Britpop era follow up to successful albums poll

pulp in a walk

i thought that supergrass record WAS their most successful one?

thought Mansun - Six would be in here. It's also better than all of the above. next best = This Is Hardcore.

pulp in a walk

― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, May 4, 2012 10:01 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In It For The Money is pretty good, though

The Embrace album is the only one I still like by them. The Boo Radleys album is good. Pulp is good. Supergrass is alright. Em rates the Ash album. The Blur album has loads of great hooks and arrangements, but is let down by a hideous set of lyrics and vocals from Damon.

Kula Shaker ftw.

yeah i forgot mansun. oh well.

wouldve voted for it too, heh

Blur or Supergrass. Leaning toward Supergrass.

In It For The Money, probably. Never could really get as into Pulp as everyone else seemed to be.

(I will also defend Be Here Now. Sorry.)

Pulp, Blur and Supergrass are the only bands here I ever really cared for. I think I'll vote for Supergrass; though the title track of This is Hardcore remains an extraordinary record.

Why did you go off Embrace, Sick?

Pulp must own this!

this seems like the right place to state that 'Peas, Ants, Pigs and Astronauts' was a really underrated dn by whoever that was

"This Is Hardcore" was the first Pulp song I ever heard. The entire time I kept waiting for a sexy French assassin to crawl out of the radio and kill me with her breast-garotte.

Obviously I am voting Pulp.

the anglophiles have spoken!

i'm so glad i grew up in england's worst decade

so did i it was called the '80s'

come on. look. this was the worst music ever.

someone was busking playing 'walk away' the other day and i wanted to grab him and yell DON'T PLAY THAT SONG, GOD, WHY EVEN DEVOTE THE ENERGY TO REMEMBERING THAT SONG EXISTS, LET ALONE PLAYING IT AND MAKING OTHER PEOPLE REMEMBER IT EXISTED

oh yeah the music sucks, but the 80s had thatcher = worst decade ever

I saw John Power in the pub the other day.

exciting times!

and yeah all scottish buskers play britpop or 60s stuff, why?

i met john power once. nice guy actually.

you know it's a good crowd of records when you look at it and think, actually, maybe that suede album is kind of underrated

that suede album is the pits. loved them up til that album

i wonder how bad the unreleased second Seahorses album is?

voted The Great Escape to help it fight all the bad press it gets

In it for the money
although i have a soft spot for c'mon kids

Went for C'Mon Kids, but really should've been Great Escape. 1996 was a weird echo-boom time for British pop - lots of bands hurrying to follow up their 94/95 successes as the Britpop craze slackened off.

as dadrock took off in its place

In It For The Money wipes the FLOOR with the debut; probably one of the best rock albums of that whole era, it's an amazing record!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXi6xPL52qU

no it isn't.

Dadrock? I see '96 as a strange, self contained post-Britpop era full of androgynous rockers and tongue-in-cheek poppers who blew up very quickly, got a big fanbase but were doomed to inhabit this segment of time - Skunk Anansie, Placebo, Space, Kula Shaker, Mansun y'know. I guess it's just how I compartmentalise that era. After that, Britpop went all space age and formica white - OK Computer, Urban Hymns, Ladies & Gentlemen.... and after that?

tongue-in-cheek poppers

yr doing it wrong

was waiting for that joke tbf

pulp is the best record here but i have a soft spot for the bluetones one. i suspect the supergrass one probably aged better than the rest of their records. most of these records are genuinely terrible

pulp in a walk

For me this is "how is this even a poll?"

There are only a handful of other albums on this list I even like, and none come close to This is Hardcore.

supergrass

Us And Us Only is actually a really good album IIRC

I donated my vote to a co-worker who was a huge brit pop guy, he voted for Ocean Colour Scene as a trv kvlt brit pop slept on classic, he estimated he'd heard about 90 percent of these records

he also said supergrass, paul weller, shed seven and pulp were good choices

'co-worker'

your coworker's talking out his bum tbf...

algerian - he's someone i work with, i don't even know what you're "on about"

dog latin - i have no opinion about brit pop i don't care

it was a joke

Have honestly never heard any of these albums, guessing I could probably tolerate Pulp or Supergrass but gtf with the rest of that stuff.

One omission that I could genuinely get behind: the Auteurs - After Murder Park

yeah the auteurs are fucking great

A quick, closer look at some of these...

Blur - The Great Escape isn't actually all that bad - the main complaint that I have about the record is that it's too long, and about roughly a third or so of it is filler. It's best stuff is great, though.

Oasis - Be Here Now is pretty much the sonic equivalent of excrement. Under-written and over-inflated. The mixes are too loud, and everyone concerned sounds like they can't be arsed.

The Boo Radleys - C'mon Kids is a far more interesting record than its predecessor, but the band were completely kidding themselves if they thought they were going to be able to take all of the fans that fell in love with Wake Up! with them. It's definitely not a record for everyone.

Ocean Colour Scene - Marchin' Already - basically a facsimile of their previous record, but with slightly more of a folky feel and more of an emphasis on ballads. Also, the songs aren't as good as those on Moseley Shoals.

Paul Weller - Heavy Soul is the worst solo album Weller had put out at this point in his career. Sounds very underproduced and half-written in places. 'Driving Nowhere' and 'Friday Street' are the very definition of coasting.

Pulp - This Is Hardcore is absolutely fucking excellent, and has held up extremely well. If I'm ever going to listen to Pulp, this is the album I'll dig out.

Suede - Head Music - Brett Anderson discovers crack and smack, Richard Oakes discovers cider and pies and Neil Codling takes too much drugs and can't get out of bed. A lot was made of this album at the time being a departure from the 'usual' Suede sound, but really it just sounds like a bunch of heavily produced Suede-by-numbers tracks with synthesizers on them. And don't get me started on the half-arsed lyrics...

Kula Shaker - Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts - bit of a curious one this. 'Great Hosannah' and 'S.O.S.' stand out as great over the top moments, but there's loads of strange filler on this one. 'Radhe Radhe', 'I'm Still Here', 'Timeworm', 'Last Farewell'... 'Mystical Machine Gun' was a terrible single, and they could have written stuff like '108 Battles' and 'Golden Avatar' in their sleep. But fucking hell, it's very well produced. Bob Ezrin, I do believe.

Ash - Nu-Clear Sounds - Never had a problem with this record. 'Projects' and 'Wildsurf' being particular highlights. I find 'Folk Song' really beautiful also. I'd actually rather listen to this than 1977 or Free All Angels, thinking about it.

Supergrass - In It for the Money - The best record Supergrass ever made. Yes, even better than I Should Coco, in my opinion, which I've always found to be a touch overrated.

Manic Street Preachers - This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours - zzzzZZZZZzzzzZZZZzzzZZZZzzz...

The Bluetones - Return to the Last Chance Saloon - If it wasn't for the filler placed on the later half of the album, I'd actually consider this their best album. There's more variety on this record than on Expecting To Fly, and the material is better than what they did afterwards. Love the way 'Tone Blooze' segues into 'Unpainted Arizona', the Star Trek Red Alert sien on 'U.T.A.'... 'The Jub-Jub Bird' = great... '4-Day Weekend'... 'If...'. Very underrated record.

Gomez - Liquid Skin - I've always liked this one more than the overrated Bring It On. 'California', 'Devil Will Ride', 'Las Vegas Dealer'...

Shed Seven - Let It Ride - Dear god...

Catatonia - Equally Cursed & Blessed - the thing about this record is that it was an eagerly-awaited follow-up to a record that wasn't even that good. This band never improved on their debut, Way Beyond Blue, in my opinion. 'Londinium' is a 'Road Rage' re-write, 'Karaoke Queen' is embarrassing... 'Dead From The Waist Down' is corny as hell. I have a soft spot for 'Storm The Palace' and 'Bulimic Beats', mind.

Cast - Mother Nature Calls - Sorry, no. I'd rather have my teeth pulled or have a vasectomy with no anaesthetic than ever have to endure listening to 'Soul Tied' again. Some real crud on this disc. 'Guiding Star' is probably the highlight, with 'The Mad Hatter'/'Never Gonna Tell You What To Do'/'Dance Of The Stars' being okay, I guess. But, god, the hippie titles: 'Live The Dream', 'Free Me', 'She Sun Shines'...

This was a two-horse race for me between This Is Hardcore and In It For The Money, and after careful consideration I've went with This Is Hardcore.

Runners-up: The Great Escape, C'mon Kids, Nu-Clear Sounds, Return To The Last Chance Saloon, Liquid Skin.

Glumdalclitch: I still like plenty of individual songs, I just don't think any of their albums ever managed to be consistent or nail the sound that would make the most of them. A lot of bad, short-sighted decisions and over-thinking have blighted them since day one.

One omission that I could genuinely get behind: the Auteurs - After Murder Park

"successful albums" tho

like the one before maybe did OKish but most of the ppl above charted at number 1 or v close before whatever they have in this poll

voted Black Grape because lol

(though I do like "Marbles" more than anything on any of those other albums)

"The Great Escape" is the only example here of an album that was actually better than anything else they did.

The Supergrass one was also better than the one before it, but I also believe "In If For The Money" sold very well, didn't it? They would release two albums after that one that were even better and sold considerably less.

like the one before maybe did OKish but most of the ppl above charted at number 1 or v close before whatever they have in this poll

Yeah, you're quite right, I had forgotten those platinum sales figures for 3 Colours Red.

I like all of these but Supergrass gets my vote, it's one of my favourite albums of all time.

Elastica - The Menace
Blur - The Great Escape
The Boo Radleys - C'mon Kids
Pulp - This Is Hardcore

Voted Pulp.
The only thing worse that Brett on smack'n'crack was Brett cleaning up. 'Head Music' ("great big crack" indeed) is bad in places but 'A New Morning' is terrible.

And most of the other bands here were just wheeling out the same tired old shit. Oasis/OCS/Weller/Ash/MSP/Space/Reef/Lightning Seeds/Catatonia/Cast especially.

Charlatans' entry is the only one I like out of this list

im pretty sure 3 colours red outsold the Auteurs

It's true, they did have a smash hit #15 album at one point.

still better known to the general britpop buying public

but yeah just as shite as the Auteurs, i agree

Count me as another would be Six voter. I guess from this lot, as much as I like The Bluetones, it does have to be This is Hardcore.

Us And Us Only, easy.

Drawn from Memory is simply one of my favorites but will vote C'mon Kids as it has so many good parts. the album is a severely underrated jewel.

just under them is Us and Us Only, In It for the Money and of course This Is Hardcore.

also really liked at the time The Great Escape, Return to the Last Chance Saloon and This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours.

In It For The Money was the last Supergrass album I was really excited about. After that, the drummer's Moon-isms vanished, along with much of the rest of the band's sense of urgency. I bought and sold maybe the next two or three Supergrass records before throwing up my hands.

Heavy Soul had its moments, but I mostly remember it because that was the only time I saw Paul Weller. He played a lot of meandering, noodly jams, but redeemed his set with "Mermaids" for the encore.

jesus fucking christ nuke britain

let's get nukey on the uk

u & k

Can't disagree in fairness, but I'm having my say anyway. I think Blur, Manics and Supergrass are the only ones I'd've heard all the way through, and The Great Escape is definitely the best of these, even if it's far too long. I'm another one who'd'of went for Six though.

someone was busking playing 'walk away' the other day and i wanted to grab him and yell DON'T PLAY THAT SONG, GOD, WHY EVEN DEVOTE THE ENERGY TO REMEMBERING THAT SONG EXISTS, LET ALONE PLAYING IT AND MAKING OTHER PEOPLE REMEMBER IT EXISTED

Haha yeah. I don't mind that one actually. There are a handful of decent singles among these albums, though lord knows what the Echobelly deep cuts must be like.

Sneaking suspicion that the best 'pop' tune here might be Kula Shaker's 'Shower Your Love'.

was gonna launch into a more expansive rant but i'm reminding myself that, depressing as this is, it only represents a culture, a slice of the popular consciousness that still exists, that still dominates some media narratives, but that is far from being the only British music then or now. life is being lived a long way elsewhere.

come on. look. this was the worst music ever.

Wasn't there an even later wave of explicitly post-Oasis, sub-OCS britpop, sort of like Quo without the fancy licks? I'm thinking Heavy Stereo, there may have been others.

No no, don't spare us xp

and it's funny - altho i accept this might in part be exoticism speaking - that any single album from the "awful post-Grunge hangover" poll contains more imagination, more soul, and more actual fucking music than anything on here

Heavy Stereo and Northern Uproar and toss too toss to remember i guess, but in all honesty this list is only one point on the continuum where The View and the Kings of Leon and Kafuckingsafuckingbifuckingan still ride high in the good taste files of every post-uni 20/30 something holding down a steady office job today

manics really from another era/mentality altogether, but their album is the only one i care about on this list. amazing how completely wretched this whole era seems to me now. just a vast wasteland of derivative dreck.

i'd normally excuse the Manics from this but they're uglified by the company here

I kind of admire the Manics for managing to cash in on the era without, in retrospect, having to bend much to it in sound, theme or image. They were always trying to introduce stuff that never caught on at all, like political history, ice hockey, or the pseudo yacht rock on this album

Are The View the 'same jeans' lot? I heard a busker doing that this week, and not so long ago saw a bride & groom taking the floor to it at their wedding (not as first dance thankfully). Both times I felt soiled just knowing what it was.

Kafuckingsafuckingbifuckingan

I feel rather proud I have no idea who this is referring to.

Kasabian.

I don't think that I've met anyone that has still expressed a liking for The View in years now, though yes, plenty of people who rep for Kasabian and Kings of Leon.

Looool, I'd forgotten about most of this stuff. Think I'll have to jump on the This Is Hardcore bandwagon.

i keep thinking i've never heard the view but i probably have and just dont realise it

i don't think i've ever heard the view. the one thing that redeems that list of albums up there is the thought of what a landfill era equivalent would look like.

Man this was sort of my era but I guess I'd decided most of these bands sucked after all by then and didn't much care for the ones I bothered to hear. Supergrass, Boo Radleys = OK. The Pulp I've never heard, even though I like(d) Pulp and everyone says it's good, because I didn't like the singles.

Things I might have voted for had they been on the list: Radiator (but I still prefer Fuzzy Logic), Six (but I haven't listened to it in a decade). I guess nothing by Gorky's counts as a "successful album" enough for me to vote for the follow-up...

You know what follow-up to a very minor Britpop "success" I did hear is the second Silver Sun album which I got for a quid in a bargain bin and is really fucking terrible, and I say that as someone who actually still nurses some vaguely fond memories of the singles from the first album, which I figure are probably beyond the pale for the rest of ILX

a couple of irl ppl I know rep for Silver Sun on the basis of them being "classic powerpop" or something like that

not sure I'm behind that drive

Were Catherine Wheel and Swervedriver not included because they're not considered Britpop, or weren't popular? When I visited in Fall '97, "Bittersweet Symphony" was playing everywhere. EVERYWHERE!

Pulp will take and it gets my vote despite the album being too goddamn long. But The Menace is not bad at all and shorter than its competition.

It says a lot that length is a factor in this poll

In It For The Money was the last Supergrass album I was really excited about. After that, the drummer's Moon-isms vanished,

I don't pay attention to Britpop drummers. Period.

I always thought Goffey was great, but drum geeks seem to think he was all-over-the-place.

I still think Supergrass when better for each time until the fourth album. Then they started moving the wrong way again, but the debut remains their weakest to me, not really getting good until the tempo is being slowed down towards the end.

Silver Sun

first album is great, and the best nigel godrich production imo

second is dire, it was clear that dude had completely shot his songwriting wad by this point

pulp slightly over supergrass

Blur or Supergrass. Leaning toward Supergrass.

― EZ Snappin, Friday, May 4, 2012 9:10 AM (2 days ago)

I listened to both and went with Blur.

The first Silver Sun album is genuinely great powerpop throughout, plus their 2000s albums are much, much better than 'Neo Wave'.

man what a huge load of shit

went for C'mon Kids... In my head I've written one of those 33 1/3 books about that album focussing on its classic status as follow up album to successful britpop release.

essentially, this thread in small book form.

even geir's posts?

i expect a lot of albums to get no votes here

Well, I voted "menace"

i dont think i ever heard it tbh. probably haven't heard most of these albums mind you. For everyone saying its a depressing list and its proof the 90s were bad.. just remember most of these sold sod all.

C'mon Kids is the one of these I've listened to recently and thought it still sounded fresh and good.

( and if This Is Hardcore is on here, why not OK Computer? )

(because that one was reasonably successful compared to the previous album)

(OK, TIHArdcore got to number one, etc)

the ads say drink bottled water
but we know that it tastes of pee
should be getting our tampons free
d.i.y. gynecology

impossible not to vote for pulp here...though i had no idea kula shaker had a second album, maybe i should listen to that before i cast my vote SIKE

i never heard that suede album either but i didn't even really care for coming up/post bernard butler suede.

i remember enjoying the great escape at the time but most of blur's stuff has not held up for me and i find myself just cringing at everything damon albarn does.

love 1st 3 Suede but man those 2 horrible horrible albums make me want to punch brett.

Trash is my favourite Suede song. Is that on it?

Trash is on Coming Up. Head Music had.. umm.. 'give me head, give me head, give me head muuuusic insteaaad' *looks up tracklisting* Electricity, She's in Fashion, Can't Get Enough.

no those sound shit.

they are

i want to start a thread for horrible album cover art from 1998-2002 era that looks like it was knocked up in photoshop in about 10 seconds and now plagues the shelves in Poundland up and down the country.

Prime examples:

http://www.140db.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/danton-supple-albums/suede-head-music.jpg

http://img.noiset.com/images/album/manic-street-preachers-lifeblood-cd-album-art-2051.jpeg

The London Suede?

This is even worse:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/A_new_morning.jpg

We had to call them the London Suede in North America because there was some country(?) act named Suede already. Ditto Bush "X"

charlatans uk?

i dont remember Nirvana US for some reason

feel schitzo everso psycho
Kicking at an old tin can
I feel real like a man like a woman,
Like a woman, like a man
I make deadspace feel like a head case
Take it like a teenage tough
I feel real now watching those wheels
And shaking that stuff,
Singing "I can't get enough"
Singing "I can't get enough"

Singing "I can't get enough"
Singing "I can't get enough"

Read more at http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/16617/#SSR7HiYP8lY8ow9U.99!

i dont remember Nirvana US for some reason

Nirvana paid Nirvana off

Yeah, Nirvana (US) agreed not to pass themselves off as a psychedelic band ever.

At which point, post agreement, Nirvana (UK) released a cover version of "Lithium".

The only thing worse that Brett on smack'n'crack was Brett cleaning up. 'Head Music' ("great big crack" indeed) is bad in places but 'A New Morning' is terrible.

― 'scuse me, while I Rim the Sky... (snoball), Friday, May 4, 2012 8:50 PM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If those were the ONLY TWO Suede albums that existed, and I were forced by gunpoint to listen to one of them, I'd choose A New Morning without any hesitation or doubt. I don't think either are very good, but A New Morning would win out just because it's got 'Obsessions' on it. I love those first three Suede albums, though, and the 'Sci-Fi Lullabies' B-side compilation (ESPECIALLY THE FIRST DISC) is essential, IMO.

feel schitzo everso psycho
Kicking at an old tin can
I feel real like a man like a woman,
Like a woman, like a man
I make deadspace feel like a head case
Take it like a teenage tough
I feel real now watching those wheels
And shaking that stuff,
Singing "I can't get enough"
Singing "I can't get enough"

Singing "I can't get enough"
Singing "I can't get enough"

Read more at http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/16617/#SSR7HiYP8lY8ow9U.99!

― thomp, Tuesday, May 8, 2012 4:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

She live in a house, she stupid as a mouse
And she going where the lights are on
She's shaking obscene like a fucking machine and she's gone, gone, gone...
She's cooking crack giving us heart attack

etc. etc.

still love that manics album.

She live in a house, she stupid as a mouse

See, I like that song

To be fair, he was on crack

my mate saw suede on the head music tour and said it was great and that the songs were really good live and that it was the production on the album that was really bad (despite the melody maker review praising it). The album after was just pure shite though.

i sold head music actually way back. was so disappointed in it. its something i never do either.

She live in a house, she stupid as a mouse

I think the album is fun because it is so stupid (like these lyrics), but I would never seriously try to convince anyone that this album is any good.

it's not like the guy has an inflated sense of his lyrical talent or anything

Heh, quite a few in this list I came >>this<< close to buying, but thankfully didn't. Don't have In It For The Money but do own all the singles from it on 7", so voting for that.

it's not like the guy has an inflated sense of his lyrical talent or anything

OMG someone please buy this for me, it would be like having a Tommy Wiseau signed copy of The Room.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The Menace

head music is better than coming up imo. actually some of the remixes on the head music singles are among my favourite suede tracks (partic the lironi version of she's in fashion)

my mate saw suede on the head music tour and said it was great and that the songs were really good live and that it was the production on the album that was really bad (despite the melody maker review praising it). The album after was just pure shite though.

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 18:07 (Yesterday) Permalink

I saw Suede at V Festival in 1999... I don't think Head Music had been out for very long, and I do remember the songs coming across much, much better live. From what I can glean from the Suede book 'Love And Poison', the album was pretty much created from samples of the band as opposed to any kind of live playing. It's a very sterile sounding record. Production aside, there are some shockingly bad songs on the record, and the lyrics have to easily rank as some of Brett Anderson's worst. He always did have his lyrical crutches, but on Head Music he pretty much leans every single last one of them. You can tell his mind was elsewhere.

*leans ON

Really odd to think Melody Maker made Head Music their album of the year in 1999. I think it has some good moments, Electricty, Everything Will Flow, Asbestos and Hi-Fi are all good songs but of course its not in the same league as the first three albums. A New Morning is just rubbish. Obsessions and You Belong to me are the only keepers. The best tracks from that period were B-sides or bonus tracks (Simon, Cheap and Oceans) I remember in the NME they did a review of a live show they did in Iceland late 2000 prasing the new material. I was really excited to hear those new songs, but another two years went by and everyone had just moved on. Instead of following the original plan of doing an album of acoustic ballads they tossed off songs like Street Life and Your Beautiful Loser, thinking that's what the fans wanted.

I totally agree with Turrican about the first three albums being solid plus Sci-Fi Lullabies which is essentialy a great double album. That's a lot of great songs in just over five years.

its all you need really. MM started to lose me when they made Catatonia AOY but when they gave Head Music it too that was it for me. Couldn't trust them no more! Same went for Suede.

I'd have to listen to it a second time to be sure, but from what I remember, The Menace was easily the biggest drop-off and disappointment on this list.

Also:
Nirvana paid Nirvana off

But did they pay the other Nirvana off?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbcHYzKHgq0

yeah, i love the elastica debut but if any band didn't need to make a second album...

the elastica album isn't great, but if it (a) had come out after 18 months rather than 5 years and didn't have almost the entire preceding EP on it (i.e. that EP was never released) it would be more fondly remembered

should have been a (b) in there

i properly loved Elastica MK1 and still have the setlist from their 5th ever gig just after signing a deal, but this is a very under-rated track off the second album and one of my faves. the ultimate post-Britpop-comedown song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jug2yCNVG40

its all you need really. MM started to lose me when they made Catatonia AOY but when they gave Head Music it too that was it for me. Couldn't trust them no more! Same went for Suede.

― it looks like something rupert the bear would wear (Algerian Goalkeeper), Thursday, May 10, 2012 12:59 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I keep forgetting that International Velvet was so highly praised! Even at the time I thought that was a very patchy album, and a massive, MASSIVE step down from Way Beyond Blue. Equally Cursed & Blessed was even patchier, and the other one after (the name of which I can't recall) isn't even worth talking about.

I find it funny that Dafydd Ieuan, the drummer of Super Furry Animals, was once a member of Catatonia. In fact, he plays drums on quite a great deal of Way Beyond Blue, but left to help get Super Furry Animals off the ground. It's funny because International Velvet was arguably more of a commercial success than any Super Furry Animals album, and 'Mulder And Scully' and 'Road Rage' were much bigger hits than pretty much every single that Super Furry Animals released. Now, Catatonia are seen as somewhat of a joke, and Super Furry Animals seem to still be very much respected.

Fwiw, I actually like Way Beyond Blue...

Way Beyond Blue wasn't a great album but it was by far the strongest of the first three (never heard the fourth) Bleed is an excellent single.

The Menace was a complete mess but I still really enjoy most of it. My Sex is indeed one of the higlights. The debut is probably one of my top five albums of the 90's.

since this is still up and i have a history with a bunch of these album i will expand on my post:

Elastica - The Menace – I own this album and really haven’t played it much at all, it just seemed like such a let down compared to their debut.

Blur - The Great Escape – I own this album. All my friends seemed to like Blur more than me so I never really warmed up to them as much as I think I should have. This album I rarely played, it was probably too British for me.

Oasis - Be Here Now I own this album. There has been enough ink spilled on this album. I personally don’t think it’s a bad as people say but it not that good either.

The Boo Radleys - C'mon Kids – I own this album. The best album here, I really don’t think enough people listened to this album. It really is a stunning piece of work by Martin and the boys.

Ocean Colour Scene - Marchin' Already – I own this album. This album is actually really good but won’t talk about OCS on ILM.

Paul Weller - Heavy Soul – I own this album. I bought it because of Noel from Oasis love for the guy but didn’t do much for me at all.

Pulp - This Is Hardcore – I own this album. Such a great album, probably have played this more times than any other album on here.

Suede - Head Music – I own this album. This album made me miss Bernard Butler even more. It didn’t have that same feeling that past Suede albums had.

Kula Shaker - Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts – I own this album. Crap, how did I ever think anything good about this band?

Ash - Nu-Clear Sounds – I own this album. This album is OK, I liked the singles but the other songs just didn’t have any weight to them.

Charlatans - Us and Us Only – I own this album. Great, great album played this album a bunch of times. This album is just pure fun at the time and the songs are good. I should dig this out; I know I will still like it.

Supergrass - In It for the Money – I own this album. This album is great. I was going on a trip to Europe for a month, around this time, and took on of my friends to their show in San Francisco. He loved them asked me about them, brought this album on our trip and listened to it quite a bit on that vacation.

Manic Street Preachers - This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. I own this album. I knew of this band but never listened to them. So this was my first exposure and even though this is light rock I really liked it. I do wondered what I would think of it if I listened to it today.

Space - Tin Planet – I own this album. I loved the singles, never really gave this album a chance. It wasn’t good.

The Bluetones - Return to the Last Chance Saloon – I own this album. Love, love, love this album. I think with the Bluetones you either like them or not but they really are not a bad band at all. In fact I still think they are going today.

Echobelly – Lustra – never heard this.

Embrace - Drawn from Memory – I own this album. I was in London and took a chance on this band as I was buying some albums. Somehow someway this album really resonated with me. I just seemed to hit all the right buttons that I wanted from music at the time. I’m not embarrassed about this as it’s still a solid album though only Nick and I will agree with that statement.

3 Colours Red – Revolt – I own this album. This album is loud and young and really not bad at all. Would actually like to listen to it again, soon.

Gomez - Liquid Skin – I own this album. This album is good, there are not really any flaws on it. They have three singers doing their own entire thing on each of their songs and kind of works. Gomez gets an unfair wrap.

Black Grape - Stupid, Stupid, Stupid – I was done with the Happy Mondays kind of stuff by the time this came out.

Shed Seven – Let It Ride, Reef – Rides, Lightning Seeds- Tilt, Sleeper – Pleased to Meet You and Catatonia – Equally Cursed & Blessed – I have no idea what any of these sound like.

Cast - Mother Nature Calls – I own this album. Crap, can’t believe that I was hoping for the new La’s with these guys.

The Bluetones - Return to the Last Chance Saloon – I own this album. Love, love, love this album. I think with the Bluetones you either like them or not but they really are not a bad band at all. In fact I still think they are going today.

They broke up last year.

Ash - Nu-Clear Sounds – I own this album. This album is OK, I liked the singles but the other songs just didn’t have any weight to them.

I listened to this just the other day, and really really enjoyed it from start to finish.

cast were a fine live band but crap on record. the 1st Black Grape album was one of the best albums of the time but this one was shit.

i still play that 1st black grape album from time to time and its a really good funky album that had fuck all to do with any of the britpop made at the time. Great live band too. They were better than Oasis at Loch Lomond.

i like that ash record a lot but 'free all angels' was their classic imo.

Free All Angels is much more of a 'produced' record than Nu-Clear Sounds, I think. The best songs on Free All Angels beat the best songs on Nu-Clear Sounds hands down, but I think the worst songs on Nu-Clear Sounds far outstrip the worst songs on Free All Angels. Free All Angels seems to me to be more of a peaks'n'troughs record, whereas Nu-Clear Sounds is more consistent.

I like "This Is Hardcore" but I'd rather listen to "In It For the Money."

"The Menace" and "The Great Escape" weren't bad. The rest of these records suck.

Shed Seven – Let It Ride, Reef – Rides, Lightning Seeds- Tilt, Sleeper – Pleased to Meet You and Catatonia – Equally Cursed & Blessed – I have no idea what any of these sound like.

I think I could take a pretty good guess.

We own 9 of them between us.

In It For The Money is a great album, I can't say that about any of the others here although the Blur, Pulp and Boo Radleys ones definitely have their moments. I bought the Manics and Suede when they came out (and the albums after!) but they're long gone from my CD shelves.

I bet every major UK city has at least one charity shop containing every single one of these albums.

I doubt even they have "Lustra"

Head Music was almost a great album, the title track and Elephant Man are dreadful and Savoir Faire was always going to take some stick. Even with the sterile sound, it was really just 2 or 3 clunkers that brought the album down.

I wonder if living in the States made it easier for me to enjoy Be Here Now. It's not as good as Morning Glory, but even that album isn't great, and it doesn't feel like that big of a qualitative drop to me. Oasis does big, dumb rock songs, and those first three albums seem of a piece inasmuch as they were Oasis making the most of their v. limited range.

In it for the money

I've been listening to this all week. This album reminds me of the onset of summer, somehow.

I was forced to listen to the whole of Morning Glory in the car the other day and I have to say it's one of the blandest hit records in the world. Everything about it points to the middle and the lyrics are just...

"Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know real soon"

Makes you think...

Oh, Oasis lyrics are inarguably the worst perversion of the English language ever. I basically have to pretend they're sing in Cocteau-speak or another language altogether.

"You see me, I've got my magic pie."

"they're singing"

That post would be the second-worst perversion of the English language ever.

The thing is, it's like savant babel English - absolutely anyone of a certain age can pretty much sing along to the whole record without questioning what the words mean. The words just roll (with it) off the tongue so easily. It's genius in a way. Walking slowly down the hall, faster than a cannonball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVc7ZB9DPGA

Between Blur and Elastica for me and I went for Elastica because The Menace doesn't get nearly enough love. Neither does The Great Escape for that matter but The Menace seemed the more urgent case.

Walking slowly down the hall, faster than a cannonball.

GHarrison's famous 'first acid experience' had him and Lennon driving at some slow speed and thinking they was going at 100mph. So, maybe not that one.

The rest, yeah.

xpost yeah, I voted that one.

What caused the arguable drop in quality between the Britpop 94-95 era and 96-98? Is it a matter that these bands had always been rubbish and that it was all hype? Or was there something else going on that made so many bands release lacklustre follow ups at this time?

drugs.

Mark G otm. Heroin and cocaine, specifically.

Suede, Elastica and Blur all did their fair share of both smack and coke. Oasis were notorious cokeheads. Members of Pulp and Ocean Colour Scene and one particular member of Supergrass liked a bit of the devil's dandruff. Paul Weller dabbled in coke alongside his Britpop mates in the '90s. Cast and Gomez were more stoners. The Boo Radleys were more into acid.

The cleanest band on the list above, funnily enough, is probably the Manics. And James Dean Bradfield was quite a heavy drinker. Even Sleeper were snorting lines in the toilets of The Good Mixer...

Oh yeah, Catatonia: Cerys Matthews ended up on heroin by the end of that. So many examples.

also you have a bunch of indiekids in adidas tops suddenly becoming popstars and then trying to / being asked to write records for the Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops crowd.
i think the records that survive are : the rock records that weren't ever part of the lurch from indie to mainstream; blur & supergrass who were always pop bands anyway, until later on at least; pulp & boos because those records are a conscious back-turning on the previous HITS!

Never really realised the extent of the coke and horse thing, but it totally makes sense. I remember that era of Britpop feeling so bloated and self-important.

Embrace are pretty much clean.

For horse tails of latterday Britpop, look no further than Marion. Fucking hellfire.

Oh god, yeah, Marion. It's incredible, because I saw them circa 1996 and they were very much 'together' onstage!

Britpop always felt like it was its own worst enemy to me. Cool Brittania and all that, believing in themselves and their time in the sun and then going on to do some self-indulgent, bloated, overwrought turd w/no sense of fun. The first albums tended to be really cute at least, if not actually great, and by their third, unless they had basically reconfigured everything, they were unlistenable.

'Cool Britannia' had fuck-all to do with the people making the music, and everything to do with the people writing about it. It went down better with some bands than with others. You'd be surprised at how many bands at the time hated terms like 'Britpop', 'Cool Britannia', 'Dadrock' and 'Noelrock', or just plain weren't arsed about being part of anything. Oasis took it to the other extreme, they literally lapped everything up, until they fell off the rails sometime post-Knebworth.

i saw marion at t in the park and they were great (as was the album) never heard the 2nd japan only album.

"always felt" = I was in the States again and this was how they were trying to market it.

HOW DOES IT FEEL
WHEN YOU'RE INSIDE

....ME

i wonder how much Pulp will win by?

97 Lovers.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

nice work ILX

whoah

>:(

bummer, I thought The Great Escape was gonna gather, well, much more votes than this

i knew i was right.

did not expect any albums to get 40+ votes

The fact that In It For The Money and This Is Hardcore were the top two doesn't surprise me at all. What surprises me is the MASSIVE spike in votes between 3rd place and 2nd.

This was a two-horse race for me between This Is Hardcore and In It For The Money, and after careful consideration I've went with This Is Hardcore.

Runners-up: The Great Escape, C'mon Kids...(snip)

― The Jupiter 8 (Turrican), Friday, May 4, 2012 5:11 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

C'mon Kids is a very good album you guys!

It's got some brilliant stuff on it, but it's definitely not an album for everyone.

can't really complain about these results

lol @ vote for reef

who voted for sleeper

That top five is spot on. C'mon Kids is a great album, maybe my second favourite of theirs after Giant Steps.

i put it slightly after ichabod & i

i actually own Ichabod & I on vinyl, the Boo Radleys worst album. even something not yet fully realized as Everything's Alright Forever is miles better than their debut.

I am listening to Giant Steps right this very moment(!) ... 'Upon 9th And Fairchild' is feedbacktastic.

I voted for Sleeper as it's the only one on the list I own! Not a good album, though.

131 voters?!

I had no idea ILM loved Supergrass. That kinda rules.

Suede got the most discussion and no votes! Must be bad...

Upon 9th and Fairchild is also dubtastic - makes me think of a cold blue-lit kitchen floor at 3am.

C'Mon Kids beat the Great Escape! Nice one ILX (not that I don't like GE)

Wow. I love half of This Is Hardcore but it's very weak in places. Even Owen Hatherley, who's a total Pulp stan, is critical of it in his Uncommon book. A lot rests on the title track and The Fear. But then there isn't a truly great album on the list and this is ILX so…

Don't tell that to the pulp fanatics on ilm!

TV Movie and I'm a Man are the only songs on This Is Hardcore that I don't really rate that much.

I wonder how well Mansun's Six would have done if it had been included.

I doubt very much it would have taken votes from Pulp but it may have split the Supergrass vote but we will never know.

I still cant be arsed doing the 90s dance/trip-hop version of the poll mainly because of all the dance polls lately that everyone moaned about. But if anyones brave enough go for it

You should get in line for a britpop tracks ballot poll instead, there's clearly demand for it. 'Special/Blown It (delete as appropriate)' ftw, put right some injustice.

not a chance

I have that second Marion album, Algerian Goalkeeper, got it for a couple of quid (at a record fair I think). Not listened to it for ages but liked it enough when I got it.

I own 15 of those albums and have previously owned one or two more. I'm getting tempted to make a playlist.

Was just the right age to be really into these bands, was 11 when I started reading the NME in 1994, so was timed perfectly for Britpop to be a big thing to me.

My vote went to 'Nu-Clear Sounds' because Ash where my favourite band pretty much the whole way through secondary school, and if I was to listen to an Ash album right now I'd gravitate towards that. Some really lovely "ballads" on there. I remember "Jesus Says" knocking me back a bit when I first heard it though.

i feel bad now for not voting but i thought pulp was going to win by such a landslide my vote didn't matter! i can't believe some of these got more than one vote (black grape?!)

i didn't know marion had a second album, but i loved the first

I remember being puzzled why it never got any publicity when it seemed like all their contemporaries made it big on that trajectory. I only saw them do one interview on MTV, where Jaime was really muted and even sat down while everyone else was standing.

It wasn't 'til much later that I found out about the swan-stealing &c.

This was the single from the second album ('The Program'):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_8Kh48_AVs

There may have been another single after that, can't remember.

The second Marion album wasn't bad. It was actually released in the UK in late 98 but with no fanfare. It was Menswe@r's second album that only came out in Japan. Miyako Hideaway is a great single, should have been a hit. They've actually just reformed, Jamie has been a really bad way for a long time by the sounds of it. I remember seeing them on that Britpop Now show thinking they were the coolest band on there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bvLDHWYy_E

Man, I had albums or singles by many of these artists but one by one they were sold. Very few had much staying power past their debut album or single. Of all these bands I'll still go to bat for the first Cast album (which was such a breath of fresh air at the time) and the early Sleeper singles and their second album, "The It Girl". Elastica's best moments were when Mark E Smith was collaborating with them!

sorry to hear you were chained to a radiator in Beirut

disappointed DG didn't post here, it's his fave era of music.