Oh Britpop… It all seemed like such a good idea at the time. Fifteen years on this compilation marks the anniversary of the movement – deemed to have officially started in 1994 (the year that gave us Blur’s Parklife, Pulp’s His ‘n’ Hers and Suede’s Dog Man Star – with a three CD box set of what Universal thinks were the quintessential bands and releases of the golden era of Britpop.

Oddly, what really sticks out about Common People: Britpop - The Story is the noticeable lack of the two bands that were surely the giants of the genre: Oasis and Blur. Okay, maybe they’re going down the more worthy road of bands that started/influenced the movement, but then why include the likes of Cast, Dodgy and even The Boo Radleys?

This could have been a decent celebration of a time that did produce some great bands, but looking at the set list it just feels like a guilty slice of nineties nostalgia, for use only at weddings.

Michael Wylie-Harris