Cool Britannia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Blur

In an event dubbed "Battle of Britpop" by the British tabloid press, the two best known Britpop bands, Blur and Oasis, both released singles on the same day.
In the week that preceded the publication of that week's official UK chart there were an incredible number of column inches, radio and TV minutes devoted to the "battle".
On 20th August 1995, the talk was over and the kings were crowned though when Blur's "Country House" (1995) entered the charts at number one, selling 274,000 copies, and beating "Roll With It" (1995) by Oasis into second place with its sales of 216,000 copies.

Answer: Oasis

Oasis may have lost out to Blur in the so called "Battle of Britpop", but with 23 UK top singles between 1994 and 2009, compared to ten by Blur, they surely won the war. The mainstays of Oasis were brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher and although the band split up in 2009, with Noel forming High Flying Birds and Liam fronting Beady Eye, their music remains as popular as ever.

Answer: Menswear

Menswear were massive in 1995, with their debut album "Nuisance" reaching number 11 on UK album charts and three of the four singles released from it cracking the UK top 30.
Sadly that was to be their only album released in UK as the follow up, "iHay Tiempo!" (1998) was released only in Japan. Recording this album took its toll on the band, with lead singer Jimmy Dean suffering a breakdown and spending time in a psychiatric hospital as the band disintegrated.
Dean later spoke wise words when he said, "You should be careful who you form a band with and make sure you're on the same page. We weren't, and that caused problems."

Answer: Ash

Ash were bubbling along when suddenly "Girl From Mars" (1995) reached number eleven on UK charts and propelled them into the big time. Eleven further UK top 20 hits followed between then and 2004 and the band's first four albums all went top ten in UK.
Their debut album, "1977" (1996) was praised as one of the album's of the year by publications such as "The Guardian", "NME" and "Melody Maker" and in a retrospective review in 2012, "BBC Music" reviewer Mike Diver was still full of praise for the album almost 16 years after the original release.

Answer: Babybird

Stephen Jones is the creative force behind Babybird and had made a demo in 1995 under the name Baby Bird. Realising he needed a band to be able to perform the tracks live, he formed one, and thus, Babybird was born.
"Ugly Beautiful" (1996) was the first album from the band and although the first single, "Goodnight" (1996) was a UK chart hit, it was the follow up, "You're Gorgeous" (1996) that brought the band huge success, charting well in Australia, New Zealand and Sweden as well as UK.
Babybird split in 2000, with Jones continuing to use the name for future releases, including the albums "Ex-Maniac" (2010) and "The Pleasures of Self Destruction" (2011), both of which feature actor and Babybird fan, Johnny Depp, on guitar.

Answer: Salad

A Britpop female vocalist that was Dutch was certainly a selling point for Salad but it was the quality of their music that won them recognition from their peers and the music press.
Salad supported Blur on tour and were often compared to other female led bands of the time such as Elastica and Sleeper. The band released two albums and had eight UK top 100 chart hits of which "Motorbike to Heaven" (1995) and "Granite Statue" (1995) were the most successful, before they disbanded in 1998.

Answer: Cornershop

"Brimful of Asha" (1998) was actually first released in 1997 and struggled to reach number 60 in UK charts. The band then asked Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) to remix the track and his remix shot up the charts all the way to number one in UK as well as being a top ten hit in Iceland and Italy.
Cornershop would have another UK top 30 in 1998 with "Sleep On The Left Side" but then the hits dried up, although they are still quite rightly regarded as trail blazers and hugely influential on the British Asian music scene.

Answer: Suede

Suede's debut, self titled album was released in 1993 and by the following year they were the darlings of the Britpop scene, nominated for four Brit awards and winning the NME Best Band award.
Between 1993 and 2003, Suede released five albums, three of which hit number one in UK album charts before they split up, although they eventually reformed in 2010.
The band also had eight UK top ten singles chart hits in their first incarnation, as well as having great chart success in Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

Answer: The Seahorses

John Squire certainly has a knack of having his finger on the pulse. With The Stone Roses, he was at the peak of the "Madchester" scene and then with The Seahorses, he found Britpop success too.
Personality differences within the band meant that The Seahorses were short lived, giving us just one album, "Do It Yourself" (1997) and four UK chart hit singles before they imploded in 1999 midway through sessions for the second album.
After releasing two solo albums in 2002 and 2004, Squire left the music business altogether to become a full time painter, but eventually returned to thrilling us with his guitar work when The Stone Roses reformed in 2011.

Answer: Pulp

One of the finest bands to come out of Sheffield were the Jarvis Cocker-led Pulp who, after struggling for several years, caught the Britpop wave at just the right time. They rode the wave so well that they, along with Oasis, Blur and Suede were seen as the Big Four of Britpop and one of the bands that so many others tried to emulate. Although the band's fourth album, 1994s "His 'n' Hers" caught the eye of the public and was indeed a UK top ten hit, it was "Different Class" (1995) that took the band to a whole new level, reaching number one in UK album charts and spawning three UK top ten singles in "Common People", "Sorted for E's & Wizz" and "Disco 2000" (all 1995).