Often when I’ve done a ‘Should Have Been a #1…’ post, it’s because the song featured was particularly unlucky when being deprived of top spot. ‘God Save the Queen’ may have been the victim of a political manoeuvre, ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ the victim of the festive holidays, and ‘Groove Is in the Heart’ runner up in the closest sales race ever…
But ‘Common People’ was beaten fair and square, by the more popular, better-selling record: Robson & Jerome’s double-‘A’ of ‘Unchained Melody’ and ‘White Cliffs of Dover’. Still, I do think that this was the biggest chart travesty ever… A travesty of public taste. But this post isn’t just a lamentation on Pulp’s poor fortune; it’s a tribute to all the Britpop records that never made number one. (Robson & Jerome did the double a few months later, also keeping Oasis’s ‘Wonderwall’ in second place behind their cover of ‘I Believe’.)
If our journey through 1995 has taught us anything, it’s that Britpop was badly served at the top of the singles chart. Few big musical movements are less well-represented at the top – maybe punk, and heavy metal. Oasis and Blur have had a #1 each, and they’ll have more going forward. In the weeks and months to come we’ll meet the Prodigy, the Verve, and the Manic Street Preachers (none of whom can truly be defined as ‘Britpop’) as well as a remixed Cornershop, and a dubious one from the Lightning Seeds. Maybe that’s the problem: what was Britpop? Blur were around way before the term was coined. Pulp had been going since the early eighties. Maybe true ‘Britpop’ is literally just Oasis…
Anyway, Pulp may precede and post-date Britpop, but ‘Common People’ is the ultimate Britpop anthem. It’s confident, cocky, clever, and very British. It condenses centuries of class history into four minutes, plus you can dance to it. It bestrides British pop culture to this day, cropping up most recently in a funny reference in ‘Saltburn’. It came from the ‘Different Class’ album – by my money the best Britpop LP – which also featured another #2: ‘Sorted for E’s & Whizz’ / ‘Mis-Shapes’… (kept off top by Simply Red).
‘Sorted…’ had some rock ‘n’ roll controversy about it, getting the Daily Mirror’s knickers in a twist about its ‘pro-drugs message’. (Even the most perfunctory listen to the song reveals a distinctly non-positive drugs message…) ‘Mis-Shapes’ meanwhile is an outsiders anthem – You could end up with a smack in the mouth, Just for standing out, now, really… – the antithesis to some of the more laddish elements of Britpop.
Away from Pulp, the second biggest Britpop #2 (from a band that didn’t otherwise make #1) is the evergreen, ever-perky ‘Alright’, by Supergrass – kept off top by the dreaded Outhere Brothers. An ode to being young – the band were still teenagers when it was recorded – it’s impossible not to feel cheered when you hear it, with lyrics like: We wake up, We go out, Smoke a fag, Put it out, See our friends, See the sights, Feel alright… (I’m a big Supergrass fan, and can confirm that ‘Alright’, as fun as it is, isn’t even close to being their best song. Do a deep dive!) They made #2 again in 1997, with the thumping ‘Richard III’.
Another close call came in January 1996, when the Bluetones took the jangly, Stone Roses leaning ‘Slight Return’ to #2. And the oft-maligned Kula Shaker were the other Britpop runners-up, their lightly psychedelic rockers ending up in 2nd place twice: ‘Hey Dude’, and a cover of sixties classic ‘Hush’.
And I’ll end with the band many claim kicked off the entire Britpop genre: Suede. They never managed even a #2; but here’s their biggest hit, from their biggest album – 1996’s #3 smash ‘Trash’.
‘Trash’ is another song – like ‘Alright’ and ‘Common People’ – that celebrates people’s weirdness, their exuberance, their individuality. Britpop, for all it’s Blur Vs Oasis boorishness, was often more concerned with everyone getting along, and having a good time. The perfect musical movement, perhaps, as we charged towards the end of the 20th Century, and the dark unknown of the Y2K. I was just a little too late to enjoy it fully (I turned twelve in early 1998, as the genre began to dissipate) but the shadows of it reached deep into the music of my teens, the Stereophonics and the Coldplays and the Travises, and on into the indie-rock revival of 2003-2007.
But at the same time, perhaps it’s difficult to define what Britpop is, and why so many of its biggest names pre-dated and then outlasted it, because it was the first big musical movement to rely heavily on sounds that had gone before. Britpop was essentially a ‘Best Of’ British rock, taking everything from the Beatles to the Stone Roses, and all that came inbetween – the Kinks, the Small Faces, Slade, the Jam – distilling it into great pop songs. It was the last big evolution of rock music in the 20th century, the century that birthed rock and roll, but perhaps it was so backward-facing, so reverential to what had gone before, that it was also the last evolution of rock music, full stop. Like a Greatest Hits tour before the end of the rock ‘n’ roll century. Post-Britpop, guitar-led music never again dominated the pop charts. In 2024, the dominant British stars are rappers, DJs, female pop singers, and scruffy singer-songwriters types. And while I’m not such a rock snob that I can’t enjoy other types of music – hopefully I’ve made that clear plenty of times on the blog – I also can’t help looking back nostalgically to a time when guitar bands were the sound of the pop charts (though not the sound of the number one spot…)
The UK Number Ones Blog 
More robbed than Vienna? Really?
To me anyway, as I must admit to not seeing the genius in Vienna (Plus, Shaddap You Face has a slightly amusing, somewhat redeeming quality that R&J lack…)
Common People, Alright, Wonderwall and Slight Return, four of the best songs of the mid 90’s , all of which I bought at the time, kept off number one by four of the worst, ( I know you haven’t got to the Bluetones nemesis yet but I thought it was almost as big a pile of shit as R&J and the Outheres). I was in my late 20’s in 1995/6 and honestly can’t remember so many duff records keeping classics from the top in such a short space of time before. As I’ve said before this was the time I began to fall out of love with the charts, the constant entering of songs at number 1 and the start of the talent show wannabes etc made the rigging and manipulation that had probably always gone on more in your face. By the time you had rubbish like Atomic Kitten outselling OutKast and Wheatus I knew there was no going back. Englebert and Joe Dolce entered into the public consciousness because such travesties were so unusual, by the mid 00’s they were happening weekly. As you’ve said previously, at least streaming put an end to some of it
Streaming has put an end to it, but I’m not sure that’s for the best. The charts are a much blander place without the odd novelty horror show to at least liven things up…
And if the single that kept the Bluetones off #1 is what I think it is, then I’m afraid I’ve given it a pretty positive write up…. : )
Levi jeans again
Yup 😉
That’s a very succinct summary of Britpop’s greatest hits. (Thirty years ago when we had a choice of five weekly pop/rock papers, you could easily have walked into a job on any one of them). It shows there wasn’t a lot of justice around with all those naff No 1s keeping them at bay. All those bands you’ve discussed had a lot to offer, though I think Supergrass were probably my favourite.
Thanks! I also love Supergrass who, like most of these bands, kept churning out excellent singles long after Britpop had burned itself out. It really was more of an artistic scene than a musical genre, I suppose.
A fun look back at whatever Britpop was. But biggest chart travesty? No way! That has to be the Pet Shop Boys massacre of Always on My Mind keeping Fairytale of New York off the top. As Shane later remarked, “we were beaten by two queens and a drum machine.”
Well that’s a hot-take if ever I heard one…! While ‘Fairytale…’ would have made a good #1, I have to say Iove the PSB’s version of ‘Always on My Mind’!
That’s the beauty of music, isn’t it: we can like different things and there is nothing wrong in that.
Amen to that!
Cute song. I have never heard of this band and, this song didn’t chart here. I guess Brit pop had trouble over here with our alt/grunge movement?
Yeah the US already had a big alt rock scene at that time. Plus Blur, Supergrass, even Oasis, all suffered from that age-old problem of being ‘too’ British, I think.
I’m not sure being “too British” is an issue. The Stones, The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues, The Kinks, The Animals, Small Faces, Queen, T. Rex, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Cream, The Police, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton. Elton John, ELO, Duran Duran, Supertramp, Def Leppard, Rod Stewart, The Cure The Clash, Radiohead, Iron Maiden, Genesis, The Human League, Depeche Mode, Madness, Boomtown Rats, Tears For Fears, Yes, Elvis Costello, The Smiths, The Buggles (opening MTV), Bananarama, Eurythmics, Coldplay, Pet Shop Boys…all did well over here. Haircut 100, Altered Images, Dexys Midnight Runners and Men Without Hats were a bit obscure but, we still heard them.
OK, fair enough, a lot of British bands made it in the US…😄
But, a lot of them did it by sounding very American – Led Zep, the Stones, even the Beatles, while some of the ones that didn’t – Slade, Blur, Kinks – were the most ‘British’ sounding, I’d say.
Well, keep in mind…we are all cousins to a degree and, except for different word terms, we all speak English. We Yanks don’t care if you have an accent different from ours, as long as the music is good. Honestly, American music has a harder time breaking into the Brit market, than vice-versa. Plus, tastes in music change over generations. There was a big crossover from the 60s to the 80s…Boomers & Gen-X. The 90s changed everything, for some reason. Not sure what…or why…
A long roll call of injustices here indeed. Several of these Britpop classics should have gone one place higher, Supergrass being definitely my favourites in the pack. Oh yes, ‘Vienna’ has a certain grandeur and the video added something (I speak of one of those people who often thinks a flashy video is a good camouflage for a run-of-the-mill record), though it is a tad overrated.
Great article, agree with it all, and in the US vs UK charts of the 90’s, the US was radio dominated and extremely safe and samey and slow-moving, the UK charts were frantic and varied. Grunge & Rock generally and RnB dominated all, I can only say Mariah Carey on top for years at a time and Hootie & The Blowfish selling albums in bucketloads (even I bought it) whenever I was over in Florida (quite often!) there was still great stuff around and Brit hits (see Tubthumping for example) but they were more like welcome interruptions to the overwhelming monster ballads (which we also had, but not quite so many!)
Ok…Pulp…I like them much more than a lot of the other stuff that was making it to #1 BUT…those other bands like Supergrass, The Bluetones, Kula Shaker, and Suede were fantastic!
It’s not that I don’t like the Pulp songs but they kept a little too much 80s with them for me… the others were great!
The Bluetones…should have been number 1.
There are two instances with piss me off about the British Charts…Please Please Me should have been number 1 and Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields…I still throw my hands up at that one…”Release Me” Puhlease!
Yeah, ‘Release Me’ and ‘Shaddup You Face’ are the two most famous ones… I don’t feel as sorry for the Beatles, as they still managed their fair share of #1s! The fact that Robson & Jerome did it twice in 1995, to Pulp then Oasis, is just… (sighs and shakes head)
Hey, at least the other songs I mentioned were still big hits, on the radio and in the public consciousness. Being number one isn’t everything, and guitar music was definitely the mainstream sound at this time.
Oh yea…I don’t feel sorry for them but geez….they should have been.
Thanks for introducing me to those other bands….I may have to post some of those…I really like the Bluetones. A modern band today I really like with jangle are the Lemon Twigs.
Glad I could intro them. My favourites are Supergrass and Suede. Yes, I first heard The Lemon Twigs through Christian, and I like what I’ve heard!