Oi oi! Britpop is again!
Truly, it isn’t, just because Britpop by no means actually went away, such is the maintain that the scene’s prime movers have over hearts and minds. However with Oasis having lastly reunited and subsequently conquered all earlier than them, summer season 2025 has seen an avalanche of articles celebrating British music from the mid ’90s, and albeit we’re not too proud to get in on the motion.
So, in your leisure, we now current Louder‘s very personal A – Z of Britpop Anthems.
Please observe: it might be all too simple – aside from discovering a music starting with ‘Q’, to be truthful – to fill out this whole record utilizing solely songs by Oasis, Blur, Pulp and Suede.
So to make the record extra expansive, I’ve arbitrarily determined that every band may be represented solely as soon as. Because of this if – spoiler alert – Oasis basic Stay Ceaselessly is chosen because the entry for the letter ‘L’, then it isn’t admissible to additionally embrace Wonderwall for ‘W’, Supersonic for ‘S’, or Acquiesce for the letter ‘A’.
Having now patiently and politely clarified this most elementary ideas, if I later try the feedback part beneath, and see that somebody has failed to understand this simplest rule, please remember that I’ll search for you, I will discover you, and I’ll kill you.
Parklife!
A is for Animal Nitrate
By frequent consent, the Britpop period was ushered in not by way of anybody particular music, however by the April 1993 cowl of (long-since-extinct} Choose journal, which featured Suede’s frontman Brett Anderson in entrance of a Union Flag, and the strapline ‘Yanks go residence!’
Mockingly, the opening riff of Animal Nitrate, Suede’s largest hit on the time, was impressed – “completely secretly” guitarist Bernard Butler admitted – by Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. That mentioned, lyrics akin to “in your council residence he jumped in your bones, now you take it time after time” may solely ever have been penned by a Brit.
B is for Bittersweet Symphony
The Verve truly broke up on the peak of Britpop, following the discharge of 1995’s A Northern Soul album. Fortunately, guitarist Nick McCabe returned to the fold in the course of the recording of City Hymns, and its fabulous first single is probably the most hanging re-introduction of the Britpop period.
C is for Frequent Individuals
If you do not get goosebumps listening to Frequent Individuals, you then both have horrible style in music, or are the kind of individual Jarvis Cocker is singing about right here, on what ought to actually be Britain’s nationwide anthem.
D is for Daydreamer
Menswear might need burned out quick, however for just a few enjoyable years they had been the embodiment of the Camden indie scene, and all the time wonderful consuming firm whenever you bumped into them at gigs on the Astoria or Camden Palace. Daydreamer was the quintet’s second single, and second-highest-charting hit.
E is for Each You Each Me
Placebo would hate to be lumped in with Britpop, and had been honestly the antithesis of the laddish British music scene within the mid ’90s, even when they did proudly boast of leaving “a path of blood and spunk” throughout the nation. However we have included Each You Each Me right here as a result of a) it is a stable gold banger and b) as a result of mid-90s Brian Molko all the time accredited of stirring shit and making mischief, as this author can testify first-hand from recollections too impolite to be shared right here.
F is for Fader
As with the aforementioned Placebo, Drugstore had been fronted by a non-Brit, on this case Brazilian vocalist/bassist Isabel Monteiro, and had been outliers on the Britpop scene. However their self-titled debut album, from which Fader was the ultimate single, was endorsed by the likes of Radiohead and The Jesus And Mary Chain and is a cool snapshot of a hazy, hedonistic time.
G is for Women & Boys
Parklife, the title observe of Blur’s million-selling third album, could be the quintessential Britpop anthem, however the motion was really kickstarted by the album’s lead single Women & Boys, Damon Albarn’s cheeky chappy dissection of uninhibited couplings and copulation on Membership 18-30 holidays.
H is for Excessive
Feeder had been extra Britrock than Britpop tbh, however Excessive, the trio’s breakthrough single, is an irresistible snapshot of what it meant to be younger, free and single in mid ’90s Britain, its hovering refrain – “I am going out for some time so I can get excessive with my associates… I am going out for some time, do not wait up ‘trigger I will not be residence immediately” – a completely pitch-perfect evocation of the period. It actually ought to have made them stars in America too.
I is for Inbetweener
Sleeper may not have been probably the most excessive profile Britpop band – not helped by the ‘inkie’ music press dismissing guitarist Jon Stewart, bassist Diid Osman, and drummer Andy Mclure as faceless ‘Sleeperblokes’ – however Louise Wener’s sharp, sensible lyrics helped set up their songs as real alternate options to the scene’s extra lairy, laddish anthems.
J is for Simply
Radiohead, like most bands on this record, in equity, would not welcome being bracketed as Britpop, however earlier than they successfully killed the scene with the discharge of 1997’s game-changing OK Laptop, they weren’t seen as so very far faraway from the likes of Catherine Wheel, or Trip, or Eire’s Whipping Boy. Simply, the fourth single from The Bends, was one of many songs which made the world take discover that there was extra to Thom Yorke’s band than Creep.
Okay is for King Fu
Downpatrick’s Ash – “assured actual youngsters” as they declared in the beginning of their profession – had been a lot too in love with grunge and US alt. rock to ever absolutely be absorbed into Britpop, however Oasis apart, no band banged out so many fabulous singles within the mid ’90s, Kung Fu being their first really important hear. It might have peaked at quantity 57 within the UK charts, however helped elevate the trio’s profile immensely, ensuing of their subsequent six singles simply breaching the UK High 20. That sleeve art work is iconic too.
L is for Stay Ceaselessly
Is there a Britpop music that higher encapsulates the optimism, hedonism, and sense of risk of the period than single quantity three from Undoubtedly Perhaps? No. For those who do not ‘get’ Oasis after listening to Noel Gallagher’s biggest sonic creation you by no means will, but when you already know, you already know.
M is for Mansize Rooster
We’re not going to argue that Mansize Rooster is a extra definitive Britpop anthem than the trio’s 1995 single Alright, as a result of that might be silly and incorrect, however this was Supergrass’ first UK High 20 single, and one among their best-loved hits, as evidenced by its inclusion, simply previous to Alright, on their summer season 2025 setlists.
N is for By no means By no means
Considerably unfairly, Heat Jets had been greatest recognized for the truth that frontman Louis Jones dated TV presenter-turned-Radio 1 DJ Zoe Ball, however the London-based quartet gained associates by way of well-received appearances supporting Blur, Stereophonics and extra, and launched a handful of nice singles, together with this, their first High 40 hit. On a private degree, bonus factors are awarded for the truth that bassist Aki launched me to my spouse.
O is for One To One other
Though already well-established as ‘faces’ on the early ’90s Madchester scene, The Charlatans really got here into their very own in the midst of the last decade, with their self-titled fourth album (launched in 1995), and its follow-up, 1997’s wonderful Tellin’ Tales, launched by this timeless indie membership floor-filler. Throughout the pandemic, frontman Tom Burgess ascended to Nationwide Treasure standing in Britain due to his healthful music fans-uniting Twitter Listening Events.
P is for Punka
It is solely doable to respect and admire TV presenter / BBC DJ Lauren Laverne with out the information that she as soon as fronted effervescent Sunderland pop-punks Kenickie, however the witty and quite fantastic Punka was an early indicator of her star high quality.
Q is for Queer (Danny Saber Alt. Vox Combine)
Look, we all know that Rubbish comprise just one Brit – the fabulous pressure of nature that’s Shirley Manson – and that their electro-rock sound was understandly by no means actually lumped in with Britpop, however discovering a very applicable music starting with the letter ‘Q’ was a fucking wrestle, to be trustworthy. Apart from, in case you squint onerous sufficient, this remix of their debut single by one-time Black Grape member Danny Saber is kinda Britpoppy, no?
R is for Prepared To Go
Republica vocalist Saffron as soon as described her band’s 1996 single as a “battle cry” for younger ladies and ladies rising up within the ’90s, and Prepared To Go has stood the take a look at of time quite nicely. Additionally, Saffron is fucking nice, and she or he completely lit up Camden along with her presence lengthy after Britpop pale so there was no method this wasn’t going to be included right here.
S is for Sandstorm
At present supporting Oasis on their Stay ’25 tour, Forged are actually enjoying earlier than a few of the largest audiences of their profession. Which is a pleasant feelgood story, as a result of frontman John Energy ought to have already got been a star as a member of The La’s, and songs akin to this, the third single from the Scouse band’s UK High 10 debut album All Change all the time deserved a correct listening to worldwide.
T is for The Man Do not Give A Fuck
It’s scientifically unattainable to dislike Tremendous Furry Animals, and this sweary, Steely Dan-sampling 1996 single from the Cardiff band won’t ever get outdated.
U is for U16 Women
Do not forget that scene in Trainspotting the place Renton wakes as much as the horrific realisation that Diane, the woman he pulled in a membership some hours earlier, is definitely an underage schoolgirl? Effectively, this deceptively-perky Travis single (the ‘U’ standing for ‘Underneath’) is basically an audio companion to that second, a warning to sexy males the world over that should not actually be vital.
V is for Vaseline
One minute and twenty seconds of pure adrenalised pleasure from Elastica: “If you’re caught like glue, if you would like to woo, Vaseline!” runs the second verse in its entirety. For those who’ve by no means listened to Elastica, go take heed to their debut album proper this minute.
W is for Vast Open Area
Sure, nicely noticed, it isn’t Wonderwall.
X is for X-Girlfriend
Given the quantity of shit heaped upon Bush within the mid ’90s for having the nerve to get huge in America when not one of many 50 states gave a flying fuck about any Britpop band, Gavin Rossdale will simply love this inclusion. Sorry not sorry, alternate choices had been skinny on the bottom in all honesty, and this 45-second conclusion to Sixteen Stone is not all that grungy, actually.
Y is for Sure
Simply magnificent. So timeless is that this hovering single from McAlmont and Butler that it might have been a success within the ’60s, ’70s or ’80s, and certainly within the ’90s had Britpop by no means existed. Vocalist David McAlmont calls it “an I Will Survive for the 90s”, ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler calls it “a giant ‘fuck you’, however delivered in probably the most constructive method” and we’re calling it among the best debut singles by anybody, ever.
Z is for Zephyr
You may be completely forgiven in case you had been unaware, up till this very second, of the existence of Electrafixion, however you may very, very possible have heard of their two predominant males, Echo & the Bunnymen duo Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant. Is the best music the pair have ever written? It isn’t. Does it start with the letter ‘Z’? Sure it does. Any extra questions?
Please observe: Because of Spotify not itemizing Heat Jets’ Future Indicators album, sadly By no means By no means is lacking from this A-Z playlist. Silly Spotify.