Occasionally one finds a job on a subject whose object of study we do not like, also disagree with the hypothesis and how it is presented, and yet we find that work interesting, if only an anthropological way, as if we were watching the strange beliefs and customs of a tribe that is totally foreign to us. That happened to me recently seeing Live Forever (2003), a documentary by John Dower on the rise and fall of Britpop in the first half of the nineties. For the moment the documentary presents five hypotheses dudosísimas:
a) The Britpop was the best thing that happened to English music from the golden age of Beatles and Rolling Stones .
b) During his time, England was given entirely to the Britpop that dominated the Charts no competition.
c) The Britpop phenomenon was totally popular, growing from the bottom up without the hype press has been critical.
d) There is a direct political relationship between the Labour victory of Tony Blair and the rise of Britpop.
e) Oasis is a band huge.
I disagree with the hypotheses, for me until the arrival of Britpop England was always interesting music or more, and Britpop is precisely the abdication of any artistic pretension, the fall in the obvious and safe, and afimación of sales numbers as the only value to be respected. I also believe that britpop was developed simultaneously laboratory pop, pop Toyota now dominates the global market, meaning that their success was not so homogeneous, and also much more interesting things related to electronic pop quality or psychedelia ( Massive Attack, Underworld , The Beta Band, Scottish bands ...). I think the Britpop phenomenon was the biggest blow of indirect advertising (or explicit) that the press has given credibility critical intentions. I think Tony Blair Rev. is a bastard, the world's worst example disfigurement of the left end, and its coincidence with the Britpop is merely to share some resurgence of English nationalism (in addition to also share the overvaluation of some observers), and secondly I think a Britpop wave music depoliticized and lyrically more void in the history of rock. Finally, of course, Oasis band does not seem a huge beyond the quantitative. I hated the britpop
with dedication and contempt during its peak a decade ago, not only could not hooked to any of its flagship bands, but also saw its success as an encroachment, fueled by the great power British media advertising, the short but legitimate reign of the generation of American underground. It was not a fan of grunge, but the side bands to it, aggressive indie and grounded in the non-hardcore and sometimes wave was pocketed with Pearl Jam or Soundgarden but it was something else. And when things get interesting seemed to these English afrancesados \u200b\u200bappeared without knowing much writing (and playing less), were sold as the great musical revolution the world needed. But it is very difficult to sell Pulp a fan of Kinks, The Jam and Steve Harley so difficult as Franz Ferdinand sell to someone who knows the Talking Heads albums memory. There is some apparent degradation. To make matters worse the best band of the movement, The Auteurs , was never a big deal.
But with all this burden of judgments and prejudices over, enjoyed Live Forever, among other things, it eats himself by an oversight: the film begins, as history illustrates, with a massive concert Stone Roses and then passed to the presentation Top of the Pops of Nirvana. Nothing in the hour and a half that follows these images are closer to the charisma and intensity of these bands. It's like starting a documentary on Dario Silva with Spencer images and Morena, and then argue that Silva was much more important and best player, displaying as evidence the millions in dollars of his passes and compare them with money moved Pass by the other two. A joke, almost. At one point Jon Savage, who considered a least one guy who lived many things, talks about the impact of the performance of 'Some Might Think ' of in TOTP Oasis , evoking it as a moment unique and dazzling in which the world is changing. And you hope something like the Sex Pistols the legendary playback of 'God Save the Queen ', or Chris Novoselic like pineapple sticking with the low in the MTV awards while Dave Grohl putea by the micro to Axl Rose and Kurt Cobain drugged wanders over the amplifiers. Or a similar impact of charisma and visual power (think of videos and performances from bands as diverse as The Cult , Guns'n'Roses or At the Drive-In ) and instead is a bad band dressed and utterly devoid of charisma, except the singer, playing a poor track within the repertoire poor the band. And one is left thinking that Savage was in the front row when emerged Clash, the Pogues , Jesus & Mary Chain , the Smiths, Primal Scream ... and you feel like a punching cagarlo by mirrors or seller of idiots.
is very striking as a mere ten years after its heyday, many of the stars of Britpop present in the film seem a has-been total. Damon Albarn talks like a jazzy recalling his days of glory back in the 50's, Jarvis Cocker looks like a last-old junkie who still wears strange to see if someone turns ... I mean, John Lydon in 86 or Mick Jagger at 75 did not seem so decadent and defeated, and still had to write ' Rise' and 'Waiting for a friend ', respectively. One is tempted to establish a direct relationship between the rate of rise and the depletion of vital energy. But not all end up as losers, and the film is saved from depression by the big winners of the same: the Gallagher brothers .
On one side is Noel, sitting in a large Victorian couch, pretending to be Ray Davies lumpen, talking up a storm and believing more what is smart. In one of his first speeches, Noel advantage to clarify that his best tune, the first and second verse of ' Live Forever' is actually the same as the chorus of 'Shine a Light ' of Rolling Stones, and to prove both humming. And I left thinking that one of the characteristics typical of Britpop really is the audacity with which they assume their theft of music, as if originality were totally irrelevant. Ie, the Clash stole five or six times the riff of "I Can not Explain 'by The Who , but always tried to contextualize it in a thematic and development melodic to excuse the loan. When Elastic Wire looted and Pretenders, Blur to Madness Oasis and half the world, do not give a turd to sail on the hide. Bands being more educated you would have thought of any connection to the plagiarism and some of the neovanguardias postmodern, but it feels that it is simply a lack of scruples (rescued but the only song of the era itself was accused of plagiarism The excellent ' Bittersweet Symphony' by The Verve -a song much larger than the group that wrote it, which as pointed had to share royalties and copyright with the Stones because of a measly sampled bars of the orchestral version of a topic that does not seem at all).
But back to Gallagher, if Noel is funny, lucid and reasonably honest, which is worth all the documentary is Liam. The Gallagher boy, possibly the most charismatic figure of Britpop, it is absolutely hilarious. Not for his wit and quick mind, but for the opposite: sit, fat and the worst haircut in the world, Liam is so amazingly stupid that you feel you're watching This is Spinal Tap II. Ozzy Osbourne Not or Sid Vicious in its most extreme moments of semi-narcotic brain death gave the impression of complete imbecility that this singer radiates easily mancusiano not even understand the basic questions asked. When Noel returned minutes later to appear in the documentary talking about her brother like Britain's answer to Beavis & Butthead definitely one understands, but does not mean that Liam interventions are the funniest of the film.
Listening to music and statements from Oasis in an aesthetic context of time and appropriate, as in the case of Live Forever, one is astonished at the simplicity, halfway between genius and idiocy, of proposal and the idea that revolves around the band: the simple stylistic fusion of the two most powerful gangs in the history of British pop and rock, the Beatles and the Sex Pistols, reducing the aspects (and chords) more angular and complexes of both sides and keeping the message of collective hope of the first and the arrogance of the latter media. It's brilliant, is what the guy who invented the Martin Fierro: a priori the mix cheese and quince paste does not seem the best idea, but someone had to do and it is logical that thousands and thousands of people of interest. The idea bore fruit with a song, sometimes distorted, sometimes acoustic, but only one song, Oasis is a band from one song, so limited that specifies the use of simplified covers of other artists ( Neil Young, Beatles themselves) to give hints of their live shows. That's not necessarily bad, many of my favorite bands like Jesus Lizard , High Rise or Mötorhead , are bands of a single song, but the Oasis song is as seductive as flat. Seduce to hear, as in the documentary, piecemeal, in his usual drive three minutes long and are rarely to be heard again supports the same day, but who cares, who listens to a song today sincerely, several times with devotion? Who has time?
The Gallagher have the excuse of his naive sincerity and some of his records would be very nice come from a lower band and with more enthusiasm than ideas, something like Social Distortion in the U.S., but the size reached after media hype takes away that extra that may deserve sympathy. People like to say that music is good or bad regardless of how much to sell, that's bullshit, because in the XXI century "how much selling" of a band is directly related to the ability of intrusion without permission from artist everywhere and the inevitability of its proposal. ' Wonderwall' may have been a nice Baladilla if you listened to a radio program eventually, forced to listen over and over again everywhere became a shit, because works of art medium, as is the case ' Wonderwall' or 'Live Forever ' - repeating bare their weaknesses and limitations, ie, the impoverished. On the other hand 'I Am the Walrus ', one of the Beatles songs that usually play Gallagher for dummies version , could itself stand as extreme exposure, not because it is legitimized by its authors but because it is a song rich, a song with tens of levels of meaning and sound. Perhaps
Oasis were not very aware of what they were doing and living, the bands that their example if they were generated. When The Strokes reproduced the same pattern of simplification and reduction, only crossing the Atlantic and changed the bands merged, there was no innocence, only evidence of easy success.
( is inevitable that at this time a little rant: Is it possible that Uruguay has made room for a sort of Britpop movement, yes, I know that britpop Uruguay is an oxymoron, but say there ", ie a clone of a clone of a clone, with all that that implies damage genetic, and has been welcomed as "a breath of fresh air? Is it possible that the mass media with larger capacity have been delivered to these bands as if they had discovered the wheel? Can this happen simultaneously at the time the emerging young bands like Santacruz , Undertakers, Invisible Diving , HPLE , Psiconautas or Imao , and are still active and at their best proposals as therapists, Jetsons , Ordinary or Goodfellas? In the time it appears, like a thunderbolt in the dark, the phenomenon of young street musicians, the amazing staging the prude, The Big Seven or Queso Magro ? Is it possible that this musical fauna Vos Va X pass for one month followed a bad film made live in one of Britpop bands, and even today has not even once mentioned the name of Danteinferno ? Viewing Live Forever , I see more in sadness than surprise as one of the bands brit-pop-uru tracing not only the nasal phrasing Liam Gallagher but his hair, his posture, his clothing and the exact position is placed the microphone stand ... mimicking effect. As the monkeys when clubbing a computer. And I feel like they are touching the eggs. Paladins media brit-pop-uru: have completed their experiment to generate hype (to mimic the way other phenomenon), and felt part of the fabric of English feeling for a while. Now shut up and give space to those who need and deserve. If they can not have good taste at least try to be fair, out of the way and take home their mirrors to cipayolandia elsewhere.)
When Live Forever ends, you have a series of mixed feelings, and desire to listen to Stone Roses to confirm that the country that gave Led Zeppelin and The Fall (which of course was active throughout the Britpop phenomenon, Epic and releasing albums that were never perfect cover NME) did not suffer some kind of mental illness and degenerative but curiously, the primary feeling is nostalgia. Not only to youth on the private history of each day that coincided with the rise of Britpop, but also to their own bands. Because, really, to compare Blur or Pulp the Kinks or Steve Harley is cruel, but in light of what followed: the teen pop explosion toyotizado and manufactured by studies live marketing, well, at least there were still rays of talent and grace. Still gave the impression that pop music was geared to people who had reached puberty. Who said that the theory of evolution did not crack?.
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