Fantastic chart battle, 2 sub par songs. Still, best summer ever for music.

So no

chumbawamba

then?

Or

Babybird?

So no

chumbawamba

then?

 

Seems not. The top3 must be:

 

Oasis: Do You Know What I Mean, Don't Look Back In Anger and Wonderwall.

 

imo Chumbawamba aren't Britpop anyway (despite how much I love the song!)

 

On the Verve discussion, I like BS most, then TDDW then narrowly the amazing Lucky Man - so euphoric!

So no

chumbawamba

then?

 

 

Or

Babybird?

I did toy with Dandhi's suggestion but decided against it. As for

chumbawamba

i didn't really consider them Britpop?!

Do you know the sales for the two gezza? If so, I'd be interested to see how high they would have been...

Do you know the sales for the two gezza? If so, I'd be interested to see how high they would have been...

Tubthumping would be still to come! Babybird 425k

CW would be well over 700,000 in sales.

Babybird should have been included.

There's no way Chumbawamba should have been included. Since they started in the mid 80s as an Anarcho-Punk band it would seem off. Never considered Babybird or Edwyn Collins Britpop either. They just happened to be Indie acts that had big hits around then and neither courted the scene

What the hell is 'Britpop' then? Records that Loaded magazine would have featured? Gordon Smart from The Sun's training bra records?

 

I'd agree that you need to include Babybird if you're going to include James - and if you're going to feature James then you need to include the small number sold on the '89 release too...and you need to include Chumbawamba as they were actually on an indie label (although, paradoxically, they sold out to a major for 'Tubthumping').

 

There wasn't really a 'scene' to court anyway. Just because Edwyn, Stephen Jones and the Chumbas were the wrong side of 30? So were James.

 

Anyway, it's an interesting countdown. No surprises left to come - the question is which order three highly over-rated singles (two of which I bought (!)) will come in.

Well said, richie.

Clearly this is open to interpretation (like some other movements or genres) and I think gezza has done a good job with this countdown.

Yeah - I dont wish to take away from the great work that gezza has done. This site has been enriched by his presence.

The only question for me now is which order #2 and #3 come in. I prefer both to the #1 actually :kink:

I know what order the top 3 are in because I read it the other day - I shan't spoil :P

 

Haven't commented on this countdown but I have been reading it. Loads of stuff I've never heard of in here :lol:

 

Did 'D'You Know What I Mean?' only sell so much because it was their first single after (WTS)MG? I think I've only heard it once and it's not very good.

What the hell is 'Britpop' then? Records that Loaded magazine would have featured? Gordon Smart from The Sun's training bra records?

 

I'd agree that you need to include Babybird if you're going to include James - and if you're going to feature James then you need to include the small number sold on the '89 release too...and you need to include Chumbawamba as they were actually on an indie label (although, paradoxically, they sold out to a major for 'Tubthumping').

 

There wasn't really a 'scene' to court anyway. Just because Edwyn, Stephen Jones and the Chumbas were the wrong side of 30? So were James.

 

Anyway, it's an interesting countdown. No surprises left to come - the question is which order three highly over-rated singles (two of which I bought (!)) will come in.

Firstly I'd like to say in no way am I trying to criticise this countdown or the sterling work of our host.

 

Secondly, there was very much a scene to Britpop. It's hard to nail down a description musically of Britpop because it is such a vague one that could apply to many other genres. Predominantly bands that focussed on the guitar/drums/bass/keyboards and often singing about particularly British life. Might as well say Madness by that description. Britpop was very much an aesthetic as well. At least initially. There was a large focus at the time on the Camden area, especially The Good Mixer pub which nearly all the major bands frequented although the scene went nationwide as well of course.

 

Age and record label has nothing to do with it. Many 'Indie' acts just succesfully rode the coat tails of Britpop. And I include James in that who's inclusion I'm fairly ambivalent about. They much like, say, Echo & The Bunnymen (who The Verve took lots of inspiration from), The Levellers, the Manics, Primal Scream and Inspiral Carpets had a resurgence during the period but weren't really Brtipop acts. Much like Ian Dury and The Blockheads benefitted from the Punk explosion without actually being a Punk band. Although Dury's aesthetic was Punk musically they certainly weren't. There was a large focus at the time on the Camden area, especially The Good Mixer pub which nearly all the major bands frequented although the scene went nationwide of course.

 

Like I said I'm not criticising. Everyone will have different parameters for what they consider part of the genre and there's no definitive right answer. I was simply stating which of the debated ones I didn't think fitted and I'm quite happy to agree to disagree.

 

 

Anyway whatever comes top (and I'm pretty sure I know) it's not a patch on Common People for me

The thing about Bittersweet Symphony is that it is all about the strings, remove them and the song is nowhere near as powerful, The Drugs Don't Work is just a powerful song full stop.

 

Urban Hymns was always majorly overrated in my eyes, the singles aside there was nothing that really grabbed me.

 

I'm very late to this but I think I need to give my input :P whilst it is somewhat carried by the strings and I understand how its status can put people off the song, I also think it has quite a strong message about life in general, and its backed up in the video too (the only road he's ever been down), I may be slightly biased here as I've only heard The Drugs Don't Work very recently :lol: but whilst thats very good, BS still does more for me

Edited October 31, 201113 yr by C.W

Did 'D'You Know What I Mean?' only sell so much because it was their first single after (WTS)MG? I think I've only heard it once and it's not very good.

Yes basically I think it was massively inflated by it, but it is a pretty good song in its own right (although follow up Stand By Me is far better).