Britpop plays the second time as gossip

I was thinking about Britpop again yesterday and realized that one thing the historians should do is probably use the word 'Britpop' less. When I was into Britpop I didn't particularly go round thinking in terms of 'Britpop'. At least, I don't think I did. Perhaps I am forgetting. But as so often - the complaint is familiar enough - labels can obscure and deaden as well as give necessary guidance.

The answer is that although Denim were qualified in many ways for Britpop superstardom, very few people get two bites at the cherry. Lawrence was too much an 80s figure, much more present in the previous decade than Jarvis, whom he supported several times and was a similar age.

And Denim were really much too clever and post-modern a group to be mainstream Britpop. Although Blur got Damian Hirst to make them the odd comedy video, they weren't as conceptual or clever as Denim.

If the book is as focused on 'celebrities' as the extracts, it's a chilling lesson in how history dumbs movements down and reduces complex landscapes to ultra-simple, pre-digested and compelling narratives. 'Rivals who dated the same girl' is pure Jeffrey Archer, as is 'working class northerners versus southern softies'. Does Luke Haines get a look-in somewhere? Is the book going to be a solid survey a la David Cavanagh, or a gloss a la Paolo Hewitt?

Sure, history is written by the winners, but if we pay our fifteen quid only to be told stuff we already knew, we're the losers.

This sounds shockingly similar to something I was asked to think about writing a few years back; it was to be called Cruel Britannia.

More later. Some of us have MARCHING to do.

And Denim were really much too clever and post-modern a group to be mainstream Britpop. Although Blur got Damian Hirst to make them the odd comedy video, they weren't as conceptual or clever as Denim.

I totally agree. It's a shame, because very few of the Britpop albums came close to being as good as anything Denim produced.

or Loz Hardy from Kingmaker, at one time one of the points in the Frischmann-Anderson-Albarn rectangle?

The Guardian piece also missed the best parts. the (possibly apocryphal) story about Brett writing 'Animal Lover' about the overlap between Justine moving on to Damon, and the 'branding' game the two boys would play in leaving lovebites on Justine to mark thir 'territory' as she flitted between them?

Or the tangential (and possibly litigous) story about the Damon-Lisa Moorish-Liam love triangle.

I think the gossipy revisionism/nostalgia is kind of appropriate, really. it establishes Britpop as a soap opera rather than some culture-razing George Formby-pop art movement which was the most important thing to happen in the history of the world ever.

Britpop wasn't the renaissance, it was Eastenders. and there's nothing wrong with a healthy casual liking for Eastenders.

they seemed to play along with the whole thing right from the get go, i always thought.

Sure, the Spice Girls may have killed BritPop, but their alternative was a hell of a lot better than the Oasis Weller Scene.

And, in a way, I can understand them. I mean, constantly having to change your phone number because you have 5 adolescent girls calling you every ten minutes. It sure can get annoying, I am sure...

Speaking of... Those Spice Girls influenced pop acts were actually better than a lot of other manufactured stuff on the hitlists lately. At least there were proper songs, with verse, bridge and a fully composed chorus. That style of rather melodic pop music seems to have died around the moment Max Martin closed down his Cheiron studios though, replaced in the hitlists by awful and absolutely unlistenable R&B crap.

Now obviously teenage girls are notoriously fickle and probably wouldn't have bought Blur's eponymous album even if it hadn't been filled with half-arsed lo-fi atrocities.

::throws self off bridge::

Yeah, I know... DNFTT...

a) Justine Frischmann was not Virginia Woolf. Jarvis Cocker was not Lytton Strachey. Laim Gallagher was not Roger Fry. Sarah Cracknell was not Vanessa Bell. James Brown was not Maynard Keynes. Etc.

b) Nobody sane ever danced to Britpop. (Although it was fun watching Jarvis try.)

you have obviously never been to a Melbourne indie club. you should consider yourself damn freakin' lucky

accidental truth oft hidden within the momusmaze

My main gripe with Harris (and this goes for the Live Forever film too) is that his love of Damon and contempt for Liam is so thinly veiled. I personally don't mind if John Harris prefers Blur to Oasis, or thinks they were a "better" or more "important" band (although I disagree) but I don't think he can then pretend to write the "Britpop story" as if it were a straightforward retelling of the tale.

Biggest surprise for me was the space devoted to Elastica and Menswear, who Harris uses almost as barometers of the scene - maybe cos he was more personally involved with them than the big players?

By the way, no mention of Loz Hardy in "Last Party" as I recall - but then no mention of Lisa Moorish either...