I have a general question that I've always wanted to ask folks here:
When Oasis first broke in the UK and US* a lot of my friends perceived the UK press' championing of Oasis as a pretty transparent attempt to reclaim some relevancy for UK rock in the wake of Nirvana, grunge, the Seattle bands, and all that, which had been thriving for a couple of years. Was this just my local, highly subjective and cynical response, or was it a more widespread opinion? Is there a story here regarding Oasis/Britpop as a response to grunge? Not sure about the UK chronologies and perceptions on this, which is why I ask.
At the time it was as if we (=me and friends) wanted a hot new UK band to be excited about (having adored MBV and plenty of other UK indie, pre-Oasis), but were very, very disappointed with the actual music of Oasis. After hearing/reading about Oasis for a while and then finally hearing them in '94, we totally scoffed at the idea that they were a fresh new band worth paying attention to -- they sounded like paint-by-numbers-modern-rock-plus-retro-Beatles business to us. I didn't like them at all at the time and certainly never bought a record, though I did come around and enjoy a few of their singles eventually.
*which in the US was late '94 if I remember correctly ... ?
When Oasis first broke in the UK and US* a lot of my friends perceived the UK press' championing of Oasis as a pretty transparent attempt to reclaim some relevancy for UK rock in the wake of Nirvana, grunge, the Seattle bands, and all that, which had been thriving for a couple of years. Was this just my local, highly subjective and cynical response, or was it a more widespread opinion? Is there a story here regarding Oasis/Britpop as a response to grunge? Not sure about the UK chronologies and perceptions on this, which is why I ask.
At the time it was as if we (=me and friends) wanted a hot new UK band to be excited about (having adored MBV and plenty of other UK indie, pre-Oasis), but were very, very disappointed with the actual music of Oasis. After hearing/reading about Oasis for a while and then finally hearing them in '94, we totally scoffed at the idea that they were a fresh new band worth paying attention to -- they sounded like paint-by-numbers-modern-rock-plus-retro-Beatles business to us. I didn't like them at all at the time and certainly never bought a record, though I did come around and enjoy a few of their singles eventually.
*which in the US was late '94 if I remember correctly ... ?