Britpop, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Rock 1954
The whole family: guitar, bass, drums and a beat borrowed from blues and rhythm and blues. Every branch below grows out of this trunk, metal included.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
The Beatles - Revolver, if you want to understand why everything branched so fast.
The Beatles, Revolver (1966) - 2 Then
Alternative rock 1985
An umbrella for everything that grew outside commercial radio and then conquered it. Defined originally by the college-radio network, not by any one sound.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Pixies - Doolittle. Cobain admitted he was simply trying to write a Pixies song.
Pixies, Doolittle (1989) - 3 What you asked about
Britpop 1993
Britain answers grunge with Beatles-and-Kinks melody and lyrics about ordinary English life.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Pulp - Different Class. The decade's best lyrics, and it isn't close.
Pulp, Different Class (1995) - 4 Where to go next
Emo pop 1999
The emo formula with a radio chorus and polished production. The version that reached MTV and the shopping mall.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity. The album before the success is the good one.
Jimmy Eat World, Clarity (1999)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Britpop descends from, in order. Britpop has no subgenres, so the last step is the genre that rates closest to it by sound.