1. Rock 'n' Roll Star - Oasis
Oasisare an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1991. Led by lead guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallgher and his younger brother, lead vocalist and songwriter Liam Gallagher, they are one of the most successful groups to emerge during the Britpop movement of the mid-1990's . They have sold approximately 50 million albums worldwide and have had eight UK hit singles.
Definitely Maybe is the debut Album by English Band Oasis, released in 1994. It was an immediate commercial and critical success in the UK, having followed on the heels of singles Supersonic, Shakermaker and particularly the popular Live Forever.
Definitely Maybe went straight to number one and 7x platinum in the UK Album charts on initial release. It was the fastest selling debut album of all time in the UK when released. Definitely Maybe marked the beginning of Oasis' success in America, selling over 1 million copies there, although only reaching #58 on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.
In 1997 Definitely Maybe was named the 14th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 2005 Channel 4's '100 Greatest Albums' countdown placed the album at number 6. In a recent British poll, run by NME and the book of British Hit Singles and Albums, Definitely Maybe was voted the best album of all time with The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band finishing second and Revolver third
"Rock 'N' Roll Star" is the opening track from their record breaking debut album Definitely Maybe and was written by lead Guitarist Noel Gallagher. The song is, as suggested by its title, a rock 'n' roll tune. It has become a fan favourite and is usually played at the band's concerts. It was released as a radio single in America and has a video.
The lyrics, as seen a number of Noel Gallagher's songs, refer to his dreams and aspirations to become a rock star, and his hopes to move away from Manchester, the place of his upbringing.
Noel said that "Rock 'N' Roll Star" was one of only three songs of which he wanted to say something. "I'm pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say in Rock 'n' Roll Star, Live Forever and Cigarettes And Alcohol, after that I'm repeating myself, but in a different way".
It Starts off with classic rock guitaring similar to guns and roses and also older performers like t-rex and starts off with the classic line 'i live my life in the city, there's no easy way out' which was Noel summing up how he was stuck in his boring life and constantly wanting to get out of manchester and see what else was out there for him. At that time it was hard for Britons to get anywhere other than a 9-5 job and the youths were dying for more than what they had and music waas quite dismal around 1993 and people didnt really go out anywhere and England was still revelling in Thatchers Britain and the youth just wanted something more than minimum wage or the dole. The only thing was rock 'n' roll. It is basically a daydreamers song which explains how Noel always wanted and dreamed about it and lived it but people kept telling him to get a reality check. but like the chorus says, tonight im a rock and roll star. he is. everynight.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tender - Blur
Blur are a band formed in Colchester in 1989. Originally named Seymour, Blur became one of the biggest bands in the UK during the britpop movement of the mid-1990s. The band are currently comprised of vocalist/keyboardist Damon Albarn, drummer Dave Rowntree and bassist Alex James.
Blur's original influences on their debut album, Leisure, included contemporary British alternative rock trends such as Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change in the mid-1990s, influenced by 1960s pop rock groups such as The Kinks and The Beatles, the band released Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife and The Great Escape. As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a famous chart battle with Britpop rivals Oasis.
By the late 1990s, with the release of their fifth album, Blur, the band underwent another reinvention, influenced by the indie rock and lo-fi style of American bands such as pavement and R.E.M, in the process gaining an elusive American success with the single "song 2". The final album featuring the band's original lineup, 13, found Blur experimenting with electronica and gospel music.
"Tender" is the first track on their sixth album 13 and was also released as a single. The single reached #2 in the UK singles chart - kept off #1 by Britney Spear's ". . .Baby One More Time".
The song was written by both Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon and the vocals are shared on the track.the song starts off with the main guitar riff in a distorted sound which gives it a 50's radio effect and then the band comes in and the whole thing picks up, i love the opening riff and the way it flows with the lyrics, i think the main selling part of the song is the chorus as its a sing-a-long stadium anthem chorus and then even after the chorus is the link which is even more catchy pop sing-a-longy than the chorus which is just pure pop genius. i like the way they've encorporated gospel singers into the song and it gives it that whole sing-a-long effect that the listener loves and the vocal harmonies are just brilliant. then comes the solo which is one of my favourite, i am a big fan of Graham Coxon's solo's i just love how they sound, they kind of remind me of clapton/hendrix style guitaring. overall its just a monumental piece of brit-pop history.
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A Thousand Tress - Stereophonics
Stereophonics are a rock band from Wales, UK with original members Kelly Jones, Richard Jones (no relation to Kelly) and Stuart Cable, who grew up together in Cwmaman in the South Wales valleys. The trio began writing and performing in working men’s clubs together in 1992 as a teenage cover band known as 'Tragic Love Company', a name inspired by their favourite bands Tragically Hip, Mother Love Bone and Bad Company. They later changed their name to "Stereophonics", named after the maker of Cable's grandmother's gramophone.
They finally made a big splash in 1996 as the first band to be signed to Richard Branson's new label V2 after the sale of Branson's successful Virgin Records to EMI. Their distinctive sound offered a blend of Oasis-inspired Britpop and '70s-influenced rock & roll earning them a series of big UK hits.
Word Gets Around is Stereophonics first album.The album had a phenomenal success considering it was their debut and made it into the top ten in the British album charts.
The song is a classic 4 chord rock song and is basically a story written about the downfall of a local football coach, Kelly's lyrics are some of my favourite as i love the way he tells a story and the way he'll hear something from a friend of a friend or down the pub in his little village and write a hit song about it, i sometimes take inspiration from this when trying to write my own songs, i love the line "it only takes one tree to make a thousand matches, only takes one match to burn a thousand trees" the way he puts little things in the story that make you think about what he's saying. Kelly's vocals are really powerful throughout the song and really help to boom it out toward the listener.
I think stereophonics have a really distinct sound that was just made for stadium rock and there hasn't been many bands that can match what they do and how they write songs.
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