The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock (Paperback)

Harris tells the story of the 1990's chronologically starting by setting the context with the Smiths, Happy Mondays and 1980's Acid House. Then the rise of Grunge & Suede and the start of the Britpop years are explored. The music and culture of 1994 - 1997 are poured over. Everything from the emergence of Loaded Magazine to Jarvis Cocker's stage invasion at the Brit Awards is analysed and excellently researched.
Harris bases his story on the relationships within the story. The romantic links, the fighting and animosities between Albarn/Frishman/Anderson/Blair/Gallagher are all examined in great detail. This gives the book a very strong structure and focus and is surprisingly coherent as a whole.

This book is also well worth reading for the music fan because so many details and facts are revealed for the first time. Even as a long-term avid reader of the music press I had no idea as to the true horrific depths of Elastica's drug habits, or to the extent of the violent drunken behaviour of Blur's Graham Coxon during 1995. Brett Anderson and Justine Frishman go from being a perfect couple in 1991 to painfully separate & bitter drug addicts in 1997. These things all help to contribute to the rapid decline and embarrassment of Britpop in hindsight.

The end of the scene is covered in nauseating detail as the tabloid overexposure of the tedious Cocaine-addled Gallagher brothers and the disgraceful behaviour of Chris Evans and his "New Lad" following help the whole thing turn sour. The ending is particularly bleak as Harris suggests that rather as a reaction to US grunge following Kurt Cobain's death (as it was intended) Britpop actually helped encourage American Rock in the long term. Seven years later and American Nu Metal, US Skate Punk and American inspired Emo bands rule the pages of (what is left of) the music press. At the end London is just another grey city and Tony Blair is just another politician who has let down his voters. Most of the bands have long since split up and none of the survivors enjoy anywhere near the same levels of success and prestige as they once had. Britpop is long dead and is now remembered as a slightly embarrassing moment of madness. How could it have ended any other way?

One minor critism of the book is that it tends to enjoy focusing on the negative aspects of the scene more than the positives. The book does highlight that a lot of the characters in the Britpop scene were not very intelligent or progressive. The whole scene was extremely masculine and unglamourous, with only Pulp (or occasionally a few members of Blur) showing much wit, class or sophistication. If Oasis are your favourite band you'll probably be offended by this book. You have to remember that although Britpop was fun and colourful at times it was also a time where everyone looked to the past for inspiration. It had little chance for the future and it would be naive to expect otherwise. I can remember feeling relieved when Britpop finally finished.

To sum up: this is a very detailed and informative book about the Britpop years in the mid 1990's. I would highly recommend to any music fan or anyone interested in 1990's popular culture.