The Great British Band (it's official ...)

I couldn't resist, of course.

I've really enjoyed using spurious rating systems to make spurious lists, having already applied that to Great Albums and Great Number 1 singles.

Having already written a post where I talk in detail about what I think makes a Great British Band, I put my money where my mouth was, and used the criteria I outlined (or quite close to them) to try to judge who the best British bands of all time were.

A little reminder of the key section from that post

I suppose most of my favourite music is American, but I think there is a great concept of a great British band out there, and these are those who I believe fall under that banner, and why.

[Right from the start, I'll say this is kind of a  alternative to the Manchester scene in terms of timeline and so I'm keeping it post-1977. It's obvious that the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks are great British bands, they influence most of these, sometimes pretty directly, I don't think there's much point in including them. But I think the Beatles and the Kinks, in particular, do embody what I'm talking about]

The Clash
Manic Street Preachers
Dexys Midnight Runners
Belle and Sebastian
Madness
Super Furry Animals
Blur

I have something very specific in my head I probably won't be able to nail down - there are plenty of other Britsh bands from this period i love or really like - The Jam, Teenage Fanclub, Ash, Spiritualized, countless solo artists, and i'm not dismissing more poppy bands who other people find great, Pet Shop Boys, even Take That, it's just I have come to group these bands together in a way and see them as the definition as what I love in British music:

So what are the factors?

-A consistent and strong back catalogue
-Uniqueness
-A sense of anger
-The feeling that they come from a particular time and place
-Creating their own little world
-Being unambiguously British, not quasi-American
-A sense of being a gang
-Eclecticism
-Not being in thrall to the past, but being hugely learned in rock and pop history
-The ability to reinvent
-Being a cult
-Not being what they initially appear to be
-Having the ability to cross into the mainstream but not staying there
-Wit
-Having a visual style all their own which feeds back into the music
-The fact that their fans will actually argue about what their best album/albums are
-Actually writing about something real
-Being unafraid of ridiculousness

So, like I say, I tried to use those criteria as well as I could, though I mixed them up a bit and refined them. And you can see above where my sympathies lie. So don't be surprised to see some of them near the top of the list.

Then again, I knew that my criteria would be faulty if the Beatles did not top the list. That's obvious. So, thankfully, they did, easily.

I tried to consider every possible contender from every possible genre - this was mainly possible but there were a few bands like, say OMD and Jethro Tull, who I felt unfair assessing, as I'm largely unfamiliar with the bulk of their work. So be it. I did the best I could.

There is a shocking bias towards male white bands. That says more about the UK music scene, i think, than it does about me (though of course it says a fair bit about me) because if it were American bands, that would be very different, in terms of both massively successful, influential bands and my own tastes.

I was pretty strict in terms of what constituted a British band - so, I didn't allow solo artists with backing bands, like Elvis Costello and the Attractions and the Spiders from Mars. Bands had to be properly British, rather than just having the odd British member, like, say Crosby, Stills and Nash. Fleetwood Mac only just qualified.

Anyway, I feel like I've got it wrong, that there are a few bands in there that shouldn't be and some not that should be. Who have I missed totally? Who's in totally the wrong place?

1 The Beatles 2 The Rolling Stones 3 Blur 4 Madness 5 The Clash 6 Radiohead 7 Super Furry Animals 8 Led Zeppelin 9 Manic Street Preachers 10 Queen 11 Belle and Sebastian 12 The Jam 13 Pet Shop Boys 14 The Kinks 15 The Cure 16 The Smiths 17 The Who 18 Dexys 19 The Small Faces 20 Pink Floyd 21 Primal Scream 22 Massive Attack 23 Arctic Monkeys 24 Take That 25 Fairport Convention 26 Stone Roses 27 The Proclaimers 28 Oasis 29 New Order/ Joy Division 30 The Pogues 31 Elbow  32 The Human League 33 Fleetwood Mac 34 Squeeze 35 Charlatans 36 The Bee Gees 37 Adam and the Ants 38 Eurythmics 39 The Specials  40 Portishead 41 Jamiroquai 42 Girls Aloud 43 Supergrass 44 Slade 45 Iron Maiden 46 Chemical Brothers 47 Tindersticks 48 Pulp 49 OMD 50 Bloc Party 51 Franz Ferdinand 52 T.Rex 53 Soul 2 Soul 54 Jethro Tull 55 Jesus and Mary Chain 56 Mogwai 57 Gorillaz 58 Depeche Mode 59 The Prodigy 60 Kasabian 61 McFly 62 Dr Feelgood 63 Embrace 64 Snow Patrol 65 The Sex Pistols 66 Black Sabbath 67 Cream 68 The Bluetones 69 Wings 70 Doves 71 Idlewild 72 The Zombies 73 Genesis 74 Spiritualized 75 Muse 76 Ash 77 Faithless 78 The Style Council 79 Delgados 80 The Verve 81 The Shadows 82 Frankie Goes to Hollywood 83 Cocteau Twins 84 James 85 The Beautiful South 86 Tears for Fears 87 Scritti Politti 88 The Spice Girls 89 Simple Minds 90 UB40 91 The Stranglers 92 Bananarama 93 Underworld 94 The Hollies 95 Simply Red 96 Incredible String Band 97 Teenage Fanclub 98 Duran Duran 99 Divine Comedy 100 Suede