Baggy
From Freepedia
Baggy was a British music scene popular in the early 1990's. The scene was extremely influenced by Madchester, although the scene was not geographically local to Manchester as was its predecessor. Baggy was characterised by psychedelia & acid house influenced guitar music, often with a "funky drummer" beat similar to the work of the Happy Mondays or the Stone Roses. For a time many bands were said to be "London's answer to the Happy Mondays" or similar. The scene was named after the loose-fitting clothing worn by the bands and fans of the genre.
Some bands such as the Mock Turtles and The Soup Dragons completely reinvented their sound and look to fit in with the new scene and had appropriate success afterwards. This led some critics to accuse baggy bands of bandwagon-jumping and derivative songwriting. Indeed many bands such as Candy Flip could be said to have little musical value outside the fashions of the scene.
Bands included in the baggy scene were:
- Blur
- The Charlatans
- My Jealous God
- Flowered Up
- The High
- 5:30
- Paris Angels
- Northside
- Spirea X
- The Mock Turtles (re-invented)
- The Real People
- Rain (later to be Oasis) NB. Common misconception - not correct.
- 25th May
- Top
- The Stairs
- Candyskins
- Candyland
- The Dylans
- The Soup Dragons
- Jesus Jones
- Smalltown Parade
- Ocean Colour Scene Prior to being Paul Weller's backing band.
It can be argued that The Farm rode the crest of this wave and could be said to be a perfect example of the genre.
Many Madchester bands could also be described as Baggy and vice versa.
Some Baggy bands disappeared after the scene was no longer popular but some evolved into solid indie rock bands who remained popular throughout the 1990's. For these Britpop was yet another chance for success. The Charlatans and Blur are good examples of ex Baggy bands who retained their popularity, although little trace of the Baggy sound and look remained.
