Post-Britpop is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBlur, but with less overt British concerns in their lyrics and making more use of American rock and indie influences, as well as experimental music. Bands in the post-Britpop era that had been established acts, but gained greater prominence after the decline of Britpop, such as

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

and

the Verve The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Sim ...

, and new acts such as Keane, Snow Patrol,

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh pop and rock music, Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (Stereophonics), Richard Jones (n ...

, Feeder, and particularly Travis and

Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...

, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Characteristics

Many bands in the post-Britpop era avoided the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it.J. Harris, ''Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock'' (Da Capo Press, 2004), , pp. 369–70.S. Borthwick and R. Moy, ''Popular Music Genres: an Introduction'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004), , p. 188. The music of most bands was guitar-based, often mixing elements of British traditional rock, particularly

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and the

Small Faces Small Faces were an English Rock music, rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966 ...

, with American influences.A. Petridis
"Roll over Britpop ... it's the rebirth of art rock"
''The Guardian'', 14 February 2004, retrieved 2 January 2010. Bands from the era utilized specific elements from 1970s British rock and pop music. Drawn from across the United Kingdom, the themes of their music tended to be less parochially centred on British, English and London life, and more introspective than had been the case with Britpop at its height. This, beside a greater willingness to woo the American press and fans, may have helped a number of them in achieving international success.S. Dowling
"Are we in Britpop's second wave?"
''BBC News'', 19 August 2005, retrieved 2 January 2010. They have been seen as presenting the image of the rock star as an ordinary person, or "boy-next-door"S. T. Erlewine
"Travis: The Boy With No Name"
''Allmusic'', retrieved, 17 December 2011. and their increasingly melodic music was criticised for being bland or derivative.

History

Origins

From about 1997, as dissatisfaction grew with the concept of Cool Britannia and

as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it. Bands that had enjoyed some success during the mid-1990s, but did not find major commercial success until the late 1990s included

and

. After the decline of Britpop they began to gain more critical and popular attention. The Verve's album '' Urban Hymns'' (1997) was a worldwide hit and their commercial peak before they broke up in 1999, while Radiohead although having achieved moderate recognition with '' The Bends'' in 1995 achieved near-universal critical acclaim with their experimental albums '' OK Computer'' (1997), '' Kid A'' (2000), and '' Amnesiac'' (2001).V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 911 and 1192.

Developing scenes

The cultural and musical scene in Scotland, dubbed "Cool Caledonia" by some elements of the press, produced a number of successful alternative acts, including the Supernaturals from Glasgow, whose re-released single "Smile" (1997) reached number 25 in the UK charts, and whose album '' It Doesn't Matter Anymore'' (1997) entered the top ten, but who failed to sustain their success or achieve the anticipated international breakthrough. Travis, also from Glasgow, were one of the first major rock bands to emerge in the post-Britpop era. Using the hooks and guitar rock favoured by Oasis in a song-based format, they moved from the personal on '' Good Feeling'' (1997), through the general on their breakthrough '' The Man Who'' (1999), to the socially conscious and political on '' 12 Memories'' (2003)V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , p. 1157. and have been credited with a major role in disseminating a new Britpop. From Edinburgh Idlewild, more influenced by

post-grunge Post-grunge is an offshoot of grunge that has a less abrasive or intense tone than traditional grunge. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label mid-1990s alternative rock bands such as Bush (British band), Bush, Candlebox, Colle ...

, just failed to break into the British top 50 with their second album '' Hope Is Important'' (1998), but subsequently produced three top-twenty albums, peaking with '' The Remote Part'' (2002), and the single " You Held the World in Your Arms", reaching numbers 3 and 9 in the respective UK charts. Although garnering some international attention, they did not break through in the US. The first major band to break through from the post-Britpop Welsh rock scene, dubbed " Cool Cymru",S. Hill, ''Blerwytirhwng?: the Place of Welsh Pop Music'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), , p. 190. were Catatonia, whose single " Mulder and Scully" (1998) reached the top ten in the UK, and whose album '' International Velvet'' (1998) reached number one, but they were unable to make much impact in the US and, after personal problems, broke up at the end of the century.J. Goodden
"Catatonia – Greatest Hits"
''BBC Wales'', 2 September 2002, retrieved 3 January 2010.

, also from Wales, used elements of a post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough albums '' Word Gets Around'' (1997) and '' Performance and Cocktails'' (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with '' Just Enough Education to Perform'' (2001) and subsequent albums.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , p. 1076. "Stereophonics" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 January 2010. Also from Wales were Feeder, who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single "

Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily American newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, b ...

" and the album '' Echo Park'' (2001). After the death of their drummer Jon Lee, they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on '' Comfort in Sound'' (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles. There was also a number of British bands getting more 'progressive' in their music style. Radiohead released ''OK Computer'' in May 1997, a few months before Oasis released '' Be Here Now'' (known as 'the album that killed Britpop' in some parts of the press), with Radiohead's album being followed by Mansun's '' Six'' album the next year (released on Parlophone at the time, but now available on progressive rock label Kscope). At the end of the 1990s, Devon band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

would emerge from Teignmouth and sign to (Australian record company) Mushroom Records' new British arm via independent company Taste Media. Initially dismissed in certain sections of the press as 'Radiohead wannabes', the band would go on to top the UK albums chart seven times, with every studio album reaching the top from 2003 to 2022.

Commercial peak

These acts were followed by a number of bands who shared aspects of their music, including Snow Patrol from Northern Ireland, and Athlete,

Elbow The elbow is the region between the upper arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and t ...

, Embrace, Starsailor, Doves, Gomez and Keane from England. The most commercially successful band in the millennium were

, whose first two albums '' Parachutes'' (2000) and '' A Rush of Blood to the Head'' (2002) went multi-platinum, establishing them as one of the most popular acts in the world by the time of their third album '' X&Y'' (2005). "Coldplay" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 December 2010. Snow Patrol's " Chasing Cars" (from their 2006 album '' Eyes Open'') is the most widely played song of the 21st century on UK radio.

Fragmentation

Post-Britpop bands like Coldplay, Starsailor and Elbow, with introspective lyrics and even tempos, began to be criticised at the beginning of the new millennium as bland and sterile. A wave of garage rock revival/

post-punk revival Post-punk revival (also known as indie rock revival) is a Music genre, subgenre or movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s as a stripped-down and back-to-basics version of Guitar-rock, guitar rock inspired by the original sounds a ...

bands sprang up in response, like

the Strokes The Strokes are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1998. The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikola ...

and

the White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

in the US, the Hives in Sweden, the Vines in Australia, and the UK's own

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

and

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

.I. Collinson, "Devopop: pop Englishness and post-Britpop guitar bands", in A. Bennett and J. Stratton, eds, ''Britpop and the English Music Tradition'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010), , pp. 163–178. These bands have been seen as looking less to music of the 1960s and more to 1970s punk and post-punk, while still being influenced by Britpop, and were welcomed by some in musical press as "the saviours of rock and roll".C. Smith, ''101 Albums That Changed Popular Music'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), , p. 240. Despite this, a number of post-Britpop groups, particularly Travis, Stereophonics and Coldplay, continued to record and enjoy commercial success into the late 2000s. "Travis" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 3 January 2010.

Significance

Bands in the post-Britpop era have been credited with revitalising the British rock music scene in the late 1990s and 2000s, and of reaping the commercial benefits opened up by Britpop. They have also been criticised for providing a "homogenised and conformist" version of Britpop that serves as music for TV soundtracks, shopping malls, bars and nightclubs.

References

{{good article Britpop 1990s in British music 2000s in British music Alternative rock genres British styles of music 2010s in British music Rock music genres