Spin (USA) - The 25 Best Albums of the Britpop Era (2020)

[StevieFan13]

https://www.spin.com/2020/09/the-25-bes ... itpop-era/

25. Various, HELP
24. Whiteout, Bite It
23. These Animal Men, (Come on, Join) The High Society
22. Marion, This World & Body
21. The Bluetones, Expecting to Fly
20. Cast, All Change
19. Lush, Lovelife
18. Sleeper, Smart
17. Menswe@r, Nuisance
16. Echobelly, Everyone’s Got One
15. The Divine Comedy, Casanova
14. Gene, Olympian
13. Longpigs, The Sun Is Often Out
12. Oasis, (What’s The Story?) Morning Glory
11. The Auteurs, After Murder Park
10. The Charlatans, The Charlatans
9. Suede, Coming Up
8. Pulp, His ’N’ Hers
7. The Boo Radleys, Wake Up!
6. Blur, The Great Escape
5. Supergrass, I Should Coco
4. Elastica, Elastica
3. Oasis, Definitely Maybe
2. Blur, Parklife
1. Pulp, Different Class

Very interesting list - Morning Glory not even in the top ten, only one album by Suede, and no albums from Manic Street Preachers or the Verve!

[Jeff]

I got into Britpop during my misspent youth. Didn’t care for grunge and Britpop seemed at the time a viable alternative. But, speaking as someone who wasted too much money buying CDs (some on import because the US, to its credit, didn’t see much value in second-rate Suede knockoffs until months after UK release) of many of those on the list in the ‘90s, there really aren’t 25 good Britpop albums, certainly not now and not even then, especially with the quite reasonable restrictions the list imposed:

As Britpop crossed international waters, so did its boundaries. In North America, the press got lazy and applied the term to just about anything from the UK. And so the net was widened to include revolutionary space rock (Radiohead, the Verve, Spiritualized), Welsh alternative rock (Manic Street Preachers, Super Furry Animals, 60 Ft. Dolls, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci), bands that worshipped American music (Ash, Teenage Fanclub, Placebo), the seasoned songwriter, aka “dadrock” (Paul Weller, Edwyn Collins), and even the odd American act (Nancy Boy).

The top five is exactly what I expected it to be with the caveat that #3 could be either DM or WTSMG. Perhaps Suede could be in there, but they seemed to have dropped a bit in popular esteem. This isn’t meant as an insult, just that I’m not sure there are too many people out there that would be advocating for, say, a Menswear or Echobelly album in the top 5.

[luvulongTIM]

Funny just today I noticed they took off Dog Man Star by Suede off Spotify They’re always messing with Suede on Spotify in the US. Might have to do with that stubborn lesbian lounge singer that made them change their name here to the London Suede. They could never get a break over here. Always felt so bad for them.