Post-Britpop

Post-Britpop is an

Many bands in the post-Britpop era avoided the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it.^[1][6] The music of most bands was guitar based,^[7][8] often mixing elements of British traditional rock,^[9] particularly the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Small Faces, with American influences.^[3] Bands from the era utilized specific elements from 1970s British rock and pop music.^[7] Drawn from across the United Kingdom, the themes of their music tended to be less parochially centred on British, English and London life, and more introspective than had been the case with Britpop at its height.^{[7][10][11][12]} This, beside a greater willingness to woo the American press and fans, may have helped a number of them in achieving international success.^[2] They have been seen as presenting the image of the rock star as an ordinary person, or "boy-next-door"^[8] and their increasingly melodic music was criticised for being bland or derivative.^[13]

History

Origins

From about 1997, as dissatisfaction grew with the concept of Cool Britannia and Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it.^[1][6] Bands that had enjoyed some success during the mid-1990s, but did not find major commercial success until the late 1990s included the Verve and Radiohead. After the decline of Britpop they began to gain more critical and popular attention.^[1] The Verve's album Urban Hymns (1997) was a worldwide hit and their commercial peak before they broke up in 1999, while Radiohead – although having achieved moderate recognition with The Bends in 1995 – achieved near-universal critical acclaim with their experimental third album OK Computer (1997), and its follow-ups Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001).^[14]

Developing scenes

The cultural and musical scene in Scotland, dubbed "Cool Caledonia" by some elements of the press,

The first major band to breakthrough from the post-Britpop Welsh rock scene, dubbed "Cool Cymru",^[15] were Catatonia, whose single "Mulder and Scully" (1998) reached the top ten in the UK, and whose album International Velvet (1998) reached number one, but they were unable to make much impact in the US and, after personal problems, broke up at the end of the century.^[4][20] Stereophonics, also from Wales, used elements of a post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough albums Word Gets Around (1997) and Performance and Cocktails (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with Just Enough Education to Perform (2001) and subsequent albums.^[21][22] Also from Wales were Feeder, who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single "Buck Rogers" and the album Echo Park (2001).^[23] After the death of their drummer Jon Lee, they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on Comfort in Sound (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles.^[24]

There was also a number of British bands getting more 'progressive' in their music style. Radiohead released OK Computer in May 1997,^[25][26][27] a few months before Oasis released Be Here Now (known as 'the album that killed Britpop' in some parts of the press),^{[28][29][30][31][32]} with Radiohead's album being followed by Mansun's Six album the next year (released on Parlophone at the time, but now available on progressive rock label Kscope).^[33][34][35] At the end of the 1990s, Devon band Muse would emerge from Teignmouth and sign to (Australian record company) Mushroom Records' new British arm via independent company Taste Media. Initially dismissed in certain sections of the press as 'Radiohead wannabes',^[36][37] the band would go on to top the UK albums chart six times, with every studio album reaching the top from 2003 to 2018.^[38]

Commercial peak

These acts were followed by a number of bands who shared aspects of their music, including

Bands in the post-Britpop era have been credited with revitalising the British rock music scene in the late 1990s and 2000s,[46] and of reaping the commercial benefits opened up by Britpop.^[2] They have also been criticised for providing a "homogenised and conformist" version of Britpop that serves as music for TV soundtracks,^[1] shopping malls, bars and nightclubs.^[2]

References