Introduction

Do you know what is Britpop ?

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s. The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the grungephenomenon from the United States. In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede and Blur launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others includingOasis, Pulp, Supergrass, Sleeper, Elastica and The Verve.

Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.

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Coldplay Information

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed under the name Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a drummer, backing vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, completing the line-up. Manager Phil Harvey is often considered an unofficial fifth member. The band renamed themselves "Coldplay" in 1998, before recording and releasing three EPs; Safety in 1998, Brothers & Sisters as a single in 1999 and The Blue Room in the same year. The latter was their first release on a major label, after signing to Parlophone.

They achieved worldwide fame with the release of the single "Yellow" in 2000, followed by their debut album released in the same year, Parachutes, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The band's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002), was released to critical acclaim and won multiple awards, including NME's Album of the Year. They have also come top of the BBC Radio 2 poll of the favourite album of all time. Their next release, X&Y, the best-selling album worldwide in 2005, was met with mostly positive reviews upon its release, though some critics felt that it was inferior to its predecessor. The band's fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008), was produced by Brian Eno and released again to largely positive reviews, earning several Grammy nominations and wins at the 51st Grammy Awards. On 24 October 2011, they released their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, which received mixed to positive reviews, topped the charts in over 34 countries, and was the UK's best-selling rock album of 2011.

The band has won a number of music awards throughout their career, including eight Brit Awards—winning Best British Group three times, five MTV Video Music Awards, and seven Grammy Awards from twenty five nominations. Coldplay have sold over 60 million records worldwide. In December 2009, Rolling Stone readers voted the group the fourth-best artist of the 2000s.

Coldplay have been an active supporter of various social and political causes, such as Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign andAmnesty International. The group have also performed at various charity projects such as Band Aid 20, Live 8, Sound Relief, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, The Secret Policeman's Ball, and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The Stone Roses Information

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of theMadchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's most successful lineup consists of vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren.

The band released their debut album, The Stone Roses, in 1989. The album was a breakthrough success for the band and garnered critical acclaim, with many critics regarding it as one of the greatest British albums ever recorded. At this time the group decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label; then, their current record label Silvertone would not let them out of their contract, which led to a long legal battle that culminated with the band signing with Geffen Records in 1991, and then releasing their second album Second Coming in 1994. The group soon disbanded after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, which began with Reni first departing, followed by Squire.

Following much intensified media speculation, The Stone Roses called a press conference on 18 October 2011 to announce that the band had reunited and would perform a reunion tour of the world in 2012, including three homecoming shows in Heaton Park, Manchester. Plans to record a third album in the future were also floated. In June 2012, Chris Coghill, the writer of the new film which is set during the Stone Roses 1990 Spike Island show, revealed that the band “have at least three or four new tracks recorded.” 

Supergrass Information

Supergrass

www.supergrass.com/‎

Supergrass were an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz(guitar and lead vocals) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass and backing vocals) andDanny Goffey (drums and backing vocals).

Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey formed Supergrass in 1993 in Oxford with Gaz's brother Rob Coombes officially joining the band in 2002. The band signed to Parlophone records in 1994 and produced I Should Coco (1995), the biggest selling debut album for the label since the Beatles' Please Please Me. Their first album's fourth single Alright was a huge international hit that established the band's reputation. Since then the band have released five albums: In It for the Money (1997),Supergrass (1999), Life on Other Planets (2002), Road to Rouen (2005) and Diamond Hoo Ha (2008), as well as a decade-ending compilation called Supergrass is 10 (2004).

In August 2009 they signed to Cooking Vinyl and began work on their seventh studio album Release the Drones. It remained unreleased and unfinished as, on 12 April 2010, the band announced that it was splitting up due to musical and creative differences.^[1] The group disbanded after four farewell gigs, the final one at La Cigale, Paris on 11 June 2010. 

Pulp Information

Pulp (band)

Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar), Candida Doyle (keyboards), Mark Webber (guitar), Steve Mackey (bass) andNick Banks (drums). Leo Abrahams has been a touring member of the band since they reunited in 2011, contributing electric and acoustic guitar.

Throughout the 1980s, the band struggled to find success, but gained prominence in the UK in the mid-1990s with the release of the albums His 'n' Hers in 1994 and particularly Different Class in 1995, which reached the number one spot in the UK Albums Chart. Different Class spawned four top ten singles, including "Common People" and "Sorted for E's & Wizz", both of which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. Pulp's musical style during this period consisted of disco influenced pop-rock coupled with "kitchen sink drama"-style lyrics. Jarvis Cocker and the band became reluctant. figures in the Britpop movement, and were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1994 for His 'n' Hers; they won the prize in 1996 for Different Class. They headlined the Pyramid Stage of the Glastonbury Festival twice.

The band would release two further albums, This Is Hardcore (1998) and We Love Life (2001), after which they entered an extended hiatus, having sold more than 10 million records.

On 8 November 2010, it was announced that Pulp would return to playing live in 2011, with dates at the Isle of Wight Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Sziget Festival, Primavera Sound, the Exit festival, and the Wireless Festival. A number of additional concert dates have since been added to their schedule.

On 28 January 2013 Pulp released "After You", a re-recording of a We Love Life demo track, as a digital download single. It was the band's first single release since "Bad Cover Version" in 2002.

Oasis Information

Oasis (band)

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher (vocals and tambourine), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar),Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar) and Tony McCarroll (drums, percussion), who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher (lead guitar and vocals).

They have had eight UK number-one singles and eight UK number-one albums, and won fifteenNME Awards, nine Q Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards and six Brit Awards, including one in 2007 for Outstanding Contribution to Music and one for the Best Album of the Last 30 Years as voted by BBC Radio 2 listeners; they have been nominated for three Grammy Awards. By 2009, the band had sold an estimated 70 million records worldwide. The band were listed in the Guinness World Records book in 2010 for “Longest Top 10 UK Chart Run by a Group” after an unprecedented run of 22 top 10 hits in the UK.^[2] The band also holds the Guinness World Record for being the most successful act in the UK between the years 1995 and 2005, spending 765 weeks in the Top 75 singles and albums charts.

Its members were signed to independent record label Creation Records and afterwards released their record-setting debut album Definitely Maybe in 1994. The following year, the band recorded(What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) with their new drummer Alan White in the midst of rivalry with Britpop peers Blur in the charts. The Gallagher brothers featured regularly in tabloid newspapers for their sibling disputes and wild lifestyles. In 1997, Oasis released their third album,Be Here Now, and although it became the fastest-selling album in UK chart history, the album's popularity tapered off quickly. The band lost members Paul McGuigan and Paul Arthurs as they went on to record and release Standing on the Shoulder of Giants in 2000 and were replaced byGem Archer and Andy Bell who joined the group for the tour in support of Giants. The band found renewed success and popularity starting with 2005's Don't Believe the Truth.

Following the release of the band's 2008 album Dig Out Your Soul, Noel Gallagher announced in August 2009 that he would be leaving the band after a backstage altercation with Liam before a festival appearance. The band, comprising the remaining members of Oasis and led by Liam Gallagher, decided to continue working together under the name Beady Eye, while Noel went on to form his solo project Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

The Verve Information

The Verve

The Verve were an English alternative rock band formed in Wigan in 1989 by lead vocalistRichard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. The guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong became a member at a later date. Beginning with a psychedelic sound, by the mid-1990s the band had released several EPsand three albums. It also endured name and line-up changes, break-ups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits. The band's commercial breakthrough was the 1997 albumUrban Hymns, one of the best-selling albums in UK Chart history, and the single "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which became a worldwide hit In 1998, the band won two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in March, and in February 1999, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

Soon after this commercial peak, The Verve broke up in April 1999, citing internal conflicts. According to Billboard magazine, "the group's rise was the culmination of a long, arduous journey that began at the dawn of the decade and went on to encompass a major breakup, multiple lawsuits, and an extensive diet of narcotics" During an eight-year split, Ashcroft dismissed talk of a reunion, saying: "You're more likely to get all fourBeatles on stage."The band's original line-up reunited in June 2007, embarking on a tour later that year and releasing the album Forth in August 2008. In 2009, the band broke up for the third time.