Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, in reaction to the darker lyrical themes and soundscapes of the US-led grunge music and the UK's own shoegaze music scene. The movement brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the 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 the albums 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 widely publicised chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
Parklife is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994, by Food Records. After moderate sales for their previous album Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife returned Blur to prominence in the UK, helped by its four hit singles: "Girls & Boys", "To the End", the title track and "End of a Century".
Modern Life Is Rubbish is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Blur, released in May 1993. Although their debut album Leisure (1991) had been commercially successful, Blur faced a severe media backlash soon after its release, and fell out of public favour. After the group returned from an unsuccessful tour of the United States, poorly received live performances and the rising popularity of rival band Suede further diminished Blur's status in the UK.
Let Love Rule is the debut studio album of American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on September 6, 1989, by Virgin Records. Then-wife Lisa Bonet wrote the lyrics to "Fear" and co-wrote the lyrics on the song "Rosemary"; other than that the album is virtually a one-man Kravitz show, as he wrote and produced all the songs and played nearly all the instruments.
Menswear were an English indie rock band formed in April 1992 in Camden, London. The band released a number of singles and an album, Nuisance, on the short-lived London Records subsidiary Laurel. A second album followed, which was released only in Japan; the group broke up in 1998.
The Fabulous Johnny Cash is the second studio album by American country singer Johnny Cash and his first to be released by Columbia Records. The album was released on November 3, 1958, not long after Cash's departure from Sun Records.
"Pledging My Love" is a blues ballad. It was written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey and published in 1954.
Post-punk revival is a genre or movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s as musicians started to play a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock inspired by the original sounds and aesthetics of post-punk, new wave and garage rock. It is closely associated with new wave revival and garage rock revival.
Right Now is the debut studio album by English girl group Atomic Kitten, released on 16 March 2000. The first release of the album originally peaked at number 39, putting the group at risk of being dropped by their record label. Following the departure of Kerry Katona in January 2001, the album was re-released on 6 August 2001 featuring vocals from new member Jenny Frost with additional new tracks featured on the album. The re-release was a success, peaking at number 1. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark members and Atomic Kitten founders, Andy McCluskey and Stuart Kershaw, were among the album's principal songwriters.
"Daydream Believer" is a song composed by American songwriter John Stewart shortly before he left the Kingston Trio. It was recorded by the Monkees, with Davy Jones singing the lead. The single reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1967, remaining there for four weeks, and peaked at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the Monkees' third and last No. 1 hit in the U.S.
"Ziggy Stardust" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, he recorded it at Trident Studios in London in November 1971 with his backing band the Spiders from Mars—comprising Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey. Lyrically, the song is about Ziggy Stardust, a bisexual alien rock star who acts as a messenger for extraterrestrial beings. The character was influenced by English singer Vince Taylor, as well as the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and Kansai Yamamoto. Although Ziggy is introduced earlier on the album, this song is its centrepiece, presenting the rise and fall of the star in a very human-like manner. Musically, it is a glam rock song, like its parent album, and is based around a Ronson guitar riff.
After Murder Park is the third album by British rock band the Auteurs, released in March 1996. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and produced by Steve Albini. In 2014, British independent record label 3 Loop Music re-released the album as a 2CD Expanded Edition which included b-sides, alternate versions, radio session tracks and live recordings.
"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" is a popular song by composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David that was written for the 1968 musical Promises, Promises. Several recordings of the song were released in 1969; the most popular versions were by Dionne Warwick, who took it to number 6 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 and spent three weeks topping the magazine's list of the most popular Easy Listening songs, and Bobbie Gentry, who topped the UK chart with her recording and also peaked at number 1 in Australia and Ireland, number 3 in South Africa and number 5 in Norway.
Touch 'Em with Love is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry. It was released on July 7, 1969, by Capitol Records. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Kelso Herston.
The Montrose Avenue were a British rock band, formed in 1996 and were based in Wokingham, Berkshire. The group were composed of lead singer and guitarist Robert Lindsey-Clark, pianist, guitarist and vocalist Scott James, vocalist and guitarist Paul Williams, bassist James Taylor and drummer Matt Everitt who left Menswear to join the group.
Are You Gonna Go My Way is the third studio album by American singer Lenny Kravitz, released on March 9, 1993, by Virgin Records. It was recorded at Waterfront Studios, Hoboken, New Jersey, by Henry Hirsch. It became Kravitz's first top 20 album on the United States Billboard 200, and his first number one album in both Australia and the United Kingdom, achieving worldwide success that helped to establish his popularity as a performer.
Robson & Jerome is the debut studio album by British singing duo Robson & Jerome. It was released in the UK in 1995 by RCA Records, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was the Christmas number one album of 1995, and was the biggest-selling album of the year, with sales of 2,040,000. For almost 20 years, it held the record for selling 2 million copies in the UK in the fastest time, doing so in 42 days; in 2015, Adele surpassed the record when her album 25 took just 29 days to reach the landmark.
Johnny Dean is an English musician. He was the frontman of Menswear and is currently working on a solo synthpop project called Fxxk Explosion.
Matthew James Terry is an English singer and songwriter. In 2016, he was crowned as the winner of the thirteenth series of The X Factor. His debut single, "When Christmas Comes Around", which was released on 11 December 2016, peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. His debut album, Trouble was released on 24 November 2017 and charted at 29 on the UK Albums Chart.
