The Boo Radleys are an English alternative rock band who were associated with the shoegazing and Britpop movements in the 1990s. They originally formed in Wallasey, England, in 1988, with singer/guitarist Simon "Sice" Rowbottom, guitarist/songwriter Martin Carr, and bassist Timothy (Tim) Brown. Their name is taken from the character Boo Radley in Harper Lee's 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The band split up in 1999.
The Boo Radleys in 1993.
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, in reaction to the darker lyrical themes and soundscapes of the US-led grunge music and the UK's own shoegaze music scene. The movement brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the larger British popular cultural movement, Cool Britannia, which evoked the Swinging Sixties and the British guitar pop of that decade.
Britpop was partly a reaction to the popularity of Nirvana and the dourness of grunge music
Select magazine's April 1993 issue – with Suede's Brett Anderson on the cover in front of a Union Flag – emphasised "Great British pop"
The UK media extensively covered the chart battle between Blur and Oasis. The anticipation over who would be number one in the week leading up to the chart being announced saw Albarn (left) appear on the ITV News at Ten.
Oasis playing live. NME states, "as (What's the Story) Morning Glory? emerged to colossal sales, it became clear that while Blur had won the battle, Oasis were winning the war."