The Last Party: Britpop, Blair and the Demise of English Rock

John Harris’s The Last Party is a detailed and absorbing history of the 1990s Britpop music scene. Harris knows his subject extremely well and has done an impressive amount of research into the genre, one that traces its influences back to the 1970s and 1980s (and especially David Bowie and The Smiths) before taking off initially with Suede and later with Blur, Oasis and Pulp. The book focuses a little too much on gossipy personal details (e.g., the Justine Frischmann/Damon Albarn/Brett Anderson love triangle is a recurring theme) but this is otherwise a very well-written history of an essential part of 1990s British culture.