Well, the old days are certainly ending with a vengeance.
Supergrass, the crazy teenage wild things of that gorgeous Golden summer of Britpop, 15 years ago, have split up.
It’s fairly fresh news- so fresh that at the time I post this, the split isn’t even mentioned on their website, and, well, it’s not entirely expected. After all, eventually bands like them fade from sight, and you stop hearing about them. There’ll be a lot of people going ‘really? they were still going?’ at the news. That’s just the way of things- no band lasts forever. A slow slide into obscurity is pretty much inevitable, after the first flush of youth and success, unless you’re Aerosmith or U2 or someone.
So let’s remember Supergrass as they where when they began; a riot of energy, colour, noise, fury and excitement. I saw them in 1994 at the Apollo Theatre in Oxford, part of a dream line-up of Oxford bands including the Mystics (anyone? No? Ah, well), and a truly fantastic Radiohead, who were still only successful because of Creep, but had a whole bunch of amazing new songs that no-one had heard but were to make up The Bends. That in itself was the stuff of legends, let me tell you.
Back to Supergrass, though. The thing that struck you about them was that there was so much energy coming off that stage, and at the same time, a sort of sun-drenched tiredness that seemed really esoteric- it wasn’t aggressive, or confrontational, it was simply happy, joyous and full of life. They were a little subtler than your average thrashy punk band, too. Here’s an example, ‘She’s so Loose’ from Glastonbury Festival a year after that:
They were fantastic, and a lot better than that shit novelty hit ‘Alright’ which was a bit like ‘Country House’ for Blur, a caricature version of the band that someone could use to shove them into the public consciousness. Supergrass always rocked a bit harder than that.
As time went on, the inevitable happened- they mellowed, their songs got a bit looser, a little slower, and they carried on. People would go see them to feel like they were young again, to recapture the spirit of long ago.
And maybe that’s part of why I’m not surprised to see them split up. Eventually, things change, the old gang suddenly have mortgages and don’t live down the end of the road any more. Supergrass will always be there, back in 1994, jumping around that stage and rocking like only teenagers can.
And anyway, at least we’ve still got Ash.
Shit, did I just jinx them? Please God, don’t you DARE take Ash next…
