“英式摇滚”运动

It was the mid-90s, the age of Britpop. On the week starting August 14th 1995, two rival bands, Oasis and Blur,went toe to toe in a race to the top of the UK singles chart. Both bands released their singles on the same day.On the one hand was Roll With It from northern working-class heroes Oasis. On the other, arty middle-class southerners Blur, with Country House. The battle was compared to the rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones back in the 1960s.

There was a media frenzy - every commentator in the country felt compelled to express an opinion on the Britpop phenomenon. For teenagers nationwide, almost everyone fell into one of the two camps - you could be Oasis or Blur but not both. The event caught the public's imagination and gained mass media attention, even featuring on the BBC News.

那是在20世纪90年代中期――“英式摇滚”的年代。两支相互竞争的乐队――“绿洲乐队”和“污点乐队”，从1995年8月14日起，展开了一个礼拜的近身战，争夺英国单曲排行榜的冠军位置。这两支乐队在同一天双双发行了他们的单曲。一边是由来自北部的工人阶层的英雄人物“绿洲乐队”推出的《随它去吧》。另一边是由来自中产阶级、玩艺术的南方人“污点乐队”推出的《村舍》。这场争夺曾被拿来与“甲壳虫乐队”与“滚石乐队”此前在20世纪60年代展开的那场竞争相提并论。

而媒体也出现了狂热――每个评论员都感到有必要针对这个“英式摇滚”现象发表看法。对于全国范围内的青少年来说，几乎每个人都分归到两大阵营的其中之一――你可以是“绿洲乐队”派或是“污点乐队”派，但不能两者都占。这次事件勾起了公众的兴趣，赢得了大众媒体的关注，甚至还登上了英国广播公司的新闻。

What is Britpop?

Britpop is a British alternative rock movement from the mid 90s, characterised by the appearance of bands who borrowed many influences from 60s and 70s while creating big and catchy hooks, as well as the glamour of earlier pop stardom and the sense that they were creating the soundtrack to the lives of a new generation of British youth. The movement was as much about British pride (as the country's quality of life improved from the 80s), media hype and imagery as it was about the particular style of music. Suede, whose debut album came out in 1993, was the first of the new crop of guitar-oriented bands to be completely embraced by the UK music media as Britain's answer to Seattle's grunge sound.

In April 1993, Select magazine helped spark the upswing in British pride by featuring Suede's lead singer Brett Anderson on the cover with a Union Jack in the background and the words "Yanks go home!". In 1994 and 1995 other Britpop and similar style acts started to appear - as well as Blur and Oasis, there were Elastica, Radiohead, the Verve, Supergrass, Pulp, Cast, Black Grape and more. Some of them were new, others already established acts who benefited from association with the movement.

The Contest

Blur were at the top of their game. Parklife was the unofficial Britpop national anthem and the band were set to release Country House, the first single from their forthcoming album, The Great Escape. Oasis were the upstarts, only one album - Definitely Maybe - behind them, with something called (What's The Story) Morning Glory? on the horizon. No one knew then what a big seller that album was destined to be.

In the end, it was Blur - led by singer Damon Albarn - who were victorious. Country House finished the week at number 1, selling 274,000 copies. Roll With It was number 2, on 216,000.

"What a strange cul-de-sac of pop Country House was," said Blur bassist Alex James in an interview years later. "Musically it was a really unusual pop record. It wasn't our coolest record, but maybe that tells you something about number ones. The coolest ones never get to No 1."

Who Won in the End?

While Blur may have won the battle, by the end of the year Oasis seemed to have won the war. Britpop was now massively in the public consciousness, but Blur had already probably reached the limits of their success. They were a rather complex, not very populist group. Oasis received a huge publicity boost from the battle and could now bring their uncomplicated pop-rock to a much wider audience. By the end of 1995, the Oasis album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? sold many more copies than Blur's The Great Escape. Blur may have come out ahead in the very long term, though - while Oasis are still playing the same stuff today, Blur continue to be popular because their music has changed over the years, incorporating new styles and influences.

"Nobody really realises this," says Alan McGee, then president of Creation Records, "but at that point, Blur were three times bigger than Oasis. Oasis may well never have wanted to admit that to themselves, but Definitely Maybe was at around 600,000 and Parklife had sold something like 1.5 to 2m copies. They were miles past us. And Damon Albarn, in his bizarreness, decided he was going to have it with these lunatics from Manchester, thinking it was going to be all jolly hockey sticks. And of course, that meant that the spotlight was on Oasis and it brought them up to a new level. In that sense, he probably did Oasis the biggest favour ever."

何为“英式摇滚”？

“英式摇滚”是始于20世纪90年代中期的一场英国另类摇滚运动，以一些乐队的出现为特征，这些乐队在创作张扬且易于记忆的歌曲高潮部分之时借鉴了许多60和70年代的元素，并借鉴了先前的流行摇滚明星的魅力表现以及理念，即他们是在为新一代英国青年的生活创造相应的音乐。这场运动对英国民族自豪感（因为该国的生活质量自80年代起得到了改善）、媒体炒作和形象包装的涉及程度，与对于此类音乐的涉及程度是一样的多。而首张专辑于1993年问世的“山羊皮乐队”，在新的一批以吉他为主导的乐队中是第一支受到英国音乐媒体完全认可的乐队，被当作是英国对西雅图“垃圾乐”做出的回应。

1993年4月，《选择》杂志将“山羊皮乐队”的主唱布雷特・安德森放在了封面上，背景是一面英国国旗，附带着“美国佬回家去”的字句，由此协助激起了英国民族自豪感的高涨。1994年和1995年，其他的“英式摇滚”和类似风格的乐队开始出现――除了“污点乐队”和“绿洲乐队”以外，还有“橡皮筋乐队”、“电台司令乐队”、“神韵乐队”、“超级青草乐队”、“纸浆乐队”、“卡斯特乐队”、“黑葡萄乐队”，等等。其中有一些是新乐队，而余下的则是已经小有名气、因与这场运动产生联系而获益的乐队。

争夺之战

“污点乐队”当时处于其事业的巅峰。《公园生活》成为了民间“英式摇滚”风格的国歌，而且这支乐队即将发行《村舍》――其即将推出的专辑《大逃亡》中的首支单曲。而“绿洲乐队”则是新锐，本身只出过一张专辑――《似是而非》，还有一个叫做《（怎么了）清晨荣耀？》的专辑刚刚露出端倪。当时没有人想到那张专辑将注定成为一张极其畅销的作品。

最后，由戴蒙・阿尔班统领的“污点乐队”成为了胜出者。《村舍》在那个礼拜结束时排在了第一位，卖出了27.4万张。而《随它去吧》以21.6万张的成绩排在了第二位。

“《村舍》是一个奇特的、空前绝后的流行摇滚作品，”在数年后的一次采访中“污点乐队”的贝斯手亚历克斯・詹姆斯说，“在音乐方面，它确实是一张不同寻常的流行摇滚唱片。它不是我们最酷的唱片，不过那也许让你对冠军单曲是什么有了一定的了解。最酷的永远成不了第一。”

谁是真正的赢家

虽然“污点乐队”可能已经赢得了那场争夺，但“绿洲乐队”似乎却是在年底赢得了这场战争。“英式摇滚”那时获得了公众的普遍认知，不过，“污点乐队”却好像是已经达到了他们成功的顶峰。他们是一支曲风相当复杂、不是非常大众化的团体。而“绿洲乐队”从这场争夺中获得了巨大的宣传推动，可以将其并不复杂的流行摇滚乐推向一个更为广大的观众群。到了1995年末，“绿洲乐队”的专辑《（怎么了）清晨荣耀？》在销量上大大超过了“污点乐队”的《大逃亡》。不过，在很长一段时间里，“污点乐队”可能都是处于领先位置的――虽然“绿洲乐队”如今仍在演奏相同的作品，但“污点乐队”依然走红，因为他们的音乐在这些年发生了变化，融入了新的风格和元素。

“没有人真正意识到这一点，”当时的创造唱片公司总裁艾伦・麦吉说，“不过，在那个时候，‘污点乐队’要比‘绿洲乐队’强大三倍。虽然‘绿洲乐队’很有可能从没有想过要承认那一点，但《似是而非》的成绩是60万左右，而《公园生活》则是售出了150万到200万的样子。他们超过了我们很多。行为古怪的戴蒙・阿尔班决定，他打算与这些来自曼彻斯特的狂人们（注：指“绿洲乐队”）一决高低，认为那会是非常好玩的。当然啦，那就意味着‘绿洲乐队’受到了瞩目，而这将他们带到了一个新的高度。从那个层面来说，他大概帮了‘绿洲乐队’最大的一个忙。”

LINKS

1. The event caught the public's imagination...

在文章第二段中，出现了这句话，其中用到了一个固定搭配――“catch sb's imagination”。如果说某事“catch your imagination”，那么其意就是，之前你并没有真正关心或了解此事，但是从你接触后的那一刻起，你对此事一直有着浓厚的兴趣。

2. ...creating big and catchy hooks...

在文中第三段中，出现了这句话，其中的“hook”在音乐中有其特指，它指的是一首歌曲中的精华部分或朗朗上口的部分，可以是指旋律，也可以是指歌词，也可以是通指。

3. ...with something called (What's The Story) Morning Glory? on the horizon.

在文章第五段中，出现了这句话，其中的“on the horizon”用的并不是字面的意思。当用其来形容某事时，它的意思就是此事将要发生，不过不是马上，而是在一段相当长的时间之后。

4. It wasn't our coolest record...

在文章第七段中，出现了这句话。其中的“record”指的就是歌曲《Country House》。因为《Country House》是作为单曲唱片发行的，所以也就被称为是一张“record”了。

5. ...he was going to have it with these lunatics...

在文章中最后一段中，出现了这句话。其中的“have it”是一个俚语，意思是“竞争”或“争斗”。

6. ...it was going to be all jolly hockey sticks.

在文章中最后一段中，出现了这句话。其中的“jolly hockey sticks”用的是引申含义，相当于“great fun”。这个词组含有贬义色彩，暗指某人过着富足舒适的生活而对生活的艰辛漠然不知。例如，“Going on a charity trip to Africa may seem all very jolly hockey sticks to you, but it is something you need to take seriously.”。

toe to toe(近距离)面对面的

arty /`3ti/ adj.附庸风雅的；艺术家气派的

frenzy /`frenzi/ n.狂热；狂暴

commentator /`k4menteit9/ n.评论员；讲解员

compel /k9m`pel/ vt.强迫；迫使

catchy /`k2tHi/ adj.易记住的

hype /haip/ n.大肆宣传

embrace /im`breis/ vt.采用；接受

spark /sp3k/ vt.发动

upswing /`7pswiM/ n.高涨

Union Jack 英国国旗

national anthem /`n2H9n9l `2nF9m/ 国歌

forthcoming /f5F`k7miM/ adj.即将来临的

upstart /`7pst3t/ n.崛起者；暴发户

cul-de-sac /,kuld9`s2k/ n.死胡同

populist /`p4pjulist/ adj.民粹派的

publicity /p7b`lisiti/ n.宣传；推广

bizarreness /bi`z3nis/ n.古怪

lunatic /`l(n9tik/ n.疯子；狂人

spotlight /`sp4tlait/ n.公众的注意力；聚光灯