Late 90s student disco take-out

Americans who wish to turn their living rooms into a simulacrum of a British University bar on a Saturday night sometime round the arse-end of the last century, all you need to do is pour some cheap lager over the carpet, stub some ciagrettes out on the windowsill, and reach for Rhino Records four CD Britbox. This, disc by disc, takes a trip through the more populist end of British indie and faux-indie from 1985 to 1998. Some of the choices are very good indeed:

01 The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?"
02 Cocteau Twins - "Lorelei"
03 Felt - "Primitive Painters"
04 Shop Assistants - "Somewhere in China"
05 The Mighty Lemon Drops - "My Biggest Thrill"
06 The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
07 Echo & The Bunnymen - "Lips Like Sugar"
08 The Jesus and Mary Chain - "April Skies"
09 Spacemen 3 - "Walkin' With Jesus (Sound of Confusion)"
10 The Primitives - "Crash"
11 The Wonder Stuff - "Unbearable"
12 The Stone Roses - "She Bangs the Drums"
13 The Charlatans UK - "The Only One I Know"
14 Happy Mondays - "Step On"
15 Primal Scream - "Loaded" [single version]
16 Inspiral Carpets - "This Is How It Feels"
17 The Trash Can Sinatras - "Obscurity Knocks"
18 The La's - "There She Goes"
19 The Sundays - "Here's Where the Story Ends"

Disc 2:

01 Ride - "Vapour Trail"
02 Pale Saints - "Sight of You"
03 My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow"
04 Lush - "For Love"
05 The Telescopes - "Flying"
06 Chapterhouse - "Pearl"
07 Catherine Wheel - "I Want To Touch You"
08 Bleach - "Trip & Slide"
09 Curve - "Coast Is Clear"
10 Five Thirty - "You"
11 Moose - "This River Will Never Run Dry"
12 The Family Cat - "(Thought I'd Died) And Gone To Heaven"
13 The Dylans - "(Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant in Blue"
14 Thousand Yard Stare - "0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)"
15 Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Grey Cell Green"
16 Birdland - "Shoot You Down"
17 Manic Street Preachers - "Stay Beautiful"
18 Teenage Fanclub - "Star Sign"

Disc 3:

01 Suede - "Metal Mickey"
02 Swervedriver - "Duel" [radio edit]
03 Eugenius - "Breakfast"
04 Superstar - "Barfly"
05 New Order - "Regret"
06 James - "Laid"
07 Nick Heyward - "Kite"
08 The Boo Radleys - "Lazarus"
09 Saint Etienne - "You're in a Bad Way"
10 Stereolab - "Wow & Flutter"
11 Blur - "Tracy Jacks"
12 Oasis - "Live Forever"
13 Pulp - "Common People"
14 These Animal Men - "Speed King"
15 Mega City Four - "Wallflower"
16 Echobelly - "Insomniac"
17 Gene - "Sleep Well Tonight"
18 Menswe@r - "Sleeping In"
19 Supergrass - "Alright"
20 Cast - "Alright"
21 Elastica - "Stutter"

Disc 4:

01 Dodgy - "In a Room"
02 Ash - "Girl From Mars"
03 Sleeper - "Sale of the Century"
04 Marion - "Sleep"
05 Kula Shaker - "Tattva"
06 Ocean Colour Scene - "The Riverboat Song"
07 Babybird - "You're Gorgeous"
08 The Bluetones - "Slight Return"
09 Super Furry Animals - "Something 4 the Weekend"
10 The Divine Comedy - "Something for the Weekend"
11 Cornershop - "Brimful of Asha"
12 Silver Sun - "Service"
13 Spiritualized - "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space"
14 Mansun - "Wide Open Space"
15 Hurricane #1 - "Step Into My World"
16 The Verve - "Lucky Man"
17 Rialto - "Untouchable"
18 Catatonia - "Mulder and Scully"
19 Placebo - "You Don't Care About Us"
20 Gay Dad - "Oh Jim"

Last Friday, BBC 6Music spent a long time trying to work out what went wrong with Britpop in 1997 - that this album comes to an end with Gay Dad would have been the whole answer right there. Indeed, with Hurricane Number One, Kula Shaker and Silve Sun, that last disc shows the marketing departments slowly wheeling in and killing off the creativity. We're relieved, but surprised, that there's no Kingmaker there; we're equally surprised, but delighted, the vastly undervalued Trash Can Sinatras have been included. And it's nice to be reminded of the time when, briefly, Nick Heyward looked like he might just pull off a spell of indie credibility. Unfortunately, he timed his leap to Creation just as Creation was abandoning its credibility.

No Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, though.

Commercial berate

Now, we could just about understand why Vodaphone chose The Mock Turtles for the annoying photo messaging advert (and can you imagine David Beckham really be being delighted being approached by a stranger in the supermarket - seriously, go try it and see how many SAS heavies you get piled on top of you) - after all, a dead band is less likely to make disparaging remarks about your product the way, say, the Dandy Warhols might. Besides, we quite like the idea of a few extra quid getting into the pocket of Martin "brother of the much, much more famous Steve" Coogan.

But if Mitsuibishi think they can get away with using Gay Dad's Joy on their current TV ad, they've got another think coming. If the track wasn't pisspoor enough, the bit where the woman in the back of the vehicle turns and lyp-synchs the lyric to the slightly scared bloke sat next to her caps it as already the most annoying commercial of the year.

On a brighter note, at least after two and a half million showings, the Citeron Xsara Picasso spot with the bloody Edith Piaf tune has been replaced - they probably did some research and discovered that there is nobody left in the United Kingdom who didn't start chanting "Must... Kill... Now" between gritted teeth every time it came on. The new one is still rubbish, but at least its a change.