'Britpop was too English - but Oasis were era-defining'

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

If you're in the same boat, or were just too slow off the mark to bag one, then Burrows's show might offer some kind of consolation. It's an affectionate looking back (though not necessarily in anger) at a particular moment in British cultural history.
Burrows is both a music journalist and a comedian. So with the Britpop Hour he's combining both.
'All my stand-up shows are about things I'm really interested in. That's partly marketing. But it's partly that it keeps me interested. I get to be funnier on the stage than I can be on the page.'
We are now 30 years since the highpoint of Britpop when Blur and Oasis fought it out for the number one slot [almost to the day; Blur released Country House and Oasis released Roll With It on August 14, 1995]. Burrows's show both celebrates and makes fun of that moment, complete with Jarvis Cocker dancing and a mass singalong at the end.
Oasis' arch-rivals Blur (Image: Kevin Westenberg) And it comes from a place of love. Burrows was born in 1981 and so was the perfect age for Britpop.
'But I wasn't a Britpop hipster. I wasn't going down Camden drinking in the Good Mixer wearing my Fred Perry. I lived in rural Leicestershire in a council house.'
His parents weren't big music fans so he found it himself. 'It became my own thing. I made it my life.' (That said, he admits his favourite band is Smashing Pumpkins.)
Maybe this is a good time to ask, what is Britpop?
'British indie music produced between 1993 and 1998 in which the British culture and identity of the band is a defining element of the music,' is Burrows's definition.
It wasn't a term many of the bands who came under its banner were thrilled about. In the show there's footage of Noel Gallagher saying Oasis are not Britpop. He suggested, instead, they were 'Universal Rock', a term that never caught on. (Noel also pointed out that he and his brother were actually Irish.)
But 30 years on Oasis and Britpop are interchangeable. Noel and Liam Gallagher have become the poster boys for music in the 1990s.
'It's very rare you can justify the phrase era-defining, but they kind of were,' Burrows suggests.
They can also be cast as either the heroes or the villains of Britpop. Blur may have won the race to get to number one 30 years ago, but there's no doubt that Oasis were the ultimate victors. But as a result Britpop became defined by the image of the Gallagher brothers.
Britpop, the case for prosecution is as follows.
Too white? 'Absolutely,' Burrows agrees.
Too male? Burrows nods. 'Arguably too straight once Oasis got involved,' he adds.
'There was a camp element in the first wave of Britpop,' he adds. 'The post-Oasis bands were much more straight, much blokier.
'Women in Britpop punched above their weight. That first Elastica record is probably in the top five of those albums. I genuinely think Louise Wener is one of the most underrated storytellers of the era.
'But, by and large, the problem with the era is that it was very male and it was very white. But I didn't really notice at the time. It spoke to me because it was me. It was my culture. I'm not straight, but I am white and male.'
There's one more charge you could level against it, I suggest. It might be called Britpop but isn't it, at heart, very English?
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He concedes the point. Admittedly, Northern Ireland had Ash and Wales gave Britpop Catatonia, the Super Furry Animals and Everything Must Go-era Manics. But, as for Scotland, well, we're both struggling.
The Supernaturals? Bis? Travis's first album?
'It is too English,' Burrows says of Britpop. 'And, also, you could argue, for a while, too London. Before Oasis broke that down, Britpop was a London movement. It was Blur and Elastica and Suede and members of Menswear propping the bar up. They were all London socialites.'
In Edinburgh in the last few days the music of Oasis has been everywhere. Not just at Murrayfield. Oasis songs have been pumped out by the sound systems of cafes, bars, shops and every passing car. Noel and Liam seem as present now as they did in 1995.
And Burrows can't see that changing.
"I think Blur and Oasis will remain on our cultural radar even if they are being wheeled out in their bathchairs.'
Marc Burrows: The Britpop Hour, Underbelly, Bristo Square, 6.10pm, until August 25. Marc Burrows Sings the Britpop Hits, Laughing Horse @ West Nic Records, 9.45pm, on August 11 & August 18