I remember watching the video for Black and White on Top of the Pops,” Cragg says of Michael Jackson’s 1991 hit. So funny and detailed and, most importantly, with such a clear love and understanding of the people in it.

The Guardian Books | The Guardian

Pop's burnout, a fate which was so closely entwined with that of Woolworths, came as the well-oiled machine of the pop industry stalled in the face of the digital age. I felt the creation was a hideously cheap effort in exploitation,” says Shirley Manson of the rock act Garbage, before relenting later, realising just “how much of an influence they were”. While Jo O’Meara and McIntosh handled the majority of the vocals, Cattermole’s role – outside of being a roguish Smash Hits heartthrob with a goatee – was to be “enthusiastic”, as he put it in a 2019 interview with the Guardian. I also had a chat with TJ Sidhu for a piece with The Face and later appeared on their podcast, as well as this one by Kate Lister . The book is arguably the first comprehensive story of recent British pop music at such acrucial point: aspecific, largely pre-Internet, definitely pre-Instagram period that saw the invention of the TV talent show hit factory and pumped out some of the nation’s most-loved (and hated) acts and tracks.He has written for outlets including Vogue, The Guardian, GQ, BBC, The Observer, Popjustice, Dazed and Billboard. The X Factor chunk made me feel a bit sick, along with a few other moments mentioned; the music industry needs to sort itself out, but I have a feeling it’s still just as bad as it was then! Rather than accept that two competing ideas can both offer up positives and negatives, the pop vs indie debate became a war.

Reach for the Stars: charting British pop’s golden era Reach for the Stars: charting British pop’s golden era

Such was the appetite for bubblicious teen pop that B*witched scored four consecutive No 1s in a matter of seven months. I couldn’t recognise whether it was pure exhaustion, whether they were suffering mentally, or whether they were just playing up.For younger fans, tribalism is all they’ve ever known online – so they are engaged in seeing if their faves can win.

Reach for the Stars: The perils of being a 90s pop star Reach for the Stars: The perils of being a 90s pop star

Self-reliant artists like Adele and Charli XCX now hark back to the era with great fondness, and Cragg has captured its essence. So I went to see a counsellor, saw a psychologist and they were the ones who signed me off and said he’s not mentally healthy enough to come back and work. After dabbling in radio, theatre and tarot reading, Cattermole was due to reunite with S Club 7 again later this year for a sold-out arena tour marking the band’s 25th anniversary.It was aperiod that felt as if anything was possible, when chart positions really were make or break.

Reach for the Stars: 1996–2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final

It can certainly be argued that the charts are a partial reflection of society at that time, and the current malaise of faceless dance pop is a comment on the apathy of the general public. I had had a couple of jobs as a pot collector at a local social club, then I ran a burger wagon, so I was always trying to make money. If you win a Brit there is heightened belief within a label that other territories will engage more. This oral history of millennial British pop—interviews edited together as though you’re watching talking heads speaking on 100 Greatest Y2K Music Moments on Channel 5—contains Boston Tea Party levels of spillage, spanning the ten year pop boom between the Spice Girls and the demise of TOTP, Smash Hits and Simon and Miquita’s Popworld. It takes the subject seriously from a poptimist perspective, but is still light, fun and brilliantly gossipy.Perceived wisdom was that girlbands didn’t sell: Wannabe’s irresistible cocktail of energy, ambition and endearingly British imperfections should’ve binned that but the Girls Aloud story tells you that few lessons get learned. It’s very evident how Simon Fuller, Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh were in shaping it all, which again might be an offence to anyone who likes to think of art developing in some mythical organic vacuum). And, as in Cragg’s case, for gay kids, pop was atechnicoloured alt-universe far removed from being young, confused and living in agrey town. The BPI stressed the Brits’ engagement with young fans across social media and YouTube, citing 44m views across performances and highlights from the 2022 show on its official YouTube channel, in addition to viewing figures that gave ITVX its best single day of 2022 until Love Island started in June.