Subst1mce's Blog

WIP

Entry 1: Englishness in Pop

  • Introduction
  • The Kinks
  • The Jam
  • XTC
  • The Smiths
  • Britpop: Blur, Pulp and Suede
  • What now?
  • Introduction

    In early March 2024, I paid a visit to a music shop in the centre of town that I get the vast majority of my CDs from. Its a quiet and rather unassuming second-hand record shop on a street corner next to a cafe, with CDs displayed on the ground floor, and vinyl in the basement. After combing through the CDs for a while, I happened across a singles compilation by a band that I'd been listening to a great deal in the weeks before - Saint Etienne, a 3-piece indie dance band originating from the Home Counties. Satisfied, I bought it, and went on my way. It was not until an hour or so later, when my friend and I were sat at a bus stop, that I actually bothered looking properly at the CD. The tracklist was rather unusually emblazoned on the front, leaving the back free for a summary of the band, written by the journalist Julie Burchill. It opens with a sentence that still intrigues me, several months later; 'The spirit of St Etienne resides in several select sites and states of mind'. My friend, who was by that point peering over my shoulder, skimmed her eyes along the text, before stopping to read one phrase out loud: 'the sheer heart-stopping unimpeachable joy of waking up in the morning and still being English'. We giggled, in part because of how wonderfully phrased the sentence was, and in part because of how absurd it seemed after fourteen years of neglect by the Conservative government. I kept turning this over in my mind, pondering on one question in particular: How exactly does one be quintessentially English in pop?

    I have always found the idea of being quitessentially English very interesting. I myself have been described as such, although likely due to my rather odd mannerisms, that seem more like that of a long-retired pensioner, rather than those of a young man. In a way I suppose I do find comfort in the concept, not in a vulgar nationalist-I-want-my-country-back-England-for-the-English-57-year-old-EDL-member-who-hits-his-wife kind of way, but in the sense that I enjoy the idea of roast beef on a Sunday and afternoon tea and quiet lanes. I don't suppose I would ever want to live anywhere else, as awful and insufferable as it is. Heaven knows I am just as likely as anyone else to complain about the near-constant rain, the detestable government, having to put up with gammons complaining constantly about trans people and immigrants, the ridiculously outdated monarchy, and, perhaps worst of all, Harry Styles *shudder*. But still, I do feel very English, and, at times, I find a lot of what is considered to be 'quintessentially English' to be very enjoyable and nostalgic. This, of course, includes music. During this... post? article? rant? incomprehensible wall of text?, I shall discuss a handful of examples of quintessentially English bands, all of which I thoroughly enjoy (well, I wouldn't very well devote hours of my life to discussing Queen, would I?), and some of which have been fundamentally important to my development as a teenager. So, without further a-do, let us begin.