Editing Britpop (section)

==Style, roots and influences==
{{multiple image 
| footer = [[Andy Partridge]] (left) and [[Ray Davies]] (right) are sometimes cited as the "godfathers of Britpop".
| image1 = Andy Partridge.jpg
| width1 = 168
| alt1 = Andy Partridge performing
| image2 = Kinks.jpg
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| alt2 = Ray Davies performing
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Though Britpop has sometimes been viewed as a marketing tool and more of a cultural moment than a distinct musical genre,<ref name=Till/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/25/1058853189807.html|title=The great Britpop swindle|author=Michael Dwyer|newspaper=[[The Age]]|date=25 July 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-summer-of-britpop-5347330.html|title=The summer of Britpop|author=Nick Hasted|website=Independent.co.uk|date=18 August 2005|access-date=25 August 2017|archive-date=25 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825214856/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-summer-of-britpop-5347330.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> there are musical conventions and influences the bands grouped under the Britpop term have in common. Britpop bands show elements from the [[British pop music]] of the 1960s, [[glam rock]] and [[punk rock]] of the 1970s, and [[indie pop]] of the 1980s in their music, attitude, and clothing. Specific influences vary: [[Blur (band)|Blur]] drew from [[the Kinks]] and early [[Pink Floyd]], Oasis took inspiration from [[the Beatles]], and [[Elastica]] had a fondness for arty punk rock, notably [[Wire (band)|Wire]] and both incarnations of [[Adam and the Ants]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Elastica's anxiety of influence|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/elastica-s-anxiety-of-influence-1613582.html |access-date=20 May 2025 |work=The Independent}}</ref><ref>Elastica interview, ''[[The Face (magazine)|The Face]]'' February 1995.</ref> Regardless, Britpop artists project a sense of reverence for British pop sounds of the past.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Harris|title=Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock|publisher=Da Capo Press|date=2004|page=202|isbn=030681367X}}</ref> The Kinks' [[Ray Davies]] and [[XTC]]'s [[Andy Partridge]] are sometimes advanced as the "godfathers" or "grandfathers" of Britpop,<ref name="ray">{{cite book|last1=Bennett|first1=Professor Andy|last2=Stratton|first2=Professor Jon|title=Britpop and the English Music Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ts-hAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|date=2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-9407-2}}</ref> though Davies disputes it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/16/ray-davies-kinks-not-godfather-of-britpop-concerned-uncle|title = Ray Davies: 'I'm not the godfather of Britpop … more a concerned uncle'| website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date = 16 July 2015}}</ref>  Others similarly labelled include [[Paul Weller]]<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7387641&t=1598698211008 | title= Paul Weller: A Britpop Titan Lives On | work=[[NPR]] | first=David | last=Dye | date=13 February 2007 | access-date=29 August 2020}}</ref> and [[Adam Ant]].<ref>[[Adam Ant]] and [[Marco Pirroni]] interview NME February 11, 1995</ref>

Alternative rock acts from the [[Independent music|indie]] scene of the 1980s and early 1990s were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of [[the Smiths]] is common to the majority of Britpop artists.<ref name="Harris, pg. 385">Harris, pg. 385.</ref> The [[Madchester]] scene, fronted by [[the Stone Roses]], [[Happy Mondays]] and [[Inspiral Carpets]] (for whom Oasis's [[Noel Gallagher]] had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was an immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to the British-based [[shoegazing]] and American based [[grunge]] styles of music.<ref name=allmusic>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/britpop-ma0000002480|title= Explore: Britpop|website=[[AllMusic]]|date=January 2011}}</ref> Pre-dating Britpop by four years, Liverpool-based group [[the La's]] hit single "[[There She Goes (The La's song)|There She Goes]]" was described by ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' as a "founding piece of Britpop's foundation".<ref>{{cite magazine|title=40 Greatest One-Album Wonders: 13. The La's, 'The La's' (1990)|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/30-greatest-one-album-wonders-20160714/13-the-las-the-las-1990|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=10 May 2018|access-date=11 May 2018|archive-date=30 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630185917/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/30-greatest-one-album-wonders-20160714/13-the-las-the-las-1990|url-status=dead}}</ref> Naming it his favourite song from the 1990s ("There She Goes" was originally released in 1988), Noel Gallagher once declared that "Oasis want to finish what The La's started".<ref>{{cite news |title=The mystery of 'lost' rock genius Lee Mavers |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20210315-the-mystery-of-lost-rock-genius-lee-mavers |access-date=20 May 2025 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=15 December 2021 |title=Noel Gallagher's favourite song from the 1990s |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/noel-gallagher-favourite-song-1990s/ |work=Far Out magazine|access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Nirvana around 1992.jpg|thumb|upright|Britpop was partly a reaction to the popularity of Nirvana and the dourness of [[grunge]] music]]

Local identity and regional British accents are common to Britpop groups, as well as references to British places and culture in lyrics and image.<ref name=Till>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gC0JA6is7REC&pg=PA90|author=Rupert Till|page=90|title=Pop Cult|chapter=In my beautiful neighbourhood: local cults of popular music|publisher=A&C Black|date=2010|isbn=9780826432360}}</ref> Stylistically, Britpop bands use catchy hooks and lyrics that were relevant to young British people of their own generation.<ref name=allmusic /> Britpop bands conversely denounced grunge as irrelevant and having nothing to say about their lives. In contrast to the dourness of grunge, Britpop was defined by "youthful exuberance and desire for recognition".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/style/britpop-ma0000002480 |title=Britpop |website=[[AllMusic]]| access-date=19 August 2012}}</ref> [[Damon Albarn]] of Blur summed up the attitude in 1993 when after being asked if Blur were an "anti-grunge band" he said, "Well, that's good. If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I'm getting rid of grunge."<ref name=shite>{{cite journal|author=John Harris|title=A shite sports car and a punk reincarnation|journal=[[NME]]|date=10 April 1993}}</ref>

In spite of the professed disdain for the genres, some elements of both crept into the more enduring facets of Britpop. Noel Gallagher has since championed [[Ride (band)|Ride]] and once stated that [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s [[Kurt Cobain]] was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written "[[Wonderwall (song)|Wonderwall]]".<ref>{{cite journal|author=Matthew Caws|title= Top of the Pops|journal=Guitar World|date=May 1996}}</ref> By 1996, Oasis's prominence was such that ''NME'' termed a number of Britpop bands (including [[The Boo Radleys]], [[Ocean Colour Scene]] and [[Cast (band)|Cast]]) "Noelrock", citing Gallagher's influence on their music.<ref>Kessler, Ted. "Noelrock!" ''NME''. 8 June 1996.</ref> Journalist [[John Harris (critic)|John Harris]] described these bands, and Gallagher, as sharing "a dewy-eyed love of the 1960s, a spurning of much beyond rock's most basic ingredients, and a belief in the supremacy of 'real music'".<ref>Harris, pg. 296.</ref>

The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by ''[[Loaded (magazine)|Loaded]]'' magazine, [[binge drinking]] and [[lad culture]] in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The [[Union Jack]] became a prominent symbol of the movement (as it had a generation earlier with [[mod (subculture)|mod]] bands such as [[the Who]]) and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few years before when former Smiths singer [[Morrissey]] performed draped in it.<ref>Harris, pg. 295.</ref> The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.<ref>{{cite web|author=Simon Reynolds|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE0D81139F931A15753C1A963958260&scp=31&sq=Britpop&st=nyt|title= RECORDINGS VIEW; Battle of the Bands: Old Turf, New Combatants|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=22 October 1995}}</ref>