Keynote



Keynote

New Topic of Britpop

1. What is Britpop?

“Britpop” is a term that could apply to any of the four British “invasions” in popular music. The word “invasion” in this context refers to the wave of British groups dominating the American pop charts that later influenced the Britpop bands. For the purposes of the Edexcel GCSE Music course, “Britpop” refers to the music of Oasis, Blur, Pulp and Suede. These four bands probably had the largest fan base of all the Britpop bands of the 1990s, but there were many others. Bands such as The Verve, Elastica, Cast, Supergrass etc. were also part of the movement. To understand the topic it is also important to study the bands that influenced Britpop.

The 1960s was the first “invasion” period, which saw the rise of The Beatles & The Rolling Stones first in the U.K. and then subsequently the U.S.A. The rise of British rock music came about as young musicians were influenced by recordings of American Blues artists. These were then developed into their own styles by adding rhythmic elements from jazz and folk music and lyrics that reflected the end of post-war austerity in the youth of the 1960s. The American charts had previously been dominated almost exclusively by home grown Rock & Roll artists such as Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly and as the Beatles and Stones, and to a lesser extent The Who, The Small Faces and The Kinks, gained popularity on American shores, they changed the whole order of American popular music.

The second “invasion” in the 1970s was more of a trickle until 1975/6. Artists such as David Bowie, Roxy Music and T.Rex had made an individual impact in the U.S.A but it was the emergence of Punk that spearheaded the second wave. Punk was a re-action to the dominance of the major recording labels, the excesses of established artists (particularly the “Prog-Rock” bands such as Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes and Rick Wakeman) and to the political situation in the U.K.

The reluctance encourage new talent by the grandees of the British music industry led to the formation of independent record labels such as Stiff Records which brought a “new wave” of music to the record buying youth. With the cassette recorder becoming widely available and cheap to buy anyone could form a band and record themselves, musical ability and song writing talent were entirely optional.

The music of this time became angry and contained strong anti-establishment messages as a reaction to the political situation of the time. High unemployment, the British class system, the Thatcher government, strikes across all areas of industry and public services, Poll tax and the rise of nationalism (National Front) in the U.K. Influential Bands and Artists included The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, Madness and Elvis Costello.

The third “invasion” in the 1980s came about as punk and new-wave music became respectable and mainstream. Artists of the time started to believe that they had global influence and led by the single-mindedness of individuals such as Bob Geldof , used the power of the youth to raise awareness of the African famines and the plight of black South-Africans by the organisation of major concerts such as Live-Aid, the Mandela concert and Rock against Racism. The music of the third “invasion” was led by bands such as U2, Duran Duran, The Smiths, The Cure and Depeche Mode and became more complex and heavily produced. The recording industry swallowed up all the independent record labels and many of the established artists of the mid 80s became guilty of similar excesses to those that led to the arrival of punk.

In the mid 80s, political idealism and music came together again, this time in the form of “indie” music. Once again it was largely a rebellion against the dominance of the major labels and the bands signed to them.

A Cambridge graduate, Geoff Travis, set up a music shop called Rough Trade in London dedicated to selling records produced by local bands. This became very popular, and in order to distribute the recordings across the U.K., Travis entered into an agreement with other like-minded stores around the country, enabling the bands to be heard around the country. Before long the shop became a record label as he took more and more bands under his wing. As his label was independent of the major record labels, “indie” music was born.

The concept of the Travis system is crucial to “indie” ideals. He was not interested in making vast sums of money from his artists, and as such would negotiate deals which allowed the bands to keep ownership of their material (major labels claim ownership of the copyright of material recorded by their artists), shared the costs and profits on a 50/50 basis and allowed the artists to leave the label whenever they pleased. The artists themselves shared this philosophy (at least until they attracted the attention of the majors!) and for a while it worked well and sparked a major upheaval in the way the music industry worked. Similar labels opened in other major cities, particularly Factory Records in Manchester, and used Travis’s distribution system.

All four of the major Britpop bands cite The Smiths as a major influence in their work. The Smiths, founded by Morrisey, were probably the most important indie band to come out of the 1980s. They were very anti-Thatcher, supported the coal miners strikes, proud to be English, despised major labels (until they signed for EMI!) and chose a scruffy appearance rather than the long hair, spandex and make up that was prevalent in 1980s music. Their style is a combination of atmospheric guitar patterns and angst-ridden lyrics and as such appealed to those who felt that life had dealt them an unfair hand.

In the late 80s “rave” culture hit the U.K. with the advent of acid house. Manchester was an important centre for the new “rave” culture with its Hacienda Club. Elements of rave culture influenced members of bands such as The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, and they incorporated elements into the indie music they listened to, to form a more commercial style. Both bands fully embraced the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle and their exploits coined the phrase “Madchester” to describe the emergence of the city as centre for new talent. The vocalists of both bands had a similar raw style and were proud of the Mancunian accents and avoided the affected American singing style of other British vocalists.

In America a new sound called Grunge emerged. A band called Nirvana almost single-handedly made this the sound that everyone wanted to imitate. Although they were not gifted instrumentalists they possessed an energy that captured the imagination of young guitarists across America and Britain. Home grown rock music had become quite complex and over-produced and almost impossible to re-create by budding musicians, so the new simpler Grunge style became heard in bedrooms and practice rooms everywhere. Britpop was the British reaction to grunge and the desire to sing about issues that were more relevant to the youth of this country.

“Cool Britannia” was a phrase coined by the press in the mid 1990s and used by the Labour party after their election victory in 1997, with their new young Prime Minister, Tony Blair. It tried to encapsulate the positive mood of the nation’s youth and the positive state of both art and music in the UK. Damian Hurst had turned the art world on its head with his installations involving animals in formaldehyde, and also turned his hand to the direction of pop video, notably for Blur’s hit single “Country House”. The Britpop musicians had attempted a similar revolution and were a large part of this new optimism and patriotism and their music reflected this. However, the link with politics had a sting in its tail. After the now infamous cocktail party at 10 Downing Street, the Gallagher brothers from Oasis were accused by their fans of “selling out” to the mainstream.

It was a combination of all these elements that inspired the wave of musical patriotism in the mid 1990s now called Britpop.

2. What do I need to teach the new Edexcel GCSE?

Resources are widely available. Many students may already listen to Oasis or Blur and many guitar teachers use Oasis “play along” books in their lessons. Britpop music is largely guitar led and as such will help to encourage guitarists to undertake the Music GCSE.

Study Guides

Heinemann heinemann.co.uk

Edexcel Music GCSE Audio CD Rom £ 40.00

Edexcel Music GCSE Music Evaluation Pack £ 84.00

Edexcel Music GCSE Music Student Book £ 14.99 (See sample page attached)

Edexcel Music GCSE Music Teachers Resource File £ 50.00

Rhinegold

Students Guide to Edexcel Music GCSE £ 13.00

CD Essential listening

Influences Britpop Material

The Smiths – The Queen is Dead Oasis – What’s The Story (Morning Glory)

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit Blur – Park Life

The Beatles – White Album/ Sgt. Pepper Oasis – Definitely Maybe

The Clash – London Calling Pulp – Different Class

Books & DVD

Books DVD

Take me there, “Oasis” Story Cool Britannia – Later with Jools Holland

The Last Party- Britpop, Blair & the demise of British Oasis – Sibling Rivalry

Rock Live Forever- Documentary

Analysis & Listening resources

Oasis – Definitely Maybe – Rock Score – Music Sales AM935660 (£ 7.95)

A complete set of parts for 2 guitars, bass, drums and keyboard, ideal for class performance and analysis.

Oasis – What’s The Story – Piano, Vocal & Guitar – Music Sales AM934791 (£ 14.95)

Blur – Parklife – Piano, Vocal & Guitar – Music Sales AM92132 (£12.95)

All available from

Single Oasis, Blur and Pulp songs are available for digital download from sheetmusicdirect.co.uk @

£ 2.25 each

As the Britpop movement ran in tandem with the internet revolution, there are a large range of resources available on the web. Some sites of note include:

Oasis Official Site

Blur Official Site

BBC Bitesize

BBC

There are many other sites offering mp3 files, MIDI files, Tabs, Lyrics etc. There is however an issue of copyright with using these files.

3. Some listening examples as suggested models for composition

Britpop does not have any definite musical elements that are common to all the music produced by the four main bands who define the style. Britpop is more about an Anglo-centric attitude. The four big bands shared a belief that American bands had taken over areas of the music industry where British bands used to reign supreme in the 60s and 70s.

Britpop is a celebration of being British, consciously or unconsciously focusing on all things British, be it lyrically or in the music itself. Another common trait shared by all the bands in the genre is the lyrical focus. As Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) said, it is about finding poetry in everyday things.

Musically, it is rare for anything like a twelve-bar blues sequence to be used. Most chord sequences are simple with an unexpected change or stop used to give interest. Solos are less important than the busy arrangement, driving rhythm and lyrics.

To prepare to compose a Britpop song we shall have a quick look at some common ideas from Oasis’ album “What’s the Story (Morning Glory)”.

The vocal lines throughout the album depend heavily on the use of pentatonic scales.

The guitars use “barre” chords a great deal. These are a way of forming a shape with the hand, usually with the first finger covering more than one string (or barring) and then moving the hand shape on the fretboard to create interesting chord patterns.

There are a number of songs that follow a 2-bar chord pattern with a change on each minim. For example the song “She’s Electric” the pattern below forms most of the verses:

Ex.1

[pic]

And this pattern from “Wonderwall” that forms the verse:

Ex.2

[pic]

The chorus of the same song uses a similar chordal idea with a pattern of D / F#m / A / F#m / which is repeated throughout.

The influence of The Beatles is particularly marked through this album, in fact reference is made to John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the sleeve notes.

There are many musical references to Beatles styles in the album:

The use of unison cellos in the above mentioned “Wonderwall”.

The string section in the repeated chorus of “Don’t Look Back in Anger”.

The coda of The Beatles “With A Little Help From My Friends” at the end of She’s Electric.

The Mancunian accent of Liam Gallagher’s vocals give a similar feel to that of John Lennon’s.

The use of busy drum patterns reminiscent of the style developed by Ringo Starr in the late 1960s, and in particular the following pattern which appears in “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger”:

Ex.3

[pic]

So we know have a few musical ideas, a choice of chord progressions, either with “barre” chords for the guitarists or with something similar to the examples (Ex 1 & 2) above, a method of writing the vocal line (pentatonic scale) and a drum rhythm.

To get more ideas listen to any of the best-selling tracks of the genre, and probably the most interesting, which are as follows:

Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger

Oasis – Wonderwall

Oasis – Roll With It

Blur – Parklife

Blur – Country House

Pulp – Common People

Pulp – Disco 2000

4. Write your own Britpop piece in 20 minutes.

It may seem extravagant to claim that this is possible, and to be honest it probably isn’t without some knowledge of the styles, instrumentation and of course some preparation before hand.

As Britpop is largely a guitar based genre, it is probably easiest to write a song in the style on a guitar. According to guitar teachers I have spoken to, the chord shapes should fall easily to hand if you are even only a fairly basic player. Even if you are not a guitarist, the task should be fairly straightforward.

1. Compose a two bar sequence, using “barre” chords if you are a guitarist or something similar to Ex.1 or Ex.2 above if you are more at home on a keyboard. The pattern should be in 4/4 time and should have two chord changes per bar.

2. Choose a topic for your lyrics. I find that a skim through the tabloid press will give you a story of something mundane to write a lyric about. Frustrated love scenarios are always worth pursuing in song too.

3. Write down a series of words that come to mind with regard to the chosen topic.

4. Arrange your ideas into a storyline.

5. Select the catchiest lyric for the chorus and then speak them over the chord progression. If a melody presents itself during this process then great. If not then try fitting your lyric to notes of the pentatonic scale of your tonic key. Don’t worry about a few clashing harmonies as this is common in this genre, and are sometimes even a feature.

6. Write a chord sequence for your verse. Slightly simpler than the chorus as the lyrics will change each time through and need to be heard to tell the story.

7. Organize your remaining lyrics as you did in stage 4.

8. A “Bridge” section or “Middle 8” can be added. Two alternating chords would be adequate. If your song is in a major key then try using some minor 7th chords at this point. You can add some more lyrics or you can leave this section as an instrumental.

9. Possibly add an introduction, which can be as simple as the chord pattern from the verse or another idea which you could then bring back later.

10. Add some bass guitar, usually following the root of the chords, and drums, to give the “drive” to the piece. You could even add some keyboard or strings ( as Oasis have in “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger”) to your work. Maybe a saxophone doubling the bass riff ( as Blur did in “Country House”).

You should if you have successfully completed all the steps now have a candidate for your first gold disc!

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