U2 was a different era. everyone knew they were originally Irish, though by the late 80s they were multinational megastars

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112026)

IIRC American skinheads in the “punk scene” often had union jacks on their jackets - skinhead dude at my school had this

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#47688190)

Spice Girls had way more in common w NSync or Brittney Spears than they did post grunge British rock, they just happened to be from England

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112076)

Spacehog and Bush were the rare reverse exports that were bigger in the US than the UK

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112510)

the british bands of the 60s, 70s, and 80s were GOAT, light years ahead of American bands. but the 90s wave of 'britpop' was just nakedly derivative, sub-mediocre music hyped to death by nostalgia-obsessed brit rock press.

the entire era did not produce a single undeniably great track.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112125)

once 'alt-rock' took off in the US, labels began looking for UK acts to plug into their playlists. this is what caused Bush.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112158)

that's exactly it. i consider shoegaze and late 80s/early 90s post-postpunk/proto-britpop a species of 'indie' rock.

while i love indie rock, shoegaze, etc, the standards of those genres are undeniably different, more relaxed, than those of mainstream pop/rock. it's 'mood' music, ultimately experimental and anti-formal.

i hold any band that achieves mass-audience/Top 40 status to a stricter standard. a pop band must uphold the grand tradition of the Pop/Rock form by producing disciplined, preferably three-minute singles that have that 'x-factor', of melodic singularity, of 'catchiness', of arresting production/performance, and also artistic merit -- from 'Satisfaction' to 'Blue Monday', all the great singles have this x-factor. you must deliver the goods.

none of those 1990s Britpop bands produced any truly great pop singles that will stand the test of time. the music was objectively inferior even to what the late-entry British Invasion bands of the 1980s produced (standards like 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police, or even 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', etc)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42115721)

Fucking boomer trash

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112164)

We really weren't sending our best

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112506)

Never cared for any of this although ironically at the time I was listening to a lot of UK IDM music.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4788515&forum_id=2#42112204)