Britpop Critical Legacy Top 10

Well this week it has been pretty much impossible to miss BBC Britpop week and you know what? It's been excellent, particularly on the radio, and I've especially enjoyed the revived evening session with Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq. I ever broke my personal vow of never listening to BBC Radio 2 in order to participate.

The centerpiece of their scheduling was a public vote to find the Top 40 'Britpop Anthems'. Now of course any chart is subjective but with such a large voting base (over 30,000 people took part) things average out don't they? The big hits float to the top and it all becomes a bit predictable. Except I don't think it was.

Yes, most of the Top 10 are probably the ones you'd expect and Common People is a worthy winner, but look further down the chart and there some refreshingly interesting and slightly obscure choices; Salad, Strangelove, Powder and Denim. Denim, good grief! And My Life Story at Number 17? These 30,000 people know their Britpop.

This is the full BBC 6music Britpop Anthem Top 40:

1. Pulp - Common People
2. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
3. Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
4. Oasis - Wonderwall
5. Blur - Parklife
6. Suede - Animal Nitrate
7. Blur - Girls And Boys
8. The Bluetones - Slight Return 
9. Pulp - Disco 2000
10. Ash - Girl From Mars
11. Radiohead - The Bends
12. Ocean Colour Scene - The Riverboat Song 
13. Supergrass - Alright
14. Mansun - Wide Open Space
15. The Divine Comedy - Something For The Weekend 
16. Longpigs - She Said
17. My Life Story - 12 Reasons Why I Love Her
18. Shed 7 - Going For Gold
19. Suede - Trash
20. Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go
21. Paul Weller - The Changing Man
22. Sleeper - Inbetweener
23. Space - Female Of The Species
24. Elastica - Line Up
25. Dodgy - Staying Out For The Summer 
26. Catatonia - Road Rage
27. Echobelly - Great Things
28. Gene - For The Dead 
29. The Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo 
30. Lush - Ladykillers
31. Salad - Drink The Elixir
32. Cast - Fine Time
33. 60ft Dolls - Stay
34. Menswear - Daydreamer 
35. Denim - Middle Of The Road
36. Northern Uproar - From A Window
37. The Supernaturals - Smile
38. Marion - Violent Men
39. Powder - Afrodisiac
40. Strangelove - The Greatest Show On Earth

(Bit of trivia for you, only 1 of those songs was a Number 1)

Now I like charts & lists and stuff like that, it appeals to my inner geek.  So I thought I could do something with this that reflects how well songs did to get in there. For Wonderwall to make the list is not that big an achievement but for a song that has never charted to make this list? Now that's impressive! So using a highly scientific formula and a level of advanced calculus that is known only to me, Stephen Hawking and a Tibetan monk named Keith, and with tongue only ever so slightly in cheek, I give you...

The Britpop Revival Show Critical Legacy Top 10:

1. Denim - Middle Of The Road
2. Marion - Violent Men
3. Salad - Drink The Elixir
4. Powder - Afrodisiac
5. 60ft Dolls - Stay
6. My Life Story - 12 Reasons Why I Love Her
7. Strangelove - The Greatest Show On Earth
8. Lush - Ladykillers
9. Elastica - Line Up
10. The Supernaturals - Smile

[You want to know how this was compiled don't you? Well it involved the position in the 6music chart and the actual chart position and some GCSE maths. I did genuinely work this out with a spreadsheet and stuff, so that makes it scientific!]