The best I can offer in apology is this gem from Blur. Yes, it's a single, but an oft overlooked one from their debut album, Leisure. Everything about this song screams 'britpop'. The psychedelic-infused jangly guitar riffs (a la The Stone Roses) create a lush dreamscape where plenty of 'drugs, sex and rock n' roll' are to be had on the slightest whim. Unfortunately, even in this land o' plenty, there is still the girl you can't have.
It's under arching themes like this that always elevated Blur above their small picture-obsessed contemporaries. Most britpop groups, like Oasis and Pulp, wrote for pub crawlers and soccer hooligans, championing the geezers and celebrating the debauchery and lowlights of the Manchester scene. Blur instead wrote for the collegiate set. The band churned out tunes parodying the American grunge scene, the Americanization of Britain and the plastic pleasures of the modern world. This is perhaps why when most britpop groups struggled to make an impression on the American music scene, Blur managed to create a strong cult fanbase in the states that persists to this day. Most American college kids probably couldn't care less about vague promises of "living forever" or starting the day off with a snort of coke. What they did connect with was a drug-addled take on unrequited love.
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