W. Kasper comes to that inevitable point in the rock critic’s lifecycle that he has to bemoan the kids today:
The most interesting, fruitful aspect of British pop in the 90s was when it was, well, mixed race; if not physically at least sonically. Any innovations (however minor), and the sense that you were hearing something said differently, was related to this (Two Tone had a more important social impact than punk: discuss). Considering this, Britpop was even more hideously reactionary than many assume, which may be why Gorrilaz are more listenable and inoffensive (in a good sense) than Blur. The chronic social/racial stratification of British pop (since the end of the 90s) sealed the lid on its coffin as anything relevant. If experience is anything to go by, ‘the kids’ are now more starkly divided into ‘indie’ (white) or ‘urban’ (black), with all the class division that implies.
Really? I’m not sure this last complaint is a) true or b) different from any other point in British pop history. 2-Tone was only a blip and its most succesful band, Madness, wasn’t all that multiracial. If you look at it from far away British pop has always been about a few pioneers getting inspired (stealing) Black music and making it palatable to a white audience, followed by a backlash as it all becomes a bit too mixed: hence Oasis, or a few years earlier, The Smiths, or even earlier The Kinks: all self-consciously English bands as response to a pop culture that had become too un-English, too American and too dancable. Crossover has always been more rare than coexistence, yet the reality of most people’s musical experience is much more pick ‘n mix than their self indentification as “indie” or “urban” suggests.
W.Kasper
May 9, 2011 at 5:37 amMy point was that pop has become more stratified with its audiences, reflecting a class/race ‘gap’ that has intensified since the late 90s. which I think just accelerated its irrelevance (young or old, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who knows or cares what’s no.1 in the charts).
The Smiths and The Kinks were never invited to number 10, nor were they sold as semi-official representatives of national ‘resurgence’ – as Oasis were. And anyway, the Kinks were openly r’n’b influenced, at least at the beginning. For all their reactionary aspects, the Smiths were very class-conscious. Most English bands were pretty self-conscious about ‘Englishness’, but Oasis came to represent an offically-sanctioned idea of it. Which may be why Noel Gallagher’s stupid comments about Glastonbury were treated like some ‘national debate’.
I’m not bemoaning ‘the kids’ – if anything I’m bemoaning how pop has become professionalised, with the class barriers that now requires.