Been listening with devotion to such sounds as Stone Roses, Ride, Charlatans UK, Blur, and so forth for a good long stretch. Back in the late 80s early 90s I always referred to it as Brit Pop, but then stopped doing so because that seemed to spread over into too many other sounds. Someone just recently cocked their head while we were listening to Stone Roses and said, "So, if you were to categorize this sound, what would you call it?" I hadn't thought of that in a really long time and ended up being totally stumped. What WOULD one call this sound?
― Madeline Sweeny, Friday, 25 July 2003 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)
yeah, but sean, remember that those bands weren't on indie labels here in the States, and the term connotes different things over here.
― Kingfish (Kingfish), Friday, 25 July 2003 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)
us. "less reverb" and "worse singing" but otherwise it's pretty close
I would call Stone Roses "lithium banshee pop"
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 25 July 2003 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)
the dominant sound of early 90s british rock was a slick update of psych-pop of the 60s. u2, the fall, and other dinosaurs of varying legitimacy picked up on this. it was mirroring / copying the explosive popularity of dance music which had become more psychedelic too
you listen to the nuggets 2 box and strip away the limper white blues and it's pretty much the same deal as what you like, just more crude
i guess some americans would think psychedelic music should be more freaky-deaky, like say the laser light show during pink floyd instrumental passages, hence the -pop part of the name
the american bands allied with this sound are curiously sometimes lumped with grunge: breeders' last splash, smashing pumpkins, sugar, etc. this never made much sense to me
you could call it madchester, and feel safe doing so, because for example there are a few comps with madchester in the title that would pretty much have exclusively that sort of music plus some stuff you probably liked when you were 10 but now realize is just too dorky [emf, jesus jones, new order circa technique*]. there are reasons of course that madchester isn't really appropriate but it isn't necessary to go into it. for starters afro-beat doesn't have to be made by africans, and cajun singers needn't be arcadians
*this is sort of a joke
― mig, Friday, 25 July 2003 15:04 (twenty-two years ago)