OK, that’s a lie – it’s early July in the UK in 2025 so it pretty much is all about Oasis when it comes to British indie-rock, even in a summer when fellow 90s survivors Pulp put on some triumphant comeback performances of their own. But there are some Britpop bands who’ve been left behind, whether it’s due to acrimonious splits, drug troubles, or just plain old bad luck, some acts never got that second chance in the spotlight. There’s a whole raft of groups out there who might have been defined at the time as second-tier Britpop bands but who are now basking in glory during their second bite of the cherry – Cast, for instance, on a creative roll and supporting Oasis during the reunion shows, or Shed Seven, who’ve had two Number One albums in recent years. But this is not a list of those guys, these are the ones ever-so-slightly forgotten who have a few songs in their arsenal worth getting stuck into.
Longpigs
One of the more high-profile bands in this list, Longpigs were beset by problems from the off. Firstly, frontman Crispin Hunt was seriously injured in a car accident and in a coma for three days just before the release of their debut single. Then their record label folded, leaving them and their music homeless. In came U2’s label Mother to the rescue, releasing their excellent debut album The Sun Is Often Out in 1996. It had more in common with the epic anguish of Radiohead’s The Bends than sunny Britpop optimism – She Said a particularly snarling highlight. But they took too long to make a follow-up and their chance passed. Guitarist Richard Hawley went on to have an illustrious solo career and Hunt went into politics before becoming a successful songwriter and producer.
Denim
The giddy glam-pop of Denim was meant to be the moment of chart triumph that the band’s maverick svengali Lawrence had always dreamed of. With the atmospheric, dreamy guitar-pop of his previous band Felt, he’d had critical acclaim but now he was after commercial success too. It looked to be heading his way with the E number indie of Summer Smash but its scheduled release coincided with the death of Princess Diana in a car crash, after which the song was shelved. They never recovered from it, Lawrence emboldening his cult hero status with releases under the handle of Go Kart Mozart and Mozart Estate but never getting anywhere near chart victory again.
Echobelly
Echobelly were great – and they might still be great, the core duo of Sonya Madan and guitarist Glenn Johansson are still at it, heading out on tour again later this year. They had some brilliant singalong anthems where Madan’s indelible way with a melody disguised the darker themes running through her lyrics but health issues in the mid-90s slowed them down and momentum was fully stalled when they went on a four-year hiatus. Still, though, the tunes speak for themselves. This is one of their best:
Strangelove
Goth-tinged Bristol indie-rockers Strangelove had a charismatic, magnetic singer in Patrick Duff and a handful of dynamically thrilling rock songs, a band who fit into the Kohl-eyed side of things alongside Suede and the Manics. But it never quite happened, despite the fact that their second record Love And Other Demons has one of the best openers of the era and its second song Beautiful Alone is a gripping, Smiths-y lost classic. But Duff’s drug addiction derailed them and they split in 1998.
Silver Sun
There was nothing moody about Silver Sun, though. The band, led by late frontman James Broad, were more like a British Weezer, all tight-as-a-nut harmonies, rollercoaster power-pop riffs and big fun choruses. Their self-titled debut was produced by Nigel Godrich in the same year that he also helmed Radiohead’s OK Computer.
Scarfo
There was a rattling lo-fi charm to Andover-formed, London-based trio Scarfo, whose progress was halted when drummer Al Saunders was injured in a road collision. They split up in 1999, leaving behind two records of tightly-wound post-punk, a sound frontman Jamie Hince would hone and evolve to great success in his next band The Kills.
The Supernaturals
A grinning chimpanzee on the cover of their 1997 debut album It Doesn’t Matter Anymore summed up the chirpy vibe of Glasgow quintet, as did the buoyant bounciness of their most well-known song Smile. Their subsequent output didn’t quite match up to that explosive beginning but they are still going and released a new record titled Show Tunes earlier this year.
Geneva
The party was beginning to die out by 1997, the year that artful Scottish crew Geneva released their debut album. Maybe it would’ve been better if Further had come out a few years later because it would’ve held its own in the route one era of the new millennium with its erudite, windswept indie missives.
Marion
Managed by former Smiths manager Joe Moss, Manchester’s Marion had a clutch of restless, ragged and infectiously catchy songs but never quite managed to seize their moment. Sleep, Time and Let’s All Go Together are dark arts anthems that should be as well-known as Animal Nitrate, Lenny or Connection, but they are not. Frontman Jaime Harding’s heroin addiction might have had something to do with that and soon after the release of their second record The Program, other band members started looking around for new lines of work, with one of them ending up in New Order.
Earl Brutus
Earl Brutus would probably be outraged to be on a list of Britpop bands, but here we are. It’s their fault for being a British indie band and releasing a debut album in 1996, therefore falling into the Britpop black hole. They came along with their lurching, experimental, glammy rock’n’roll at a point when most new bands were aping the bigger groups without doing any of the things that made them interesting.
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