Supergrass RIP

[jaydee81]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/12/supergrass-split-17-years

I thought I Should Coco was one of the greatest records ever when I was 16. The fact that I'd only listened to about 30 LPs ever wasn't a problem. Its still pretty good I reckon.

[Neville Chamberlain]

To my ears, they were by far and away the most exciting band of the whole "Britpop" era. Unlike all the other (mostly) limpid dross that infested that era, Supergrass had cracking tunes and were musically quite inventive, which added to their excitingness.

And that's my opinion!!!!!

[PaulTMA]

Who's left then, apart from The Bluetones?

[Neville Chamberlain]

The existence and purpose of The Bluetones has been a constant source of bafflement to me!

[boxofslice]

Shame but not surprising considering a rather lacklustre reaction to their past couple of albums.  Anyone heard the Hot Rats record?

[Paaaaul]

I saw The Bluetones supporting Supergrass. Do I win a prize?

[23 Daves]

They really were a good band.  In recent years it's become incredibly unfashionable to voice any words in support of Supergrass, but the truth is that "Road to Rouen" (released in 2005) would have been a perfectly good album had it been released at any point in the last twenty years.  That it emerged at a point when they were seen as relics of another era and therefore nobody paid any attention outside their fanbase is just horribly unfortunate. 

They played with a much broader palette than a lot of their Britpop cohorts as well, with bits of psychedelia on "I Should Coco", grungey noises on "Richard III", emotive little Lennon-esque ballads on "Road to Rouen"... if they reform in six years time, they'll probably get the respect they deserve. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yup - Road to Rouen is a pretty good wee album and I've usually enjoyed them live.  Though I give it slightly less than Daves' 6 years before they're back back back!

Who's left then, apart from The Bluetones?

[scarecrow]

I like Supergrass, and agree with 23 Daves' assessment of Road to Rouen, but I really hated Diamond Hoo Ha Man. It's one of the least exciting records I've heard and is severely lacking in good tunes. I actually took it back to exchange it for something, in spite of having bought it for only £1 in Fopp. Perhaps it's for the best that they're calling it a day now. I still think most of their work holds up, and they were fantastic when I saw them touring Life on Other Planets.

[purlieu]

Road To Rouen's my favourite record of theirs, I think, but that last one was shocking.

The Bluetones have a new album out this year.  Ocean Colour Scene have already released one this year!

[PaulTMA]

I saw the last album for a pound in Fopp and resisted buying it even then.   Yet, last year I went out of my way to see them live, owing to the fact I'd never had a chance thusfar and had by then looked for a dirt-cheap copy of 'Rouen' (and at that point, failed).  I feel kind of sad about this, yet can't quite face looking for tickets for the Barrowland show without some encouragement.

[PaulTMA]

Wow - Road To Rouen is great!

[Doctor Stamen]

I Should Coco and In It For The Money bring back so many happy memories of idle student days, and when I saw them in 2001 it was one of the best gigs i've ever seen.  Last time I saw them they'd lost a bit of their thunder but they were still great.

[23 Daves]

Come to think of it, they're yet another example of a band losing popularity after releasing a "Best of" album, aren't they?  Why does this happen so frequently?  I assume it's because record labels tend to favour shoving "Best ofs" out around about the point where a band's popularity seems to just be about to wane, or just as the band are about to move to another label (who doesn't prioritise them) rather than any psychological issues an act might have about it being a career-marker. 

[vrailaine]

I pretty much love all the albums(asides from the 2008 one, haven't heard it) and that best of is absolutely stellar. Was only listening to them yesterday, damn shame. Might be able to make that Paris gig, think I'm over there round then... wouldn't go outta my way for it but definitely place them up there with the best bands of the 90s.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I'd say they were a great singles band, but I own In It For The Money and that's a great album. They were ace when I saw them at Reading in 2003 too, perfect soundtrack for a balmy summer afternoon. I couldn't say they were ever my favourite though and I'd more or less assumed that they'd disbanded at some point. Still, shame.

Seems like odd timing, given that a bunch of britpop bands have been reforming of late.

[23 Daves]

Seems like odd timing, given that a bunch of britpop bands have been reforming of late.

Ha!  But Supergrass made the mistake of not splitting up around 1999-2001 like the rest of them.  If they had, they'd be quids in right now.  The "reforming" business is a funny one.  I think I'm getting this story right, but I remember an accountant friend of Mark E Smith once suggested that Smith would be three or four times better off in the long run if he just split The Fall up, then reformed them again five years later.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's a bit of that mentality going on behind some of these band splits - carrying on releasing albums to diminishing returns isn't a good way of fuelling nostalgia for your work.  If you've never really been away, then what have people got to miss?  Not that I'm suggesting The Grass are doing that right now, mind...

As for their image, I think it's quite sad generally that most Britpop bands at the moment are tarnished with a slightly cartoonish, plasticky image when - whilst on form - both the songs and musical chops of Blur, Pulp, and Supergrass piss all over just about any noughties British act you care to name.  There's something very tacky and Woolworths about the whole image of Britpop which doesn't necessarily correlate with the musical output, although I realise there were plenty of people hawking crap around at the time as well.  But if you shout "The Libertines!" about the noughties, I'd be quite happy to throw "Kaiser Chiefs!" back at you.  Saying "Britpop!  Hur hur hur hur!  Menswear!" makes just about as much sense.  There again, it's probably all part of the phenomenon where people only remember the worst output from the previous decade, and only remember the good material from all the decades prior to that. 

[Jemble Fred]

But if you shout "The Libertines!" about the noughties, I'd be quite happy to throw "Kaiser Chiefs!" back at you.

This is a bit confusing – you're not saying the former are better than the latter, surely? If you mean the other way round then it makes sense and I apologise.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Whenever I think of Britpop as a genre, I tend to mentally lump in all sorts of cracking stuff from the era like the first few Suede singles, Reverend Black Grape, Yes by McAlmont & Butler, Teenage Fanclub's Grand Prix, Tricky, The Boo Radleys, Elastica's first couple of singles, Radiohead's The Bends, the first few Ash singles, early Chemical Brothers remixes, History by The Verve, Leftfield, etc.

As a result, I've got fond memories of it.

I do choose to mentally exclude things like Northern Uproar, though.  Obviously.

[23 Daves]

Whenever I think of Britpop as a genre, I tend to mentally lump in all sorts of cracking stuff from the era like the first few Suede singles, Reverend Black Grape, Yes by McAlmont & Butler, Teenage Fanclub's Grand Prix, Tricky, The Boo Radleys, Elastica's first couple of singles, Radiohead's The Bends, the first few Ash singles, early Chemical Brothers remixes, History by The Verve, Leftfield, etc.

As a result, I've got fond memories of it.

I do choose to mentally exclude things like Northern Uproar, though.  Obviously.

There's the problem, really - at least a few of the acts you've mentioned above certainly wouldn't have defined themselves as Britpop, and I don't think were at the time either.  But like you, I tend to get nostalgic about the music released during the '94-'96 period rather than the idea of Britpop per se.  So that includes Jack, Divine Comedy, Leftfield, Tindersticks, Dreadzone, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, The Fall's albums during that period (from "Infotainment Scan" to "The Light User Syndrome", all had electronic pop leanings), and Radiohead, as well as Blur, Pulp, Supergrass, Elastica and The Super Furry Animals (who again weren't strictly speaking Britpop).

I think Britpop managed to act as a slipstream for other alternative acts, provided of course those alternative acts didn't happen to be influenced by grunge.  I actually preferred Radio One during that period of my life to any other radio station I've had access to before or since, because its playlist was so broad, and I'm not really a massive fan of niche radio programming.  It just seemed like a very fertile and creative period of time, although I'm aware that most people feel similarly about whatever music was popular during their early twenties.

[vrailaine]

Who's left then, apart from The Bluetones?

Puressence

[Jemble Fred]

Blur will still keep popping up again 'because they feel like it' at regular intervals until the last one dies, surely? Good thing too.

[non capisco]

I actually preferred Radio One during that period of my life to any other radio station I've had access to before or since, because its playlist was so broad, and I'm not really a massive fan of niche radio programming.  It just seemed like a very fertile and creative period of time, although I'm aware that most people feel similarly about whatever music was popular during their early twenties.

Same here, Daves. I'm well aware of how I might be looking back on my late adolescent years with excessively rose-tinted specs and I've admittedly always been of a somewhat overly nostalgic mindset but, come on, you had 'Under Canvas Under Wraps' by The Delgados on daytime Radio 1 in 1996!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Blur never really felt like they went away, what with Gorillaz and Coxon's solo work.

The almost instantaneous piss riping of Britpop annoyed me also. I know it might not have been Mersey Beat or Madchester, for example, but how much rubbish could be classed under them?

[PaulTMA]

Puressence

No one has ever actually liked them though?  In the same way Doves bewilderingly continue to sell a certain amount of units, no one can ever conceivably imagine liking them.  Dour, fat, ugly Northern bands in shit raincoats have a certain unique survival instinct that belies their ability to make what any cultured person would consider entertaining music, thereby crediting their 'carrying on' - akin to an inhabited wheelchair tied to the back of a car (something Elbow have managed to take to almost stadium proportions) - appear to be some cause for celebration

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Doves are ace. Have at you, sir!

[23 Daves]

Same here, Daves. I'm well aware of how I might be looking back on my late adolescent years with excessively rose-tinted specs and I've admittedly always been of a somewhat overly nostalgic mindset but, come on, you had 'Under Canvas Under Wraps' by The Delgados on daytime Radio 1 in 1996!

And Helen Love, lest we forget.  The sneering comments Lisa I'Anson made about a Helen Love record after playing it were hilarious - you got the impression she was being railroaded into playing singles which would ordinarily only have been touched by Peel or the Evening Session.

[chand]

And Helen Love, lest we forget.  The sneering comments Lisa I'Anson made about a Helen Love record after playing it were hilarious - you got the impression she was being railroaded into playing singles which would ordinarily only have been touched by Peel or the Evening Session.

Even Lisa I'Anson can be right sometimes, Helen Love are shit.

[non capisco]

Doves bewilderingly continue to sell a certain amount of units, no one can ever conceivably imagine liking them.

I still really like 'There Goes The Fear', it's a great sounding record despite it being essentially a huge rip-off of Bowie's 'Sound And Vision'. Their other stuff I can take or leave.

[PaulTMA]

Well god knows what that rant must have had to do with Supergrass...

That band beginning with 'P' weren't inherently linked with 'Britpop', were they?   I think it's just Ash and The Bluetones left from the old guard, these days.