Get British! (Cheers For Your Ears)

The following is a mixtape made up of some my favourite bands that not only hail from Great Britain but may inspire the listener to speak the Queen’s English and long for a plate of bangers and mash; the music will conjure images of blokes in up turned wool coats smoking fags in a pervasive drizzle that falls from a doggedly overcast sky.

You may or may not have ever heard of these bands but the fact remains that the British Invasion of the American musical landscape the Beatles initiated some fifty-odd years ago, never ended. The main difference today is that it is no longer a full frontal assault but a discreet, covert operation.

In some ways this is better as the music remains more pure than the distilled, watered-down muck permeating American radio stations and purported “music video” cable channels.

And while I don’t posit that British bands have by any means been ignored or haven’t had success, I do feel there are a great many bands that lack the exposure or attention their peers (Radiohead, Oasis, Muse, Keane, Snow Patrol, Arctic Monkeys, etc.) have been showered with. Let us celebrate those “smaller” groups. 

Behold! This is the quiet fury of contemporary British music from the last twenty years. Get your pints ready, mates.

Black And White Town   Doves   Some Cities        2005

Shake Those Windows  Athlete   Vehicles & Animals        2003

Just Looking       Stereophonics   Performance and Cocktails          1999

An Audience With The Pope       Elbow    The Seldom Seen Kid     2008

Modern Way     Kaiser Chiefs      Employment      2005

Death of a Party               Blur        Blur        1997

A Design For Life              Manic Street Preachers Everything Must Go        1996

Common People              Pulp       Different Class  1995

Driftwood           Travis    The Man Who   1999

Laid        James   Laid        1993

Where Did All The Love Go?        Kasabian              The West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum  2009

Infra-Red             Placebo                Meds    2006

Golden Touch    Razorlight            Up All Night [Vertigo Bonus Tracks]         2005

Shine On              The Kooks           Konk      2008

Dreaming Of You              The Coral             The Coral             2002

I Know I`ll Never Leave  The Zutons         Tired Of Hanging Around              2006

Geraldine           Glasvegas            Glasvegas (Deluxe Edition)          2008

Men`s Needs     The Cribs             Men`s Needs, Women`s Needs, Wh       2007

For the Girl         The Fratellis        Costello Music   2006

Golden Skans    Klaxons                Myths Of The Near Future           2007