None of the encounters involved music.
Maybe that’s where I went wrong. Instead, my principal link with the latest
sounds remained that frail and frayed umbilical cord connected to TOTP and the
Radio 1 chart show. Neither were the appointment to view or listen they once
were, of course and the ‘papers offered a chance to keep up with the charts for
my diary. Actually there was some decent stuff to listen to, although much of
it could be bracketed under Britpop.
Amidst the increasing dominant hip-hop
and R’n’B scene, largely white guitar bands were suddenly everywhere. Not just
in the clubs where they had always been, but on the radio and telly. Radio 1
really championed the genre, and so it also entered my own precious little
world. And about time, too.
I didn’t necessarily lump all the
artists together under one media-friendly banner. Sleeper’s ‘Vegas’ just sounded different, and had the additional benefit of singer Louise Wener.
I could, and often did, lose myself in her big brown eyes. And she was single!
AND from London? Dream on! It was followed by another excellent single ‘What Do
I Do Now?’ but Wener was soon to put music to one side and become a highly
regarded novelist. Those eyes strayed elsewhere…
Sonya Maden also made a splash in ’95.
Not just because she was a front woman, but also because she was an ASIAN
frontwoman. To me, that wasn’t significant. More importantly, her band
Echobelly purveyed a similarly appealing brand of pop-rock. I particularly
liked ‘King of the Kerb’.
No ladies amongst The Levellers, but the ‘crusty’ band enjoyed a rare hit with
‘Hope Street’, which
became one of my favourites of the year.
Those loveable lads from Oxford,
Supergrass, finally cracked it with ‘Alright’,
smashing in at number two in July. I may never have been tempted to “smoke a fag, put it out” or “got some cash,
bought some wheels, took it out through some fields, lost controls, hit a wall”
but its frenetic pace and joyous outdoor video nonetheless evoked images of
summer holidays past and deserved its success. Gaz Coombs’ simian sideburns
were definitely a symbol of ’95, and the band produced a number of top-quality
songs across the whole decade.
Another under-rated act was The
Lightning Seeds. By 1995, they were expanding from being Ian Broudie’s studio
project into a proper touring band, and it was their top 20 single ‘Lucky You’ which made me sit up and listen. Match of the Day’s adoption of the
instrumental intro to ‘The Life of Riley’ to accompany the Goal of the Month
competition clips also raised the band’s profile and the following year Broudie
became forever associated with football and lad-dom, of which more later.
Another group which finally found
their moment was Pulp. I’d never heard of them until ‘Common People’ flew into the top three at the start of June. Jarvis Cocker’s unfashionable
glasses, clothes and geeky, gawky limbs stood out in so many ways, while his
perceptive lyrics begged to be heard, enjoyed and repeated. However, it was
their performance of the song as their finale at Glastonbury a few weeks later
(on a programme called 4 at Glastonbury – none of the saturation BBC coverage
back then) that really made an impression. Apparently they had only been
included after The Stone Roses pulled out and it had been feared the Glasto
crowd would have booed them off the stage. Quite the opposite; ‘Common People’
became part of the festival folklore. I wasn’t ‘there’, but I did see it on the
telly that night.
By the end of the year, I actually
preferred ‘Sorted – For Es and Wizz’ which also reached number two. The Press
predictably slated it as a grotesque advert for drugs. Listen to the bloody
lyrics! More memorable was Cocker’s performance at the start of the 1996 Brits
broadcast, ending with him soaring high
above the auditorium in a wire singing “What
if I never come down?”! An hour or so later, his position as media hate
figure and simultaneous man of the people was firmly set in stone as he
mischievously mooned in front of Michael Jackson’s much-hyped Messiah depiction
while singing ‘Earth Song’. Consequently I’ll never hear a bad word about
Jarvis, one of the truly great eccentric British pop stars and a damned fine
songwriter to boot. Meanwhile, that once all-conquering American genius had
dipped beyond parody.
But of course, retrospectives of 1995
tend to focus primarily on the supposed bitter rivalry between Blur and Oasis….
The country was allegedly split in two. Forget the Brexit division; this was
far more significant! North v South. Art school v Old school. Middle class v
Working class. Cocaine v cannabis. When Blur’s ‘Country House’ was released on the same day in July
as Oasis brought out ‘Roll With It’, the race to number one was dubbed the
Battle of Britpop. The result made the national TV news. The winners were…..Blur!
Ironically, neither song was anywhere near their best.
The following singles releases were,
in my opinion, possibly their finest. The strings intro and verse for ‘The Universal’ are simply stunning, and have since achieved lasting fame through use in
British Gas adverts. Subtle Graham Coxon guitar and Alex James bass and mature
vocals from Damon Albarn came together nicely, and they could do it live, as
this ‘Later….’ performance demonstrates. Rather too much brass for my liking,
perhaps, but nevertheless I was shocked that it went straight in at five only
to make an unceremonious slide.
Meanwhile, Oasis were robbed of a
number one spot for ‘Wonderwall’,
the pinnacle of the Britpop production line. Gone were the Grunge guitars and
the angry Liam Gallagher snarl. This was an astonishing rock ballad, the
acoustic intro and cello accompaniment giving the song an other-worldly sound.
I even insisted on having the track played at our wedding in 2017. This wasn’t Britpop, it was sheer magic. Meanwhile, on 2nd October
the Manc quintet gave their second album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory to
the world. For all Noel Gallagher’s stupid statements about drugs, there
was no doubting his genius for writing, and the album ensured that, while Blur
won the 1995 battle, Oasis undoubtedly won the war. It was also a conflict
which was yet to run its course. It may seem too obvious but it remains one of
my favourite CDs, retaining its beauty, rhythm and relevance two decades later. Oasis were a bunch of weed-smoking dickheads but how the music scene today could benefit from a band of their calibre.
So where did I stand on the stand-off?
As ever, I didn’t quite fit in with the media view on the world; I just loved both
bands. Each were giants of Britpop and Nineties music generally and sit happily
side-by-side in my CD collection.
I was becoming a regular viewer of
Jools Holland’s Friday night show on BBC2 and, with the use of video I could record
it to see at a more convenient time and fast-forward through the boring World
Music segments and cringey interviews. As with Blur, I’m pretty sure I also
watched the performances of McAlmont and (Bernard) Butler, including their
rendition of the gorgeous ‘You Do’.
The same was true for Everything But the Girl delivering their dance re-mix of
‘Missing’.
My then work colleague Lesley is somewhere in the audience with her latest
boyfriend, behind Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn in this clip but the recording
quality is a bit too ropey for me to pick them out! Whatever, it was a great
record and a November contemporary of ‘Wonderwall’.
Another superstar who wore his Sixties
influences prominently on his sleeve was Paul Weller. He won hearts and minds
in ’95 with his finest solo album Stanley Road. He was always a popular choice
for Later… and here he is doing his thing at the piano on probably his best
ballad ‘You Do Something To Me’.
As in his Jam days, his singles usually blazed into the top ten before descending
rapidly off the radio stations’ radar. It happened to this one, and also the
rockier ‘The Changingman’ but I really liked them both.
I’d say that Weller fans were even
more hostile than Albarn fans to Noel Gallagher. However, Oasis were already
being flattered by the sincere form of imitation of tribute bands like No Way
Sis and Wibling Rivalry. However, no cover versions were quicker out of the
blocks, nor more successful, than the Mike Flowers Pops’ version of
‘Wonderwall’. It was outrageous, so bad it was good! Almost. The cheesy
be-wigged singer, Mike Sammes-esque backing chorus and the bossanova beat
should have consigned the record to oblivion. But it matched Oasis in going to
number two at Christmas, much to Noel’s amusement. Who says Mr Gallagher
doesn’t have a sense of humour?
However, Mike Flowers appeared at some
major venues, presumably as a novelty act. I admit I never heard their take on
The Doors’ ‘Light My Fire’! It was
perhaps unsurprising that this type of faux
easy listening didn’t catch on. On the other hand the more modern dance music
was not finished. However, examples which got me jigging were becoming fewer
and further between.
Belgians Alex Party did well with
‘Don’t Give Me Your Life’ as did Strike’s ‘U Sure Do’. However, I took a
greater shine to the two big hits by N-Trance. I’d assumed they were yet
another European outfit but apparently they were true Brits. ‘Set You Free’ was
the archetypal club anthem but its follow-up, an update of ‘Stayin’ Alive’,
was even more successful. Kinda tongue-in-cheek, it boasted rapping by Ricardo
da Force, whose unorthodox corruption of the verse shouldn’t have worked.
However, according to my diary, this turned out to be my favourite dance track
of 1995.
I’ve written much about 1995 being the
year of Britpop. That’s probably the product of my selective memory. Even a
cursory flick over the year’s charts reveals that where singles are concerned,
hip-hop, reggae fusion and R’n’B definitely had the upper-hand. Wacko Jacko had
two number ones, Shaggy’s impenetrable ‘Boombastic’ was all over the airwaves,
and Coolio’s collaboration with LV, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’, was ‘95’s second
biggest seller.
That was a decent single but until
researching this section I had buried all trace of The Outhere Brothers in the
deepest recesses of my memory banks. Damn! Out they came again. ‘Boom Boom
Boom!’ ‘Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle….’ Aarrghhh! They also topped the charts
twice. But worse was to come.
Like millions of others, Mum loved
watching ITV’s drama series Soldier Soldier. After an episode in which the two
main characters sang ‘Unchained Melody’ at a wedding, huge public interest
spurred Simon Cowell into pursuing the actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn
into recording the song. They eventually relented and ended up making a
fortune. The first single sold 1.8 million. The next, a similarly sickly
saccharine cover of ‘I Believe’, also broke the million barrier. It gets worse.
Their cringeworthy covers album outsold ‘Morning Glory’ in 1995 and, with the
hastily recorded follow-up, sold a combined seven million! Being far superior
actors than vocalists they didn’t even sing all the harmonies on the records.
Robson and Jerome were all over that year like a nasty rash but don’t expect a
YouTube link in this blog.
Phew! That’s enough of them! Back to
some of the music I did enjoy hearing. This was the time I first became
aware of Green Day. When Billy-Jo Armstrong launched into ‘Basket Case’, I
was immediately transported back to the late Seventies. The frenetic guitar
intro was pure Punk rock but the Californians nevertheless somehow forged their
own path to massive global success for another two decades and counting.
Punk was one of the few genres Madonna
never experimented with. Mercifully Madonna had closed her outrageous
sexually-explicit chapter but in 1995 seemed to be drifting inevitably towards
middle-age sentimentality. Her album Bedtime Stories yielded decent singles
like ‘Secret’ and ‘Take a Bow’ without taking the charts by storm. Then an
elegant acoustic production of the ballad ‘You’ll See’ made the top five in November and was in my mind her best of the year. M People
also released ‘Search for the Hero’,
an eighth successive top-tenner for them. It was in and out remarkably quickly
but the lyrical message has guaranteed airplay on radio, adverts and sporting
video sequences ever since.
I’ve already written about the Britpop
conflicts dominating the UK music scene. However, now for a reality check. In
1995, the truly dreadful, pointless (is there any other kind?) civil war in
Yugoslavia was in its fourth year. It gained prominence because for once the
pictures of shelling, snipers, civilian massacres and political mayhem were not
in some distant corner of the world but just a few hours away in Europe. The
nation had splintered and various state and breakaway militias were fighting
over the spoils, avenging past nationalist ‘wrongs’ with fascistic fervour. One
of the worst excesses was the siege of Sarajevo.
For all the news coverage, it can
often be a piece of music which brings home the true horror of war and spurs
people into bringing the warring factions to a ceasefire. The U2/Brian Eno
project Original Soundtracks 1, under the name Passengers, yielded one
memorable single ‘Miss Sarajevo’,
its official video consisting entirely of film of life in the besieged capital
of Bosnia. Weirdly, it’s not Bono’s verses which stirred my senses but the
operatic segment sung by Luciano Pavarotti. Sadly the siege continued for
several months but this track for me serves as a stunning reminder of that
appalling war on our doorstep.
The year even yielded two ‘new’
Beatles hits. However, despite the plentiful publicity, neither achieved the
success I originally expected. Probably because they weren’t much cop. ‘Baby
It’s You’ was taken from the recent Beatles Live at the BBC album while ‘Free
as a Bird’ was cobbled together from an old Lennon demo, with new contributions
from surviving members. However, with George Harrison’s long-time collaborator
Jeff Lynne co-producing, it just sounded like a feeble ELO-Tom Petty track.
Another, similarly unremarkable Beatles single ‘Real Love’ emerged the
following year to accompany a new ITV documentary series and Anthology album.
Other ballads also left their mark on
me. Wet Wet Wet’s ‘Julia Says’ was no ‘Love is all Around’ but definitely above
average, as was Seal’s ‘Kiss from a Rose’. Boyzone narrowly missed out on a
first chart-topper with another three singles, although ‘Father and Son’ sold
more than 800,000 copies in the Christmas period. However, when it came to boy
bands, Take That continued to reign supreme. It wasn’t plain sailing. Robbie
Williams left, allegedly because he considered himself too ‘hard’ for the pure
pop world, his personality too big for a boy band and talent to great to play
second fiddle to Mr Barlow. His departure didn’t hurt their sales, coming
between two of their biggest hits. In July, their gospel/classical-influenced
‘Never Forget’ topped the chart for three weeks, but my contemporary diary note
suggests I was no fan. Two decades on, and I think the dramatic intro and chorus are brilliant.
Nevertheless, their preceding single
took brilliance to a new level. An instant classic, ‘Back for Good’ shifted 350,000 in the first week and went on to top a million. The quintet
were back looking daft under water for the video, but I’ll forgive them because
this is Gary Barlow’s finest moment as a songwriter. Robbie was probably in
denial but, for all his indie rock credentials, even Noel Gallagher said the
song “said something” and “touched” him. Undoubtedly it is one of
the finest ‘lost love’ songs I’ve ever heard. But for how long could the Barlow
production line continue….?
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