The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the demise of English rock

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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 TelegraphTHE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF BRITPOP -- BLUR, OASIS, ELASTICA, SUEDE & TONY BLAIRBeginning 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 GBP1,000 by an ex-British Rail Clerk Alan McGee) announced a turnover of GBP36million thanks almost entirely to one band: Oasis.

John Harris is a highly respected journalist who has written regular columns the NME, Mojo, Q Magazine, Select, New Statesman and the Independent

'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