90's Britpop anyone?

nancydrew77 · #1 04-20-2007, 09:16 PM

I'm new to this forum. I was just curious if anyone was into any of Britpop bands like the Stone Roses, Ride, Happy Mondays, Charlatans U.K., Blur, Suede, Elastica, and so on and so forth. The bassists from some of those bands were just right on, IMHO.

Rusty Chainsaw · #2 04-21-2007, 01:57 AM

Alex James from Blur and Mani from The Stone Roses / Primal Scream are both awesome bassists. I'd go as far as to say Mani's basslines WERE The Stone Roses. Essential listening.

Wasim · #3 04-21-2007, 01:22 PM

Stone Roses weren't really 90s Britpop... classic first album and some great singles though. Mani was so underrated, and Reni, the drummer, was first rate too... those two were a great rhythm section. Just listen to Fools Gold.

Alex James from Blur doesn't get much attention but he's also good. Songs like Coffee and TV and Beetlebum have great bass lines.

UnDoNe · #4 04-21-2007, 01:32 PM

Supergrass came out at the time of britpop and Mick Quinn of them is a great player. Really melodic lines and just perfect for the songs. I really admire him as a bassist. Alex James was also a great player

Baryonyx · #5 04-21-2007, 03:09 PM

Imo that was a bad time for music...well, the Britpop scene really was dire...though I have a friend who is a bit of a Stone Roses fan and she uses TB.

Rusty Chainsaw · #6 04-21-2007, 03:49 PM

Most of the bands the OP listed (The Stone Roses, Ride, Happy Mondays, The Charlatans) weren't really part of what's known as the Britpop movement - most of them were part of the early 90's "Madchester" indie dance scene, which had a lot more of an underground following than the later Britpop, which was a lot more commercial.

The main bands of the Britpop scene were probably Oasis, Blur, Embrace, Pulp, Suede, Elastica, Ocean Colour Scene, The Verve and the aforementioned Supergrass. There's some great tunes in there (Pulp, The Verve, and Supergrass had loads of great songs) but a lot of it was just bandwagon-hopping, hyped rubbish. If you could strum a Beatles or Kinks song on guitar, could wear baggy jumpers and a floppy haircut, and tell the press to f*** off in a regional accent every so often, while boasting about your drug consumption and how you were in "the best band in the world", then you qualified to be in a Britpop band.... Britpop wasn't exactly a highlight in recent British culture!

Anthbass · #7 04-21-2007, 03:59 PM

What about 'Pop Will Eat Itself'? I have the 'Dos Deos Mis Amigos' album from 1994 and it has a bit o' electronica and some groovy bass work.

Rusty Chainsaw · #8 04-21-2007, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthbass

What about 'Pop Will Eat Itself'? I have the 'Dos Deos Mis Amigos' album from 1994 and it has a bit o' electronica and some groovy bass work.

PWEI were awesome... especially their earlier albums, such as Box Frenzy and This Is the Day, This Is the Hour, This Is This.

They're probably best known for Sigue Sigue Sputnik covering one of their songs, "Love Missile F1-11".

I'm not sure they were affiliated with any "scene", so to speak (although they were one of quite a few bands at the time to do a lot of work on behalf of organisations like the Anti-Nazi League, who were mainly associated with the "crusty" and anarchist/traveller scenes), but they were hugely popular at the college I went to, along with the likes of Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine and The Wonder Stuff.

GillesUnchained · #9 04-22-2007, 11:51 PM

+1 on Mani. One of my favorites. But I really like his stuff on XTRMNTR better than any of the Stone Roses stuff.

+1 on Mick Quinn. When I saw Supergrass live, I felt like cutting all my fingers off because he's so good.

James Hart · #10 04-23-2007, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Chainsaw

Most of the bands the OP listed (The Stone Roses, Ride, Happy Mondays, The Charlatans) weren't really part of what's known as the Britpop movement - most of them were part of the early 90's "Madchester" indie dance scene, which had a lot more of an underground following than the later Britpop, which was a lot more commercial.

Agreed, some real cool music came out of that scene... I was just talking about that stuff with a coworker the other week.

GillesUnchained · #11 04-23-2007, 12:43 AM

While we're on the subject of Manchester, everyone, rent "24 Hour Party People" if you haven't already. Oh, and "Live Forever", the documentary.

Baryonyx · #12 04-23-2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthbass

What about 'Pop Will Eat Itself'? I have the 'Dos Deos Mis Amigos' album from 1994 and it has a bit o' electronica and some groovy bass work.

I loved the tunes they had on the PS1/Saturn game "Loaded", though not all of there music was that good, imo. That game overall just had an ace soundtrack.

bassicinstinct · #13 04-23-2007, 10:29 AM

Personally, I'd rather plunge hot knitting needles into my eyeballs than listen to Happy Mondays/ Black Grape/ Primal Scream/ Charlatans/ Stone Roses or the like.

The "Madchester " movement had, IMHO, less to do with music and more to do with trousers.

Mind you, I AM old.

Joe Clark · #14 04-23-2007, 10:42 AM

The guitarist in my band is a HUGE Graham Coxom fan. This isn't a bad thing, as I think he and Blur both rule. They write great songs.

Rano Bass · #15 04-24-2007, 08:06 PM

They're good but i much prefer the 80's brit pop bassists.

TobyPro4 · #16 04-25-2007, 05:13 AM

I'm from Manchester.

Do I win £5?

Baryonyx · #17 04-25-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rano Bass

They're good but i much prefer the 80's brit pop bassists.

If Mark King and Tony Butler are there, yes, they slay them all!

mat gregory · #18 04-26-2007, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty Chainsaw

Alex James from Blur and Mani from The Stone Roses / Primal Scream are both awesome bassists. I'd go as far as to say Mani's basslines WERE The Stone Roses. Essential listening.

Though i partially agree with this quote! I feel it was really John Squire that made the roses what they are, genius songwriter and guitarist, mani was just the icing on this amazingly good cake!

Inspiral Carpets, kula shaker, Stone roses, pulp, oasis, blur, seahorses, All amazingly good britpop bands!!

eldoctorbass · #19 04-26-2007, 06:53 AM

Never Loved Elvis has been a fave since it came out. I also second (third, fourth) Blur, Elastica and the Verve (especially A Storm in Heaven).

XTC was better than all of the '90s Britpop bands combined though.

cowsgomoo · #20 04-26-2007, 07:30 AM

I rate Mickey Quinn from Supergrass as the best out of that lot...

most of the bass players from that era weren't particularly good... Guigsy from Oasis proved that you don't have to be any more than adequate to be a rock bass player in a successful band... he was probably the worst bass player since Sid Vicious to play in a world class rock band

Mat Osman, Alonza Bevan, Alex James and Damon Minchella had their moments, and I liked Annie Holland's wiry JJ Burnel type sound, but otherwise that era doesn't do much for me bass-wise

some of my fave moments from that era have nothing to do with bass... Jarvis Cocker showing his arse during Michael Jackson's messianic performance at the Brit Awards, (in fact, Jarvis Cocker getting to be a pop star full stop), Oasis's string of 5-6 fantastic singles... oh, and Adidas Gazelles

and the awful stuff... Chris Evans as a cultural guru... a Loaded 'laddish' lowbrow Liam inspired worship of stupidity not seen since that other idiot Shaun Ryder was at the height of his 'career'... denim shirts...