The Top 20 Britpop Bands - Voted By You!
gloriously inventive, evocative and showcases a master at the height of his craft...
20. Kula Shaker -
They had an obsession with all things Indian and stormed the charts. They ditched this sound for their second album and fell flat on their arses. You should have kept the gimmick lads!
19. Echobelly -
Still going now, Echobelly shot to fame when a certain bloke called Morrissey revealed he was a fan and invited them on tour. Unsurprisingly singer Sonya Aurora Madan had a very similar vocal range to The Miserable One.
18. Cast -
Kicking up a bit of a sandstorm, Cast formed from the ashes of The La’s and their most memorable moment came in the form of ‘Walkaway’ – poignantly played when England exited Euro ’96.
17. Sleeper -
Louise Wener provided the nonchalant cool of the Britpop era. Either that, or she was a miserable bitch.
16. Gene -
Despite being on the fringes of anything big, Gene managed to strike a chord with many and garner a hardcore following who collectively thought that the sun shone out of Martin Rossiter’s behind.
15. Northern Uproar -
The Stockport band arrived on a bubble of media hype in 1995, but just two years later they said their ‘Goodbye’ and disappeared into obscurity. They reformed in 2006 and are currently seen playing to five people a night in toilet venues.
14. Menswear -
The band were signed by Island Records for a whopping £500,000 back in the early nineties, only for them to spectacularly fail to have any commercial success. Blur they were not.
13. The Bluetones -
A number one album with ‘Expecting To Fly’, a number two single with ‘Slight Return’ – a shame they’ve been resorting to doing university tours for the past decade.
12. Dodgy -
Dodgy by name, definitely not dodgy by nature. The trio were purveyors of impossibly feel-good singles, most notably ‘In A Room’ and ‘Good Enough’ and following their split in 1998 reformed again this year.
11. The Boo Radleys -
‘Wake Up Boo’ was such a feel good track that doctors in the mid-nineties prescribed it as an alternative to Prozac. Another fine export from the musical hotbed that is the Wirral.
10. Elastica -
They may have failed to crack the top ten with any of their songs, but Justine Frischman and co. produced one of the Britpop era’s most enduring track in ‘Connection.’
9. The Charlatans -
They were plagued by tragedy in the mid-nineties, but this didn’t stop Tim Burgess and co. rolling out quality hit after quality hit. Consistently good.
8. James -
“Oh sit down, oh sit down, oh sit down, sit down next to me…” Ah the glory days long before Tim Booth turned into a scary looking bastard as above.
7. Suede -
There’s no doubting that Suede made some of the best records of the Britpop era, their tunes too had a dark, sinister edge that lacked in the charts of the time.
6. Supergrass -
They went out, enjoyed skirmishes with the fuzz and were much more than just ‘Alright.’ Frontman Gaz Coombes single-handedly made oversized side burns fashionable once again too.
5. Pulp -
After years in obscurity, counting John Peel as their sole fan, after support slots with Blur and Oasis, they released the zeitgeist defining ‘Common People’ and became one of the bastions of the Britpop era with the release of the album ‘Different Class.’ Truly in a class of their own.
4. Ocean Colour Scene -
Purveyors of such straight down the line, mod flavoured indie that they make Stereophonics look like forward thinking mavericks. Still, they did write some bloody good tunes though.
3. Shed Seven -
Much derided by critics, this loathing unwittingly spurred even more chart hits for the band and made their fans even more fervent. Reformed this year, they’re still widely regarded as one of the finest live bands around. Seriously.
2. Blur -
Alongside Oasis, they were the heavyweights of Britpop, enjoying number one albums with ‘Parklife’ and ‘The Great Escape’ and regularly hanging out at the top of the singles chart.
1. Oasis -
Oasis provided the rock, the roll, the cocaine, the women, the booze, the countless tabloid column inches – and are rightfully the fans’ choice for number one. They may have lost out to Blur in the battle for number one in the summer of 1995, but with the phenomenally huge ‘What’s The Story (Morning Glory)?’, the Gallaghers were the ultimate winners.
Tags: Oasis
After thousands of votes, the results of our poll are in and there's the odd surprise in there. Click through to find out...