Remember Cool Britannia/Britpop a space in time where music was king with bands such as Blur and Oasis topping the charts along with The Verve but over the border in Wales we where having our own ‘cool’, Cool Cymru.
It was a time when Welsh music put Wales on the music map of the world. With band such as Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals, and Catatonia cracked the singles and more importantly album charts. The Welsh bands may have conquered their own ground. You need a champion to spread the word over the border and Cool Cymru had one in the iconic John Peel and his radio show. He was soon offering session spots to the up and coming Welsh music scene. Soon the music press were coming over the bridge in droves closely followed by London based talent spotters.
I have my favourite, Catatonia, I love the voice of Cerys Matthews, ok (crush alert) whose album International Velvet (1998) reached number one and was a favourite. Their best single was "Mulder and Scully" (1998) reaching number three but my favourite track was there next release “Road Rage”.
Has for success outside the UK it was very limited. They disbanded too early I would love to see them reunited but not on some awful TV show like that rubbish on ITV2. It would be great if it were like the cooler VH1 show, Bands Reunited, hosted by Aamer Haleem could be a project for S4C.
Manic Street Preachers big hit was "A Design for Life" although a year earlier they had a minor hit with the theme from M.A.S.H. “Suicide Is Painless”. Design for life was like an anthem for the time with the gruff voice of James Dean Bradfield booming out this hit. Has much as I liked it myself my favourite track is "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" their first and only number one single. Like Catatonia world support for the band was patchy but they are highly recommended to see live.
Another Welsh band are the Super Furry Animals who have a strong following among music fans. Single chart success has been hard to achieve and they have never made a top ten spot as they a better known for their albums. Over the course of nine albums, Super Furry Animals have been described as "One of the most imaginative bands of our time" by Billboard magazine, while according to NME, "There’s a case to be argued that SFA are the most important band of the past 15 years”.
Allow on a go to band for me but I do have a favourite track/single "The Man Don't Give a Fuck" a tribute to Cardiff City icon Robin Friday. The track featured a sample of Steely Dan’s "Show Biz Kids". The frontman Donald Fagen was upset and refused Super Furry Animals' request to use it at the time. A deal was done with 95% of the track's proceeds going to Fagen, a situation which Rhys was happy with as he felt the song would never get played due to its frequent use of the swear word 'fuck' a happy outcome.
Stereophonics burst on to the scene with the top five hit "The Bartender and the Thief" 1998, from the album “Performance and Cocktail” again another favourite album. My top Stereophonics track is "Handbags and Gladrags" neither of these made it to the summit for the top of the singles charts. They only number one on their books was "Dakota" 2005. Out of the four bands mentioned here, the Stereophonics were by far the most successful commercially at home and worldwide. Another band critics say you must see live.
No comments:
Post a Comment