Pulp's 'Common People' named best Britpop anthem, plus 20 tracks you'd probably forgotten

Because there's more to Britpop - celebrating its 20th anniversary this year - than Blur and Oasis

Monday 14 April 2014 16:53 BST

Singer Jarvis Cocker of Pulp performs onstage during the 2012 Coachella Festival on April 13, 2012 in Indio, California. (Getty Images)

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Pulp’s “Common People” has been named the top Britpop anthem in a recent poll, beating classics such as “Wonderwall” by Oasis and “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve.

More than 30,000 listeners voted for the song that best defined the Britpop era in a survey by BBC Radio 6 Music to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the genre’s Nineties peak this year.

Jarvis Cocker’s band won for their 1995 number two single, the words to which most music fans, regardless of age, know off by heart.

“It is one of the defining records of Britpop because it seemed to embrace the essence of the time so perfectly,” DJ Steve Lamacq said of the result. “It seemed to sum up a feeling of ‘us and them’, as if to illustrate how the indie mavericks had taken on the pop stars and – for once – they’d won.”

Nick Banks from Pulp likely won’t agree though. The drummer told BBC 5Live Breakfast last week that, at first, he thought “Common People” sounded like “a bit of a tuneless dirge” and frankly a “load of rubbish”.

Other bands in the poll included festival favourites Oasis, Blur, Suede and Ash, while “Slight Return” by The Bluetones and “Wide Open Space” by Mansun also won mentions in 8th and 14th place respectively.

As the latter two entries reveal, it is some of the lesser known tracks that spoke loudest of the Britpop movement.