Supergrass

Supergrass formed in Oxford in 1993, Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn, and Danny Goffey barely out of school when they signed to Parlophone and began recording their debut. The energy was immediate and infectious — a combination of Beatles melody, punk speed, and a genuine sense of fun that set them apart from the more earnest end of Britpop.

'I Should Coco' (1995) was one of the great debut albums of the decade. 'Alright' became the sound of that summer — a song so perfectly calibrated to evoke carefree youth that it has never quite escaped its own success. But the album was full of other pleasures: 'Caught by the Fuzz', 'Mansize Rooster', 'Lenny' — a band operating at full throttle from the first track.

'In It for the Money' (1997) was the more ambitious follow-up — darker, more psychedelic, and considerably more complex than the debut. It showed a band determined not to be defined by 'Alright'. 'Richard III', 'Sun Hits the Sky', and the extraordinary title track demonstrated a songwriting range that their contemporaries rarely matched.

The self-titled third album (1999) and 'Life on Other Planets' (2002) continued to develop the sound, but Supergrass never quite achieved the commercial recognition their talent deserved. They split in 2010, reunited in 2019, and have continued to tour to audiences who remember exactly why they mattered. Coombes's solo career has also produced some of the most interesting British rock music of recent years.