The Last Party

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'The loveliest – and certainly the most human – book about pop music I've ever read … A delightful and humane soap opera, a real page-turner, full of rounded and entirely recognisable characters.' — Jon Ronson, Daily Telegraph Beginning in 1994 and closing in the first months of 1998, the UK passed through a cultural moment as distinct and as celebrated as any since the war. Founded on rock music, celebrity, boom-time economics and fleeting political optimism – this was 'Cool Britannia'. Records sold in their millions, a new celebrity elite emerged and Tony Blair's Labour Party found itself, at long last, returned to government. Drawing on interviews from all the major bands – including Oasis, Blur, Elastica and Suede – from music journalists, record executives and those close to government, this book charts the rise and fall of the Britpop movement. The author argues that the high point of British music's cultural impact also signalled its effective demise – if rock stars were now friends of the government, then how could they continue to matter? There were an astonishing 2.6 million ticket applications for the Oasis gig at Knebworth in 1996. One in 24 of the British public wanted to see them play. In the end the band played to 250,000 fans across two nights with a guest list that ran to 7,000. Oasis's debut album went straight to No. 1, selling 100,000 copies in four days. By 1997 Creation Records announced a turnover of £36 million thanks almost entirely to one band: Oasis.