Anti-Climacus

WHY YES, I AM IN THE PROCESS OF WORKING ON A PAPER: Why do you ask?

From Norm:

25. Oasis, Radiohead, Blur?

Those who assiduously followed the British popular music ('Britpop') scene know that the correct answer to this question is Pulp, and indeed, Different Class and This Is Hardcore do scratch that witty-very-English-songs-about-hating-people-and-death-and-obssession I-need-something-that-sounds-like-Roxy-Music-with-David-Bowie-fronting itch, though that comes much less frequently nowadays.

Radiohead, well, we'll always have The Bends, OK Computer, the How Am I Driving? EP, and the memory of that brief moment in 1997-8 when it seemed like they were going to lead us on to a new golden age, but instead we got...prog techno?...and bad prog techno at that (we were certainly in trouble when Thom Yorke, never the best of vocalists, decided that lyrics were entirely overrated). Kid A and the albums that follow are almost as impressive of a destructive, we-want-you-to-hate-us series of moves as R.E.M. managed after Bill Berry left, with the exception that Radiohead hadn't spent nearly as much time making good music. Oh well.

In my advancing years, I've come to appreciate Blur much more than I used to, and half of Parklife is certainly inspired (the first half, of course)(and, of course, they have other things working for them--"There's No Other Way," the 'Woo Hoo!' song, and some others), but I recognize that this is because Blur satisfies my own occasional need for extremely pretentious pop music, and not because I failed to perceive their genius.

Which leaves us with Oasis. Sure, (What's the Story) Morning Glory dragged a little bit in the middle, and the Noel and Liam's total unwillingness to just give it up is dispiriting, but the first album is excellent, and for several years they were cranking out b-sides that were better than most bands' a-sides. And they're from Manchester, which is always a plus. So Oasis, hands down.