Recommendations of the Editorial team
Everyone who attended a Gallagher Brothers stadium show this summer spoke afterwards of the “concert of a lifetime.” The new Pulp record, “More”, was at number 1 in the UK charts. It is their first work since 2001, which means that all of Britpop’s Big Four bands – in addition to Oasis and Pulp, Blur and Suede – are in active status for the first time in 25 years.
Britpop status and first classification
Two more pieces of trivia. With Oasis, the most popular rock band of the year only performed one song in their setlist that was from this millennium (“Little By Little”, 2002). And with “More,” Pulp released an album in the same year as Suede (“Antidepressants”) for the first time since 1996.
Nostalgia is wonderful. But are the comebacks of Oasis and Pulp being romanticized? A second look might put things into business terms. Liam Gallagher, no longer in full voice, is said to be bound to “no drinks” conditions. The stricken-looking Noel is supposed to use the millions in winnings to pay for his divorce. Part of the reason for the reunion? Rock’n’Roll controlled by liabilities? There is not a plate in sight. By 2027 at the latest, when all the concerts on the “Oasis Live 25” tour have been completed, the question arises as to what euphoria will remain when Liam and Noel dedicate themselves again to solo projects that inspire a fraction of the people.
With “More”, Pulp have presented an introspective, whispered old work in many moments, which, had it been released in the “Cool Britannia” year of 1996, the loud time of lager beer, home EM and “Trainspotting”, would probably not have become a number 1 album. Only the single “Spike Island” brings retro feelings; Jarvis Cocker sings about a Stone Roses concert from 1990, the high point of the ecstasy-filled Madchester movement. Oasis celebrate the nineties at their gigs for 120 minutes.
Britpop nostalgia and new old works
Like the Oasis reunion, “More” is not just “Labour of Love”. The romantic idea of four friends getting together after years of separation and thinking about song lyrics together doesn’t work – Cocker brought most of the songs with him, some of which are almost 30 years old. His last hit was decades ago: “Help the Aged” from 1997, not a solo song but one by Pulp.
The (brief) Britpop comeback has taught us something: the return of laddism in its toxic masculine form, shouting, grabbing, drooling, feared by feature writers, has not happened. Countless men have cried with emotion at Oasis concerts. Because they can’t be who they once were – or who they would have liked to be.