15th January - Miranda Sawyer, Uncommon People

Wednesday 15th January, 7.30pm 

Backstory, 71 Balham High Road, SW12 9AP

From Oasis to Radiohead to Blur and so many more - Who doesn't love 90s Britpop? We're thrilled to welcome Miranda Sawyer to Backstory to discuss her book Uncommon People, where she picks out twenty key songs from the era, delving into the surprising stories behind them and their unlikely creators. 

About the book:

When Miranda Sawyer interviewed Noel Gallagher in 1995, his gag wishing Damon Albarn would die of AIDS became front-page news. This fascinating pop history, exploring the mid-90s moment when British music suddenly meant everything, explains why.

Initially a music press nickname, Britpop became an unexpected musical movement centered around outsiders and misfits, drop-outs and weirdos who refused to compromise on their ideas, even when they were thrust into the international spotlight. Not just a scene for white guys with guitars, but something wilder and more interesting, with songs that have proved timeless. Exploring the era's key artists - Oasis, Blur, Tricky, Pulp, Underworld, Manic Street Preachers, The Prodigy, Suede, Chemical Brothers, Garbage, Supergrass, Radiohead, PJ Harvey and more - through their definitive anthems, Miranda Sawyer transports us back to the beating heart of the nineties.

Uncommon People re-lives the mad exhilaration of what it was like to hear these songs for the very first time - and what it was like to make them. With amazing new interviews, and I-was-there insights, this book offers a backstage pass to all the most interesting bits of Britpop's Greatest Hits. Forget New Labour, forget earnest trend theories, this book is all about the music, the people and being right there, right now.

Tickets Available:

Ticket only - £15

Ticket & book ( RRP £25, to collect on the night) - £30