The Brit Box Giveaway!
Yet another great giveaway today here on The Futurist. This time it is for The Brit Box, an amazing compilation of British music that spans from 1984 to the present and features pretty much all of the British artists you might care about in that time period on the four discs.
Here are some highlights of the box set….
Disc 1, the first of THE BRIT BOX’s four chronologically ordered CDs, roughly spans 1984-1990. Seminal U.K. artists including The Smiths, Jesus & Mary Chain and The Stone Roses take timeless guitar-pop and freshly reinvent it, while groups including Happy Mondays and Primal Scream borrow gleefully from hip-hop to give birth to acid house.
Disc 2, spanning ‘90 to ‘93, explores bands that came to be known in the British press as “shoegazers,” acts that spent more time looking at their feet than making eye contact with their audiences. Featuring tracks by Ride, My Bloody Valentine, The Telescopes and others, the music courses through a sonic space comprised of introspective soundscapes, hazy guitars and dense production.
Disc 3, focusing heavily on ‘94-’95, opens with Suede’s “Metal Mickey.” Throughout, the song sequence heralds the arrival of Brit-pop, and hugely popular bands including Oasis, Blur, Pulp, and Elastica.
Disc 4, THE BRIT BOX’s final CD, shows that even latecomers to the party like Ash, Super Furry Animals, Mansun, The Verve, and Placebo had some smashing songs in them.
To qualify for the box set, leave a comment with your favorite British band from the last 25 years or so and why. One lucky winner will get the Brit Box Set with the winner being announced next week. We will also choose 5 runner up winners that will receive a single cd that has 18 selections from the box set on it… Good Luck!
Check out some videos of some great Brit Box bands after the jump……
Echo & The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
Ned’s Atomic Dustbin - Gray Cell Green
Pulp - Common People
The Verve - Lucky Man
November 28th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
oasis - they owned the british music scene for quite some time. the brothers gallagher are absolutely hilarious. most importantly, their music is undeniably awesome.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Who: Without a doubt, PULP!
Why: When you grow up in San Antonio, TX it goes without saying that you aren’t exposed to much music other than tejano, classic rock and country; at least that was the case with myself in the mid-’90s. By the time I was 15, I became friends with some kids that were a little older and had cars, or at least got to borrow them from their elder siblings. On the off chance we got to use the car, sometimes we would go cruising or exploring around the city. It was one of these nights that I found my gateway into my favorite musical genre. You see, a friend of mine had found that we could pick up the Austin station 101X in his car and the music they played was nothing like we had heard before. The first three songs that we caught the station play were Suede’s “Heroin,” Blur’s “Country House,” and Pulp’s “Common People.” From that night on I was hooked to the whole Britpop movement. My favorite band, still to this day, is Pulp.
November 28th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
The Smiths, it has to be the Smiths. There is no one like Morrissey as a front man. His lyrics and writing make this a no brainer for me. His lyrics are witty, cruel, humorous, and utterly loveable. Great lyrics make a band for me. His vocal styling and crooning are like a cherry on top of the yummy sundae that is the Smiths.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Oh, how can you make me choose only one? I absolutely love all the bands on this album. If I had to choose one band that takes me right back to my early days of listening to Brit Pop, it would have to be The Cure. Every time I hear “Just Like Heaven” it takes me back to my bedroom in 1987. Blue Christmas lights hanging around my room, blue light bulbs in all my lamps. It was my own private dance club.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
It has to be Swervedriver. They are like a freight train of sound. Listening to them I am awash in a wall of guitars. They have great, melodic songs, and Adam Franklin has a unique voice that just drips with coolness. Their upcoming reunion tour in 2008 will be a huge, huge highlight of the year for me.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
There are so many great Brit bands, but my top if I had to choose one would be Radiohead. So many great songs, and I love how they’ve really experimented with music as an art form rather than just cranking out the hits.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
since my appreciation of the smiths is not as great as some others and i’m still pissed at morrissey for canceling a show this summer, i’m going with BLUR - since suede kind of pooped out after 2 albums. praying for a blur reunion! fingers crossed.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
WIRE! hands down
pivotal in what everyone calls post-punk
Wire having been around since the late 70’s
havent lost the edge! check out Githead/headgit ep
November 28th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
The Stone Roses. I can always put this in my CD player in my car and instantly be in a fabulous mood despite the lyrics not exactly being uplifting (for the most part, downright depressing). There is something so cathartic about singing “I am the Resurrection” at the top of my lungs. And I can’t hold a tune at all. There’s also something about Going Down that turns me on everytime. I don’t think that they were the greatest thing since the Beatles, but when I’ve replaced my Complete Stone Roses CD twice since I bought it in 1995.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Sorry, but overall Brit music in the 90’s blew chuncks. But they weren’t alone.
So, with that said Radiohead is the standout of the 90’s. I have a seisure everytime I hear Oasis…what a pile of music poop.
If it were an 80’s boxset I’d condsider it but you can keep the 90’s.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
The Silencers. Perplexingly little-known Scottish rock band from Glasgow has put out 9 albums. Fairly successful in Europe (mostly in France lately), used to get some airplay over here. The band has evolved and is now centered around the O’Neill family - Jimme, his son James and daughter Aura. Great sound with a celtic influence that’s a bit uncommon.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
New Order. Do they qualify as BritPop? Or maybe too innovative in crossing the goth-new wave-dance lines…
November 28th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Tough choice, but STONE ROSES! If it weren’t for Stone Roses, many of the brit bands wouldn’t exist! Ian Brown’s voice still makes my heart melt and his stage presence set the foundation for Liam Gallagher, long long ago.
In the misery dictionary, page after page after page, The Smiths are also top of the list.
WOXY rocks!
November 28th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Sure, everybody loves The Smiths and The Cure and New Order. They’re fantastic bands but I’ve always had a fondness for the band that inexplicably never quite made it big: bands like The Primitives, The Sundays, and the Trashcan Sinatras. I’d give the edge to the Trashcan Sinatras. For 15 or so years they’ve produced beautifully-sung, cleverly-written songs of near pop perfection: Obscurity Knocks, Hayfever, All The Dark Horses, etc. . . . my vote goes to the Sinatras.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
One vote for Super Furry Animals. Consistently inventive and strange, yet accessible and catchy as well. I still thank WOXY to this day for “Ohio Heat”.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Sorry, but Paul Weller taught the rest of them everything they know! Rush your money to the record shops! Or the KLF aka the Timelords… That thing is clearly a TARDIS!
November 28th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
One of the almost-lost yet still amazing bands of the 80’s Brit love era that we’re admiring here is The Mighty Lemon Drops!! I firmly believe that “World Without End” needs to be discovered again and again with each new wave of Brit music that comes about! That is a perfect, classic and masterful Brit-pop album! Yes, I still have the album….
November 28th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Joy Division. You’d be hard pressed to find a band with such a wide scope of influence in such a short period of time.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
The Jesus and Mary Chain- a group that fused the Spector’s “Wall of Sound” of the ’60s with the low-fi energy of the Velvet Underground. JAMC paved the way for so many, musically and personally, with their feedback infused melodies and the explosive relationship of the Reid brothers is what makes them my favorite Brit band.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Jesus & Mary Chain. Honey’s Dead got me through sophomore year of high school, and all the rest, well, they took me to the dirty part of town where all my troubles can’t be found. Also, the hair, my god the hair!
November 28th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Gotta be blur for me. Intelligent, soulful pop songs that still have a beat you can dance too.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Cripes.
Well, the Jam. Paul Weller.
I actually heard Paul’s Stanley Road album as a college student before I heard anything by the Jam. (Clearly, I was an ignorant gal at that point.) And I just fell in love with his voice. Then I worked backwards to the Jam. And…well… Underground? Town Called Malice? Beat Surrender? That’s a band that’s alive on every song. You just feel it under your skin.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
The Charlatans UK - I haven’t listened to them in forever. Then I saw them in the track listings memories of the 1992 HFStival in DC came front and center. I was new to the big city and new to good music (can say Triumph & Loverboy?). Thanks in no small part to The Charlatans UK, life would never be the same.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I’m going to be honest, the only British bands I listen to regularly fall within the classic rock category like the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Kinks etc. and are likely not included in the box set (unless they saw fit to include a song off of Jagger’s “She’s the Boss”). I do however have a girlfriend who is notorious for her Blur fandom and I’d like to give this to her as a present. She will probably force me to listen to it though… even when I’m driving MY car, which should be a crime really.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
I cast my vote for the Stone Roses. Nothing has grabbed my ear like that band. From the instant their tunes spilled out on the speaker in the store I was hooked. I mean, come on: Waterfall, She Bangs The Drums, Elephant Stone, I Wanna Be Adored. I must have worn that disc out. It defined that time of my life and it still gets my foot tapping every time you hear those songs.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Joy Division - Does this count? I mean, technically it’s not from the last 25 years but it’s on the disc set and they’ve released music in that time period.
Anyway, I suppose Joy Division’s diversity really stands out to me. Take the earlier music, which is clearly influenced by the UK’s 70s punk explosion and compare it to their later, synthier releases. The Warsaw-era music is gritty, stripped down, and damn good punk. On the other hand, there’s Unknown Pleasures, which laid the groundwork for so much of the music made in the 80s. Love Will Tear Us Apart is a great song, but the rest of their catalog has a lot of depth in terms of excellent music.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:29 am
It’s so hard to choose, but I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and go with the indisputable standard of Brit music: OASIS.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, I’ll always love my Oasis. They were the band that turned me into a music junkie completist back in high school. Never before had I been so obsessed with buying every single release by a band - and their B-sides were always top-notch. Never mind the fact that spending $10-$15 per import single was ludicrous for a poor teenager, but it HAD to be done. From picking up the ‘Supersonic’ single shortly before starting my freshman year in 1994, to the ‘All Around The World’ single arriving in the mail literally THE DAY OF my high school graduation in 1998… Noel & Liam & Co. were pretty much there for me at all times. As Oasis grew up during those four short years, I did too. Such great memories, those days…
November 29th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Let’s say Lush, because I saw them in concert more than Pulp, Curve, The Cure, The Sundays…
But that one Sundays concert (94? 95?) was just amazing, with 4AD-licious opening bands (Luna and Mojave 3), and Harriet did inhumanly beautiful things with her voice.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:30 am
This really is a tough call, so I’ll just go back to the start and give a nod to the Smiths. Morrissey and the boys were one of my gateway drugs to modern rock. I owe them heaps of thanks for 20 years of seeking out new music, rather than settling for what the radio happens to be playing or what I listened to in high school.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
The Boo Radleys. I first heard the Lazy Day EP while working at my high school radio station. I immediately fell in love with the track “Feels Like Tomorrow.” Their early stuff had some shoegazer elements (which I love), but their landmark album “Giant Steps” grows far beyond that and really proves how beautifully creative they were. Despite some obvious Beatles references, for my money, the songs show more originality than Oasis, Blur and all the rest.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
There’s no way you can possibly pick one favorite. From a personal stand point a handful of groups have been instrumental to me over the years: The Smiths, Teenage Fan Club, Echo and the Bunnymen, Saint Etienne, Sterolab, Supergrass, Blur, The Smiths, and the Cocteau Twins are all amazing bands/artists. They are still in constant rotation on my speakers.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
If I had to pick 1 it would have to be the cure, mostly from wish on backwards, too many bands that do hold honorable mention, hearing a forest live always a treat.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
The Stone Roses for sure. Lot of good bands, but the Stone Roses was one of my first 97X inspired CD purchases and it still sounds great.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Pick one band? Thats like being told to pick your favorite child!
So many of these have special meaning for me and choosing The Smiths is kind of pedestrian but How Soon is Now made a huge impression on me way back when. Along with Patti Smith (no relation - heh!)The Smiths are responsible for directing my musical tastes from that time forward.
How Soon Is Now? was top dog in the 2006 edition of MR500 and with good reason. Marr’s guitar work in that song was the work of angels!
November 29th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Definitely Pulp. Smart and dark, danceable and most importantly, still relevant. I remember liking other bands, like Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Blur , Ocean Colour Scene, et al., but even the best of most of those bands sounds a bit dated. But not Pulp. Hearts to Jarvis forever!
November 29th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
yes, picking one brit band is really, really tough… smiths, pulp, super furry animals… but i must say that i’ve had a crush on damon albarn (blur) since i was about 14… so happy he’s still making music, even if it is in cartoon form– are the gorillaz considered british?
November 29th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Hard to decide, but I think I’ll go with Teenage Fanclub because after all these years, when so many of the others lost their charm, they are still putting out amazing records.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
wait, the cure! hands down!
November 29th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Favorite: The Fall
Why: 30 years of great music, on-stage punch-ups, walk-offs, mid-tour firings and band members escaping in the night. John Peel’s favorite band: “Always different, always the same”. They’ve survived the trends of punk, new wave, grunge, etc and always came out with something that was one step ahead………
November 29th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Blur…perhaps the most overlooked, under-appreciated band in the U.S. Their version of Brit pop got drowned out by the Seattle onslaught early in the decade, and their big moment of the latter half of the ’90s is now only celebrated by hockey fans who once a game get to yell “woo-hoo” during a break in play. But they were never boring, never stagnant…they were brash, bratty, snobbish. Loved them.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
The Stone Roses 1st album stands the test of time as one of the greatest start-to-finish albums ever. And, their second album ranks #1 as the worst follow-up record in relation to a great 1st album. For that feat alone they should go down into the annuls of rock history. The Cocteau Twins make me cry and I can’t even understand half of what they say–so it must be damn good! All the rest of them have a unique place in my heart as well, but I don’t have room to discuss them all. I summarize as follows: “If it’s not British, it’s crap!”.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:13 am
OASIS has b-sides by the handfuls that other bands would kill to have released as singles, Definitely Maybe is by far my favorite album and is still as fresh sounding now as it was when I first heard it.
November 30th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Supergrass because it doesn’t get any better than “In It For the Money.” I listened to a lot of Brit Pop growing up but Supergrass just always hit a nerve, especially with “Late in the Day.” They also had the coolest videos which I’m sure had somethign to do with their drummer’s brother being half of Dom and Nick.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Super Furry Animals. By far the best band that I’ve ever heard, and i’ve heard a lot. They write perfect pop songs that cross many genres and each record that they’ve released sounds as fresh today as it did when it was originally released.
They have yet to fully get their due, but they can hold their own next to behemoths like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, etc. In my mind, they are one of the greatest bands of all time. Plus they have the best selling Welsh album of all time. Eat that Tom Jones.
November 30th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Bloc Party - hands down the best new band I’d heard in a while (which now turns out to be a few years ago - yikes!)
November 30th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Fave brit band of the last 15 years? Tough call, but I’m a pop fan at heart, so I’m gonna have to go with Blur. Defining an era of british music (even if they weren’t the most commercially successful) is no small feat. Pop is not dead!
November 30th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
favo(u)rite British band? now i know the contest is for a brit rock set, but my fave British act is an electronic one.
Orbital. I saw them live in 99 knowing nothing about them, and they turned my little brain into mush. since then, I’ve spent many a long drive with an orbital cd in the car, letting my mind get blown over and over. its electronica that paints landscapes, and its where i first heard and fell in love with goldfrapp. the 15 minute track “are we here?” featuring her on vocals is one of my favorite tracks ever.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Oh, it’s so hard to choose, but probably the Smiths. When I was twelve, depressed, misguided, and confused, my brother handed me a stack of CDs, the top of which was ‘Meat Is Murder’. It’s cliché, but it changed my life. Typically teenage that I was at the time, the line ‘As I’m lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me…’ especially hit me; I’d never heard anyone who could so precisely discuss what I myself was feeling. Gorgeous.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Neds Atomic Dustbin. 2 bass players, thats all I really need to say. A very underated band in my book. They were also partly responsible for getting me into music deeper than the radio. One of my first shows was a Ned’s show in Reno NV. To this day they are one of my favorite bands. Believe it or not a a tobacco chewing cowboy got me into them.
Andy
November 30th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Blur. Great songs like Parklife and Girls & Boys have added them to my mind as a great brit band. And then I’m happy for the rest of the day safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it.
December 1st, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Massive Attack. UK’s finest import from Bristol, creators of the Trip Hop movement with Robert Del Naja aka 3D, Grant Marshall aka DaddyG, Andrew Voles aka Mushroom & started Tricky’s career. Starting with Blue Lines, their 1991 debut which brought their electronica mixture of soul, jazz, rock and hip hop to the forefront of one of the worlds best bands.
They continued with 1994’s Protection with several vocal collaborations most notable title track featuring Tracey Thorn of EBTG.
In 1998 they released the masterpiece Mezzanine - my all time favorite album featuring Angel, Teardrop, Inertia Creeps. We have had to wait years between releases with the last full release in 2003 100th Window. A greatest hits collection in 2006 - can’t wait for their next release. Numerous collaborations with artists all over the globe - Madonna, Sinead O’Connor, Mike Patton, UNKLE - to name a few. Plus their stance on war/world peace, politics, the environment and giving back to charities, make them one hard band to follow.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
For my money, it doesn’t get any better than the Smiths. They have made such a lasting impression on me over the years. I still remember the day my buddy George lent me a few of their albums to play on my closed circuit radio show back in college. My taste in music has never been the same since.
December 2nd, 2007 at 8:38 pm
A relatively unknown band named the Steamkings. Probably not at all influential, but i saw them in a small record store in Connecticut called Brass City Records (www.brasscityrecords.com) and they blew me away. They have two albums as far as I know, on the now defunct Earthling label. Hard to find, but worth the look. Overall influence would either be Swervedriver or the Stone Roses.
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:46 am
Super Furry Animals have remained my favorite British band from the time I first saw them live in 2000. I’ve never seen a band have so much on stage. It was like, playing a live show wasn’t work to them. I’ve always really respected the band members for their eccentricity, wit, and professionalism. They will continue to bend foundations of their sound while other bands remain monotone.
This boxset pretty much sums up what I’ve been listening to the last 12 or so years. I haven’t heard all the bands on these discs and really look forward to new musical discoveries.
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Easy. The Clash. I don’t care that they aren’t actually featured on the box set. They probably influenced every artist that IS on the box set, whether they know it or not. Not only did they help lay the foundation for punk rock, but they expanded on that sound and pushed the boundaries of modern rock in new and exciting directions. Nevermind the Sex Pistols. The Clash were the true innovators and THE quintessential British punk band.
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:10 pm
XTC….I just like them! They are chocked full of poppy-goodness
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:54 pm
I would have to say Blur. To be honest, I didn’t have much interest in music early on as a teenager and what cassettes and cds I did own, in retrospect, were in pretty poor taste (of the top 40 variety, that bad, though I don’t name names). Not knowing a single thing about brit pop or, for that matter, most bands that Clear Channel type radio stations ignored in my town, my first listening of Blur self titled album blew me away. I imagine it’s like that first hit of crack. I started listening to earlier Blur albums, checking out bands that other friends with mutual Blur appreciation listened to (Yay Pixies), traded mix tapes with friends , and attended as many local shows as possible. Blur turned me into a music junkie.
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:47 pm
25 years takes us back to 1982. I was 10 years old and just starting to get into music. Within the next couple of years, MTV comes on the air, and I’m introduced to the British Band that I’ve listened to the most over those years - Duran Duran. I remember purchasing Seven and the Ragged Tiger while on a family vacation in Florida in 1983. I had a poster of the band on my bedroom wall and in my locker in junior high (the only band that rated a poster). Rio has probably been my most listened to album, with “The Chauffeur” being played, rewound, played, rewound, etc. I finally got to see them in person in 1995 at Sawyer Point. While other British Bands have been added to my list of favourites - Blur, The Stone Roses, The Cure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode, New Order - Duran Duran occupied the top stop first and will always remain there.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Belle and Sebastian because Scots are always seem to be underrated, and because B & S arrived on the scene in the mid-1990s when Oasis had a tight grip on Brit-rock and were able to make a name for themselves with their soft-spoken, modest, yet brilliant, Tigermilk.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
In the fall of 1995 I went to the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England- at the height of the Blur/Oasis rivalry. (Blur was winning) We were fortunate to have a great concert venue on campus where up and coming brit-pop played. The best concert I saw there was the Boo Radleys, with Electrafixion opening for them. (Electrafixion turns out to have had several members of Echo and the Bunnymen involved with it).
But my favorite British band has to be PULP, who I discovered and loved while there. To this day, I am not allowed to listen to “Common People” while I am driving, because I start driving way too fast. It’s a bit disconcerting to find yourself driving 90mph in a 1992 Saturn!