Music Cup Round 4 - Britpop

First topic message reminder :

Round 3 is in the books and Marvin Gaye came out on top of Elvis Presley and Don McLean.

Round 4 promises to be a fierce affair, the array of familiar songs I personally could select is staggering. Although clearly Britpop isn't to everyone's tastes. Poor Union was so befuddled by it all he's sitting this round out meaning he adds a 4th 0 to his score.

Go forth and vote (for your favourite TWO).

Round 5 will be a corker because you'll all be selecting songs by your favourite boybands. Before you ask, The Beatles are not a boyband. The Rolling Stones are not a boyband.

NOTE: A boyband is a group of two or more male vocalists that did not play instruments themselves and went under a silly alias like 911 or A1.

Why would you do a round of boybands only on a mostly male forum based around sports, I hear you ask? Because it'll amuse me to get PMs from grown, often professional working men, filled with their favourite song by 5ive.

Reasons for some of the choices from the good folk who selected them:

song 2 by Blur please - When that killer "woohooo" kicks in, everyone recognises the song and starts moshing. Iconic and defined the whole era.

3) Take That- Relight My Fire

Not as good as new and improved Take That but utterly passable.

One of the most under-rated bands in my book. Should have been a 'Big 3' with them joining Oasis and Blur. Everyone knows their songs from the Different Class album. This is one of their earlier numbers, and one of their best.

Alright - Supergrass ..................... A great summer anthem of a song that was everywhere , and that video got me out on my bike with my mates for numerous drunken pub crawls around the countryside around here .

1st choice - Whatever by Oasis. Not only is it Oasis's greatest song, but it is the best song ever written ever. Ever. EVER!

Charmless Man. During the 90s I was always an 'Oasis Man' out of them and Blur. Since then though I have realised how much I prefer Blur's music.

Common People - Pulp; She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge. Sing along godammit! Geek chic 20 year before its time. Whilst everyone was embroiled in the Blur v Oasis battle, the real Britpop band just got on with creating anthems such as this. Jarvis Cocker, we salute you!

After Hours write up - Not your typical in your face Britpop song, neither the over the top attempts at ballads Oasis did. Listen to it before you vote, its a class song. And Edgar Wright (of Hot Fuzz, Spaced and Shaun of the Dead fame) directed the video.

Any song that contains the line "Strap on Sally chased us down the alley, We feared for our behinds" deserves to win this round! Also has a great guitar intro and a catchy chorus.

Reason: When a list is made of the best songs of the 90s, You Get What You Give shouldn't be missed out. It's a class song by a band which disappeared after releasing it but were totally underrated.

Elastica - 2:1 - had to use the wikepedia link to see which groups count as Britpop & was ecstatic to see that I knew a few, recognise this song from the Trainspotting soundtrack which is enough to earn plaudits on its own

Crimey wrote:The Great Gatsby is probably the most overrated book every written, the fact that it's ever considered one of the best books ever is baffling, barely anything happens, it's unbelievably tedious and boring and for me doesn't even capture anything particularly well.

Agree to an extent, it's the style of prose that makes it one of the best books ever written. The story itself is almost non-existent.

Galted wrote:

Crimey wrote:The Great Gatsby is probably the most overrated book every written, the fact that it's ever considered one of the best books ever is baffling, barely anything happens, it's unbelievably tedious and boring and for me doesn't even capture anything particularly well.

Agree to an extent, it's the style of prose that makes it one of the best books ever written. The story itself is almost non-existent.

I like the story, it was compelling to me at least.

One of the notable books that I did find a little tedious was Catcher in the Rye. I hated the main character because he was a spoiled bell end.

Hero wrote:SR do you like anything? Just a top ten or even 5 of anything? And things that don't involve disliking things so it can't be 1. Tiger losing 2. People getting hurt etc.

I too would like to see this.

Galted wrote:

Crimey wrote:The Great Gatsby is probably the most overrated book every written, the fact that it's ever considered one of the best books ever is baffling, barely anything happens, it's unbelievably tedious and boring and for me doesn't even capture anything particularly well.

Agree to an extent, it's the style of prose that makes it one of the best books ever written. The story itself is almost non-existent.

I don't even think the style of prose is particularly good, it really didn't do anything for me.

The Great Gatsby is not meant to be plot-driven, it's a glorified, exceedingly well-written fable. It's not my favourite book and I'd forgotten much of it but it is pretty good.

ChequeredJersey wrote:The Great Gatsby is not meant to be plot-driven, it's a glorified, exceedingly well-written fable. It's not my favourite book and I'd forgotten much of it but it is pretty good.

If a book is a chore to get through, then I don't think it's written very well. What standards is it being judged on to be described as well-written? Even the prose is not engaging at all.

sodhat wrote:

Galted wrote:

Crimey wrote:The Great Gatsby is probably the most overrated book every written, the fact that it's ever considered one of the best books ever is baffling, barely anything happens, it's unbelievably tedious and boring and for me doesn't even capture anything particularly well.

Agree to an extent, it's the style of prose that makes it one of the best books ever written. The story itself is almost non-existent.

I like the story, it was compelling to me at least.

One of the notable books that I did find a little tedious was Catcher in the Rye. I hated the main character because he was a spoiled bell end.

Thought it was pretty funny, harsh to call him a bell end, was just a confused kid.

Crimey wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:The Great Gatsby is not meant to be plot-driven, it's a glorified, exceedingly well-written fable. It's not my favourite book and I'd forgotten much of it but it is pretty good.

If a book is a chore to get through, then I don't think it's written very well. What standards is it being judged on to be described as well-written? Even the prose is not engaging at all.

I found your crimelord promos a chore

Adam D wrote:

Crimey wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:The Great Gatsby is not meant to be plot-driven, it's a glorified, exceedingly well-written fable. It's not my favourite book and I'd forgotten much of it but it is pretty good.

If a book is a chore to get through, then I don't think it's written very well. What standards is it being judged on to be described as well-written? Even the prose is not engaging at all.

I found your crimelord promos a chore

That's only because you were disheartened at realising you'd never reach those standards.

Crimey wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:The Great Gatsby is not meant to be plot-driven, it's a glorified, exceedingly well-written fable. It's not my favourite book and I'd forgotten much of it but it is pretty good.

If a book is a chore to get through, then I don't think it's written very well. What standards is it being judged on to be described as well-written? Even the prose is not engaging at all.

I didn't find it unengaging, though it wasn't that engaging either. I agree it is not a "Great" book in my eyes, but frankly a lot of the ideas in it won't resonate with a non-American such as myself and I thought the writing was artistic and quite emotive, though I'm sure we all have different opinions of what we find to be well-written

Crimey wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:The Great Gatsby is not meant to be plot-driven, it's a glorified, exceedingly well-written fable. It's not my favourite book and I'd forgotten much of it but it is pretty good.

If a book is a chore to get through, then I don't think it's written very well. What standards is it being judged on to be described as well-written? Even the prose is not engaging at all.

Could make the same argument regarding any book, we judge them against our own standards. There are barely any weak sentences or paragraphs in The Great Gatsby, nothing is there just to move the story along or pad it out. just about every sentence is an intricate work of art (or, at least, intended to be so). It's similar to Ulysses in a way, style over substance, the end result is far less than the some of the parts but doesn't mean that it's not worth reading.

mystiroakey wrote:Sorry I must have mis interpretted what you said..

My pick for the next round isnt British or irish , I didnt assume british tbh

And in turn I'm sorry for sounding so grumpy in that response, Internet tone is such a struggle to get right sometimes!

Soddy, mine didnt send right will resend this evening

You didnt sound grumpy!!!

I have always thought the stand out song of the 90s is Common People, but the second song is a real difficult pick. Went with CornerShop at the end just because!!

mystiroakey wrote:You didnt sound grumpy!!!

You wait till I start talking about that playoff final

I want to convert one of you into a Bluetones fan, this is so disappointing!

I haven't really followed this comp but what I have taken from the entries is the number of songs that aren't even a particular bands best efforts in my opinion.

From the top of my head the list of artists I'd include in this are Stevie Nicks, Dylan, Springsteen, Oasis, Shed 7, OCS and Pulp.

Sorted for E's & Wizz is, in my opinion, more what Britpop was all about than Common People will ever be.

chris.wilkerson13 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:Sorry I must have mis interpretted what you said..

My pick for the next round isnt British or irish , I didnt assume british tbh

And in turn I'm sorry for sounding so grumpy in that response, Internet tone is such a struggle to get right sometimes!

I haven't pick a British boyband either!

But Hibbz that's the whole point? Everyone has a different favourite song from every artist? They might not be the artist's favourite song in your opinion but they might be in other people's.
Just as an aside I picked a few Springsteen songs. I'm a Springsteen fanatic so could have picked a few of my more obscure favourites but I Didn't pick my favourites just the ones I thought fit with the concept.

Hibbz wrote:I haven't really followed this comp but what I have taken from the entries is the number of songs that aren't even a particular bands best efforts in my opinion.

From the top of my head the list of artists I'd include in this are Stevie Nicks, Dylan, Springsteen, Oasis, Shed 7, OCS and Pulp.

Sorted for E's & Wizz is, in my opinion, more what Britpop was all about than Common People will ever be.

I picked Common People, though I agree that Sorted for E's & Wizz is a better song (as was Mis-shapes, Babies & Do you Remember the 1st Time?)

chris.wilkerson13 wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:You didnt sound grumpy!!!

You wait till I start talking about that playoff final

I want to convert one of you into a Bluetones fan, this is so disappointing!

I nearly nominated a Bluetones song, such an underrated band.

Hero wrote:

Hibbz wrote:I haven't really followed this comp but what I have taken from the entries is the number of songs that aren't even a particular bands best efforts in my opinion.

From the top of my head the list of artists I'd include in this are Stevie Nicks, Dylan, Springsteen, Oasis, Shed 7, OCS and Pulp.

Sorted for E's & Wizz is, in my opinion, more what Britpop was all about than Common People will ever be.

I picked Common People, though I agree that Sorted for E's & Wizz is a better song (as was Mis-shapes, Babies & Do you Remember the 1st Time?)

Sorted is a better song, but 'Something Changed' is better than both!

chris.wilkerson13 wrote:

I want to convert one of you into a Bluetones fan, this is so disappointing!

A friend of mine wanted to go and see Oasis at Earls Court back in the mid-90's. I really didn't want to trek all the way dahn Sarf to see them but agreed, on the sole reason that the Bluetones were the supporting act. I thought they were a great band. Imagine my disappointment when they either got stuck in traffic or broke down (I can't remember which one it was) and couldn't turn up. I was distraught and had to sit through the concert listening to a bunch of Southern fairies wearing parka's and saying 'our kid' in strange Manc accents.

To make things worse, the Bootleg Beatles were rolled out to replace the Bluetones as the support act.

So I actually paid to watch a Beatles tribute act, followed by......a Beatles tribute act.

The Boss wrote:But Hibbz that's the whole point? Everyone has a different favourite song from every artist? They might not be the artist's favourite song in your opinion but they might be in other people's.
Just as an aside I picked a few Springsteen songs. I'm a Springsteen fanatic so could have picked a few of my more obscure favourites but I Didn't pick my favourites just the ones I thought fit with the concept.

Yes I accept that Boss but on further reading it appears that some of the people who have nominated haven't even picked their personal favourites but songs they think others would have as favourites. So in effect we're being asked to vote for a song in a list which isn't the favourite of the person that nominated it and probably isn't our own particular favourite but which then gets declared the board's favourite in a particular category.

Very odd.

ps. I'm going to see The Boss on June 16th. Hope he plays some of my favourites. Fingers crossed at least one of No Surrender, Atlantic City or Going Down.

Hibbz wrote:

The Boss wrote:But Hibbz that's the whole point? Everyone has a different favourite song from every artist? They might not be the artist's favourite song in your opinion but they might be in other people's.
Just as an aside I picked a few Springsteen songs. I'm a Springsteen fanatic so could have picked a few of my more obscure favourites but I Didn't pick my favourites just the ones I thought fit with the concept.

Yes I accept that Boss but on further reading it appears that some of the people who have nominated haven't even picked their personal favourites but songs they think others would have as favourites. So in effect we're being asked to vote for a song in a list which isn't the favourite of the person that nominated it and probably isn't our own particular favourite but which then gets declared the board's favourite in a particular category.

Very odd.

ps. I'm going to see The Boss on June 16th. Hope he plays some of my favourites. Fingers crossed at least one of No Surrender, Atlantic City or Going Down.

I've been picking my favourite which is probably why I'm not doing very well! I'm hopeful for the next round tho as I've picked the greatest song ever written!!!

Yes boss you are spot on -my fav Oasis song isn't the one I picked. But it is my fav of the big songs..

But I guarantee everyone is picking that way whatever they may say!

I could have picked rocking chair, fade in out or don't go away, but i bet half the people cant even remember them

I could off course be paying the audience a disservice- I am not sure!

Anyway It's tough to pick your fav song- so erring on the side of popularity is the sensible thing to do surely!!

But I will add another reason i didnt pick one of the 3 i mentioned is that they wernt really what i would call Britpop songs. I picked one of the classic brit pop songs- which was an anthem of the era and the genre!

Love them 3 songs Hibbz. I went and seen him for the 1st time last year and it was unreall going to see him again this Summer hopefully! Didn't play any of those songs or Backstreets either which is probably my favourite song of his.

I probably picked Thunder Road as my Springsteen choice as its my favourite of his populist song. I didn't think many people would have a demand for something like Lost in the Flood or Youngstown.

Basically, I did what Mysti has done.

I'd much rather people picked obscure/album songs it's what youtube was invented for.

If all you're giving are the hits that you think people will vote for just so that you can "win" the competition based on your music taste which isn't really your music taste it all seems a little pointless to me.

No big deal.

Pulp is my taste as I booked to see the original V festival based on them headlining and I very much enjoy Common People, I just applied the logic that their most well known hit would receive more votes than a lesser known one and basing it against the other contenders on the list I'd still vote for it.
My top five from that list would be:

1. Common People - Pulp
2. 2:1 - Elastica (though I preferred Line Up or Car Song)
3. King of the Kerb - Echobelly (Sonya!)
4. Charmless Man - Blur (agree its a hugely underrated song though I would have picked End of a Century or Bank Holiday)
5. Sit Down - James

I always pick my favourite, by which I mean my favourite song the moment I see the category. A week later I often think of one I prefer more. If I were to pick my favourite song by a Britpop artist it would be three lions but I felt that was cheating. Tender is my favourite Blur song but I thought it would be gone so went for After Hours instead. I knew it wouldn't win but I just love that song.

Weirdly, I always associate the Wannadies song You and Me Song with this era even though they weren't British. I have no idea when it was released, it was the backing track on an old FourFourTwo manager game and is one of my favourite ever songs.

Hibbz wrote:I'd much rather people picked obscure/album songs it's what youtube was invented for.

If all you're giving are the hits that you think people will vote for just so that you can "win" the competition based on your music taste which isn't really your music taste it all seems a little pointless to me.

No big deal.

booooo

chris.wilkerson13 wrote:
Weirdly, I always associate the Wannadies song You and Me Song with this era even though they weren't British. I have no idea when it was released, it was the backing track on an old FourFourTwo manager game and is one of my favourite ever songs.

Surprisingly released in 1995. Was played to death at clubs in my uni days 98-01.

Height of britpop for me in August 1995. Charlatans blur and oasis all with good singles out. Some pretty good bands missed out

Ahhh the mid 90's and britpop...Just turned 21, hot summers, Euro 96 what a great few years. Huge Oasis fan back then (Knebworth n all that) but I thought Cast were an underated band at the time. All change was a superb album and Finetime was the defining song of that era imo. Elastica were dire, whatever Albarn saw in the lead singer is a mystery lol.

Anyone else have a crush on Louise Werner from Sleeper?

Were you the 'Walkaway' voter, Breadvan?

The summer of 96 was a fine one. Seemed to be hot for all of Euro 96, and then there were songs like Don't Look Back In Anger, Design For Life and of course Walkaway to listen to.

Champange supernova is the ultimate britpop anthem..


You can just imagine it being played last at a Britpop festival and everyone chilling out ready to go back to the afterparty with dirt staned horny girls and a bag of weed..

Good times.. I am nostalgic.. I have been listening to oasis all morning..

Remember their MTV acoustic session when Liam was ill. I watched that about 20 times within a few weeks. Very sad. Great stuff from Noel.

No I voted for 100 mile high by OCS. Great tune. Also thought Sit down was James's worst song. They did far better tunes. Born of frustration, Come Home, Laid...

My first gig was james at brixton academy.

Good venue!

Laid was fantastic. Sit Down is like oasis' Wonderwall. A classic but annoying and far from being their best.

Stella wrote:Remember their MTV acoustic session when Liam was ill. I watched that about 20 times within a few weeks. Very sad. Great stuff from Noel.

That was good. Nirvana's was the utlimate acoustic session. At their rawest best...

Breadvan wrote:

Stella wrote:Remember their MTV acoustic session when Liam was ill. I watched that about 20 times within a few weeks. Very sad. Great stuff from Noel.

That was good. Nirvana's was the utlimate acoustic session. At their rawest best...

Now you're talking. That was just utterly brilliant.

Getting Pat Smear to 'help' Cobain with some of the guitar playing was the best thing they did. Turned that brief period they were a foursome together into something special.

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

Breadvan wrote:

Stella wrote:Remember their MTV acoustic session when Liam was ill. I watched that about 20 times within a few weeks. Very sad. Great stuff from Noel.

That was good. Nirvana's was the utlimate acoustic session. At their rawest best...

Now you're talking. That was just utterly brilliant.

Getting Pat Smear to 'help' Cobain with some of the guitar playing was the best thing they did. Turned that brief period they were a foursome together into something special.

Their best album was In Utero

Discuss...

Whens the next round up #impatient

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:

Breadvan wrote:

Stella wrote:Remember their MTV acoustic session when Liam was ill. I watched that about 20 times within a few weeks. Very sad. Great stuff from Noel.

That was good. Nirvana's was the utlimate acoustic session. At their rawest best...

Now you're talking. That was just utterly brilliant.

Getting Pat Smear to 'help' Cobain with some of the guitar playing was the best thing they did. Turned that brief period they were a foursome together into something special.

Foo fighters best stuff always features Pat Smear. Their gig at reading last year was incredible.

Tomorrow. So any loose votes, get them in and I will post the round up at 9am. Ish.

Sodhat, my message to you with my boyband nominations is still sat in my outbox. Have you received it ok?

crazygangwomble wrote:Sodhat, my message to you with my boyband nominations is still sat in my outbox. Have you received it ok?

Same here.

Sort it out, hat.

Yes, I have them all, but I haven't made my own choice yet (sorry) so I haven't read them lest I pinch a song. Will do it all today.

I'm truly bemused that my awful, non-Britpop song has garnered 2 votes

ChequeredJersey wrote:I'm truly bemused that my awful, non-Britpop song has garnered 2 votes

I've also got 2 votes which ties my record for most votes received in a round.