Rockpedia

Compare

Two genres, side by side. The ratings are editorial judgements on a ten-point scale, not measurements. Where they come out level, the difference is in the prose underneath them.

First genre

Beat / British Invasion1963

Second genre

Britpop1993

Head to headBeat / British Invasion vs Britpop
Beat / British Invasion: heaviness 2, melody 10, speed 5. Britpop: heaviness 3, melody 10, speed 5.Heaviness2 / 3Melody10 / 10Speed5 / 5
Each corner is a ten-point rating. The further out, the higher.

The difference, by ear

Britpop is a deliberate revival of exactly this - the guitar tones, the harmony and the Englishness - thirty years later.

Both are sung cleanly and move at much the same pace, around 110 to 160 bpm. To hear the difference, play The Beatles next to Oasis. They share a root in rock, and Beat / British Invasion came first, by 30 years.

Put together from each genre's vocals, tempo, song length, key acts and place in the tree.

In figures

Heaviness
Beat / British Invasion2
Britpop3
+1
Speed
Beat / British Invasion5
Britpop5
level
Melody
Beat / British Invasion10
Britpop10
level

Beat / British Invasion

1963 · Liverpool, UK

Where it sits

Rock › Rock and roll › Beat / British Invasion

In short

The British took American rock and roll, added vocal harmony and shipped it back across the Atlantic. Both hard rock and pop-rock start here.

How it sounds

  • Two- and three-part vocal harmony borrowed from American girl groups and doo-wop.
  • Twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar with a clean, chiming tone.
  • Short songs, near-perfect pop structures, almost no improvisation.

Key acts

  • The Beatles
  • The Kinks
  • The Who
  • The Animals

Start here

The pickThe Kinks - You Really Got Me. The first genuinely distorted riff on record.

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Britpop

1993 · United Kingdom

Where it sits

Rock › Alternative rock › Britpop

In short

Britain answers grunge with Beatles-and-Kinks melody and lyrics about ordinary English life.

How it sounds

  • Beatles and Kinks melodic writing inside classic British pop structures.
  • Clean or lightly distorted guitars, organ, occasionally strings.
  • Deliberately marked British accents and lyrics about ordinary life.

Key acts

  • Oasis
  • Blur
  • Pulp
  • Suede

Start here

The pickPulp - Different Class. The decade's best lyrics, and it isn't close.

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