What up yo.
Live Forever : The Rise And Fall Of BritPop
Live Forever: The Rise And Fall of BritPop from Jack83 on Vimeo.
The music and films and television, the balls, the honesty, the raw imagination and cocky swagger.
When I was 21 “Trainspotting” was unleashed onto the world of cinema.
“CHOOSE YOUR FUTURE. CHOOSE LIFE.”
I would end up traveling to England 6 months later with a few bartender friends of mine and my best friend Sunthar.
It was the time of Oasis & “What’s The Story (Morning Glory)”. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it was also right after the “Blur Vs. Oasis” battle had reached it’s peak.
In New York at that time, I knew of Oasis and The Verve, but Blur wasn’t on my radar yet. I finally began listening to them last year after watching this incredible 7 part BBC documentary on the history of Rock and Roll which spent an episode dissecting the BritPop movement as it happened in England.
Here, in this 2003 documentary, BritPop is analyzed by Noel, Liam, Damon and others.
The honesty that comes out of each and every artist in this document is refreshing & genuine. I was surprised that it wasn’t the brothers Gallagher that I found the most profound, it was listening to Damon of Blur and Jarvis of Pulp that provide the most insight for me.
Every thing Noel says…you can put quotes around. Like writing catchy rock tunes, he knows how to phrase a thought to be quoted later.
Lliam here doesn’t know the movement has ended.
It’s 2003…a few years after 1997…the end of the 5 year BritPop movement, and he is cocky, self assured and as defiant as ever. Brilliant.
Wait. Is he about to give the interviewer a smack?
Watch at 55:40
Listen to the interviewer make the mistake of telling Lliam how he is androgynous.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you have a feminine quality about you.”
“Does it? What does that mean? Like a bird?”
“No I’m not saying you’re like a bird…”
“A bird? What does that mean?”
“Androgynous. You have a bit of feminine in your masculinity…”
“Have I. What’s that. Explain.
What does that mean?”
“I’m a pretty boy.
I’m pretty good-looking yeah.
I take care of my hair.
I’m pretty obsessed with my hair. You have to have a pretty good haircut if you’re the front man of a band. “
In dissecting the rise of BritPop we see that a few things triggered its arrival.
- 17 years of Margret Thatchers control coming to an end, and the new found hope that instilled in people, after living under her “rule” for so long.
- The initial hope and promise of the new labor party and the coming of Tony Blair, however false that ended up being.
- The rise and sudden fall of Grunge and more importantly…Kurt Cobain in April 1994, 20 years ago next month.
- The vacuum his death caused in the music industry, which coincided with the release of Oasis debut album “Definately Maybe“
Within a few years, both Blur and Oasis were dominating All of England. Again. For the record. It was Oasis we were hearing across the pond.
It’s a great film that reflects on the end of a great period of music in both America and the UK. The movement that was grunge was and is still very much a part of my life. The BritPop movement complimented that era for me, it seemed that creative and heartfelt raw rock and roll music was exploding from both shores for 5 years there in the mid 90’s.
The next thing I knew, people were listening to boy bands and it all fell to shit.
I don’t think mainstream music has had balls since.
UK Forever.
RIP Kurt.
