White Owl

Of course grunge wasn’t really about pop, it was rock music - without any of the roll.

Oasis’ arrival and the massive success of ‘Definitely Maybe’ had a devastating impact on popular culture. While it is undeniably a great album, the truth is that it was also the signal for the end of the line for indie music - and that was what Britpop really was, a gaggle of bands who, a decade earlier, would never have caught the attention of major labels or television but who thanks to a wave of nostalgia, the death of Kurt Cobain and the desire for something to believe in had become genuine pop stars. Jarvis Cocker and Pulp had been releasing records since 1983 without anyone ever knowing they existed. Saint Etienne’s ‘Fox Base Alpha’ had just scraped into the top forty albums in 1991. Anyone who thinks that Suede would have enjoyed the same sort of success if they had arrived in 1986 is delusional. Britpop from the very start was about art school aesthetics, effeminate boys, charity shop clothes and cult television and film.

Oasis erased all of that within six months and ushered in something very different, something less delicate and something much uglier too.

There is an argument that says criticising them is a form of snobbery, that you are targeting them because they are working class. That may well be true for some of the privately educated music critics at certain newspapers, but it isn’t true of me. I grew up in a working class home, I know about poverty, both financial and in relation to aspiration, and I know the challenges and scars it creates in your life. But to suggest that working class culture can only be boorish, macho, violent and backward looking is the real snobbery.

s true, he did show up one day. He was very friendly and the cat liked him as well which was a good sign for us. Slightly embarrassing though since the cat was called Morrissey! He asked what the cat was called and we were put on the spot but managed to make something up. He said he really liked the band and was particularly impressed by some of Sonya’s song titles. He came to see us play a few times and always came backstage after the show for a chat. The Smiths were one of the reasons why I decided to move from Sweden to London. I was a huge fan but I don’t think Sonya was that aware of them at the time. I will always have a huge respect for Morrissey.’

Britpop was about anything it was about outsiders, even if too many people see it as some sort of Mod revival, a tourist shop celebration of Britishness or a chance to do some live action role play, like people at Star Trek conventions but with a bucket hat replacing Kirk’s uniform or Spock’s ears. After the initial rejection of grunge, the Brit in Britpop became less and less important and the pop emerged as the key thing.

‘It was a sunny time. I’ve got really fond memories of going to Blow Up, meeting some really beautiful people and there being so many gigs to go to. I just loved travelling to Camden and meeting people, going shopping in Miss Selfridge for shirts and make up, then just hanging out with people at gigs. A happy time really and it was very free of politics. The media LOVED it too. If they try to tell you otherwise now they are fucking liars.’

I had to write about what it was really all about and what it was really like for a kid like me, living in a coastal town in Scotland where ambition burned low and where dressing a bit like Jarvis Cocker at any point before 1995 would have resulted in physical violence from the boys who would later form the core demographic for the likes of Oasis.

“Britpop was a laddish, distasteful, misogynistic, nationalistic cartoon.” (Brett Anderson, October 2019, BBC “Hardtalk”

The Britpop scene was a tidal wave of joy for me at the time and the music continues to bring warm feelings and good memories years later.