Forgotten Britpop Bands

[Stumpy Pepys]

To be counted as forgotten assumes I ever at any point remembered Thurman?

[Ray de Galles]

I'd like to throw Bennet in here. "Mum's Gone To Iceland" is a distillation of what people who've heard about Britpop, and have taken against it without doing any research, think what Britpop sounds like.

Bennet’s main claim to fame was their frontman was in an early band with the Goss twins (and they were all at school with my wife).

[Benjm]

Gene were great, or at least the first album was.

They were always branded Smiths copyists which I never really got as they were far better. I realise I will be in a tiny minority with that opinion but I really hated The Smith.

Gene received the dreaded Morrissey seal of approval but managed to overcome it more successfully than fellow victims Easterhouse and Bradford.

Olympian is a brilliant song. I'm still prone to putting it on after a few drinks for a sing/bellow along. It's got that O Come All Ye Faithful build up the volume appeal.

[Patrick Thistle]

, can I also suggest:

Comfort
Silver Sun
Elcka

I remember Silver Sun but not sure why. Maybe from a Shine album.

Does anyone remember the hype when Bis were on Top of the Pops and they were the first unsigned band ever to be on the show? God, they were shit!

[HeavyDracula]

There are some terrible opinions ITT.

Tiger were ace but were part of what came after Britpop, a group of UK bands that reclaimed the guitar somewhat (or had a more American sound, if you want). Like Urusei Yatsura, Dweeb, Magoo, and Spare Snare. NME even tried to create a scene out of them, with a C96 tape.

Silver Sun leaned more towards the power pop than the Britpop, and released some wonderful singles and an underwhelming album.

Jack were a Britpop as Tindersticks.

Bis were, and still are, great. This is a fact.

Thrum, as I've said on other threads on here, were just wonderful. They were big fans of Neil Young, and wore that proudly on their sleeves, and Monica Queen's voice was just a delight.

[Jah Womble]

If you read my post, you'll note that I said 'Britpop-or-contemporary' - hence the inclusion of Jack. (Agree that Thrum were good - and bis were indeed absolutely great.)

Elcka released a single I liked a lot - Leather Lips - as did Comfort (a solo act rather than a band) with Proof of You, which was definitely not Britpop either and a while after that scene had died down anyway.

I'll also admit to a small fondness for Mum's Gone to Iceland. (I remember Bennet giving one of the worst radio interviews I've ever heard, however.)

[BallochSonsFan]

I can remember Mark and Lard playing Ooberman's Shorely Wall a hell of a lot in the late 90s, just as Britpop was fizzling out.

There were a few good bands who never seemed to break through to the mainstream in the 90s. Urusei Yatsura should have been bigger than they were. A few of their central belt contemporaries did well but they never seemed to be more than cult favourites.

[Etienne]

Ùrusei Yatsura just came around at the wrong time. I'm sure Kewpies like watermelons would have been a hit in 1991 or 92.

I don't follow jah's argument that Gene can't have been forgotten because they sold a fair few records at the time. It might make it more unlikely, but it's not conclusive in itself.

[BallochSonsFan]

Ùrusei Yatsura just came around at the wrong time. I'm sure Kewpies like watermelons would have been a hit in 1991 or 92.

I don't follow jah's argument that Gene can't have been forgotten because they sold a fair few records at the time. It might make it more unlikely, but it's not conclusive in itself.

I like them but I'll admit that I'm only catching up with them years down the line.

I was at uni in Glasgow (Caledonian rather than a proper uni) from 97 to 01 and I don't remember there being a huge amount of coverage of them despite that being their home city.

[Jah Womble]

Ùrusei Yatsura just came around at the wrong time. I'm sure Kewpies like watermelons would have been a hit in 1991 or 92.

I don't follow jah's argument that Gene can't have been forgotten because they sold a fair few records at the time. It might make it more unlikely, but it's not conclusive in itself.

It wasn't really an 'argument' - if one or two people contributing to this thread have forgotten them, well okay, but I was assuming we were focusing on bands that didn't really make it. Which doesn't really include Gene, who did reasonably well for several years.

Most other posts seem to support this interpretation.

I liked Urusei Yatsura too - but they were probably too edgy to take it up to the next level. That Glasgow music scene was tremendous though: Urusei, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Arab Strap and the aforementioned bis all made good records at that time. (Extending the remit to Edinburgh and Galashiels ropes in the likes of Idlewild and Dawn Of The Replicants, the latter of whom were brilliant.)

[Greenlander]

Glasgow can make a strong case for being the best city for bands in the UK.

Add the Pastels, the Delgados, Teenage Fanclub, Altered Images to the above list too. I'd put forward Edwin Collins/ Orange Juice though I think they were from Edinburgh. Postcard Records was certainly Glasgow based.

[BallochSonsFan]

Glasgow can make a strong case for being the best city for bands in the UK.

Add the Pastels, the Delgados, Teenage Fanclub, Altered Images to the above list too. I'd put forward Edwin Collins/ Orange Juice though I think they were from Edinburgh. Postcard Records was certainly Glasgow based.

Edwyn Collins was from Bearsden (I think).

Probably easier to look at Scotland's music as primarily being central belt or Fife. Central belt takes in the likes of Glasgow, East Kilbride, Cumbernauld, Falkirk and Edinburgh and covers most of the better Scottish bands.

[Lang Spoon]

The beta band’s 3eps was just wonderful.

[Jah Womble]

A lot of those bands were pre- the era we're discussing here, but, yep, a great musical heritage nonetheless.

(Yes, should've added The Beta Band to the Edinburgh list.)

[DPDPDPDP]

Edwyn Collins was from Bearsden (I think).

Probably easier to look at Scotland's music as primarily being central belt or Fife. Central belt takes in the likes of Glasgow, East Kilbride, Cumbernauld, Falkirk and Edinburgh and covers most of the better Scottish bands.

Not forgetting the Bluebells, Aztec Camera, Friends Again, The Bathers, The Orchids, Love & Money - all tremendous Glasgow bands

[Lang Spoon]

Prob no coincidence that since the 80s anyways Glasgow has had tonnes of live venues of various sizes (though the idiot council did ban punk cos of the Sex Pistols, making Paisley an early west coast Mecca). The relative paucity of Embra bands might be in part due to fuck all places to play in comparison (I’m claiming the beta band fer Fife).

[EIM]

Symposium. "The crown princes of Britpop". They were basically Busted.

[Ray de Galles]

Busted without the tunes, to be precise. I can’t recall them ever being termed Britpop though, they used to support rock acts like Foo Fighters, RHCP & Metallica and played the Warped Tour in the U.S. which was a skatepunk thing.

[Snake Plissken]

The NME fucking loved them.

[3 Colours Red]

I only recall Fairweather Friend. If THAT'S the only song that sticks in my mind, they must have been really, really shite.

[Benjm]

I went to see Symposium once. I can't remember much about it apart from the hyperactive jumping around. Them not me.

[Snake Plissken]

Yes, that was what everyone focused on.

I was always thinking “Er... isn’t that the bit the crowd are supposed to be doing?”

[Jah Womble]

God, Symposium were dire. Yes, NME described them as 'Britain's best live band' during 1997. They probably weren't even Symposium's best live band.

Some further forgotten (in the broad sense) Britpop-associated types:

Cuff
Jocasta*
Nilon Bombers
Octopus
Powder
Spacemaid

(*According to rumour, these guys somehow managed to get themselves dropped by Sony on the day their debut album was released.)

[Patrick Thistle]

I've heard of Jocasta. Not sure how. (I'd forgotten them until you mentioned them)

[Giggler]

Not forgetting the Bluebells, Aztec Camera, Friends Again, The Bathers, The Orchids, Love & Money - all tremendous Glasgow bands

And The Blue Nile and Craig Armstrong.