Podcast Corner: Ibiza v Britpop - choose your team on BBC Sounds
Current series on BBC Sounds include Ibiza: What's The Big Deal? and The Rise and Fall of Britpop.
BBC Sounds is making you choose sides this summer: Rave or Britpop? Ibiza or Manchester? In one corner, Ibiza: What's The Big Deal? In the other corner, The Rise and Fall of Britpop. Both offer eight episodes of 15-20 minutes in length, and both feature some great tunes to either take you back or at least take you away.
The Ibiza series is presented by BBC Radio 1 DJ Sarah Stack, who’s played the biggest clubs in Ibiza and is eager to get across what a big deal it is. In her introduction, she says Ibiza is a place where anything can happen, a pilgrimage for dance music lovers, a hedonist paradise, and a playground for the rich and famous.
Ultimately, yes, it all basically comes down to drink, drugs, and being able to party all night long and then lounge about recovering on the beach all day long. But there’s some good stories along the way, like how Fatboy Slim and Zoe Ball got together - her hosting the Radio 1 breakfast show at the time didn’t quite work out with his schedule - while David Guetta can’t resist the opportunity to promote himself.
Rave seems to be having a moment in summer 2023, with the release of books by Kirk Field (Rave New World) and Ed Gillett’s Party Lines: Dance Music and the Making of Modern Britain. It’s something BBC Sounds podcasts have done already - check out their 2020 series Ecstasy, The Battle Of Rave for another, well, hedonistic, fun experience.
Britpop also seems to be getting more attention this summer, but maybe that’s because we’ve just finished David Cavanagh’s brilliant reissue, The Creation Records Story. Not to spoil it, but Oasis come to dominate the storyline for its final 200 or so pages, much like it dominated Creation and British music in the mid-90s. Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley presented what they themselves call a “legendary” radio show, The Evening Sessions, back then, crossing paths with the likes of the Gallaghers, Chris Evans, and Spice Girls.
They’ve joined forces again for The Rise and Fall of Britpop podcast. There’s Blur vs Oasis, the rise of lad culture (the music magazine Select’s ‘sex issue’ is lamentable), a thesis that Pulp came to represent the highs and lows of Britpop more than any other band, and, of course, the downfall. Let’s hope it doesn’t herald Cool Britannia 2.0.
One more BBC Sounds podcast worth seeking out this week is The First Time With…, Matt Everitt’s show, which interviewed Sinead O’Connor in 2012, talking about her musical milestones. An hour long, you’ll revel in her company. RIP.
