Post-Britpop

Post-Britpop is a sub-genre of British alternative rock, made up of bands that emerged from the late 1990s and early 2000s in the aftermath of Britpop, Many of these bands mixed elements of British traditional rock (or British trad rock), particularly the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Small Faces with American influences, including post-grunge. Drawn from across the United Kingdom, the themes of their music tended to be less parochially centred on British, English and London life, and more introspective than had been the case with Britpop at its height. This, beside a greater willingness to woo the American press and fans, may have helped a number of them in achieving international success. They have been seen as presenting the image of the rock star as an ordinary person and their increasingly melodic music was criticised for being bland or derivative.

History

, one of the first post-Britpop bands to enjoy international success, performing at Power Amped 3 in 2008. Travis, also from Glasgow, were one of the first major rock bands to emerge in the post-Britpop era. and have been credited with creating the sub-genre of post-Britpop. From Edinburgh Idlewild, more influenced by post-grunge, just failed to break into the British top 50 with their second album Hope Is Important (1998), but subsequently produced three top twenty albums, peaking with The Remote Part (2002), and the single "You Held the World in Your Arms", which both reached number 9 in the respective UK charts. Although garnering some international attention, they have not yet broken through in the US.

, the most commercially successful post-Britpop band to date, on stage in 2008. were Catatonia, whose single "Mulder and Scully" (1998) reached the top 10 in the UK, and whose album International Velvet (1998) reached number 1, but they were unable to make much impact in the US and, after personal problems, broke up at the end of the century. Stereophonics, also from Wales, utilised elements of a post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough album Performance and Cocktails (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with Just Enough Education to Perform (2001) and subsequent albums. Also from Wales were Feeder, who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single "Buck Rogers" and the album Echo Park (2001). After the death of their drummer Jon Lee, they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on Comfort in Sound (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles.

These acts were followed by a number of bands who shared aspects of their music, including Snow Patrol, from Northern Ireland and Elbow, Embrace, Starsailor, Doves and Keane from England. The most commercially successful band in the milieu were Coldplay, whose début album Parachutes (2000) went multi-platinum and helped make them one of the most popular acts in the world by the time of their second album A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002).

Bands like Coldplay, Starsailor and Elbow, with introspective lyrics and even tempos, began to be criticised at the beginning of the new millennium as bland and sterile and the wave of garage rock or post punk revival bands, like The Hives, The Vines, The Strokes, and The White Stripes, that sprang up in that period were welcomed by the musical press as "the saviours of rock and roll". However, a number of the bands of this era, particularly Travis, Stereophonics and Coldplay, continued to record and enjoy commercial success into the new millennium. seen as a "second wave" of Britpop". and of reaping the commerical benefits opened up by Britpop. They have also been criticised for providing a "homogenised and conformist" version of Britpop that provides a TV soundtrack, music for shopping malls, bars and nightclubs.

Notes

Category:1990s in music Category:2000s in music Category:Alternative rock Category:British styles of music Category:2010s in music