Playlist [90s Style 1 - Jammie Dodger (Britpop)]

I never wanted the 90s to end. Maybe it was just my perspective.  Maybe I was just young and carefree. But it seemed like there was an odd shift in paradigm that decade.  What started as the counterculture in the 60s had incubated for years. It sat in its cocoon waiting, growing, changing.  Until the media explosion of the 80s had shone enough light on it, that it sprung, metamorphosed, into the mainstream. Suddenly, odd and popular were no longer diametrically opposed. For a brief time being abnormal was encouraged, even expected. It was a great time to be alive for weirdos like me.

It also facilitated a kind of creative explosion. A maelstrom of different genres coalesced and fell from the sky into the suddenly wide open space.

In an effort to organize my nostalgia and possibly catch up on what I missed in the deluge of amazing sounds that happened all at once,  I'm making some genre playlists. The first one is from a far-away island.

Britain has invaded America at least twice since we declared independence from their empire over 200 years ago. Once, very successfully in the 1960s, spearheaded by 4 shaggy haired boys in dapper suits. And, again, in the 1990s, led by two brothers who desperately wanted to be those dapper suited boys.

Britpop was a direct pushback against grunge which had been invading England with it's loud, uncouth, American sound.  Justine Frischmann (who was in Suede and later fronted Elastica) had said that, "there should be some sort of manifesto for the return of Britishness." This slow return began in the early part of the decade but finally became popular in the States somewhere around 1994. Grunge had run its course. It's figurehead had many personal issues. Not the least of which was an inability to reconcile with his newfound fame. Consequently, he had used a shotgun to create a hole, both literally in himself and figuratively in American culture. Shortly thereafter, UK bands began to pour into this hole like tea from a kettle.

The two most popular bands of the scene were Blur (who both predated and outlasted it) and Oasis (who initiated its greatest period of popularity with Definitely Maybe and then sounded it death null with Be Here Now). These two bands have often been seen on either side of a vs. much in the same way that the Beatles and the Stones have.  I have always been a Beatles man, but surprisingly I'd have to choose Blur in this fight. I often wonder what, if anything this says about me as a person.

Anyway, for many reasons, this was always one of my favorite styles of music. It's somewhat sophisticated yet still a bit cheeky. These songs are also good evidence in favor of a longstanding theory of mine. Everything sounds better with a British accent.