Going For Silver: Streaming brings more Britpop success

It may be a few years since you last sat waiting eagerly for the Radio 1 Top 40 show, fingers eagerly hovering over play and record, so you'll be forgiven for not noticing a subtle change to how the chart is now being compiled.  From this month the chart now consists not only of the music that people buy but also the music that people listen to online, with one hundred online plays on sites like Spotify and YouTube being the equivalent to one purchase.

That seems fair enough to me. Lots of people consume plenty of music perfectly legally without every buying any and it's a logical progression that the chart now reflects that.  In fact they have started counting downloads since the 1st January and this has acted as a little fillip for a couple of Britpop tunes.

According to the BPI, Road Rage by Catatonia has now gone silver.  My guess is that the single sales of this have long sat just below the threshold for a silver disc, but add in half a year's streaming stats and Cerys is breaking open the bubbly.

Also of interest is the fact that Champagne Supernova by Oasis has gone silver. What's curious here is that the song was never released as a single in the UK (though it was in Australia, France & NZ). So presumably there was no sales base to start from. If 100 streams = 1 sale and Silver Status represents selling 200,000 songs, does that mean that Champagne Supernova has been streamed 20,000,000 times since 1st January? That can't be right.

However they work it out though, it's always good to see some recognition being given to a song that has become a classic.

Which is your favourite post 2000 Oasis single?

Oasis are often thought of as the definitive 90s band but they actually released more albums in the decade that followed (4; Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, Heathen Chemistry, Don't Believe The Truth & Dig Out Your Soul) than in the nineties.

However we often see comments on our Facebook page in response to some of their later singles along the lines of "they never did anything decent after Morning Glory".  I don't agree.

One of the problems that Oasis face is that Definitely Maybe and (What's The Story) Morning Glory? not only sold in vast volumes, they also connected with the record buying public in a way that few albums do.  They mean so much to so many people that the rest of their output suffers in comparison.  Where the later albums differ for me is in their consistency, you would struggle to identify songs that you'd call 'filler' on the first two, it's not so hard later on.  You could make two great albums out of the four actual ones, though their ardent fans (of which there are still many) would doubtless disagree.

However I have always thought that the quality of Oasis' singles, including those released after the nineties, was excellent and we want to showcase that on the show.  So we're asking our listeners to vote for their favourite post 2000 Oasis single and then we'll play the ones that come out on top.

Vote below!

Which is your favourite post 2000 Oasis single?

Go Let It Out

Who Feels Love?

Sunday Morning Call

The Hindu Times

Stop Crying Your Heart Out

Little By Little

Songbird

Lyla

The Importance Of Being Idle

Let There Be Love

Lord Don't Slow Me Down

The Shock Of The Lightning

I'm Outta Time

Falling Down

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Go Let It Out0%

Who Feels Love?0%

Sunday Morning Call0%

The Hindu Times0%

Stop Crying Your Heart Out0%

Little By Little0%

Songbird0%

Lyla0%

The Importance Of Being Idle0%

Let There Be Love0%

Lord Don't Slow Me Down0%

The Shock Of The Lightning0%

I'm Outta Time0%

Falling Down0%

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Your favourite albums of 1994

Suede, Pulp, Blur & Oasis
all 1994 vintage

It was 20 years ago today, as some Liverpool band once said.

Yes, incredible as it may seem a number of classic Britpop albums are now reaching their 20th anniversary; Parklife, Definitely Maybe, Dog Man Star and His 'n' Hers to name but a few.

But which of those albums have stood the test of time?  

We've put together this little poll of albums from 1994, which ones would be in your top 5 of the year?

What are your top 5 albums of 1994?

Pulp - His 'n' Hers

Blur - Parklife

Oasis - Definitely Maybe

Suede - Dog Man Star

Shed Seven - Change Giver

The Stone Roses - Second Coming

Manic Street Preachers - Holy Bible

The Charlatans - Up To Our Hips

Echobelly - Everyone's Got One

Dodgy - Homegrown

The Auteurs - Now I'm A Cowboy

Inspiral Carpets - Devil Hopping

Primal Scream - Give Out But Don't Give Up

Ride - Carnival of Light

These Animal Men - (Come On Join) The High Society

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Pulp - His 'n' Hers0%

Blur - Parklife0%

Oasis - Definitely Maybe0%

Suede - Dog Man Star0%

Shed Seven - Change Giver0%

The Stone Roses - Second Coming0%

Manic Street Preachers - Holy Bible0%

The Charlatans - Up To Our Hips0%

Echobelly - Everyone's Got One0%

Dodgy - Homegrown0%

The Auteurs - Now I'm A Cowboy0%

Inspiral Carpets - Devil Hopping0%

Primal Scream - Give Out But Don't Give Up0%

Ride - Carnival of Light0%

These Animal Men - (Come On Join) The High Society0%

Other: (Please specify)0%

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Our Alternative Best Of Britpop

Don't despair Jarvis, we have an alternative!

Recently the NME had a Britpop issue and selected the 100 Greatest Britpop songs. The songs were all good, I've played most of them on the show, but to be honest it was all a bit predictable.  So I asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter for what they considered to be the best of Britpop, but avoiding the behemoths.  Yes, we could still have Blur, Pulp, Oasis, Suede etc. but no Wonderwall, Common People, Parklife - you get the picture.

And did they respond?  Oh yes - hundreds of songs were suggested.  Plenty of them were hits in their own right but some unexpected songs from well known bands (Last Day Of The Miners Strike by Pulp for example) and even some bands I'd not heard of; The High, Headswim & Nancy Boy!

As it happened our monthly Phonic FM show was coming up and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to play some of these songs in our own highly subjective Alternative Best Of Britpop!

Now I'm normally very prepared for our monthly live Britpop Revival Show.  I have most stuff laid out on my laptop in advance, with a back up on my phone just in case and finally in reserve a big bag chock full of assorted Britpop CDs.  I load a couple of CDs into the players in the studio just in case, but not this week.  No, the laptop always worked so why bother?

I get everything plugged in, settle down, say hello to the listeners, "and we'll kick off with this from McAlmont & Butler"!

S   I   L   E   N   C   E

Dead air, the cardinal sin - even at this level.

I start pressing buttons, more in hope than expectation. Okay, time to switch to CDs - the Alternative Best of Britpop idea going out the window, I just need to play something.  Why didn't I pre-load a couple?  Where is my big bag of CDs?  Of course the ones on top are my recent purchases, stuff I haven't even listened to yet; Warm Jets, Smaller, Geneva's much ignored 2nd album.  I dig deeper and pull out Symposium's Farewell To Twilight, I've played it not long ago but it'll do.  I cram it into CD drive 2, apologise to the listeners, fade up and relax.  But no, still silence and now I get the feeling that I am doomed.  Fortunately Spencer, the presenter of the previous show, is still in the studio and calmly points out that I've simply selected the wrong CD drive.  Fade up, music plays and offer many, many thanks to Spence whilst we finally get the laptop working.

Phonic is a community station, run on a shoestring by volunteers.  There are no engineers or producers (well not for most of the shows) and when things go pear-shaped you realise how little you know about how the studio works.  So my objective now is to get to grips with all this gear properly.

After all that the rest of the show went smoothly enough, apart from cutting short Oasis' Slide Away with some bongos.  The joy of live radio.

Thanks to everyone who suggested tracks or who got in touch on twitter during the show.

Track Listing:

1. Farewell To Twilight - Symposium
2. Yes - McAlmont & Butler
3. History - The Verve
4. You're Always Right - These Animal Men
5. Sale Of The Century - Sleeper
6. She Said - Longpigs
7. Here Comes A Soul Saver - The Charlatans
8. Twisterella - Ride
9. Dragging Me Down - Inspiral Carpets
10. Olympian - Gene
11. Tourniquet - Headswim
12. Tranqillizer - Geneva
13. Dolphin - Shed Seven
14. Window Pane - The Real People
15. Slide Away - Oasis
16. Being Brave - Menswear
17. This Feeling - Puressence
18. The Wild Ones - Suede
19. End Of A Century - Blur
20. I'm So Lonely - Cast
21. Box Set Go - The High
22. Last Day Of The Miners Strike - Pulp
23. Cocaine Socialism - Pulp
24. Step Into My Word - Hurricane #1
25. Untouchable - Rialto
26. Sleep - Marion
27. Love Is The Law - The Seahorses

The Britpop Revival Show broadcasts on the 3rd Sunday of the month, 2pm to 4pm, on Phonic FM (106.8FM in the Exeter area or online at www.phonic.fm)

However you can hear our weekly Vapour Trails show every Monday 3pm EST (8pm UK time) on Strangeways Radio, www.strangewaysradio.com

The Gallagher that cried wolf

So I see that Liam Gallagher has been talking to NME saying "Beady Eye's new album is the LP Oasis should have made after 'Morning Glory'".  Yeah right.

Liam Gallagher, telling it like it is? 

Does anyone actually believe that?  Before 'Different Gear, Still Speeding' was released he said it was "better than 'Definitely Maybe'".  I'm listening to it as I'm typing this. It isn't, it so isn't.

I genuinely hope that the new Beady Eye album is the business.  It's just that nobody is going to take Liam's protestations of greatness seriously until he delivers on it.  He said he was disappointed by the public's reaction to 'Different Gear, Still Speeding', wondering if it was too soon after Oasis.  The brutal truth is that it just wasn't that good.  A few decent songs but largely bland and hugely derivative, it's not surprising that people voted with their wallets.

In this online world people no longer buy albums based on reputation.  When both Different Gear and High Flying Birds came out I gave them both a number of listens on Spotify and on the basis of that bought one and not the other.  You can still sell a lot of records Liam, and I hope you do, you just need to make an album that merits it.