Ocean Colour Scene went through a lot. In their first sprint they morphed from press darlings to labelless failures, only to reemerge in the late stages of Britpop to become commercial heavyweights. They were a band that luxuriated in Britain’s rock past, the warm fuzz and ragged pop harmonies of […]
For the briefest moment in the 1990s, Britpop ruled the airwaves. Suede sighed out a romantically ambiguous soundtrack for elegant wastrels. Blur and Oasis were vying for number one. And everybody wanted to live like Common People. It was music that delighted in Britain’s pop history, taking the best bits […]
Tricky hated being called Trip-Hop. Formerly of Bristol Sound progenitors Massive Attack, he with his medicated rasp and the cool indifference of partner Martina Topley-Bird shifted what British hip-hop could sound like. Dark, claustrophobic, paranoid and set upon a foundation of soul, downtempo hip hop and dub reggae. These experiments […]
Britain in the 90s had some great number one singles. Songs that summed up a moment, stretched the boundaries of what pop could be, yet have stood the test of time. “Nothing Compares 2U”. “Don’t Look Back In Anger”. “Wannabe”. “Firestarter”. “…Baby One More Time”. From this list you would […]
In both his solo career and fronting Genesis, Phil Collins dominated the 1980s. His many ballads crowded the radio, his rounded face loomed from record shop shelves; And everywhere, The Academy Awards, Band Aid, Live Aid, Miami Vice, Phil Collins was there. However it was a monkey’s paw kind of […]
Britain in the 80s had some great number one singles. Songs that summed up a moment, stretched the boundaries of what pop could be, yet have stood the test of time. “Ghost Town”. “Don’t You Want Me”. “Relax”. “West End Girls”. “Ride On Time”. From this list you would think […]
Compared to the drum-machine euphoria of dance music in 1989, Soul II Soul stood apart. Britain was getting sweaty in make-shift raves, with Euro producers snagging Disco samples to voice their four-to-the-floor 120 BPM party-starters. Meanwhile a loose collective of London-based DJs, dancers, singers and the occasional musician slowed it […]
Tears For Fears didn’t quite fit in. Not style conscious enough to be New Romantic but too Smash Hits to be the next Joy Division. Not quite a synth-pop band, more a pop band that used synthesisers. Before U2 took over, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were briefly the biggest […]
The Cure’s Robert Smith isn’t seen as the most happy-go-lucky guy. On occasion he has confounded expectations and crafted superior pop confections like “The Lovecats”, “Inbetween Days” and “Friday I’m In Love”. However for the most part, his band are associated with dark emotions, a foreboding sense of doom, drowning […]
Post-Punk was the moment where punk got weird. No longer was it just three chords and the truth, but in came attempts at genre fusion, minimalism and experiments in electronica. However not every band got the sales or respect they deserved at the time, whether it was a case of […]
