The Last Party

Britpop, Blair and the demise of English rock

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By: John Harris

Paperback

Published: 26th February 2010

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'The loveliest – and certainly the most human – book about pop music I've ever read … A delightful and humane soap opera, a real page-turner, full of rounded and entirely recognisable characters.'

Jon Ronson, Daily Telegraph

THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF BRITPOP – BLUR, OASIS, ELASTICA, SUEDE & TONY BLAIR

Beginning 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 Blair's 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 music's 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 250,000 fans across two nights with a guest list that ran to 7,000.

•'Definitely, Maybe', Oasis's debut album, went straight to No 1, selling 100,000 copies in 4 days and outselling the Three Tenors in second place by a factor of 50%

•On its first day in the shops Oasis's second album, ‘What's The Story, Morning Glory', was selling at a rate of 2 copies a minute through HMV's London stores.

• By 1997 Creation Records (which had been founded 12 years earlier with a bank loan of £1,000 by an ex-British Rail Clerk Alan McGee) announced a turnover of £36million thanks almost entirely to one band: Oasis.

'THE LAST PARTY is a title that deserves to stick around the book charts.' Mark Lawson, Guardian'THE LAST PARTY is that rare thing, a book principally about rock musicians that is a compulsive page-turner.' The Sunday Times'Compelling ... it reminds us what a corrosive and mean place the pop world can be.' Mojo'A fine, bittersweet read.' Q Magazine

ISBN: 9780007134731
ISBN-10: 0007134738
Audience: General
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 464
Published: 26th February 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 12.1 x 20.1 x 3.1
Weight (kg): 0.34