Elastica – Special Focus Styles

Elastica were an alt/punk/indie band whose fame peaked in the mid 90s, with the release of their self titled (fastest selling ever) debut album, which entered the charts at No 1. Justine Frischmann provided the understated, conversational style vocals, over the bands hook heavy songs. Elastica found themselves at the centre of a controversy when several bands sued them successfully for plagarism, including post punk band Wire and the Stranglers. Elastica songs feature heavily distorted guitars playing catchy riffs, close harmony backing vocals and featured many female musicians in the original and subsequent line-ups.

Blur – Special Focus Styles

Often described as one of the greatest British bands of all time, Blur have flirted with a range of different styles and genres across their active years. Blur took inspiration from British music of the 60s, and wrote many songs about everyday life. Graham Coxon’s signature chromatic riffs and Damon Albarn’s exaggerated ‘east end’ accent were integral parts of their earlier songs. The band started off writing ‘Madchester’ influenced songs, but only really gained critical and commercial success with the release of Parklife in 1994. Blur were part of the ‘Cool Britannia’ period in the late 90s that centred around the success of Britpop internationally, and the election of the New Labour government in 1997.