Beginning in 1994 and closing in the first months of 1998, the UK passed through a cultural moment as distinct and as celebrated as any since the war. Founded on rock music, celebrity, boom-time economics, and fleeting political optimism, this was "Cool Britannia." Records sold in the millions, a new celebrity elite emerged, and Tony Blair's Labour Party found itself returned to government. Drawing on interviews from all the major bands including Oasis, Blur, Elastica, and Suede, and from music journalists, record executives, and those close to government, Britpop! charts the rise and fall of the Britpop moment. In this wonderfully engaging, page-turning narrative, John Harris, currently the hottest young music journalist in the UK, argues that the high point of British music's cultural impact also signaled its effective demise. After all, if rock stars were now friends of government, how could they continue to matter? "Cool Britannia was an empty promise that was bound to end in tears. John Harris captures the moment when New Labour, desperately wanting to seem hip, invited Britpop into Downing Street. Irresistible." -Billy Bragg
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beware Amazon recommends with this "The last Party" it is the same book different publisher
30 Dec 2010
By Gazza
Format:Paperback
Dont be fooled by Amazon also recomending "The Last Party" it is the same book just a change of publisher. Don't fall into the same trap as I did.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book recently it arrived on the Monday and I finished reading it a couple of days later. A good reflection of the times. Having seen most of the bands mentioned in the book it was a bit of an eye opener learning about what was actually going on behind the scenes of the music business at the time.
If you liked the new wave of new wave then I'm pretty sure you will enjoy reading this as much as I did.
If you liked the new wave of new wave then I'm pretty sure you will enjoy reading this as much as I did.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars
5 reviews
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Better Book on Britpop May Never Be Written
20 Feb 2005
By Kevin Killian
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I've never read anything by John Harris before, but after reading the superbly detailed and imaginatively researched BRITPOP!, I picture him as a kind of Theodore K. White of music journalism. He is careful to place the phenomenon inside a political and social context which included the passing of the Thatcher kingdom and the birth of "New Labor" as exemplified by the triumph of the young, music loving prime minister, Tony Blair. And paralleling also the rise of the Young British artists llike Damien Hirst and or Tracey Emin.
Against this changing backdrop of society and expectations, a new breed of British bands appeared all at once to world consciousness. Oasis, Blur, Pulp and more seemed poised to take over the world the way that the Beatles, Stones and Kinks has once dominated rock 30 years before. And yet within a few years, all this excitement had dried up, and the Gallagher Brothers were now seen only as a pair of drunken louts who slagged everyone they could, even their own wives and girlfriends. Harris is good at depicting not only the appropriation strategies of these bands but the way they knew how to play themselves in the media against their American or Australian counterparts for maximum effect, culminating in the episode where Jarvis Cocker showed up at a Michael Jackson TV taping to denounce the black R&B singer, or the way that Noel Gallagher assailed Kylie Minogue for being a "lesbian," or so he said.
The Koran says, "In our beginning are our ends," and this book Britpop! proves it over and over and over and over.
Well done, John Harris.
Against this changing backdrop of society and expectations, a new breed of British bands appeared all at once to world consciousness. Oasis, Blur, Pulp and more seemed poised to take over the world the way that the Beatles, Stones and Kinks has once dominated rock 30 years before. And yet within a few years, all this excitement had dried up, and the Gallagher Brothers were now seen only as a pair of drunken louts who slagged everyone they could, even their own wives and girlfriends. Harris is good at depicting not only the appropriation strategies of these bands but the way they knew how to play themselves in the media against their American or Australian counterparts for maximum effect, culminating in the episode where Jarvis Cocker showed up at a Michael Jackson TV taping to denounce the black R&B singer, or the way that Noel Gallagher assailed Kylie Minogue for being a "lesbian," or so he said.
The Koran says, "In our beginning are our ends," and this book Britpop! proves it over and over and over and over.
Well done, John Harris.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Work
25 Oct 2010
By Rory Miller
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A fantastic tour of force on the subject of Britpop. If I had any complaints it was that the author focused a bit much on the bands that come from London as opposed to giving enough due to Oasis. In the whole though, it was full of stuff that I wasn't aware of and I even discoved a few new bands (which was quite the feet as I have tons of cd's).
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spectacular!
3 Feb 2013
By Alejandro Echeverri
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
What a great book! John Harris is simply Brilliant. This is a book completely well-documented. Emphasizes on every aspect that reign in the Brit-pop era. And the other thing that i found relevant is the political context in the middle of the music, and the knowledge of the autor of several political aspects of that era.
Definitely i recommend this book.
Definitely i recommend this book.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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