The Last Party: Britpop Blair and the demise of English rock

The loveliest – and certainly the most human – book about pop music Ive ever read … A delightful and humane soap opera a real page-turner full of rounded and entirely recognisable characters.Jon Ronson Daily TelegraphTHE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF BRITPOP – BLUR OASIS ELASTICA SUEDE & TONY BLAIRBeginning in 1994 and closing in the first months of 1998 the UK passed through a cultural moment as distinct and as celebrated as any since the war. Founded on rock music celebrity boom-time economics and fleeting political optimism – this was Cool Britannia. Records sold in their millions a new celebrity elite emerged and Tony Blairs Labour Party found itself at long last returned to government.Drawing on interviews from all the major bands – including Oasis Blur Elastica and Suede – from music journalists record executives and those close to government The Last Party charts the rise and fall of the Britpop movement. John Harris was there; and in this gripping new book he argues that the high point of British musics cultural impact also signalled its effective demise – If rock stars were now friends of the government then how could they continue to matter?Britpop in numbers:There were an astonishing 2.6 million ticket applications for the Oasis gig at Knebworth in 1996. 1 in 24 of the British public wanted to see them play. In the end the band played to 250000 fans across two nights with a guest list that ran to 7000.’Definitely Maybe’ Oasiss debut album went straight to No 1 selling 100000 copies in 4 days and outselling the Three Tenors in second place by a factor of 50%On its first day in the shops Oasiss second album ‘Whats The Story Morning Glory’ was selling at a rate of 2 copies a minute through HMVs London stores.By 1997 Creation Records (which had been founded 12 years earlier with a bank loan of £1000 by an ex-British Rail Clerk Alan McGee) announced a turnover of £36million thanks almost entirely to one band: Oasis.