The miracle of “1994”
The COVID-19 pandemic subsided for the time being, and music festivals in Japan began to return to normal around last year.
While rock acts are still very much present at Japanese music festivals, these days it’s R&B and hip-hop artists who are headlining overseas festivals and topping the charts (as has been the case for over 10 years), and there are very few rock bands that can draw stadium-sized crowds.
This trend has been getting stronger since the 2000s, but when you think about when rock was at its peak, it was probably around 30 years ago.
Thirty years ago, in 1994, Oasis’ first album, ‘Definitely Maybe’ and Blur’s ‘Parklife’ were released.
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At the time, the UK was still in the grip of the Second Summer of Love, also known as “Madchester,” which was sparked by bands such as The Stone Roses and New Order. Blur debuted in 1991, but they did not achieve immediate success.
They attracted some attention due to their stylish musical style and the good looks of the band’s members, but they really made their breakthrough with the release of their third album in 1994.
The album, which features a cover image of the traditional British sport of dog racing, was the band’s first to reach number one in the UK and has continued to rank in the charts ever since, selling over one million copies in the UK alone.
Featuring lyrical melodies, pop tunes, witty lyrics written from a third-person perspective, and British pop rock reminiscent of the Kinks (a giant of 1960s rock alongside the Beatles and the Stones), this album is said to be synonymous with the “Britpop movement” that emerged later.
Personally, when I think of Britpop, the first band that comes to mind is Blur, while Oasis has more classical rock roots.
Some people mocked “Britpop” as being retrograde and conservative because it affirmed and inherited the good old British traditions, but it became a hit all over the UK despite such criticism.
Lead singer Damon, who loved Fred Perry polo shirts and sports brand jerseys, a tradition of the mod movement, appeared on the covers of numerous magazines as a photogenic rock star.
Oasis made their debut in the same year.