the sound for their 1991 album Aktung

36:32

Baby.

36:41

And when U2's mysterious

36:44

ways topped the US modern rock

36:46

chart, sitting right next to it

36:48

at number 2 was Primal Scream's

36:51

60s style groove, Movin'

36:53

On Up.

37:04

Blur, disinterested in continuing

37:07

with this waning trend and

37:10

dissatisfied with their debut,

37:12

began evolving away from

37:15

the Madchester rhythm.

37:16

Though it reached only number 32

37:20

in the UK and went nowhere

37:22

in the US, Blur's punky

37:24

1992 single

37:26

Pop Scene hinted at

37:28

a new direction.

37:30

Critics would later point to

37:32

Pop Scene, both its sound

37:34

and its title, as formative

37:37

for what Britpop

37:39

became.

37:50

So among the canonical

37:52

Britpop bands, Blur hit

37:55

the charts first. But

37:57

the band that truly signaled a

37:59

siege

37:59

change was afoot was

38:02

a different, more decadent London

38:04

quartet, whose

38:05

sound never had anything

38:08

to do with Madchester. Fronted

38:11

by the androgynous Brett

38:13

Anderson, this band took

38:15

70s glam

38:16

and 80s indie and gave

38:19

them a modern twist. They

38:21

called themselves Swain.

38:33

John Harris, author

38:35

of the book Britpop, aka

38:38

The Last Party, wrote

38:40

that Suede quote, speaks in

38:42

the elegant Uteri language

38:44

of outsiderdom, unquote. Not

38:48

since the florid Morrissey was

38:50

paired with guitar hero Johnny Marr

38:53

in The Smiths, had a band

38:55

nailed the alluring combo

38:57

of camp and chorus skating

38:59

rock that vocalist Anderson

39:02

and guitarist Bernard Butler brought

39:05

to Suede. And like

39:07

The Smiths, Suede's elliptical

39:10

lyrical perspective was uniquely

39:13

British.

39:23

Suede's 1992 debut

39:26

single, The Drowners, only

39:29

reached number 49 in the

39:31

UK, but

39:32

kicked off a frenzy in the British

39:35

music press. Melody Maker

39:37

put Suede on their cover and

39:40

dubbed them quote, the best new band

39:42

in Britain weeks before

39:44

the single was even released.

39:47

By the time the band's self-titled

39:49

debut album arrived in the

39:51

spring of 1993,

39:53

with a cover of two androgynous

39:56

people kissing, their genders

39:59

impossible.

39:59

to discern a fever

40:02

had gripped Britain that rolling stone

40:04

called Suede Mania.

40:16

Metal Mickey brought Suede

40:18

to the UK Top 20, spurred

40:21

by a provocative performance

40:23

on top of the Pops.

40:25

And the single even cracked

40:27

the top 10 on Billboard's modern

40:30

rock chart, the first and

40:32

last time Suede would make any

40:34

US Airplay chart. This

40:37

was a clear sign of a disconnect

40:40

between British and American tastes.

40:43

Indeed, since Nirvana's chart

40:45

breakthrough the year before,

40:55

British Rock was perceived

40:57

as taking a backseat

40:59

to American grunge. But

41:02

that was an oversimplification.

41:05

The truth was, in 1992 and 1993, British

41:07

Rock was still doing fine on our charts.

41:14

The Cure, for example, scored

41:16

one of their biggest US hits with

41:19

Friday I'm In Love, number 18

41:22

on the Hot 100, and number one

41:24

on the modern rock

41:25

chart in 92.

41:41

New Order had the top modern

41:43

rock hit of 1993 with

41:46

the jangly Regret, a

41:48

six week number one on that

41:50

chart.

41:59

And even Morrissey, borrowing

42:02

some of the same 70s glam

42:04

moves as Suede, scored

42:06

his biggest US hit to date

42:09

in the fall of 92 with the

42:11

Mick Ronson produced Tomorrow.

42:14

["Tomorrow, does

42:17

it have to come?" ["All

42:22

I ask of you is one thing..."

42:24

Again, two American ears,

42:27

as per my Britpop blow-off

42:29

theory number one, British music

42:31

in the 90s did just fine

42:34

as long as it echoed styles we

42:37

already associated with the

42:39

Brits.

42:40

Blur, on the other hand, were

42:42

thinking about a different tomorrow

42:45

than Morrissey.

42:47

["Hold On for Tomorrow!"

42:57

In 1993, Blur

43:00

returned with their second album

43:02

Modern Life is Rubbish, led

43:05

by the single For Tomorrow,

43:08

a top 30 UK hit about

43:10

London's famed Primrose Hill.

43:13

Critics called the album a

43:15

reinvention, a renouncement

43:17

of baggy and shoegaze styles,

43:20

and an unabashed

43:22

embrace of a kinks-like English

43:24

style. It was also seen

43:27

as a response to Suede's emergence,

43:30

which spurred Damon Albarn

43:32

to rivalrous feelings.

43:34

The Blur album's follow-up single,

43:37

Chemical World, managed to crack

43:39

the top 30 on the US modern

43:42

rock chart, peaking at number 27.

43:56

Doing much better on the US

43:59

charts that way,

43:59

That summer of 1993 was

44:02

a new band whose angular

44:04

sound fit in alongside

44:07

grunge on our charts. A

44:10

fivesome who called themselves

44:12

Radiohead.

44:14

But I'm a creep,

44:17

I'm a creep.

44:24

Creep, Radiohead's indelible

44:27

debut single, which reached number

44:29

two on the modern rock chart and

44:31

even cracked the top 40 on the Hot 100,

44:35

is generally classified alongside

44:38

other 90s slacker rock

44:40

anthems, even though Radiohead

44:43

had little to do with grunge.

44:46

Indeed, the band had little

44:48

to do with any rock scene of the

44:51

90s, although their subsequent work

44:53

would be held up as a foil

44:56

for what Britpop became. We'll

44:58

come back to Radiohead. By

45:01

mid-1993, Suede

45:04

had pulled two more UK

45:06

hits from the self-titled

45:09

Suede album, the anthemic

45:11

Animal Nitrate, a number seven

45:14

hit,

45:23

and the

45:23

Bowie-esque So Young, which

45:26

hit number

45:37

Moving quickly to consolidate

45:39

their command of the British rock field,

45:42

Suede went back into the studio

45:45

by the end of 93 to record a follow-up.

45:49

But relations within the

45:51

band were deteriorating. Guitarist

45:55

Bernard Butler would leave the group

45:57

not long after recording one last

45:59

suede single, Stay

46:02

Together, which reached number three

46:04

in the UK in early 1994.

46:18

It would be the last UK

46:21

top ten hit for suede for

46:23

more than two years. Though

46:26

their sophomore album, Dog

46:28

Man Star, won critical

46:31

acclaim in 1994 and

46:33

did feature Bernard Butler's guitar

46:36

work, his departure set

46:38

suede back and essentially

46:40

cleared the field for others to

46:42

pick up the emerging Britpop

46:45

mantle. Fortunately, more

46:47

than one band was well equipped

46:50

for the job, including a

46:52

mostly female band whose

46:54

leader had previously been a

46:57

member of Suede.

47:09

Back in 1988, Justine

47:12

Frischman co-founded Suede

47:15

with her then-boyfriend, Brett

47:17

Anderson, and served as

47:19

its original guitarist before

47:22

Bernard Butler arrived. Leaving

47:25

the band in 1992 before

47:28

Suede made its formal recorded

47:30

debut, Frischman then formed

47:33

Elastica with a short-lived

47:36

Suede drummer Justin Welch,

47:39

adding bassist Annie Holland and

47:41

guitarist Donna Matthews. Elastica's

47:45

debut single, The Punky Stutter,

47:48

arrived in the fall of 1993 to near-instant

47:50

acclaim.

48:05

By the winter of 94, Elastica

48:08

had already issued a follow-up

48:11

single, Line Up,

48:12

and developed a bespoke sound

48:15

borrowing heavily from late-70s

48:17

post-punk bands like Wire

48:20

and The Stranglers.

48:32

Line Up cracked the UK

48:34

Top 20 and prompted feverish

48:37

excitement for an Elastica

48:39

debut album, which would

48:41

take another year to arrive.

48:44

Meanwhile, another acclaimed,

48:46

seemingly new

48:48

band had, like Frischman,

48:51

actually been knocking around the scene

48:53

much longer.

49:06

Pulp, by the mid-90s,

49:09

were more than a decade and

49:11

a half old. The Sheffield-born

49:14

Jarvis Cocker had started

49:16

Pulp

49:16

in 1978 at age 15

49:20

and went through several band lineups

49:23

and indie LPs through the

49:25

80s, none of which had any

49:27

chart impact. Finally, in 1993,

49:30

as Britpop emerged

49:33

on the charts, Pulp, embodied

49:36

by the suave Cocker, who was

49:38

a witty presence both on stage

49:41

and on the telly, were in

49:43

the right place at the right time.

49:46

At last signed to a major label,

49:49

Island Records, Pulp recorded

49:51

their acclaimed reboot album,

49:54

His and Hers, and began cracking

49:56

the UK chart. Lip gloss

49:59

reached number four.

49:59

50 and in 1994,

50:02

Do You Remember the First Time?

50:05

cracked the UK Top 40 at number 33.

50:09

Pulp's sound was

50:11

unique, drawing on synth-pop,

50:14

post-punk and bowie-isms and

50:16

applying them to

50:24

sharp-edged

50:33

songs ripping holes in British

50:36

culture and the class system.

50:39

Like Elastica, it would take

50:41

another year

50:42

and a new album for

50:44

Pulp to have their galvanizing

50:46

chart moment. By 1994,

50:49

the prior wave of British rock

50:52

was, you might say, enjoying

50:54

its last gasp. Morrissey,

50:57

who had essentially been grandfathered

50:59

into Britpop as an elder statesman,

51:02

turned in one more sardonic

51:04

masterwork with the album Vox

51:07

Hall and I, which topped

51:09

the UK album chart and gave

51:11

him his biggest

51:12

90s solo single on

51:14

both sides of the Atlantic. The

51:16

more you ignore me, the closer

51:19

I get. But

51:22

the pivotal music event of mid-1994

51:24

was the sad passing

51:27

of a reluctant icon.

51:48

Nirvana frontman Kurt

51:50

Cobain's death in April 1994

51:54

is often regarded as a before

51:56

and after event in the history

51:59

of 1994. rock. In America,

52:02

as we'll discuss later, it did

52:04

not so much signal the end of

52:06

the grunge boomlet as the

52:08

morphing of alternative rock

52:11

into several different strains.

52:14

In the UK, however, where Nirvana

52:17

had scored several top ten

52:18

hits and chart-topping albums,

52:21

Cobain's passing was, with

52:24

hindsight, more epical.

52:26

The end of Nirvana seemed to throw

52:29

off American-style alt-rock,

52:32

kicking off a more decadent phase

52:34

of a bullion Britpop. It

52:37

is, perhaps,

52:38

a notable coincidence that,

52:41

literally the same month Kurt

52:43

Cobain died, arguably

52:45

the landmark

52:46

Britpop album was released.

52:59

Pitchfork would later call Blur's

53:02

album Parklife, quote, Britpop's

53:05

catalyst, a colorful pop-centric

53:08

palette of great

53:09

scope and eclecticism effectively

53:12

launched with a disco song,

53:15

unquote. That disco

53:17

song was Girls and Boys,

53:19

which was something of a Trojan

53:22

horse.

53:22

Nothing else on Parklife sounded

53:25

like it. And yet it was

53:27

an ambassador for the LP's

53:29

whole cheeky attitude.

53:32

In essence, the in-joke of

53:34

Girls and Boys was, it

53:36

sounded like an Ibiza club

53:38

song that only a soused

53:41

British lad or lass would

53:43

travel to Ibiza to dance

53:45

to.

53:46

Even on their most danceable

53:48

hit, Blur were taking

53:50

the piss.

54:01

It was also Blur's biggest

54:03

hit to date, reaching number 5 on

54:06

the UK chart and number 4 on

54:08

the US Modern Rock chart. It

54:11

even cracked the Hot 100, peaking

54:14

on the big pop chart at number 59.

54:17

The song may have been a

54:19

frothy distraction in America,

54:22

but in England, it was an event.

54:25

As Park Life, the album, entered

54:27

the UK album chart at number 1.

54:30

Park Life never entered the Billboard 200

54:34

album chart in America at all.

54:37

The explanation for this divergence

54:39

is perhaps best explained by

54:42

the album's title track, a top 10

54:44

hit in the UK which might

54:47

be the most British single that

54:49

ever British'd.

55:01

On Park Life, the song,

55:04

Blur invited actor Phil

55:06

Daniels, famed for playing

55:09

Londoners in everything from the film

55:11

Quadrophenia to the TV

55:13

soap EastEnders, to

55:16

speak sing the verses which

55:18

capture little more than lazing

55:20

around London, observing joggers

55:23

and feeding pigeons in the park. Awash

55:26

in pub slang, the song would

55:29

make no sense to anyone

55:31

outside

55:31

England. The British loved

55:34

it.

55:44

Park Life, the album, spawned

55:46

four UK hits and eventually

55:49

went quadruple platinum. While

55:52

it was on its conquering run, a

55:54

band from Manchester made

55:57

its belated debut.

55:58

Blur's most

56:01

formidable rivals.

56:12

Remember Noel Gallagher? After

56:15

he finished his stint as a roadie

56:18

for In Spiral Carpets, Noel

56:20

agreed to join a band that his

56:23

brother Liam Gallagher was already

56:25

fronting. On the condition

56:28

that Noel could write all

56:29

the band's material and take control

56:32

of their sound, the band, a

56:35

quintet comprising the Gallagher

56:37

brothers, plus rhythm guitarist

56:39

Paul Bonehead-Arthurs, bassist

56:42

Paul Gwigsy-McGwigan, and

56:44

drummer Tony McCarroll, were

56:46

renamed Oasis after

56:49

a venue on an In Spiral

56:51

Carpets tour poster.

56:53

And Noel proceeded

56:55

to supply Oasis with brute

56:57

force rock songs, with stadium-sized

57:00

hooks, and anthemic stripped

57:03

down and heavily distorted playing.

57:06

Noel's instincts

57:07

were ruthlessly commercial and

57:10

spot-on. After signing

57:12

to the influential creation label,

57:15

Oasis debut single, Supersonic,

57:18

cracked the UK Top 40 immediately

57:21

in April 1994.

57:34

What

57:34

made Oasis effective

57:36

was the instant familiarity of

57:38

their material. Maybe

57:41

too familiar, Supersonic

57:43

contained a lyrical reference to

57:46

a yellow submarine, and

57:48

critics pointed out its guitar solo

57:51

strongly echoed the playing of

57:53

Beatles lead guitarist George

57:55

Harrison.

58:00

Indeed, Oasis fealty to The

58:02

Beatles became something

58:04

of a running joke.

58:06

There's

58:13

even a gag in the 2019 Danny

58:15

Boyle-Richard Curtis film Yesterday

58:18

that, if The Beatles had never existed,

58:21

neither would Oasis.

58:23

Noel Gallagher made no secret

58:26

of his Beatles fandom, and his

58:28

songs were littered with unabashed

58:30

references to Beatles songs like

58:33

Tomorrow Never Knows, The Fool

58:35

on the Hill, and I Feel Fine.

58:49

But these are all lyrical

58:51

references. In my opinion, The

58:54

Beatles' equals Oasis joke has

58:56

been a bit overplayed. Musically,

59:00

Oasis only occasionally sound

59:02

Beatlesque. Lead singer Liam

59:05

Gallagher's sneering vocal style

59:07

sounds less like Lennon or McCartney,

59:09

and more like

59:11

Johnny Rotten. And

59:23

songwriter Noel Gallagher was

59:25

a magpie who borrowed from

59:28

lots of places. Oasis'

59:30

second single, for example, Shakermaker,

59:33

a No. 11 UK hit in

59:35

the summer of 1994, lost

59:46

a plagiarism claim

59:48

for stealing its verse melody

59:51

from the old, folky-era Coca-Cola

59:53

jingle and New Seeker's hit,

59:56

I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.

1:00:00

See the world for once,

1:00:02

all standing hand in hand,

1:00:06

and hear them echo through

1:00:08

the air.

1:00:08

Or Oasis' Fall 94 single,

1:00:12

The Decadent Strutting, Cigarettes

1:00:14

and Alcohol, a number seven

1:00:16

UK hit.

1:00:18

I was looking for so

1:00:21

much hell, but all I

1:00:24

found was I'll see the world for now.

1:00:26

Was an obvious homage

1:00:30

to T-Rex's glam classic,

1:00:33

Bang a Gong.

1:00:34

Give it all, Bang

1:00:37

a Gong, give it all.

1:00:42

Give it all, Bang a Gong.

1:00:44

And the band's Christmas 94 single,

1:00:46

Whatever.

1:00:49

Please, I be whatever

1:00:51

you want. Whatever

1:00:54

you say, if it comes the way it's

1:00:56

all right.

1:00:58

Was forced to add to its

1:01:00

songwriting credits the name Neil

1:01:03

Innes, whose satirical 1973 song, How

1:01:05

Sweet to Be an Idiot, was

1:01:09

an obvious antecedent to

1:01:11

whatever.

1:01:12

How sweet

1:01:15

to be an idiot. By

1:01:22

the way, Neil Innes is perhaps

1:01:24

best known for playing a faux John

1:01:27

Lennon in the TV Beatles parody

1:01:29

band The Ruddles, so even

1:01:32

some of Oasis' Beatles allusions

1:01:34

were secondhand.

1:01:36

Anyway, most of these

1:01:38

Oasis hits were found on the band's

1:01:41

debut album, Definitely Maybe,

1:01:44

which was an out-of-the-box smash

1:01:46

in Britain.

1:01:47

Like Blur's Park Life, Definitely

1:01:50

Maybe debuted at number one,

1:01:53

fueled largely by its third

1:01:55

single, The Soaring Anthem, Live

1:01:58

Forever, Oasis' first album.

1:01:59

UK Top 10 hit.

1:02:03

🎵 Maybe I just wanna

1:02:05

fly, wanna live with a water type,

1:02:08

maybe I just wanna breathe 🎵 Live

1:02:11

Forever was such an undeniable

1:02:13

single, it even did well in

1:02:15

America, reaching number two on

1:02:17

the modern rock chart in the

1:02:20

winter of 1995, and even cracking the top 40 at pop

1:02:22

radio. Coincidentally,

1:02:28

Live Forever rode the modern rock

1:02:30

chart alongside the long-awaited

1:02:33

return of the Stone Roses,

1:02:35

the Madchester veterans who,

1:02:38

after a protracted five-year

1:02:40

absence,

1:02:40

had reinvented themselves

1:02:42

as a kind of blues-rock

1:02:45

combo for the age of Britpop.

1:02:50

🎵 Love spreads her arms,

1:02:53

waits there for the many others 🎵

1:02:57

Though Love Spreads reached

1:02:59

number two on the US modern

1:03:02

rock chart and number two on

1:03:04

the UK pop chart,

1:03:04

the Stone Roses

1:03:06

comeback album Second Coming

1:03:09

underperformed, and the band

1:03:11

found it could not live up to the hype

1:03:14

of their own rebirth. They would

1:03:16

break up two years later. The

1:03:18

changing of the guard from baggy

1:03:20

to Britpop was complete.

1:03:23

Fearing much better in early 95

1:03:26

was Elastika, whose single,

1:03:29

Waking Up, became their biggest

1:03:31

UK hit to date at number 13.

1:03:35

🎵 Waking up

1:03:38

and guiding

1:03:41

up is never

1:03:43

many years 🎵

1:03:44

After which, the band finally

1:03:47

issued a long-awaited debut

1:03:49

album. The self-titled Elastika,

1:03:52

like Parklife and Definitely

1:03:54

Maybe before it, entered the

1:03:56

British album chart at number one.

1:04:00

In fact, Elastika's opening sales

1:04:02

eclipsed Definitely Maybe as

1:04:04

the fastest-selling British debut

1:04:07

album in history to that date.

1:04:10

It even went gold in America,

1:04:12

fueled by Elastika's

1:04:14

number two modern rock hit, Connection.

1:04:21

["Forget It, Forget It, Forget

1:04:23

It"] Which,

1:04:29

in a bit of a Knoll Gallagher-like

1:04:32

move, had borrowed its rhythmic

1:04:34

hook from 70s art punk band

1:04:37

Wire's Three Girl Rumba. Elastika's

1:04:40

Justine Freshman did not deny

1:04:43

the resemblance. ["A

1:04:45

Chance and Counter You Want

1:04:47

to Avoid"]

1:04:54

Alongside all these perky

1:04:56

Britpop hits dotting the British

1:04:58

charts in the spring of 95, Pulp

1:05:02

returned with their most acclaimed

1:05:04

and most acerbic single, titled

1:05:07

Common People.

1:05:10

["Common

1:05:13

People"]

1:05:18

Often credited as Britpop's

1:05:20

finest hour, it frequently tops

1:05:23

polls for the best British single of

1:05:25

the era, Common People is

1:05:27

a story song about a posh

1:05:29

woman who

1:05:30

tells the song's narrator that

1:05:32

she wants to go slumming with working-class

1:05:35

folk like himself in a bid

1:05:37

for hipster empathy. Jarvis

1:05:40

Cocker's lead character agrees

1:05:42

to guide her through Common

1:05:44

People life before savagely

1:05:47

ripping into the woman's class tourism.

1:05:50

Quote, If you called your dad,

1:05:52

he could stop it all. Jarvis howls.

1:05:55

You'll never live like Common

1:05:57

People.

1:06:00

Oh, sing along and it might

1:06:02

just get you through Like the wrong with

1:06:05

the common fever You

1:06:07

won't allow me to know

1:06:08

Common People was a British

1:06:10

smash, peaking at number two

1:06:12

in the summer of 95 and

1:06:15

setting up Pulp's best-selling album,

1:06:17

Different Class, which was filled

1:06:20

with biting gems like the drug

1:06:22

satire, Sorted for Ease

1:06:24

and Whiz.

1:06:27

Oh yeah, the pirate radio

1:06:29

told us what was going down

1:06:32

Got the tickets from some folks

1:06:34

When it appeared later in 1995, Different

1:06:38

Class, like the Blur, Oasis

1:06:41

and Elastica albums before it, entered

1:06:44

the UK chart at number one.

1:06:46

Different Class never charted

1:06:49

in America, though Pitchfork magazine

1:06:51

would later name it their number

1:06:54

one Britpop album.

1:06:56

For Britpop fans, 1995

1:06:59

is remembered as the dizzying peak,

1:07:01

even before the year was half over.

1:07:04

Blur's Damon Albarn and Elastica's

1:07:07

Justine Frishman, who had been

1:07:09

dating since the early 90s, became

1:07:11

an object of Fleet Street fascination,

1:07:14

Britpop's It Couple. In

1:07:17

those same tabloids and music

1:07:19

weeklies, Blur and Oasis

1:07:21

were billed as Britpop's prime

1:07:23

rivalry, with band leaders Damon

1:07:26

Albarn and Noel Gallagher obliging

1:07:29

reporters with snarky jibes. Blur,

1:07:32

in particular, were still basking

1:07:34

in the stunning success of Parklife,

1:07:37

which swept the 1995 Brit Awards, taking

1:07:41

home Album of the Year among

1:07:43

its four statuettes.

1:07:50

The only question was how

1:07:52

Blur and the other

1:07:59

Britpop bands would follow

1:08:02

up their run of recent successes.

1:08:05

And Noel Gallagher was not

1:08:08

sitting on his laurels. He

1:08:10

was already working on a new

1:08:12

set of songs to ensure Oasis

1:08:15

would conquer

1:08:16

the world.

1:08:27

When we

1:08:27

come back, Blur and Oasis

1:08:30

engage in an epic chart battle,

1:08:32

and Oasis successfully invades

1:08:35

America, even as the Yanks

1:08:37

remain blissfully ignorant of

1:08:40

the Britpop wave. It would

1:08:42

all end in tears, but

1:08:44

not before filling stadiums.

1:08:48

Non-Slate Plus listeners will hear

1:08:50

the rest of this episode in two weeks.

1:08:52

For now, I hope you've been enjoying

1:08:55

this episode of Hit Parade. Our

1:08:57

show was written,

1:08:58

edited, and narrated by

1:09:00

Chris Melanthi. That's me. My

1:09:03

producer is Kevin Bendis. Derek

1:09:05

Zhang is executive producer of

1:09:08

Narrative Podcasts, and Alicia

1:09:10

Montgomery is VP of Audio

1:09:12

for Slate Podcasts. Check out

1:09:14

their roster of shows at slate.com

1:09:17

slash podcasts. You can

1:09:19

subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you

1:09:22

get your podcasts, in addition

1:09:24

to finding it in the Slate Culture feed.

1:09:27

If you're subscribing on

1:09:28

Apple Podcasts, please rate

1:09:30

and review us while you're there. It helps

1:09:32

other listeners find the show. Thanks

1:09:35

for listening, and I look forward to leading

1:09:37

the Hit Parade back your way. We'll

1:09:40

see you for part two in a couple

1:09:42

of weeks. Until then, keep

1:09:44

on marching on the one. I'm Chris

1:09:46

Melanthi.

1:09:49

I'll see you next time.