40 From 40: 1996

Welcome to one of the busiest and most quietly epochal years there ever was if only for the emergence of the Spice Girls. First appeared on TV three months before Wannabe's release, lest we forget. At one end of the pop spectrum Oasis were colonising the land at Knebworth, at the other Take That were splitting, and where those points met Jarvis was pointing his bony ass at Michael Jackson (and, lest we forget, being arrested for assaulting children he'd gone nowhere near) It was the year of the Sex Pistols reuniting and the Stone Roses publicly disintegrating, the hammer coming down at Reading. It was the year of Dave Gahan overdosing and Madonna giving birth. It was the year of Macarena and Firestarter, Gina G and Babylon Zoo, Three Lions and Robert Miles. Tupac died. Bowie released a digital-only single, the first by a major label artist. Virtual Insanity made people internationally go "actually it's the floor that's moving, right?" You'll note a lack of full-on Britpop here in this most Cool Britannia of years, this kind of being the year it chose to celebrate its own being more than produce lasting legacies, and really the closest it comes is those bands who got sucked into its publicity machine's jetstream while idling about their own business well off to the left of what was otherwise going on. Yes, Your Woman did originally come out in 1996.




Arab Strap - The First Big Weekend
Belle & Sebastian - The State I Am In
Animals That Swim - Faded Glamour
Garageland - Beelines To Heaven
R.E.M. - How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us
Trembling Blue Stars - Abba On The Jukebox
Stereolab - Cybele's Reverie
Broadcast - The Book Lovers
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Patio Song
Eels - Susan's House
DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
Tricky - Christiansands
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand
White Town - Your Woman
The Olivia Tremor Control - Jumping Fences
Weezer - Tired Of Sex
The Flaming Stars - Ten Feet Tall
Barry Adamson - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Pelvis
Edwyn Collins - Keep On Burning
Beck - The New Pollution
Busta Rhymes - Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check
Butthole Surfers - Pepper
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Wail
Sebadoh - Ocean
Urusei Yatsura - Kewpies Like Watermelon
The Delgados - Under Canvas Under Wraps
Kenickie - Come Out 2 Nite
Super Furry Animals - God! Show Me Magic
Guided By Voices - The Official Ironmen Rally Song
Jack – Wintercomesummer
Mansun - Stripper Vicar
dEUS - Roses
The Auteurs - Tombstone
The Divine Comedy - Songs Of Love
Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name
Low - Over The Ocean
Bis - This Is Fake DIY
Earl Brutus - The SAS And The Glam That Goes With It
Lionrock - Fire Up The Shoesaw
Tortoise - Djed

Previously on 40 From 40: 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009