Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", and "It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is Colin Hay, who performs on lead vocals and guitar. After playing as an acoustic duo with Ron Strykert during 1978–1979, Hay formed the group with Strykert playing bass guitar and Jerry Speiser on drums. They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, saxophone, and keyboards and John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching back to lead guitar. The group was managed by Russell Depeller, a friend of Hay, whom he met at La Trobe University. This line-up achieved national and international success during the early to mid-1980s.
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the UK's own shoegaze music scene. The movement brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British popular cultural movement, Cool Britannia, which evoked the Swinging Sixties and the British guitar pop of that decade.
Blur are an English rock band formed in London in 1988. The band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bass guitarist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Their debut album, Leisure (1991), incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegaze. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
Pulp are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. At their critical and commercial peak, the band consisted of Jarvis Cocker, Russell Senior, Candida Doyle (keyboards), Nick Banks, Steve Mackey (bass) and Mark Webber.
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as the Rain, the group initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan and Tony McCarroll (drums). Liam's older brother Noel later joined as a fifth member, finalising the group's core lineup. During the course of their existence, they had various lineup changes, with the Gallagher brothers remaining the only stable members.
Suede are an English rock band formed in London in 1989 by singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Justine Frischmann, and bass player Mat Osman. Drawing inspiration from glam rock and post-punk, Suede were dubbed "The Best New Band in Britain" by Melody Maker in 1992, and attracted much attention from the British music press. The following year their debut album Suede went to the top of the UK Albums Chart, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years. It won the Mercury Music Prize and helped foster 'Britpop' as a musical movement, though the band distanced themselves from the term.
Ash are a Northern Irish rock band formed in Downpatrick, County Down in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray. As a three-piece, they released mini-album Trailer in 1994 and full-length album 1977 in 1996. This 1996 release was named by NME as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. After the success of their full debut the band recruited Charlotte Hatherley as a guitarist and vocalist, releasing their second record Nu-Clear Sounds in 1998. After narrowly avoiding bankruptcy, the band released Free All Angels in 2001 and a string of successful singles.
The La's were an English rock band from Liverpool, originally active from 1983 until 1992. Fronted by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lee Mavers, the group are best known for their hit single "There She Goes". The band was formed by Mike Badger in 1983 and Mavers joined the next year, although for most of the group's history, the frequently changing line-up revolved around the core duo of Lee Mavers and John Power along with numerous other guitarists and drummers including Paul Hemmings, John "Timmo" Timson, Peter "Cammy" Cammell, Iain Templeton, John "Boo" Byrne, Chris Sharrock, Barry Sutton and Neil Mavers.
Blur is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 10 February 1997 by Food Records. Blur had previously been broadly critical of American popular culture and their previous albums had become associated with the Britpop movement, particularly Parklife, which had helped them become one of Britain's leading pop acts. After their previous album, The Great Escape, the band faced media backlash and relationships between the members became strained.
Dog Man Star is the second album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in October 1994 on Nude Records. The album was recorded in London at Master Rock studios in early 1994, and was produced by Ed Buller. It was the last Suede album to feature guitarist Bernard Butler; growing tensions between him and singer Brett Anderson ended with Butler leaving the band before recording was complete. As a result, some tracks on the album had to be finished with the assistance of session musicians.
Philip Cunningham is an English guitarist who is a member of the bands Marion, New Order, Bad Lieutenant, ShadowParty and, more recently in 2020, Sea Fever.
Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first used to distinguish the full band line-up that has changed often over the years. However, in recent years, Jones has recorded many of the Babybird albums himself, in addition to recording as a solo artist, and under various aliases including Death of the Neighbourhood, Trucker, Black Reindeer, Deluder, Arthritis Kid and others.
Drugstore are a London-based alternative and dream pop band, led by Brazilian singer-songwriter and bassist Isabel Monteiro, formed with Dave Hunter on guitar and Mike Chylinski on drums.
Marion are an English Britpop band, formed in 1993 in Macclesfield, Cheshire. The band's classic lineup featured frontman Jaime Harding, guitarist Phil Cunningham, guitarist Tony Grantham, bassist Julian Phillips and drummer Murad Mousa.
Northern Uproar are an English rock band formed in Stockport in 1995. They disbanded in 1999, but reunited in 2006, and recorded two more studio albums and a live album. They have released four studio albums and a number of singles, several of which charted in the UK Singles Chart. Their biggest-selling single was the double A-side "From A Window/This Morning", which peaked in the UK's Top 20 in February 1996.
Delicatessen were an English indie-rock group formed at The hub in the early 1990s. They released three albums and four singles before splitting in 1998. They were associated with the Britpop era.
Cud are an English indie rock band formed in Leeds in 1987. The original line-up included vocalist Carl Puttnam, guitarist/keyboardist Mike Dunphy, bassist William Potter and drummer Steve Goodwin.
Johnny Dean is a British musician, frontman and figure of the 1990s Britpop era. He was the frontman of Menswear and is currently working on a solo, synthpop project called Fxxk Explosion.
Nuisance is the debut studio album by British rock band Menswear, released on 24 October 1995 by Laurel. The album was preceded by "I'll Manage Somehow", "Daydreamer" and "Stardust"; the former charted in the top 40 while the latter two charted in the top 20. The album peaked at number 11 on the UK album chart.
Disco Pistol were an English pop punk band active in the late 1990s. The band was formed in 1996 and consisted of lead vocalist, Mira Manga, lead guitarist Kevin Baxter, keyboard player Hyper Helen, bass player Craig Page and Marky Sparky on drums. The band were gathered together by 'Glitter Scene' svengalis Kevin Wilde and Hifi, who ran the influential Club Skinny at the Camden Lock HQ. It was at this club that Manga was spotted and others replied to ads in the NME.
