Although Justine Frischmann was kicked out of Suede, she hardly remained idle and went on to form the band Elastica with another early line up Suede member, Justin Welch. The band released their first single "Stutter" in 1993 and eventually led 1995 with their record-breaking debut album Elastica.
Here is the discography surrounding Elastica's debut album:
Stutter (1993 single)
Line Up (1994 single)
Connection (1994 single)
Rockslide Live 1994 (1994 live bootleg)
Weekend Swingers (1994 live compilation)
Waking Up (1995 single) Elastica
Car Song (1996 single)
Justine Frischmann and Brett Anderson dated for a time while attending University College London. They also co-founded the band Suede with friend Mat Osman. The relationship between the two didn't last, but the band did though it struggled early on to garner much attention from record labels. Their "unclassifiable" sound neither fit with the popular UK Madchester scene or the burgeoning US grunge scene. While the band was floundering, Justine started dating Blur frontman Damon Albarn. According to Brett, she started missing practices and annoying band mates with her experiences with the more successful band. Pushed to the end of his patience, Brett kicked Justine out of the band.
After the event, things finally started to go right for Suede. Most importantly, their live performances garnered media attention; so much so that Melody Maker featured them as "The Best New Band in Britain". This pronouncement coincided with Suede's signing with Nude Records in early 1992. Suede's sound even found classification as it kicked off the UK Britpop movement, solidified with the release of their debut album Suede in 1993.
Here is the discography surrounding Suede's debut album:
Action Man (1984 compilation song by Dead to the World)
Be My God (1991 single)
1991 Demo (1991 demo)
1991 November Demo (1991 demo)
1992 Demo (1992 demo)
The Drowners (1992 single)
Metal Mickey (1992 single)
Animal Nitrate (1993 single) Suede
Live at the Leadmill (1993 live bootleg)
Brixton Academy 1993 (1993 live bootleg)
So Young (1993 single)
Glastonbury Festival 1993 (1993 live bootleg)
Stephen Street is a producer known for helping bands perfect their sound and getting that sound ready for popular radio play. After hearing Blur's debut single "She's So High" in 1990, Street sought out Blur's manager and the chance to produce them. Blur's debut album Leisure was mostly finished by then, but Street got to work on the band's second single "There's No Other Way". The song peaked at 8 on the charts (the best of their debut work) and shook up UK media interest in the band. Street would continue to work with Blur and other bands like Ireland's The Cranberries.
Here is the discography surrounding Blur's debut album:
She's So High (1990 single)
There's No Other Way (1991 single)
Bang (1991 single)
Focusing in With Blur (1991 interview album) Leisure
High Cool/Bad Day (1991 single)
Mindwarp Mutations (1992 remix album)
Blur-ti-go (1992 remix album)
Popscene (1992 single)
The Wassailing song (1992 single)
Although Valerie Phillips is primarily a fashion photographer and art exhibitor, her freelance work has lead her to photograph for album covers including work on Amy Winehouse's debut. Her work also featured as the cover of The Cranberries's second single "Linger" nearly a decade earlier.
The Cranberries began as The Cranberry Saw Us in Limerick, Ireland with brothers Noel and Michael Hogan in 1989. Noel played guitar; Michael: bass; Fergal Lawler manned the drums; and Niall Quinn provided the vocals. In these early days, Quinn would provide the bulk of the songwriting with some input from Noel. The founding four didn't last any longer than a year and a demo as Quinn stepped out of the group, leaving the band without a voice. The remaining three put out an advertisement for a replacement and quickly found Dolores O'Riordan. She not only won the lead vocalist position but also quickly cemented her position as a leader of the group by supplying the band with much needed songwriting skills.
The group recorded new demos with Dolores and caught the attention of Xeric Studios founder Pearse Gilmore, who signed on as the group's manager and producer. Under his unsteady guidance, the group recorded a couple of demos, changed their name to The Cranberries, and released their first EP Uncertain in 1991. After what was supposed to be the sessions for their debut album fell through, the group fired Gilmore and replaced him with manager Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records. Travis set the group back to recording in Dublin, this time with producer Stephen Street who had previously worked with The Smiths and Morrissey (solo).
There was no bang out of the gate for The Cranberries. Both their singles ("Dreams", "Linger") and their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? charted poorly in 1993. Touring with Suede helped their commercial momentum until they caught the broadcasting eye of MTV. The band blew up and had their album and singles re-released to meet the hype. The album reentered the UK charts at #1 (previously #74) and did nearly as well in the US after an extended tour in Europe and North America.
The Cranberries sound was that of a "synthesis" though it was an overall formula for a dreamy guitar pop. Neil Hogan's deft compositions and Street's ear-catching production mixed jangly guitars and string arrangements with electronic sensibility to provide a familiar pop foundation. But O'Riordan's Irish lilt in her vocals helped give the band a folk tinge and a defining sound that caught on with audiences. By the end of 1993, The Cranberries had slowly emerged as one of the world's most promising young bands. They were hopeful and simple in their lyrics and, as 1994 roles around, ready to reach new heights and take themselves a little more seriously.
Here is the discography surrounding The Cranberries's debut album:
Anything (1990 demo as The Cranberry Saw Us)
Water Circle (1990 demo as The Cranberry Saw Us)
Nothing Left at All (1990 demo as The Cranberry Saw Us)
Xeric Records Demos (1991 demo)
Uncertain (1991 EP)
Dreams (1992 single)
Linger (1993 single) Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
"Dreams" by The Cranberries
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
Ms. Dynamite worked closely with several producers in getting her debut album ready, one of them being Hip Hop DJ and songwriter Salaam Remi. He helped give several hit singles their R&B tastes until he stumbled upon a creative partnership with jazz chanteuse Amy Winehouse.
Amy was a stand out performer in her teens and garnered the music industry's attention at the age of 18 in the newly minted millennium. Not only did her talents spark a bidding war as a non-pop performer amongst major labels, but they also sparked her management (a managing company headed by Simon Fuller, creator of the Idol franchise) to keep her a company secret as they began to build her image and the tracks to her debut. Universal won Amy's publishing rights and released her debut single "Stronger Than Me" in the waning days of 2003. The single performed poorly, hitting the wrong side of the UK Top 40. In fact, the three other singles from her debut, released throughout 2004, performed no better than 57 on the UK charts. The success of her debut, however, bolstered her under-performing singles. Frank, released at the end of 2003, peaked at #3 after a slow start in the UK and performed just as well in other countries. The album would earn itself a triple platinum sales figure.
Critically, Frank met with critical acclaim. Amy's sincere talent and unique qualities followed the populist trend against label-fabricated singers and boy/girl groups. Critics fell in love with her voice, her songwriting, and her look. All of these elements took cues from her female predecessors (Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Ronnie Spector, Erykah Badu, and even Ms. Dynamite), but she effortlessly transcended these influences falling somewhere in between them all but standing just as tall as the rest. Her critical acclaim led to music prizes such as the Ivor Novello for songwriting, BRIT Awards for popularity (basically), and a shortlisting for the 2004 Mercury Prize. Frank played a strong debut from a talented singer and set off a promising start to what would become a tragic career.
Here is the discography surrounding Amy Winehouse's debut album:
Stronger Than Me (2003 single) Frank
Take the Box (2004 single)
In My Box (2004 single)
Sessions@AOL (2004 Live EP)
Pumps (2004 single)
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
The Streets hit both a wave of critical and commercial popularity that resulted in its shortlisting for the 2002 Mercury Prize (an award given to the "best" album from the UK and Ireland). That particular year's award is notable for the number of debut album's nominated. The Bees, The Coral, and The Electric Soft Parade were a few of the bands celebrated, but the award went to A Little Deeper, the debut album of British hip-hob/R&B artist Ms. Dynamite.
Ms. Dynamite started as a featured artist working with British garage acts DJ Sticky and So Solid Crew in 2001. This didn't last long as her talents quickly attracted the notice of Polydor Records. As soon as 2002, she released three singles (with two in the UK Top 10 and all three in the Top 20) and her debut album (which peaked at 10, going platinum).
The album features tight production and carefully mixes in Dynamite's hard raps with her smooth R&B vocals. There is a sociopolitical and feminist consciousness to her lyrics. She raps about growing up in British ghettos, refraining from abusing drugs, and breaking off bad relationships with abusive others (no matter the situation). She drops single lines about African blood diamonds and lightly touches on racist attitudes, but she does tone down the politics on her softer songs. The album, essentially, begins with urgent messages and calls to action and moves inward to more personal songs. It starts hard and fast and ends softly. A Little Deeper garnered favorable reviews with its greatest praise coming in the form of the Mercury Prize.
Here is the discography surrounding Ms. Dynamite's debut album:
It Takes More (2002 single) A Little Deeper
Dy-Na-Mi-Tee (2002 single)
Put Him Out (2002 single)
"Dy-Na-Mi-Tee" by Ms. Dynamite
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
The Earlies might have had the benefit of their own record label but distribution rights were held by a larger label group. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group and founded by Nick Worthington, 679 Recordings dealt with the promotion and release of both UK and American artists (or both such as The Earlies) throughout England. Started in 2001, the label jolted out of the gate with the release of the platinum-selling record Original Pirate Material by The Streets in 2002.
Mike Skinner is The Streets, a moniker for his musical output since 1994. There have been musicians he's collaborated with such as the mysterious Johnny Drum Machine and rapper Kevin Mark Trail, but the output is creatively and personally his. He's a rapper from UK's garage movement: simple garage beats, simple samples, and raps with all the imagery of English youth. With a typical rapper's bravado, he boasts in his lyrics about how far he's pushing the UK hip hop scene forward with only a limited palette and a bedroom studio. In fact, he spends the first four songs of his debut promoting exactly how tall his album stands next to those of his peers. The rest of the songs are stories.
The Streets's debut single came out in late 2001 peaking at #18 on the UK charts. A good start, he followed his success up with three more singles in 2002. None charted higher than his first, but none charted lower than #30. Amidst the singles came his debut album Original Pirate Material. It opened to critical acclaim and eventually found itself amongst the "best" albums of the decade. Critics fawned over the album's garage mixes, production value, and embarrassingly honest and humorous raps about English club life, love life, and drug life. There can be a lot said about how "English" The Streets music is. The same has been said about The Kinks, The Jam, and Blur: all English bands that had trouble hitting a chord with American audiences because their subject matter is entirely foreign. Still, Mike Skinner's songs are deeply personal and are imbued with a pathos that refuses to take itself too seriously and a positivity that makes Skinner and the listener "push things forward".
Here is the discography surrounding The Streets's debut album:
Has It Come to this? (2001 single)
Let's Push Things Forward (2002 single) Original Pirate Material
Weak Become Heroes (2002 single)
Don't Mug Yourself (2002 single)
All Got Our Runnins (2003 EP)
"Don't Mug Yourself" by The Streets
"Stay Positive" by The Streets
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
