I figured this was the best place to ask this, you all obviously have excellent taste!

Since watching Spaced for the first time, I find myself knee deep in quite a strong phase of brit-obsession. Perhaps it stems from memories of weekends spent with my nan watching Coronation Street and drinking tea, I can't help it, its in my blood. It's just that Ive never been off this silly continent.

After that long winded intro, here's my question:

I need good brit-rock. (Ok, it was a statement)
I work in a record store, but we only get the stuff that gets popular in North America. Right now, Im listening to things like Franz Ferdinand, Keane, The Coral (at least I think they're English), Coldplay, and Muse. And of course, all the good retro stuff. I've already been told to find some Kasabian so I've ordered it into the store. Could anyone suggest some good artists in that vein? I'd appreciate it.

Razorlight are good http://www.razorlight.co.uk/site.php

Snow Patrol http://www.snowpatrol.net/


and they're not British but they're my favourite band at the moment, The Killers

i was going to mention snow patrol but you beat me to it!!

but i would suggest the kaiser chiefs and the futureheads.

How about Doves?

I've only heard their Oh My God song so far but that's tempting me to buy the album!

How about the Zutons too, I love their album

ooh doves and the zutons good call, (seeing them in march *dances* )

did a bit of searching and i also recommend biffy clyro, art brut, the delays, the libertines and maximo park.


oh and graham coxon for a bit of solo brit rock.

Definitely go along with Art Brut...great live band

So agree... they sort of fit in with the british rock sound though.

And thanks a ton everyone, much appreciated! Keep 'em coming!

Bloc Party...

Referenced as "this year's Franz Ferdinand", but I think they're so much more...

Have the Kaiser Chiefs been mentioned

Frankly none of the bands mentioned so far are particularly original, but many of them do still manage to sound fresh

If you want to check out some of the older stuff that some sound like you can't go wrong with Cardiacs, The Fall, Gang Of Four, XTC, Wire

The Doves are a great band, I really like that tune Rise.

Kasabian, Strokes? Travis,Blur,Oasis, sterophonics, Embrace,everyone took the obvious ones, hehe. I know this is an american band but i really quite like the bravery - honest mistake.

seeing as the collective musical memory here only seems to extend back about fortnight can I recommend a couple of other pre-brit pop brit pop bands? I mean if your going to listen to Franz Ferdinand and Keane then you might be interested in The Jam, The Kinks and The Small Faces.

and let's not forget the smiths. i still listen to them all the time - such an amazing sound.
i would also recommend echobelly for some mid-90s indie. they are top! and elbow - don't think anyone's mentioned them yet. they are stupendous. get 'asleep in the back' or 'cast of thousands' - both top quality albums.

No the s****s are utter s**t...

The Smiths are a band you either "get" or you don't.

As wrong as it is, I respect your opinion

not sure if that's to me or philt, but thanks!
the smiths really aren't everyone's cup of tea, but i absolutely love them.

hmm. controversial.

ok i've stuck up for them before here so i'll do it again - buy the libertines albums. forget all the shit about doherty and kate moss and being in jail yadda yadda, they are genuinely the most exciting thing to come out of british music since the clash.

without them you can forget about razorlight, kaiser chiefs, the others and all the other pale imitations that are getting raved over by the nme.

and don't worry about kasabian, just buy some old primal scream instead.

It was to philt. The Smiths are, trying not to sound arsey, one of the most important bands in my life




Like The Smiths, you either get or don't The Libertines. I liked the first album when it came out, but it certainly wasn't, to me, anything special or original. The second CD I found even less interesting

The Kate/Pete thing is something I care little about..its their relationship and no one elses business. Can't believe I just sort of stuck up for a guy I totally dislike!

I always thought Kasabian sounded like early Happy Mondays...but I still enjoy them.

you would have to have lived under a rock to not know them but they havnt been mentoined so far so just incase you havnt heard much radiohead then DO!

I like smiths and the jam, i also enjoy the undertones.

get some stuff by ESG, gang of four and public image limited

How about Goldie Lookin Chain

you fuckin knows it, bra

I quite like Bloc Party which surprised me a lot as I was gearing up to hate them as much as The Libertines.

I have to say Bloc Party suprised me too, alot better than I would have though.

bands to avoid, like the plague:

Zutons
Libertines
Others
Kasabian
Babyshambles
Razorlight
Keane
Coral

I know alot of you are going to disagree, thats fine, but they are all boring, unimaginative, one-dimentional, no talent fcuks.

I would recomend Elbow, Editors, Snow Patrol Kaiser Chiefs (thought they do seem to like to rip off Blur a bit too much, brit-pop wasnt that great the first time round you know...)

Radiohead and Muse deserve a mention too, just for being more imaginative than, ooh, all the band I mentioned above in that there list.

The new Doves album is a massive disappointment, specially after Black & White Town was such a tune. Though their older stuff, is alot better.

My main recomendation would have to be Hope Of The States though, amazing, amazing and very diverse, really good live too. if only more bands could write songs like Black Amnesiac.

There are many other bands I can think of but they are more prog-ish and or heavier thus I'm not sure you'd enjoy as much.

Some intersting views certainly. I heard 'Run' and thought it sounded good, and whilst there are some good tracks the album is a bit samey after a while. The same applies to Keane - he wails a little too much ofr my liking and no amount of synth will make up for the lack of guitar. I do like the Libertines and I think the Zutons are fairly intersting, but I'd rather have Razorlight. Incidentally, anyone into the Secret Machines?

However - I like my old stuff, The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division, old Radiohead. And there is no way that ANYONE can object to The Cure!









But someone will now. Someone always does.

Feeder, Winnebago Deal, Ordinary Boys, Hell is for heroes, Hundred Reasons.

yeah definately! great band.

i went back to my hope of the states album and i recommend it!

The Secret Machines are a great band...nowhere again is a tune.

I have to say I'm not a massive Smiths or Morissey fan, I understand they're considered legends but I dont get it. I do like the Cure though...

The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band are worth mentioning here to resurrect what is now needing revised (Doves for feck sake!)

Current winners in my opinion are Kate Bush,...thats about it really. Not been much good British music for a while now - The Delgados are good and if you can find them Reindeer Section (Half Snow Patrol with some EVA and Mogwai thrown in for a bit of balance). A song by Snow Patrol that rocks is Absolute Gravity, highly recommend it.

Anyone else got an update to whats worth listening to?

I'd appreciate it cause I'm kinda music-'d out

-m0r

Does it have to be rock? If you're looking for something a bit different I highly recommend MIA. She's great for mixing genres and for something a. If you want a decent segue between rock and other genres, as well as having a brilliant time listening, definitely check out the Go! Team;s debut Thunder, Lightning, Strike. Really great stuff. I recommend the libertines as well, though you should avoid Babyshambles like the plague.

Older stuff; the Smiths, Cure and many of the others mentioned. You should also check out Echo and the Bunnymen and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

John Martyn is a great folk singer if we are allowed to open up the genres alittle.

I'd say Company of wolves too but they're American

-m0r

I'd also recommend that you check out Portishead. Very interesting stuff which helped define ''trip-hop''

Brit-rock eh...bit all over the place in terms of age and genre but you might want to give the following a try.

Biffy Clyro
The Stone Roses
Cooper Temple Clause
Gomez
Super Furry Animals
Pulp
Space
Pitchshifter
New Model Army
Ooberman
The Charlatans
Idlewild
Levellers
Oceansize
Primal Scream
The Verve

How could I forget the Roses, SFA and Pulp? Silly me. Definitely check out any of the bands on that list, though you should only get the Stone Roses self-titled debut, Idlewild's more recent outings since their early stuff is a bit meh, and absolutely anything by SFA, they are brilliant.

Oh, check out the Beta Band as well, truly brilliant band, shame they aren't around anymore.

I listen to Second Coming over the debut these days...

Really? How odd. It's got a few decent tracks on it, Love Spreads is pretty great, but I can't say too much else on there does it for me. May have to revisit it some time.

I disliked it for ages but it started to grow on me. Begging You, Tears and Driving South especially.

Marvelous guys, thank you!

You may end up quite poor if you follow everyone's suggestions. But you'll have an awesome record collection. So I guess that evens out.