Britpop

Britpop is a subset of Alternative Rock that developed in the United Kingdom during the early 1990s. It has been commonly perceived as a reaction not only to the angst-ridden American Grunge movement but also to the ethereal, noisy Shoegaze style that found some success during the early '90s in the UK. Britpop marked a return to a more traditional Rock music structure, characterized by guitar-driven melodies, catchy Pop-based hooks and a commercial-friendly sound, while also displaying the influence of a wide range of styles that had been popularized by earlier British artists, such as Beat, Psychedelic Pop, Mod and Garage Rock from the 1960s (primary focal points being The Beatles, The Kinks and The Who); Glam Rock, Punk Rock and New Wave from the 1970s; and Jangle Pop from the 1980s. Other common musical characteristics include heavily-reverbed lead guitar (influenced by shoegaze, but designed to inject more of an 'anthemic' quality), breezy strummed acoustic guitar, simple chord sequences, accompanying string arrangements, bounding piano parts and jaunty, singalong melodies. The popularity of the Baggy scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s would serve as an important precursor to the scene, though Britpop tended to lack baggy's Alternative Dance rhythms. Additionally, in both lyrics and image, Britpop artists were emphatic in displaying elements of the life and culture of the British working and middle classes, a feature that notably limited its commercial appeal in the USA.