This one has been brewing for a long time, but it was only in the last few weeks that I finally got round to doing something about it. And the final motivation? Well, next Monday I’m leading a session at Southampton Ukulele Jam where we’re doing a “best of” of the theme nights that I’ve been doing over the last five years or so – nights that are based around these songbooks. But in choosing the songs, I realised that – well, to put it delicately – they’re all a bit old! Mainly 70s and a bit of 80s. And so I thought I needed to redress the balance by including something that was a little less than 40+ years old.
<songbook>
And so the Britpop songbook. I know, it’s not exactly current, is it? The newest of these tunes is getting on for 25 years old, so hardly contemporary, is it? But given the demographic of my “home” ukulele group (Southampton Ukulele Jam), and the desire to have something where more than 2 or 3 people know the tunes, this seemed to be a good bet. The deal was sealed with an afternoon spent cleaning out the car (rock and roll!) to a Spotify playlist of Britpop classics, which inspired much of the selections in this book.
But what about Britpop. Well, it’s fair to so that it has been much maligned of late – the case for the prosecution putting forward arguments of un-originality, stealing from the classics, and the “lad” culture that seemed to come with it. And it’s fair to stay that there is truth in some of those accusations. Taking inspiration from both classic British rock acts of past decades – The Kinks, The Small Faces and The Beatles were common reference points – and the indie and punk-inspired swagger of (particularly) the late 70s and 80s – The Smiths and The Jam in particular stand out as common touchstones, Britpop was a loose and somewhat ill-defined collection of artists who emerged in the early-to-mid 1990s,and – if they had anything in common – were something of a reaction against what was seen as the rather drab (and American) rise of grunge; bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
Before there was even a scene, at the tail end of the 80s bands like The Stone Roses and The La’s were laying down a blueprint of sorts, whilst Manic Street Preachers were combining Punk and Glam and in another Britpop-inspiring thread. As a label, Britpop was largely an after-the-fact label applied to a cultural moment, rather than a strictly defined musical genre. But in that lies the seeds of its diversity (as hopefully this book shows).
But it was the early 90s when the bands that hang together under the Britpop label really started to shine. Both Suede and Blur – different in their own ways – were breaths of fresh air in a music scene that was, at the time, dominated by both grunge (at the rock end) and dance music. They brought something fresh and exciting that caught the imagination of an audience that had been deprived of a real home-grown scene, and suddenly things exploded. Long-time no-hopers Pulp suddenly found themselves in vogue, and started producing classic tunes that took a uniquely British perspective on everyday life, but did it with a swagger and confidence that they had never delivered before. And then there was Oasis, who swept all before them, and became the stadium-filling rock anthem behemoth that they are remembered for (aside from the constant in-fighting between brothers Liam and Noel).
Yet in that ascent lies the roots of Britpop’s demise. Oasis’s 1997 album Be Here Now – much anticipated, with the largest selling advance album sales up until that time – was a sprawling mess, the result of over-indulgences of all kinds – and the scene was never really the same once the fall-out from that had landed. Yet for a time, there was a sense of energy, hope and dynamism in the British rock scene in a way that there has never been since. And it’s legacy – if these tunes are anything to go by – is due some kind of reassessment (as I write, a three-part documentary series looking back at Britpop is due to start airing today).
Clearly what constitutes Britpop will forever be the subject of endless arguments. And so I’m not saying that this songbook is a definitive take on the matter. With plenty of contributions from the “big four” – rock anthem toting Oasis, glam-inspired Suede, kitchen-sink drama loving Pulp, and the always eclectic Blur – *my* definition of Britpop finds room for originators such as The La’s and The Stone Roses, the classic song-craft of Cast, the God Father figure that is Paul Weller, the chamber-pop of The Divine Comedy, the resurgent Edwyn Collins, and genre-crossovers from shoegaze’s Lush and Ride, alongside a whole host of others – some remembered, some half-forgotten – who had there moment in the sun in the mid-1990s.
What unites them all are great tunes, and taken together I hope you’ll agree that here is a treasure trove of songs that – in my opinion – are ripe for a ukulele re-discovery. Enjoy!
<songbook>
Below you’ll find the list of songs in the book, along with links for the individual song sheets.
- Ash
- Babybird
- Blur
- Cast
- Catatonia
- Dodgy
- Echobelly
- Edwyn Collins
- Elastica
- James
- Longpigs
- Lush
- Manic Street Preachers
- Mansun
- Oasis
- Paul Weller
- Pulp
- Ride
- Shed Seven
- Sleeper
- Space
- Suede
- Supergrass
- The Bluetones
- The Boo Radleys
- The Charlatans
- The Divine Comedy
- The La’s
- The Stone Roses
- The Verve
And finally, if you need reminding how good these tunes are. Or if you just want to wallow in nostalgia, here’s a playlist with all the tunes in the book.
Uke Tunes 
Pingback: The Narcissist – Blur – Ukulele Song Sheet | Uke Tunes
Pingback: Good Souls – Starsailor – Ukulele Chords | Uke Tunes