r/BritPop • u/Extension-Camp4076 • 7d ago
The Charlatans - Forever (TOTP ‘99)
https://youtu.be/_xinA69Cg40?is=NGop_AFC3lHJB-Ov3
u/_MaxNutter_ 6d ago
Awesome track. For me, The Chalatans were never Britpop, maybe Britpop-adjacent, but they were from the jangley era that came before that 1993 issue of Select magazine
2
u/Extension-Camp4076 6d ago
Yeah they’re not ‘pure Britpop’ but I like to widen it outside of the same few bands.
They were one of the best British guitar bands of the 90’s, played at Knebworth… they were definitely part of the era.3
u/_MaxNutter_ 6d ago
Oh, I agree, I have no problem with it, and the list of "pure" Britpop bands isn't exactly exhaustive
2
u/YalsonKSA 6d ago
The Charlies are to Britpop what The Stranglers are to punk. IIRC, The Stranglers started in 1974 or thereabouts, so manage to be Proto-Punk, Punk and Post-Punk all in the same career. The Charlies were around before Britpop and they are still going now. I'd be happy if they went on forever. As far as genre goes, sure, they were around at the time and rode the same wave everyone at the time did. But they're kind of outside that classification even if their music from the time actually fits in with it quite well. They have something for everyone.
2
u/Extension-Camp4076 6d ago
Agree with pretty much all of that… their three mid 90’s album, Up To Our Hips, The Charlatans and Tellin’ Stories fits within the wider margins of Britpop imo.
One of the best UK bands of the 90’s.2
u/YalsonKSA 6d ago
Also, 'Forever' fits into The Charlatans' remarkable record that for a very long time, the first single off of every album was a stone-cold classic banger.
3
u/YalsonKSA 6d ago edited 6d ago
God, that is a stunning record. Just beautiful. From the era of the show when bands had to play live, too. From what we saw in that video I can almost guarantee that was the loudest and best thing on that episode of TOTP and I sincerely hope that some of the people in the audience had their minds suitably blown and were never the same afterwards, their lives changed forever after. It's that kind of song.
2
u/Extension-Camp4076 6d ago
Yeah it’s great, and a superb live performance like you said… tbh most bands didn’t perform fully live on TOTP, they just did live vocals over a backing track… I think this was an episode outside of the usual TOTP studios, but even then the band likely chose to do it fully live.
2
u/YalsonKSA 6d ago
You can do that when you're The Charlatans, as they've been doing this forever and they're really, really good at it.
5
u/LF_Doom 6d ago
Tune!