Are Stereophonics Britpop?
Short Answer
Technically, no. Spiritually? Only if you squint, drink three pints of mild, and forget what Britpop actually was.
Long Answer
Stereophonics arrived late to the Britpop party, the sort of band that shows up after the main lot have already necked the good wine and started arguing about The Kinks. By the time Word Gets Around landed in 1997, Britpop was already wheezing in the corner, half-bored of itself and wondering where all the glamour had gone.
They weren’t part of the Camden mafia. No Blur vs Oasis pantomime. No Union Jacks, no Loaded covers, no cocaine-flecked monologues about British identity from a sofa in Soho. They were from Cwmaman, for a start, which is a long way from Primrose Hill in every sense.
Musically, they dealt in solid, workmanlike indie rock. Not the swaggering Mod revivalism or art-school arsing about that marked Britpop’s front line. More meat-and-potatoes than mockney and parka. Closer to the pub jukebox than the cover of Select.
But timing’s a cruel mistress. They got lumped in because they played guitars, had regional accents, and didn’t look like they’d been assembled by committee. In truth, they were a different beast: more grounded, more sincere, and far less interested in being the sound of a generation. They just wanted to tell stories about small towns and smaller ambitions.
So no, they weren’t Britpop. But they were what was left when everyone else had buggered off. The hangover. The mop-up crew. The bit after the confetti’s settled and someone starts stacking chairs.
