Magazine


Ocean Colour Scene


22/12/2006

EVER since Britpop dissolved in a rubble of hype and empty bluster in the mid-Nineties, it's become de rigeur for all the bands involved to firmly dissociate themselves from it.

To their credit, Ocean Colour Scene - although often tarred with the Britpop brush - were never really part of that whole silly business to begin with.

If anything, they pre-dated Britpop. Formed in 1991 and hailing from Birmingham, they were always a band who prided themselves on their old-school R&B, Mod, soul roots.

It was only the celebrity endorsements of Noel Gallagher, Chris Evans and radio-friendly anthems like The Riverboat Song which elevated them as Britpop kings of ``Dadrock''.

From then on, Ocean Colour Scene became indelibly associated with notions of mid-Nineties, philistine, vulgar laddism - ironic when you consider their frontman Simon Fowler is an out and proud homosexual.

In a way, Ocean Colour Scene have never really recovered from their Britpop connections - especially with the press.

The Sun newspaper even tried to stitch up Fowler by outing him in a stupid, salacious scandal.

But when your close pal and mentor is Paul Weller (OCS's guitarist Steve Craddock also plays guitar in Weller's band), you clearly learn a thing about survival against media warfare.

Hence, why now, even in 2006, Ocean Colour Scene can still command a fairly large audience, their fans seduced by a mix of nostalgia and bloke-ish loyalty.

For some, it seems, ```Dadrock'' will always be seen as a compliment rather than an insult.

DAVID SUE


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