Britpop is an alternative rock genre, a revival of the dominant guitar style of 60s pop on the UK music scene in the 90s. Britpop emerged as a response to the popular grunge movement.
Britpop in the 60s
In the 60s, The Kinks were considered the founders of Britpop. After the group was denied entry to America due to the harsh social essence of their lyrics, they were less psychedelic than other British invasion groups, and in 1966 they released their first Britpop album, Face To Face. The following two works by the musicians called ‘Something Else By The Kinks’ and ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ became the standards of the genre. The Britpop melody of The Kinks was a mixture of English beats from the early Beatles and music hall traditions.
Origins
The modern origins of Britpop lie in post-punk and indie rock (in particular, such bands as Stone Roses, Smiths, Charlatans). It is believed that the term “Britpop” was first used by journalist and member of the punk band Goldblade John Robb in 1987. This is how he characterized the music of The Stone Roses. In 1997, this word earned a place in the Oxford English Dictionary.
The style flourished in 1994 when Blur released their cult records Definitely Maybe and Kurt Cobain’s Nirvana, the bulk of rock fans split into those who remained faithful to the American concept and those who began to welcome the British wave. The dominance of the world of rock again passed to the UK. America reserved the right to develop punk rock and its various branches: grunge, post-grunge, new metal, California punk, etc. In the third millennium, Britpop was recognized there as well. For example, The Killers and The Strokes emerged – bands that were undoubtedly influenced by the British “guitar” wave.
Britpop in the CIS countries
In the mid-90s Britpop gained a reputation as a separate direction in rock music. Over time, the wave reached the countries of the former USSR (However, there is an opinion that the genre originated in Russia independently, and the ancestor was the Wine group). It all started with the Baltics. The pioneers of Britpop are the Lithuanians “Biplane” (1995), who perform songs in both Lithuanian and Russian.
The more successful group is the Brainstorm. Their hit “Maybe” won listeners not only in the CIS but even in the UK. The group that brought Britpop to Russia was Mumiy Troll and their leader Ilya Lagutenko. Having lived for a long time in England, he decided to adapt the original British direction for Russian-speaking listeners. In 1997, their first album “Marine” was released, which was recorded in London at Alaska Studios. The sound engineer was Chris Bandy, who previously worked with Cure, Duran Duran, Rolling Stones, Tears For Fears, and others.
Russian companies “Soyuz” and “Polygram” considered the demo version of the album as “non-format” and refused to release it. As a result, the album was released by “Rec Records”. In the same year and on the same label, “Ikra” was released. The lyrics, music, and sound of the group turned out to be fundamentally new for Russia.
In the CIS countries, the traditions of “Russian rock” were still strong. Later in Russia and Ukraine, such performers as Zemfira, Cartoons, Dancing Minus, Dream, Oedipus Complex, Thomas, Tonight, Okean Elzy, and others became popular.
Nowadays, the hysteria about Brit-pop has noticeably subsided, but Britpop itself is still developing and has plenty of fans. Moreover, its influence has spread all over the world, and almost everywhere, from America to Russia, you can find numerous brands that sound very like the original Britpop.
Many popular artists of this genre have also appeared. The fact is that the original Britpop, despite the root of “pop”, was still just rock music. Nowadays, plenty of people prefer this genre of music only, considering it the one of the highest quality.
If we take the purely pop singer Robbie Williams, then we can hear in many of his songs how Brit-pop sounds exactly in pop-musical form. Much the same can be said for the guitarless band from Sussex called Keane.
Main representatives
As we have previously mentioned, there are plenty of representatives from around the globe. The most well-known ones are the Kinks, Oasis, Stereophonics, Suede, Manic Street Preachers, Glasvegas, Cast, The Stone Roses, and Soundivers.
